Islams and Modernities

by Aziz Al-Azmeh

Islam has become the new spectre haunting Europe. All too often, even well-meaning liberals portray the modern resurgence of Islam as the new “Green Menace”—intolerant, medieval and barbaric—which has replaced Communism as the main threat to Western civilization and values. For Aziz Al-Azmeh, this Orientalist and racist view of Islam is nothing but the mirror-image of the myths propagated by Islamic fundamentalists and radicals. Both views share an erroneous and ahistorical conception of Islam as an unchanging and monolithic entity. Surveying both its social origins and its intellectual genealogy, Al-Azmeh rethinks the relationship between Islam and the West, uncovering a rich actual history of interaction. In this expanded new edition, the author examines the discourse surrounding Islamism and irrationalism after 9/11.

Genres: Islam, Religion, Politics, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1993

About the author

Aziz Al-Azmeh was born in Damascus. He received the PhD in Oriental Studies from University of Oxford. He is currently University Professor at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. His other works include Keywords, Islam in Europe, Ibn Khladun, and The Times of History.

Reviews

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

It dawns on me that Azmeh is sort of the quintessential anti-Hallaq, although he shares the same dense and esoteric style. Read this along with Azmeh's talk "Is Islamism the future for the Arabs?" All in all he presents a trenchant critique against postmodernism's celebration of the irrational. Must read, would suggest with Aijaz Ahmad's "In Theory" as well as Vivek Chibber's "Postcolonial Theory and the Spectre of Capital."