to: Giulio Albanian - Future
The "bread riots" that is going through these days in different countries of the Arab world should be the season to operate a healthy discernment of those who have been in recent years, instances of civil society in countries of the Crescent. In fact, along with supporters of the Salafi movement matrix jihad (holy war) - Those that have dominated the international scene after the tragic September 11, 2001, occupying almost the entire media space, however - there is also another diverse array of thought reform that aims to embrace the values \u200b\u200bof modernity, with the intent integration with sound Islamic tradition. Unlike the Salafism, the modernist movement so far had not been able to manifest a unitary matrix, remaining confined in the semi-underground or underground circuits of the various tax regimes. That's why what happened in Cairo, as well as in Tunis, not to mention other countries where the insurgency is ongoing, has taken on a significance epic, having allowed this underground economy, made up of extraordinarily innovative minds to emerge from the slums of History.
Although at the time no one is able to make predictions about future developments in the Arab world, what is surprising is that in all these years, especially since the tragedy of the Twin Towers, no western country has ever had the good sense and foresight to support politically and financially this moderate Islamic intelligentsia. Leaving aside those that are unanimously considered the fathers of the so-called Islamic modernism, as the lawyer \u0026lt;black +> 'Abd al-Raziq \u0026lt;+ round> (1888-1966) or the literary critic Taha Hussein (1889-1973), there were many voices that revealed the need for change.
emblematic, for example, is thought to Qimanî al-Sayyed, a contemporary Egyptian writer, who defended his teeth rationalism, saying it is the heritage of the Islamic tradition, referring not only to thought the philosopher Averroes, but also explaining how a certain kind of rational analysis of the situations was one of the characteristics of the Prophet Muhammad. The word of the Koran, in fact, according to al-Qimanî historicizes embodying it in events and not keeping in a state of abstraction and repetition like the Salafis.
Another intellectual who has called for the renewal was his compatriot Khalil 'Abd al-Karim , which presented its historical interpretation, based directly on historical sources of Islam, as an alternative to the fundamentalist vision extremists.
What about the intellectual Tunisian Mohammed Talbi , considered one of the most distinguished thinkers critical of the Arab world? Denouncing the traditional Islamic religious scholars, he strongly supported the need for a contemporary reading the Qur'an, remembering, almost defiantly that "when they break the pens, knives that do not remain." Compelling is the thought of Mohammed Arkoun died a few months ago and considered one of the fathers of interreligious dialogue. Professor Emeritus of History of Islamic Thought at the Sorbonne in Paris, Arkoun had the merit to highlight the tensions and anxieties in the Arab world. Nationals of Algeria, he has passed into history as staunch defender of Islamic modernism and humanism.
Not to mention the likes of the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Egyptian Naguib Mahfouz , dead in 2006 at the age of ninety-four. Proponent of a progressive and tolerant religion, in contrast to the extremist tendencies in praise of hatred against the West, he understood that the mission of the writer is first and foremost in being critical consciousness of the people it belongs to.
What is striking out more by reading his works is a healthy realism that leads him to overcome all ideological and religious fanaticism. He considered himself a spokesman for the "Third World" and called for - these are his words - "a moral cleansing" of contemporary society, knowing that the eternal struggle between good and evil, good would still prevail. Mahfuz therefore opposed to the doctrine of the clash of civilizations, hating the abstract ideologies and rooting for the man in the street in the name of tolerance.
Another remarkable figure is that of Mahmoud Mohammed Taha , executed by the Sudanese President Ja'far al-Nimeiry January 18, 1985. His was a new way to read the Koran that led to the separation between the religious dimension of the Qur'anic revelation, universally valid and unchangeable, and political, linked to historical situations and therefore changeable. Taha therefore proposed reconciliation Islam and freedom of religion, human rights and equality of the sexes. Because of his vision of openness and dialogue in Khartoum was hanged as an apostate.
