In our increasingly fractured world, few topics are as urgent—or as emotionally charged—as the conversation around Islam. With headlines dominated by Middle Eastern conflict, rising concerns over radicalism, and a widespread decline in theological literacy across the West ...

Suppose you’re a progressive, a Muslim, or even a Christian raised in the Middle East. In that case, you probably think you are acquainted with Jewish history wrapped up in your justice ideology.

By asking thoughtful questions—not just of ourselves but also of our Muslim friends—we can uncover the roots of this hostility and better understand the perspectives that shape it.

Fundamentalism, especially of the variety driving groups like Hamas or regimes like Iran’s, doesn’t operate within the bounds of rational cost-benefit analysis. Instead, it strengthens from rigid ideological convictions and apocalyptic religious visions ...

The Arab world’s refusal to accept Jewish sovereignty, combined with a failed war of annihilation, led to the tragic displacement of Palestinians and decades of regional suffering. The refusal to resolve this conflict—not by Israel but by Arab leaders—has perpetuated this self-inflicted tragedy.

They fail to acknowledge that Iran’s war against Israel is not a political struggle but a religious war rooted in Twelver Shia eschatology—a theology that exalts death, martyrdom, and the creation of chaos as a path to ushering in the end of the world (Lewis, 2002; Cook, 2005).

On November 28, 2024, Palestinian-American author Susan Abulhawa took the stage at the Oxford Union during a debate on the motion: “This House Believes Israel is an Apartheid State Responsible for Genocide.”

This analysis goes beyond surface-level understandings of Hamas as simply a political actor, framing the group within the rich and often fraught theological tradition of Islamism—a perspective critical for fully grasping the role Hamas plays in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine.