Islam and Modernity

In this compelling book, Rafik Abdessalem unpacks two major lines
of thought. Firstly, he examines why many Westerners dismiss Islam’s
vast intellectual, social, theological and cultural heritage as flawed,
violent, rigid and fanatical, despite knowing virtually nothing about
it. He usefully traces the genesis of this attitude, focusing on how
scholars such as Weber, Habermas and others have helped to consolidate
the West’s view of itself as civilised, superior, developed and
progressive, and how the demonisation of Islam acts as a necessary foil
for these notions. Secondly, he explains that Islam is subject to a
variety of interpretive choices and schools of thought ranging from
legalistic fundamentalism, through rigid rationalism, to spiritual
Sufism. By treating Islam, secularity and modernity as distinct and
separate, rather than as interconnected and overlapping, Abdessalem
makes no attempt to reconcile Islam with modernity or secularity, nor
does he place one in opposition to the other. Instead, he looks at the
interconnections between these broad and complex subjects. Abdessalem’s
analysis is useful in encouraging us to rethink both modernity and
Islam, and their relationship with each other. In this rethinking lies
the potential for a better understanding of the geopolitics of what is
often called ‘the Muslim world’, including the MENA region.