Islam and the Middle East: The Aesthetics of a Political Inquiry

Mona Abdul-Fadl

Jan 1990 · IIIT

About this ebook

 Orientalism has traditionally dominated discourse on the

Middle East and thus obscured the human realities of the

region. This monograph addresses the inadequacy and validity

of existing theoretical perspectives on the Middle East. The

critique presented offers Islam as a unifying constant rather

than a sporadic phenomenon correlated to the flux of social,

political and economic conditions and argues that Islam

should be conceptually incorporated into any analysis of the

region.

The book defines the essence of Islamic civilization and

highlights aspects of the colonial encounter as a background

for understanding contemporary dynamics. Against a subtle

leitmotiv of contrasting imagery, it profiles the Islamic view

of the state, the role of the faith as well as that of the community.

Useful distinctions are made between the Islamic and

Western approaches to the area which should prove illuminating

to both the area specialist and the lay reader.

About the author

Dr. Mona Abdul-Fadl was born in Cairo, Egypt on Nov.7, 1945. She grew up between two cultures, the greater part of her childhood being spent between Egypt and England. She received her doctorate from London University and went on to earn her professorship at Cairo University. Her versatile interests cover a range of topics from Islam and the Middle East to political theory, epistemology, and feminist scholarship. She is also active in intercultural dialogue and is currently piloting a project on Western Thought at the International Institute of Islamic Thought in the United States. (1990).