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The Arab Awakening: Islam and the New Middle East
Tariq Ramadan is one of the most acclaimed figures in the analysis of Islam and its political dimensions today. In "The Arab Awakening" he explores the opportunities and challenges across North Africa and the Middle East, as they look to create new, more open societies. He Can Muslim countries bring together Islam, pluralism and democracy without betraying their identity? Will the Arab world be able to reclaim its memory to reinvent education, women's rights, social justice, economic growth and the fight against corruption? Can this emancipation be envisioned with Islam, experienced not as a straitjacket, but as an ethical and cultural wealth? Arguing that the debate cannot be reduced to a confrontation between two approaches - the modern and secular versus the traditional and Islamic - Ramadan demonstrates that not only are both of these routes in crisis, but that the Arab world has an historic to stop blaming the West, to jettison its victim status and to create a truly new dynamic. Tariq Ramadan offers up a challenge to the Middle What enduring legacy will you produce, from the historic moment of the Arab Spring?
288 pages, Hardcover
First published April 5, 2012
33 people are currently reading
785 people want to read
About the author
Tariq Ramadan
109 books1,178 followersTariq Ramadan is the son of Said Ramadan and Wafa Al-Bana, who was the eldest daughter of Hassan al Banna, who in 1928 founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Gamal al-Banna, the liberal Muslim reformer is his great-uncle. His father was a prominent figure in the Muslim Brotherhood and was exiled by Gamal Abdul Nasser[3] from Egypt to Switzerland, where Tariq was born.
Tariq Ramadan studied Philosophy and French literature at the Masters level and holds a PhD in Arabic and Islamic studies from the University of Geneva. He also wrote a PhD dissertation on Friedrich Nietzsche, entitled Nietzsche as a Historian of Philosophy.[4] Ramadan then studied Islamic jurisprudence at Al-Azhar university in Cairo, Egypt.[5]
He taught at the College de Saussure, a high school in Geneva, Switzerland, and held a lectureship in Religion and Philosophy at the University of Fribourg from 1996 to 2003. In October 2005 he began teaching at St Antony's College at the University of Oxford on a Visiting Fellowship. In 2005 he was a senior research fellow at the Lokahi Foundation.[6][7] In 2007 he successfully applied for the professorship in Islamic studies at the University of Leiden, but then declined to take up the position, citing professional reasons.[8][9] He was also a guest professor of Identity and Citizenship at Erasmus University Rotterdam,[10][11][12] till August 2009 when the City of Rotterdam and Erasmus University dismissed him from his positions as "integration adviser" and professor, stating that the program he chairs on Iran's Press TV, Islam & Life, was "irreconcilable" with his duties in Rotterdam. Ramadan described this move as Islamophobic and politically charged. Beginning September 2009, Ramadan, was appointed to the His Highness Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Chair in Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University.
Ramadan established the Mouvement des Musulmans Suisses (Movement of Swiss Muslims),which engages in various interfaith seminars. He is an advisor to the EU on religious issues and was sought for advice by the EU on a commission on “Islam and Secularism”.In September 2005 he was invited to join a task force by the government of the United Kingdom.[3] He is also the President of the Euro-Muslim Network,a Brussels-based think-tank.
He is widely interviewed and has produced about 100 tapes which sell tens of thousands of copies each year
As of 2009, Tariq Ramadan was persona non grata in Tunisia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia[19] Libya or Syria because of his "criticism of these undemocratic regimes that deny the most basic human rights".
Ramadan is married to a French convert to Islam and they have four children.
Tariq Ramadan studied Philosophy and French literature at the Masters level and holds a PhD in Arabic and Islamic studies from the University of Geneva. He also wrote a PhD dissertation on Friedrich Nietzsche, entitled Nietzsche as a Historian of Philosophy.[4] Ramadan then studied Islamic jurisprudence at Al-Azhar university in Cairo, Egypt.[5]
He taught at the College de Saussure, a high school in Geneva, Switzerland, and held a lectureship in Religion and Philosophy at the University of Fribourg from 1996 to 2003. In October 2005 he began teaching at St Antony's College at the University of Oxford on a Visiting Fellowship. In 2005 he was a senior research fellow at the Lokahi Foundation.[6][7] In 2007 he successfully applied for the professorship in Islamic studies at the University of Leiden, but then declined to take up the position, citing professional reasons.[8][9] He was also a guest professor of Identity and Citizenship at Erasmus University Rotterdam,[10][11][12] till August 2009 when the City of Rotterdam and Erasmus University dismissed him from his positions as "integration adviser" and professor, stating that the program he chairs on Iran's Press TV, Islam & Life, was "irreconcilable" with his duties in Rotterdam. Ramadan described this move as Islamophobic and politically charged. Beginning September 2009, Ramadan, was appointed to the His Highness Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Chair in Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University.
