Secularism in the Arab World - (In Translation: Contemporary Thought in Muslim Contexts) by Aziz Al-Azmeh (Hardcover)

About the Book

Translation of: Al-°Ilmåanåiya min manòzur mukhtalif.

Book Synopsis

This book is a translation of Aziz al-Azmeh's seminal work Al-'Ilmaniya min mandhur mukhtalif that was first published in Beirut in 1992. Both celebrated and criticised for its reflections on Arab secularisation and secularism in the modern history of the Arab World, it is the only study to date to approach its subject as a set of historical changes which affected the regulation of the social, political and cultural order, and which permeated the concrete workings of society, rather than as an ideological discussion framed from the outset by the assumed opposition between Islam and secularism.
The author takes a comprehensive analytical perspective to show that an almost imperceptible yet real, multi-faceted and objective secularising process has been underway in the Arab world since the 1850s. The early onset was the result of adapting to systemic novelties introduced at the time and a reaction to the perceived European advance and local retardation. The need for meaningful reform, and the actions taken in order to put in place a new organisation of state and society based on modern organisational and educational criteria, rather than older, religious traditions, stemmed from the perceived weakness of Arab polities and from an internal drive to overcome this situation.
The book follows these themes into the close of the 20th century, marked with the rise of Islamism. A preface to the English translation takes a retrospective look at the theme from the vantage point of social, political and intellectual issues of relevance today.

From the Back Cover

Explores secularism and secularisation in Arab societies since mid-nineteenth century This book is a translation of Aziz al-Azmeh's seminal work Al-'Ilmaniya min mandhur mukhtalif that was first published in Beirut in 1992. Both celebrated and criticised for its reflections on Arab secularisation and secularism in the modern history of the Arab World, it is the only study to date to approach its subject as a set of historical changes which affected the regulation of the social, political and cultural order, and which permeated the concrete workings of society, rather than as an ideological discussion framed from the outset by the assumed opposition between Islam and secularism. The author takes a comprehensive analytical perspective to show that an almost imperceptible yet real, multi-faceted and objective secularising process has been underway in the Arab world since the 1850s. The early onset was the result of adapting to systemic novelties introduced at the time and a reaction to the perceived European advance and local retardation. The need for meaningful reform, and the actions taken in order to put in place a new organisation of state and society based on modern organisational and educational criteria, rather than older, religious traditions, stemmed from the perceived weakness of Arab polities and from an internal drive to overcome this situation. The book follows these themes into the close of the twentieth centuries, marked with the rise of Islamism. A preface to the English translation takes a retrospective look at the theme from the vantage point of social, political and intellectual issues of relevance today. Key features - Traces the concrete secular transformations in Muslim societies which occurred at particular times and by specific social agencies; - Explores how secular changes influenced the functioning of different strata and groups, and the central attitudes of their members; - Devotes considerable attention to religious reform in the broader context of the developments studied, and of the ideological, political and institutional religious reactions to both; - Includes a new Preface by the author to introduce the English translation. Aziz Al-Azmeh is University Professor Emeritus and Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of History, Central European University, Budapest. He is the author of Ibn Khaldun (1982), Arabic Thought and Islamic Societies (1983), Islams and Modernities (1993), Muslim Kingship (1996) and The Emergence of Islam in Late Antiquity (2014).

Review Quotes

Not only do I commend al-Azmeh for sifting through a complex historical process to demonstrate the ways in which "the subordination of liberal and Arab nationalist discourses to Islamic discourse" (420), but I also appreciate the arduous work of translation by David Bond. Mr. Bond smooths the long and often complex sentence structure of al-Azmeh's style, making it relatively easy to read this important contributor to the expanding Arab intellectual scene.

--Ahmad Agbaria "Journal of Law and Religion, Volume 36, Issue 2"

About the Author

Aziz Al-Azmeh is CEU University Professor Emeritus and Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of History, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. Prior to that, he had taught at the University of Exeter and at the American University of Beirut, and been visiting professor at Columbia, Yale, Berkeley, Georgetown, ISTAC, and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques, Paris. He was a long-term Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Berlin, and a Fellow at the Swedish Institute for Advanced Studies, Uppsala, the Kollegium Budapest, the Kaete Hamburger Kolleg, Bochum, and a Senior Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, University of Bonn, as well as a Resident Scholar at the Rockefeller Foundation Center for Scholars in Bellagio. Aziz Al-Azmeh held the Bourse Fernand Braudel over several terms as Directeur de Recherches Associé, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris.

A professional translator, David is fluent in Arabic and French. His previous translations include Understanding the Qur'an Today by Mahmoud Hussein (Saqi Books, 2013) and Islam: Between Message and History by Abdelmadjid Charfi (EUP, 2009).