Why are we getting more backward? – 2
AL-AZHAR FORMED a ‘Scientific Research Academy’ which specialized in confiscating books critical of Islam or the Companions, instead of actually…
Why are we getting more backward? – 1
THE ARABS THROUGHOUT their known history, have relied on the oral transmission of their experiences, and did not care at…
Mu‘tazila rationalism between past failure and present need
AMONG THE MOST FAMOUS Mu‘tazilites were Wāṣil ibn ‘Aṭā’, ‘Amr ibn ‘Ubayd, Ibrāhīm al-Naẓẓām, Hishām ibn ‘Amr al-Fūṭī, Al-Zamakhsharī the…
Popular Islam and ideological Islam
HOW IS POPULAR ISLAM different from ideological Islam? If the former was a historical development, the latter takes its origin from secret movements,…
Deconstructing the Islamic narrative
AS THESE HAVE accumulated, the problems have become all the more convoluted and the threads of argument confused, to the point…
Taha Hussein – On science and dogma – 1
IN THE FACE of a project for scientific enlightenment, a wasted, unrealized possibility persisted. If one of the axioms of…
Between ‘Read!’ and ‘Ask!’ lies the nation’s mental grave
LOOKING CAREFULLY at the constant presence of this tale in Arab society, we can restrict its repercussions or impact to…
Women between freedom and servitude
IT IS ALSO WORTH mentioning that over the centuries women have occupied the highest ranks in government and state such…
The radicalism of Mahmoud Muhammad Taha
IN MY PERSONAL ESTIMATION, had Professor Mahmoud not been radical and true to his thoughts and writings, to his will…
Terrorism’s symphony
BY THE SAME CATEGORY, as a technical designation, groups of extremist political Islam are termed ‘fundamentalists’, although the word ‘fundamentalist’…