Ramadan established the Mouvement des Musulmans Suisses (Movement of Swiss Muslims),which engages in various interfaith seminars. He is an advisor to the EU on religious issues and was sought for advice by the EU on a commission on “Islam and Secularism”.In September 2005 he was invited to join a task force by the government of the United Kingdom.[3] He is also the President of the Euro-Muslim Network,a Brussels-based think-tank.
He is widely interviewed and has produced about 100 tapes which sell tens of thousands of copies each year
As of 2009, Tariq Ramadan was persona non grata in Tunisia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia[19] Libya or Syria because of his "criticism of these undemocratic regimes that deny the most basic human rights".
Ramadan is married to a French convert to Islam and they have four children.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 24, 2013
Tariq Ramadan delivers another fine work in challenging all of us to be responsible and faithful. In this book, he turns to the non-Islamic world and teaches about colonial and imperial effects and carried on policies, and the varieties of political Islamism - many of which are consistent with human rights, governments that care for the people and the planet, and thriving arts, sciences, and culture. Ramadan also appeals to the Muslim world not to turn misuse faith to turn away from the world's problems, but to follow faithfully to addressing those problems, in their communities and around the world. He wants young people to know and value their cultures and their faith, and to draw upon that in using the powerful tools we have available to us (social media, mobile phones, etc) to create a more vibrant and responsible society and better world.
July 26, 2012
Ramadan presents an account of the "Arab Spring" as an "awakening" (not, revolution) that signals a real shift in ideology in the public of many Arab countries, and also an opportunity for re-evaluation of Islam's relation to the West.
September 8, 2012
Tariq Ramadan dalam buku ini banyak juag mengejutkan saya. Beliau menyebut bahawa Arab Spring ini adalah ciptaan barat terutamanya Amerika Syarikat,
June 11, 2021
“ But spirituality is not faith without religion ; it is the quest for meaning and peace of heart as the essence of religion. Viewed in this light, Muslim-Majority Societies are profoundly bereft of serenity, coherence and peace. The time has come for a spiritual and religious emancipation.”
- The Arab Awakening, Tariq Ramadan.
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If you are familiar with Arab Spring and aware with the uprising events occurred across the Middle Eastern and North African countries in 2011 , then you are in for a treat. This book analyzed those events from the politic, economic and social perspective with the main objective to find out whether the uprising led by the youth in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain and other MENA countries is successful or not. The fact that this book only contained 4 chapters does not make it lesser impactful than other books that i have read about Arab Spring. In chapter Cautious optimism, while the technology (mainly social media) is the main medium on why Arab spring is happening across the countries, he also pointed out that many western countries choose which side they wanted to support according to their alliance. While many western countries cheering up for Hosni Mobarak to be pushed out from the office in Egypt but none of this support is nowhere to be found when it came to the uprising in Syria.
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The Third chapter which is titled as Islam, Islamism and Secularization tapped into the current Muslim Conscience. The re-telling of how Islamism started as anti colonialist resistance and eventually adopting violence to achieve the means has been dividing muslims especially on the level of acceptance to it. It doesnt mean secularization doesnt have a weakness. Turkey and Tunisia maybe is the epitome of how secularization can be integrated in Islamic Countries but the principles of how Western Countries adopted it made a huge difference. On the personal level, i would take Secular Country governance over Islamist governance. Having read Islamism and Islam by Bassam Tibi did have an impact to the way i apprached this chapter. I would say that Tariq discussed Islamism on a surface level while Bassam Tibi’s book is far more superior in its details. As for the last chapter which titled Islamic Reference, the author emphasized that Arab and Muslim Majority Societies are seriously lacking in spirituality. I couldnt agree more on this. The fact that rituals completions was being put on pedestals as a symbols of a good muslims but most failed to comprehend the ultimate goals and the state of the heart in completing the rituals.
.
.
Overall, a sound analysis on Arab spring provided by Tariq Ramadhan. Some parts in certain chapters is pretty insightful especially the evaluation of Muslim Countries with the West. On other parts i find it uninspiring and boring, to be precise once i finished reading it. I am not sure whether solutions offered by the auhor is viable or applicable to say the least. Will i recommend this book? Yes due to the account of his message on integrating the faith to solve the global problems and issues.
- The Arab Awakening, Tariq Ramadan.
.
.
If you are familiar with Arab Spring and aware with the uprising events occurred across the Middle Eastern and North African countries in 2011 , then you are in for a treat. This book analyzed those events from the politic, economic and social perspective with the main objective to find out whether the uprising led by the youth in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain and other MENA countries is successful or not. The fact that this book only contained 4 chapters does not make it lesser impactful than other books that i have read about Arab Spring. In chapter Cautious optimism, while the technology (mainly social media) is the main medium on why Arab spring is happening across the countries, he also pointed out that many western countries choose which side they wanted to support according to their alliance. While many western countries cheering up for Hosni Mobarak to be pushed out from the office in Egypt but none of this support is nowhere to be found when it came to the uprising in Syria.
