John Esposito's warning against a clash of civilisations has never been more urgent

John Esposito's warning against a clash of civilisations has never been more urgent Submitted by Abdullah Al-Arian on Fri, 07/24/2026 - 09:47 The Georgetown scholar died on 15 July, as US bombs fell on Iran. He spent his career warning that treating Islam as a threat would become a self-fulfilling prophecy John Esposito speaks to Middle East Eye's Unapologetic podcast in August 2025 (Screengrab/MEE) Off John Esposito would occasionally joke that he owed his success to Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran . As one of a limited number of academic specialists on Islam at the time of the 1979 Iranian revolution, Esposito would be called upon time and again throughout his illustrious career to help explain the significance of events in a rapidly transforming region to a mystified American public.