Most recent articles by Muhammed Nafih Wafy
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Syrian novelistThe paradox of Colette Khoury
Syrian author Colette Khoury has died at 95. She wrote with unusual courage about women’s freedom, yet spent her later decades in the service of a regime that stifled the very ideals she once championed.
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Syed Muhammad Naquib al-AttasA life rethinking the foundations of knowledge
Malaysian philosopher and polymath Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas has died aged 94. A lifelong critic of Western intellectual dominance, his work has shaped debates on modernity and education across the Muslim world.
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Reform IslamTranscending the secular-sacred divide
Sherman Jackson's "The Islamic Secular" makes a compelling case for an alternative understanding of 'secular', which is neither outside religion nor a rival to it
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"A Slave Between Empires: A Transimperial History of North Africa"Decolonising Maghreb history
M’hamed Oualdi presents the story of a manumitted-slave-turned-dignitary in the Ottoman province of Tunis and the posthumous conflicts over his estate as a case study to deconstruct the modern history of Tunisia and the wider Maghreb region. Muhammed Nafih Wafy read the book
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Book review: Ahmed El Shamsy's "Rediscovering the Islamic Classics"How the printing press saved Islamic classics from near extinction
Ahmed El Shamsy's "Rediscovering the Islamic Classics" examines how a handful of reformist editors and intellectuals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries harnessed printing press technology to save a rich body of classical Islamic texts from the brink of extinction. By Muhammed Nafih Wafy
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President Sisi, the Grand Imam and Al-AzharEgypt’s eternal conundrum – reforming religious thought
How long can Al-Azhar University mount guard over orthodox Islamic learning, fending off Sisi’s attempt to assert control while also curtailing the influence of oil-rich Gulf states? By Muhammed Nafih Wafy
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Review of Leor Halevi's "Modern Things on Trial"Bottom-up fatwas – Rashid Rida and laissez-faire Salafism
Leor Halevi’s latest work examines how Muhammad Rashid Rida with his pro-capitalist and open-market fatwas promoted a version of "laissez-faire Salafism" at the turn of the 20th century. Muhammed Nafih Wafy read the book
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Bushra al-Maqtariʹs "Voices from a forgotten war-torn country"Yemenʹs chronicles of death and destruction untold
Bushra al-Maqtariʹs "What you left behind? Voices from a forgotten war-torn country" is a poignant record of the ongoing war in Yemen, woven with excruciatingly painful accounts of its hapless victims. By Muhammed Nafih Wafy
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When East meets WestDebunking the ʹclash of civilisationsʹ myth
Cultural discourse is littered with narratives that build on a number of false dichotomies, the most enduring being the exclusivity of East and West. The clash of civilisations, the superiority of one over the other, is an entrenched myth that not even globalisation and communications technology have managed to shatter. By Muhammed Nafih Wafy
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Islamic education in IndiaAll-female madrassas: Of women, by women and for women
A new breed of women-only Islamic seminaries in India are making the rarefied area of higher studies in Islamic theology accessible to girls, while introducing an eclectic blend of traditional religious studies and modern secular education. By Muhammed Nafih Wafy