Postmuslim: Essays on Islam and the West

by Youssef Rakha

To accept the implications of Charlie Hebdo for what it means to be a Muslim today, writes the author of this book, is to deny the possibility of being the Muslim he wants to not his identity as a potential fanatic who upholds an increasingly irrelevant religious dogma, but his claim to a glorious part of civilization’s past to which he happens to have a birthright...The twelve essays making up Postmuslim show what it means—subjectively—to be a secular, rational moral agent born into Islam in the last quarter of the 20th century. From book- and film-focused essays to involved commentaries on current events in Egypt, it uses the Arab Spring as a starting point for the many complexities and conflicts involved in the process.They point to the possibility of being, at a deep and meaningful level, both Muslim and contemporary, and they demonstrate how the world order stands in the way of that possibility's realization.

81 pages

Published February 19, 2015

About the author

Youssef Rakha is an Egyptian writer | يوسف رخا كاتب مصري