-
Scientific Miracles in the Quran, Fact or Illusion?
Writer and media figure Ibrahim Essa takes on a prevalent religious discourse that blurs the line between science and faith. He challenges the notion of an inherent rivalry between the two, arguing that this confusion has been used to assert control, suppress critical thinking and distort religion itself. What follows is the text of an…
-
How Washington Avoids the Middle East’s Traps
For two decades, the Middle East has haunted American strategy. Every administration arrives promising focus elsewhere, then gets pulled back by the region’s gravity: war, energy chokepoints, terror threats, and the politics of allies and adversaries that never sit still. So, when the new U.S. National Security Strategy declared that “the days in which the Middle…
-
Lebanon’s Long Rehearsal for Collapse
Lebanon’s future may now depend on one man’s balancing act. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is trying to hold together a country that’s falling apart without firing a shot. To Washington and Riyadh, he signals that Hezbollah’s reach will be contained south of the Litani River. To Hezbollah, he quietly promises that its weapons elsewhere will…
-
Myth of Moderate Political Islam
In his weekly commentary on Alhurra’s digital platforms, writer and journalist Ibrahim Essa examines what he calls the “impossible relationship” between Islamist movements and the civil state. He argues that the notion of integrating political Islam into a modern civic framework is a Western illusion – one born of a fundamental misunderstanding of these movements’…
-
The Insidious Myth of Consensus
In his weekly program on Alhurra, writer and journalist Ibrahim Essa examines the concept of ijma – the consensus of the Islamic community on matters of law – and criticizes what he calls the “great myth” that has been used throughout Islamic history to suppress independent reasoning (ijtihad) and dissent. Essa argues that the idea…
-
An Enlightened Islam
In his weekly program on Alhurra’s digital platforms, writer and journalist Ibrahim Essa discusses the persecution of thinkers and reformers within the field of religion, recalling the ordeal of Imam Abu Hanifa al-Nu‘man, whom he describes as “a symbol of religious enlightenment in the face of rigidity and fanaticism.” Essa explains how Abu Hanifa’s use…
-
The Open Wounds of October 7
Two years after Hamas’s October 7 attack, many wounds remain open, some etched in memory, others carried in the heart of an Israeli family still waiting for a final goodbye. “I miss my father so much,” says Nadav Rudaeff, the son of Israeli hostage Lior Rudaeff, 61. “It’s been two years since I last saw…
-
The Real Blasphemy
In his program on Alhurra’s digital platforms this week, writer and journalist Ibrahim Essa tackled the issue of “blasphemy,” describing it as “a sword hanging over the necks of free thought.” He explained how the charge has turned into a tool for criminalizing criticism and independent reasoning, a means to silence free debate and block…
-
Wearing a Kippah in Public
In the heart of Dubai, Rabbi Elie Abadie walks through the streets in his black kippah and tallit without fear, a sight once unthinkable in the Arab world. The Abraham Accords made it possible, but the war in Gaza has exposed how fragile that openness remains. For Abadie, the Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community…