Ralph Coury needs to read Albert Hourani's "Arabic Thought In The Liberal Age 1798-1939"

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Sep 8, 2020 at 09:30

Dr. Pipes,

In the case of, let us say, Egypt, and prior to 1798, illiteracy was rampant and Egyptians did not seek education in Europe. The access to the books of Islam was limited to the religious elite who enforced orthodoxy and ignorance.

However, Muhammad 'Ali's (1769-1849) plan to modernize Egypt changed everything and started the "Liberal Age." He paid for educated Muslims to travel to France for education and this is what he called البعثات and on top of the list was Sheikh Tahtawi and later on Taha Husayn. In the case of Taha Husayn he wrote his book "في الشعر الجاهلي " Where he proves that the so called pre-Islamic poetry was composed in later times in-order to explain what the opaque revelation or the Qur'an is saying. This was indeed revolutionary back then

The tug war between Islamic orthodoxy and "the liberal age" lasted until 1939 and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood and we know what happened starting in the 1970's and the rise of Islamism.

However, in the past 20 years the internet and the vast decline in illiteracy lead to the fact that young Muslims know what is happening in the rest of the world and they also can read the Islamic literary sources which are the worst enemy of orthodox Islam.

I do not think we are seeing the end of Islam. However, if Big Tech can censor the internet here in the US, I can also see the Islamists censoring the access to the internet in their countries.

So what should we expect? Only Allahu A'lam

Here is a link to Hourani's book:

https://www.amazon.com/Arabic-Thought-Liberal-Age-1798-1939/dp/0521274230/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=albert+hourani+liberal+age&qid=1599571457&s=books&sr=1-1

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