An online publication of the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University

Islamic State

Book Review: Wael Hallaq’s “The Impossible State” by Said Salih Kaymakci

By Said Salih Kaymakci // December 18, 2016December 19, 2016

The Synopsis The title of Wael Hallaq’s book contains his main argument. The Islamic State is the Impossible State because the modern state devoid of morality is a European invention with a clear European genealogy….

Sectarian Politics and Weak States in the Middle East: The Return of the Khawarij in Egypt

By Jeffrey Kenney // October 8, 2016July 26, 2019

Viewed from afar, typically the West, sectarianism in the Middle East symbolizes the age-old struggle among Muslims, and within Islam, to modernize. Lingering atavistic hatreds, so this narrative goes, prevents equal recognition and treatment of…