Synopses & Reviews
One of the most important developments in the modern history of the Middle East, the so-called Arab Spring began in Tunisia in December 2010, bringing down dictators, sparking a civil war in Libya, and igniting a bloody uprising in Syria. Its long-term repercussions in Egypt and elsewhere remain unclear. Now one of the world's leading Islamic thinkers examines and explains it, in this searching, provocative, and necessary book.
Time Magazine named Tariq Ramadan one of the most important innovators of the twenty-first century. A Muslim intellectual and prolific author, he has won global renown for his reflections on Islam and the contemporary challenges in both the Muslim majority societies and the West. In Islam and the Arab Awakening, he explores the uprisings, offering rare insight into their origin, significance, and possible futures. As early as 2003, he writes, there had been talk of democratization in the Middle East and North Africa. The U.S. government and private organizations set up networks and provided training for young leaders, especially in the use of the Internet and social media, and the West abandoned its unconditional support of authoritarian governments. But the West did not create the uprisings. Indeed, one lesson Ramadan presents is that these mass movements and their consequences cannot be totally controlled. Something irreversible has taken place: dictators have been overthrown without weapons. But, he writes, democratic processes are only beginning to emerge, and unanswered questions remain. What role will religion play? How should Islamic principles and goals be rethought? Can a sterile, polarizing debate between Islamism and secularism be avoided?
Avoiding both naive confidence and conspiratorial paranoia, Ramadan voices a tentative optimism. If a true civil society can be established, he argues, this moment's fragile hope will live.
Review
"Tariq Ramadan is a Muslim Martin Luther."--Paul Donnelly, The Washington Post
"Tariq Ramadan, one of the foremost Muslim intellectuals...comes into his own as a historian and provoker of ideas. He notes how, in their Western representation, Muslim Arabs have shifted from the benighted, terrorist 'other' to the 'alter ego of the Western Universal."--The Independent
"Whether you agree with Ramadan's interpretation of events or vision for the future of the Muslim-majority nations, Islam and the Arab Awakening is a thoughtful and nuanced examination of the events others have termed the 'Arab Spring.' There is no question that Ramadan supports the rule of law, freedom of religion, and the right of self-determination for all peoples...If you are looking for a straightforward history, or want simple answers to complex problems, this book is not for you. But if you are trying to understand the issues facing the Muslim-majority nations today, Islam and the Arab Awakening is a good place to start."--CultureMob
"Ramadan has started to pave out the road to reform and changes in the understanding of Islam in Muslim communities in the West."--Le Monde Diplomatique
"Tariq Ramadan, a prominent intellectual-activist in Europe and America, represents a new generation of Islamic reformers."--John L. Esposito, author of Unholy War and What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam
Synopsis
From December of 2010 through the summer of 2011, political mobilizations spread like wildfire across the Middle East and North Africa. Mass movements in well over a dozen nations formed in protest to social and economic conditions, dictatorship, and corruption, though the movements took widely varying forms in different countries. The Arab Spring has been characterized in many ways: as the birth of a new era, as a radical turning point between past and future, as a popular but ineffectual effort towards political and social reform, and even as a conspiracy to bring about Western democratization and domination.
Tariq Ramadan presents his own analysis of these extraordinary events, focusing on the role played by Islam in the uprisings and considering what its position will be in the new societies taking shape. Unlike many sanguine observers, Ramadan sees the vulnerability of the movement to appropriation by forces opposed to the development of true Islamic democracies in the region. In addition to extensive analysis, Islam and the Arab Awakening includes an appendix of short pieces Ramadan wrote and posted online as the uprisings were taking place.
As one of the world's most prominent Muslim intellectuals, Ramadan's views on the ongoing transformation of the countries of the Middle East and North Africa will be of great interest both to his admirers and his many detractors.
About the Author
Tariq Ramadan is Professor of Islamic Studies at Oxford University, and is President of the European Muslim Network in Brussels. His books include
What I Believe, Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation, In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad, Western Muslims and the Future of Islam, and
Islam, the West, and the Challenges of Modernity.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Part 1: The Thick of Things
1. A matter of terminology: revolution/uprising/spring?
2. Predictable, unpredictable?
3. Not Islamist, but Islamic
4. When the other ceases to be the other
Part 2: Cautiously optimistic
1. Understanding: conspiracy or liberation
2. Differentiated Treatments
3. The role of the media
4. Bin Laden's death
5. On the West, Politics and Economy
6. The Challenges of the Arab World
Part 3: Islam, Secularization and Islamism
1. Islam and Islamism
2. Secularization
3. False debates, true debates
4. Two interacting crises
a. Proponents of secularization and secularity
b. Proponents of tradition, Conservatives and Islamism
Part 4: The Islamic reference
1. The End of political Islam?
2. Towards theCivil State
3. In the Name of Justice: Thinking out the alternative
4. Social and political issues
5. Economic issues
6. Culture
Conclusion
Appendix