But that's not all. About fifty years ago, the father of the reformist Islamic Iran, Ali Shariati , said that contemporary Islam is in its thirteenth and fourteenth century, and if we look at European history of that time, we find that the Old continent had not yet begun any process of modernization. According to Shariati, to overcome the Middle Ages, Muslims can not think of jumping at the foot 'of five or six centuries, the coming of jet modern culture. "We need to reform Islam - writing - making it the driving force for liberation of our society still without a tribal social dimension, namely the East to the Middle Ages, while today it is the instrument used by reactionaries to prevent progress and social development." The words and the lives of Shariati, officially died of cardiac arrest in London in June of 1977 - although many believe that he was eliminated by the secret police of the then Shah of Persia - clearly indicate the path that must be follow.
In recent years Western countries have done little or nothing to publicize or these items to the world that any intellectually honest, every politician and every self-respecting journalist should be responsible for spreading the good and progress of the Arab world. Far from any rhetoric, men like the Iranian Akbar Ganji, dissident journalist symbol of the regime of the ayatollahs, they really think. Because of his papers, and participation in a conference on the future of Iran held in Berlin - where, according to the Iranian regime, had become "anti-Islamic propaganda" - Ganji was imprisoned from 2001 to 2006 in the Evin prison in very severe .
It is during this time that finds the strength to write, despite the sufferings inflicted by his captors, a political manifesto which advocates a boycott of presidential elections to replace the ruling theocracy with a secular and democratic government. In 2010 he won the "Milton Friedman", awarded by the Cato Institute, "to have made a significant contribution to progress towards freedom." There are of course many other reformist voices in the Islamic world. Suffice it to recall the Egyptian writer Faraj Foda , which has long fought for the secular state and the separation between religion and politics, and who was murdered by extremists in 1992.
One thing is certain: what is happening across in the Arab world is symptomatic of the malaise induced Islamism. In this regard it is illuminating the thought of Abdelwahab Meddeb , born in Tunis and professor of comparative literature at the University of Paris X-Nanterre. Meddeb, with great insight, explores the contradictions and limitations del'islam Salafi and, in particular, the underlying reasons for the clash of civilizations with the West.
In his latest literary effort, entitled The disease of Islam, denounces the stupidity of the fundamentalists who look to the West as to the cause of all evils. And there really reasons to sell galore, for example, Islam preached by the proponents of jihad must stop self-pity, because his social failures, despite the preaching of some crazy imam, are largely his responsibility. It remains, therefore, that hope for change, hoping for greater consistency from the West, champion of democracy. It will not give in again to what Martin Luther King called the sinful temptations of the "silence of the honest."
Although at the time no one is able to make predictions about future developments in the Arab world, what is surprising is that in all these years, especially since the tragedy of the Twin Towers, no western country has ever had the good sense and foresight to support politically and financially this moderate Islamic intelligentsia. Leaving aside those that are unanimously considered the fathers of the so-called Islamic modernism, as the lawyer \u0026lt;black +> 'Abd al-Raziq \u0026lt;+ round> (1888-1966) or the literary critic Taha Hussein (1889-1973), there were many voices that revealed the need for change.
emblematic, for example, is thought to Qimanî al-Sayyed, a contemporary Egyptian writer, who defended his teeth rationalism, saying it is the heritage of the Islamic tradition, referring not only to thought the philosopher Averroes, but also explaining how a certain kind of rational analysis of the situations was one of the characteristics of the Prophet Muhammad. The word of the Koran, in fact, according to al-Qimanî historicizes embodying it in events and not keeping in a state of abstraction and repetition like the Salafis.
Another intellectual who has called for the renewal was his compatriot Khalil 'Abd al-Karim , which presented its historical interpretation, based directly on historical sources of Islam, as an alternative to the fundamentalist vision extremists.
What about the intellectual Tunisian Mohammed Talbi , considered one of the most distinguished thinkers critical of the Arab world? Denouncing the traditional Islamic religious scholars, he strongly supported the need for a contemporary reading the Qur'an, remembering, almost defiantly that "when they break the pens, knives that do not remain." Compelling is the thought of Mohammed Arkoun died a few months ago and considered one of the fathers of interreligious dialogue. Professor Emeritus of History of Islamic Thought at the Sorbonne in Paris, Arkoun had the merit to highlight the tensions and anxieties in the Arab world. Nationals of Algeria, he has passed into history as staunch defender of Islamic modernism and humanism.
