Synopses & Reviews
Meddeb wages a war of interpretations in this book demonstrating that Muslims cannot join the concert of nations unless they set aside outmoded notions such as jihad, and realize that the feuding among monotheisms must give way to the more important issue of what it means to be a citizen in today's post-religious global setting. Abdelwahab Meddeb makes an urgent case for an Islamic reformation, located squarely in Western Europe, now home to millions of Muslims, where Christianity and Judaism have come to coexist with secular humanism and positivist law. He is not advocating "moderate" Islam, which he characterizes as thinly disguised Wahabism, but rather an Islam inspired by the great Sufi thinkers, whose practice of religion was not bound by doctrine.
To accomplish this, Meddeb returns to the doctrinal question of the text as transcription of the uncreated word of God and calls upon Muslims to distinguish between Islam's spiritual message and the temporal, material, and historically grounded origins of its founding scriptures. He contrasts periods of Islamic history--when philosophers and theologians engaged in lively dialogue with other faiths and civilizations and contributed to transmitting the Hellenistic tradition to early modern Europe--with modern Islam's collective amnesia of this past.
Review
"This is the perfect handbook for deepening our understanding of both the incredible richness through time and the paradoxical present obtuseness of Islamic culture. Meddeb achieves this feat--how clear knowledge can disarm belligerent interpretations of a paradoxical faith--through his elegant and polyphonic use of Qu'ranic exegesis, advanced literary poetics, and a strong sense of democratic citizen politics, all of which are informed by a profound cosmopolitanism able to simultaneously draw on Ibn Arabi's eclectic sufism and Voltaire's secular intellect, among many other sources. A necessary exploration, a must read."--Pierre Joris, author of The University of California Book of North African Literature
"It is more urgent than ever to allow a voice such as Meddeb's to be heard, the voice of an Arab intellectual familiar with both Muslim civilization and Western culture. In this--and thanks to his immense knowledge and open-mindedness--he is a precious translator capable of seeing both sides at the same time."--Marcel Henaff
". . . an important contribution to knowledge because it gives eloquent voice to a modern Muslim thinker who rejects the narrow legalism of the Wahhabi tradition of Saudi Arabia or the Puritanism of the Egyptian Muslim Brethren."--Patrick J. Ryan S.J., Fordham University
". . . the trip he [Meddeb] takes readers on is worthwhile. . .recommended." --Choice
"Abdelwahab Meddeb's Islam and the Challenge of Civilization offers new perspectives on and fresh associations among historical events in a way that draws the curtain and adjusts the view among Muslim public intellectuals. Situated within the broad scholarship of Islamic thought, it engages critically and creatively with various doctrinal issues that are being manipulated by some Muslim opinion leaders to support their own bellicose positions."--American Journal of Islamic Studies
Synopsis
Abdelwahab Meddeb makes an urgent case for an Islamic reformation, located squarely in Western Europe, now home to millions of Muslims, where Christianity and Judaism have come to coexist with secular humanism and positivist law. He is not advocating "moderate" Islam, which he characterizes as thinly disguised Wahabism, but rather an Islam inspired by the great Sufi thinkers, whose practice of religion was not bound by doctrine. To accomplish this, Meddeb returns to the doctrinal question of the text as transcription of the uncreated word of God and calls upon Muslims to distinguish between Islam's spiritual message and the temporal, material, and historically grounded origins of its founding scriptures. He contrasts periods of Islamic history--when philosophers and theologians engaged in lively dialogue with other faiths and civilizations and contributed to transmitting the Hellenistic tradition to early modern Europe--with modern Islam's collective amnesia of this past. Meddeb wages a war of interpretations in this book, in his attempt to demonstrate that Muslims cannot join the concert of nations unless they set aside outmoded notions such as jihad and realize that feuding among the monotheisms must give way to the more important issue of what it means to be a citizen in today's postreligious global setting.
About the Author
Abdelwahab Meddeb teaches at the Universite Paris X (Nanterre) and has published more than twenty books in French.
Jane Kuntz has a doctorate in French from the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign and has translated eight works of contemporary French fiction for Dalkey Archive Press.
Table of Contents
Prologue
1. Religion and Violence
2. The Koran as Myth
3. The Clash of Interpretations
4. On the Arab Decline
5. Civilization or Extinction
6. Enlightenment Between High and Low Voltage
7. The Physics and Metaphysics of Nature
Epilogue
8. Religion and Cosmopolitics
Appendixes
A. The Veil Unveiled: Dialogue with Christian Jambet
B. Obama in Cairo