Islam and the Challenge of Civilization
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- CHF 12.00
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- CHF 12.00
Publisher Description
The award-winning author of The Malady of Islam makes an urgent case for an Islamic reformation in this “bold and fresh” study (Publishers Weekly).
Western Europe is now home to millions of Muslims, where Christianity and Judaism have come to coexist with secular humanism and positivist law. In Islam and the Challenge of Civilization, Meddeb advocates a new approach to Islam in tune with today’s diverse society. Rather than calling for “moderate” Islam—which Meddeb views as thinly disguised Whabism—he calls for an Islam inspired by the great Sufi thinkers, whose practice of religion was not bound by doctrine.
With a return to long-standing doctrinal questions, Meddeb 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 Muslim philosophers engaged in lively dialogue with other faiths and civilizations—with modern Islam’s collective amnesia of this past.
In this erudite and impassioned study, Meddeb demonstrates that Muslims cannot join the concert of nations unless they set aside outmoded notions such as jihad. Ultimately, he argues, feuding among the monotheisms must give way to the more important issue of citizenship in today’s global setting.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Meddeb (The Malady of Islam), who teaches comparative literature at Paris West University Nanterre and is also a novelist and poet, takes a high-level look at the need for changes to Islamic interpretation. Meddeb's thesis that Muslims need to turn towards Sufism more is not new; many of his founda-tional arguments, however, are bold and fresh. He argues that much of the material most Muslims rely on as default interpretive tools are actually fundamentalist, simplistic, and Wahhabi. Furthermore, vio-lence is inherent to the monotheistic religions; after all, most violence that appears in the Qur'an ap-peared in the Bible first. The term dhimmi used to describe minority communities in Islamic states was a concept that actually worked but has since been unfairly denigrated. Meddeb also argues that Sufism is an optimal next step for Islam because it is built on previous spiritual traditions. Much of this commentary delivered in fragments may surprise many Muslims and even some Islamic schol-ars. Those well-versed in Islamic Studies will enjoy the erudite read, masterfully rendered into English by Kuntz, a seasoned translator.
