Islam on the Street

Religion in Modern Arabic Literature

By (author) Muhsin al-Musawi

Not available to order

Publication date:

16 June 2009

Length of book:

304 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9780742566330

Islam on the Street deals with the popular side of Islam, as described not only in tracts and manuals written by Sufi shaykhs and Islamist thinkers from among the more militant groups in Islam, but also in writings by other, more secular thinkers who have also influenced public opinion. Muhsin al-Musawi explains the growing rift that has occurred between the secular intellectual—the forerunner of Arab and Islamic modernity since the late nineteenth century—and the upsurge of Islamic fervor in the street, at the grassroots level, and what these secular intellectuals can do to reconnect with the masses.

Preface: Islam in Literary Production
Chapter 1: Roads Not Taken: Arab Modernity and the Loose Ties with the Street
Chapter 2: Before Bidding Farewell: What do Narratives of Education Say?
Chapter 3: The Religious Dynamic: Recruitments in Political Vacuum
Chapter 4: Mass Culture Narratives
Chapter 5: In the Aftermath of Failures: The Reliance on Popular Religious Politics
Chapter 6: The Search for Islam
Chapter 7: The Bifurcated Poetic: Islam as Poetry
Conclusions
Index

This extremely rich study, based on an extensive knowledge of modern Arabic literature, presents a persuasive portrait of the ideological shifts that have governed this field over the past century. The critique of Arab secular modernism is refreshing and original, and the level of nuance and sophistication is largely unprecedented. A marvelous and comprehensive treatment of the culture of 'the street' in Arab countries.