Not to mention the likes of the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Egyptian Naguib Mahfouz , dead in 2006 at the age of ninety-four. Proponent of a progressive and tolerant religion, in contrast to the extremist tendencies in praise of hatred against the West, he understood that the mission of the writer is first and foremost in being critical consciousness of the people it belongs to.
What is striking out more by reading his works is a healthy realism that leads him to overcome all ideological and religious fanaticism. He considered himself a spokesman for the "Third World" and called for - these are his words - "a moral cleansing" of contemporary society, knowing that the eternal struggle between good and evil, good would still prevail. Mahfuz therefore opposed to the doctrine of the clash of civilizations, hating the abstract ideologies and rooting for the man in the street in the name of tolerance.
Another remarkable figure is that of Mahmoud Mohammed Taha , executed by the Sudanese President Ja'far al-Nimeiry January 18, 1985. His was a new way to read the Koran that led to the separation between the religious dimension of the Qur'anic revelation, universally valid and unchangeable, and political, linked to historical situations and therefore changeable. Taha therefore proposed reconciliation Islam and freedom of religion, human rights and equality of the sexes. Because of his vision of openness and dialogue in Khartoum was hanged as an apostate.
But that's not all. About fifty years ago, the father of the reformist Islamic Iran, Ali Shariati , said that contemporary Islam is in its thirteenth and fourteenth century, and if we look at European history of that time, we find that the Old continent had not yet begun any process of modernization. According to Shariati, to overcome the Middle Ages, Muslims can not think of jumping at the foot 'of five or six centuries, the coming of jet modern culture. "We need to reform Islam - writing - making it the driving force for liberation of our society still without a tribal social dimension, namely the East to the Middle Ages, while today it is the instrument used by reactionaries to prevent progress and social development." The words and the lives of Shariati, officially died of cardiac arrest in London in June of 1977 - although many believe that he was eliminated by the secret police of the then Shah of Persia - clearly indicate the path that must be follow.
In recent years Western countries have done little or nothing to publicize or these items to the world that any intellectually honest, every politician and every self-respecting journalist should be responsible for spreading the good and progress of the Arab world. Far from any rhetoric, men like the Iranian Akbar Ganji, dissident journalist symbol of the regime of the ayatollahs, they really think. Because of his papers, and participation in a conference on the future of Iran held in Berlin - where, according to the Iranian regime, had become "anti-Islamic propaganda" - Ganji was imprisoned from 2001 to 2006 in the Evin prison in very severe .
It is during this time that finds the strength to write, despite the sufferings inflicted by his captors, a political manifesto which advocates a boycott of presidential elections to replace the ruling theocracy with a secular and democratic government. In 2010 he won the "Milton Friedman", awarded by the Cato Institute, "to have made a significant contribution to progress towards freedom." There are of course many other reformist voices in the Islamic world. Suffice it to recall the Egyptian writer Faraj Foda , which has long fought for the secular state and the separation between religion and politics, and who was murdered by extremists in 1992.
One thing is certain: what is happening across in the Arab world is symptomatic of the malaise induced Islamism. In this regard it is illuminating the thought of Abdelwahab Meddeb , born in Tunis and professor of comparative literature at the University of Paris X-Nanterre. Meddeb, with great insight, explores the contradictions and limitations del'islam Salafi and, in particular, the underlying reasons for the clash of civilizations with the West.
In his latest literary effort, entitled The disease of Islam, denounces the stupidity of the fundamentalists who look to the West as to the cause of all evils. And there really reasons to sell galore, for example, Islam preached by the proponents of jihad must stop self-pity, because his social failures, despite the preaching of some crazy imam, are largely his responsibility. It remains, therefore, that hope for change, hoping for greater consistency from the West, champion of democracy. It will not give in again to what Martin Luther King called the sinful temptations of the "silence of the honest."
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