Despite its religious veneer, Islam can easily be defined and understood by one non-religious word: tribalism. This is key. The entire appeal of Muhammad’s call to the Arabs of his time lay in its perfect compatibility with their tribal mores, three in particular: loyalty to one’s tribe; enmity for other tribes; and raids on the latter to enrich and empower the former. For seventh-century Arabs—and later tribal and pastoral peoples, such as the Turks and Tatars, or Mongols, who also found natural appeal in, and converted to, Islam—the tribe was...

President Donald Trump’s calls for the United States to “take over” and “develop” the Gaza Strip have handed Islamic terrorist groups a rallying cry to recruit and inspire attacks against Americans at home and abroad, security experts and former intelligence officials say. Trump’s comments this week, proposing that the United States would control the Palestinian enclave while its residents would be forced to relocate abroad, have caused shock and outrage around the world — and terrorists will pounce on that anger to attract more support and organize attacks, experts said....

Why Trump is on the warpath in Somalia Finding and fighting the militants who have become the beating heart of the Islamic State (IS) group in Africa can be tough work as they hide deep in the mountains of north-eastern Somalia. But in typical Donald Trump style, after the new US president ordered an airstrike on the area last weekend, he posted on social media: "WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!" Trump said the hit, less than two weeks into his term, had targeted a senior IS...

[Want even more content from FPM? Sign up for FPM+ to unlock exclusive series, virtual town-halls with our authors, and more—now for just $3.99/month. Click here to sign up.] Will President Donald Trump revive his “Maximum Pressure” campaign against the Islamic regime in Iran, or greenlight an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities? Or might his “America First” foreign policy prompt a retreat from the Middle East, thus reducing direct confrontation with Iran? While analysts speculate about Trump’s next move, less attention has been paid to the Islamic Republic’s own...

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Scientists say that the two lost, but extremely important books by Apollonius, the Greek mathematician known to the ancient world as "The Great Geometer," have survived in an Arabic manuscript kept under lock and key as part of the prized possessions of the Leiden University Libraries in Holland. The revelation is made in a new volume of 50 chapters titled "Prophets, Poets and Scholars" and...

AL-HOL, Syria — Ahmad Abdullah Hammoud was lucky to have some food stored to feed his family after a U.S.-funded organization abruptly suspended its aid activities at the sprawling tent camp in northeastern Syria where they have been forced to stay for nearly six years. His family is among 37,000 people, mostly women and children, with alleged ties to the Islamic State group at the bleak, trash-strewn al-Hol camp, where the Trump administration’s unprecedented freeze on foreign aid caused chaos and uncertainty and worsened the dire humanitarian conditions. When the...

[Want even more content from FPM? Sign up for FPM+ to unlock exclusive series, virtual town-halls with our authors, and more—now for just $3.99/month. Click here to sign up.] There are many lessons in the murder of Salwan Momika, who was murdered in a shooting late Wednesday night in Sweden, but it’s unlikely that those who need those lessons the most will take any notice of them. Momika, an immigrant to Sweden from Iraq, had been a hunted man for quite some time because he had repeatedly burned the Qur’an...

“This morning, I ordered precision military air strikes on the senior ISIS attack planner and other terrorists he recruited and led in Somalia,” Trump said in a post on X. ALSO READ | ‘Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C’; Here's how China, Canada, Mexico will fight ‘bully’ Trump tariffs Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that “multiple operatives” were killed as per an initial assessment carried out by the US, and no civilians were harmed. The strikes were carried out in the Golis Mountains area, he said. Hegseth said...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military has conducted coordinated airstrikes against Islamic State operatives in Somalia, the first attacks in the African nation during President Donald Trump’s second term. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Saturday that the strikes by U.S. Africa Command were directed by Trump and coordinated with Somalia’s government. An initial assessment by the Pentagon indicated that “multiple” operatives were killed. The Pentagon said is assesses no civilians were harmed in the strikes. Trump, in a post on social media, said a senior IS planner and recruits were...