.
.
The Third chapter which is titled as Islam, Islamism and Secularization tapped into the current Muslim Conscience. The re-telling of how Islamism started as anti colonialist resistance and eventually adopting violence to achieve the means has been dividing muslims especially on the level of acceptance to it. It doesnt mean secularization doesnt have a weakness. Turkey and Tunisia maybe is the epitome of how secularization can be integrated in Islamic Countries but the principles of how Western Countries adopted it made a huge difference. On the personal level, i would take Secular Country governance over Islamist governance. Having read Islamism and Islam by Bassam Tibi did have an impact to the way i apprached this chapter. I would say that Tariq discussed Islamism on a surface level while Bassam Tibi’s book is far more superior in its details. As for the last chapter which titled Islamic Reference, the author emphasized that Arab and Muslim Majority Societies are seriously lacking in spirituality. I couldnt agree more on this. The fact that rituals completions was being put on pedestals as a symbols of a good muslims but most failed to comprehend the ultimate goals and the state of the heart in completing the rituals.
.
.
Overall, a sound analysis on Arab spring provided by Tariq Ramadhan. Some parts in certain chapters is pretty insightful especially the evaluation of Muslim Countries with the West. On other parts i find it uninspiring and boring, to be precise once i finished reading it. I am not sure whether solutions offered by the auhor is viable or applicable to say the least. Will i recommend this book? Yes due to the account of his message on integrating the faith to solve the global problems and issues.
September 5, 2012
Ramadan gives his two cents about how to frame the debate on the form of post-Arab Spring states and societies. His views are prefaced by an unimpressive and hurried account of the Spring itself. The central point of this narrative is that the West was implicated in instigating the spring by training cyberactivists in nonviolent methods of civil disobedience. He also lambasts the hollowness of US democracy rhetoric and the selectiveness of the West's intervention.
As far as his opinions about the debate on the future, Ramadan is firmly of the belief that the sterile binary between secularism and Islamism needs to be left behind. He calls for a new vocabulary and idiom in which to conduct this debate. This new vocabulary would borrow from the 'authentic', the 'traditional', the 'indigenous', rejecting the discredited lingo of liberalism and Islamism. Religious organizations like Hamas, he says, have already abandoned their old idiom and are now talking abt a civil state rather than a Shariah state. He invites those on the other side to take up more Islamic and authentic terminology, assuring them of Islam's compatibility with democracy.
Well-intentioned as it is, this line of argument is hardly original. I reached the end of the book without coming across any incisive analysis. Hopefully his earnest exhortations will play a part in shaping the debates happening in the Arab world today. His circumspect statement certainly did not contribute much towards understanding what has happened so far and what is to come.
As far as his opinions about the debate on the future, Ramadan is firmly of the belief that the sterile binary between secularism and Islamism needs to be left behind. He calls for a new vocabulary and idiom in which to conduct this debate. This new vocabulary would borrow from the 'authentic', the 'traditional', the 'indigenous', rejecting the discredited lingo of liberalism and Islamism. Religious organizations like Hamas, he says, have already abandoned their old idiom and are now talking abt a civil state rather than a Shariah state. He invites those on the other side to take up more Islamic and authentic terminology, assuring them of Islam's compatibility with democracy.
Well-intentioned as it is, this line of argument is hardly original. I reached the end of the book without coming across any incisive analysis. Hopefully his earnest exhortations will play a part in shaping the debates happening in the Arab world today. His circumspect statement certainly did not contribute much towards understanding what has happened so far and what is to come.
March 7, 2017
Tariq Ramadan delivers a very compelling argument on the latest Arab Uprisings. The book is very well written and provides very sound analysis on the latest events that shook the Arab world six years ago.
December 25, 2012
Very poor visibility on the ME realities. Ramadan should educate himself more and for longer in the region before adventuring his thesis
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October 5, 201310/10
June 14, 2019
Not only a deep analysis of the issues, but also a comprehensive proposals on how to moving on
October 29, 2013
Ramadan presents an insightful analysis of the events that gripped the Arab world in the winter of 2011 and continue to unfold in hopes of establishing economic, intellectual, cultural, religious and political emancipation. He suggests that Arabs and Muslims develop holistic democracies that reconcile with the regions long and rich history, its culture and religions. He warns of polarizing reformists like those we saw in the twentieth century starting with Turkey's anti-democratic secularism, imposed on the people with the heavy-handed backing of the country's military to Iran's overthrow of the US' Shah government in 1979 only to install a theocracy. Thus marginalizing large segments of their populations sewing hatred amongst fellow countrymen and women destroying the chances of a genuine national identity that an entire nation can celebrate.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews