Wednesday, April 1, 2026, 7 pm Palestine time
Prof. Sari Hanafi, American University of Beirut
Title: The Imperial War against Iran: The Trap of Religious Framing
Abstract: This talk argues that the current US-Israeli confrontation with Iran is misleadingly framed as a religious war, obscuring its fundamentally geopolitical and colonial nature. While political leaders in Israel and US invoke religious symbolism – casting the conflict in terms of holy war and civilizational struggle – such rhetoric functions primarily as a tool of mobilization rather than a reflection of underlying causes. Drawing on historical parallels, the article shows how modern conflicts have often been cloaked in theological language despite being driven by power, security, and strategic interests. It warns against mirroring this framing through reactive identity politics, which risks deepening polarization and legitimizing collective blame. Instead, the piece emphasizes that the war is rooted in settler colonialism, regional hegemony, and geopolitical competition, particularly linked to the ongoing Palestinian question. By distinguishing between religion as discourse and as structural cause, the article calls for analytical clarity to resist essentialist narratives and to reopen the space for political solutions.
Bio: Sari Hanafi is Professor of Sociology, Director of Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies and Chair of the Islamic Studies program at the American University of Beirut. He was the President of the International Sociological Association (2018-23). Among his recent authored books: Against Symbolic Liberalism: A Plea for Dialogical Sociology. In 2019, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate (Doctor Honoris Causa) from the National University of San Marcos (the first and the leading university in Lima- Peru – established in 1551). In 2022, he became International fellow of the British Academy.