Atiyeh, George and Ibrahim Oweiss, eds. Arab Civilization: Challenges and Responses: Studies in Honor of Constantine K Zurayk. (State University of New York Press, 1988)
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George N. Atiyeh’s and Ibrahim M. Oweiss’s edited volume of essays, Arab Civilization: Challenges and Responses (Studies in Honor of Constantine K. Zurayk) (1988), is a fitting tribute to its author, as it is also impressively wide-ranging in thematic content. It begins with two essays describing Zurayq and his work, one on his advocacy of rationalism in Arab thought and one on his ideas about humanism and secularism. These two essays are among the best in the volume. Part two, “The Classical Heritage,” lauds the accomplishments of early and medieval Islam through essays on the use of Islamic history, historicity in the Qur’an, Islamic law and equity, the political thought of Plato, Ibn Rushd, and Ibn Khaldun, al-Khwarizmi’s algebra, Ibn Khaldun as the father of economics, and a “Mamluk magna carta.” Part three, “The Modern Age: Challenges and Responses,” moves to a more eclectic collection of various essays loosely bound together through the broad concept of “Arab Civilization,” including an essay on the Memoirs of Nubar Pasha; Adonis as a cultural advocate; sociocultural change in Germany and the Arab Middle East; the Economic Structure of Bab-al-Musalla, Damascus; and the Egyptian Press under Nasser. While as a collection it seems more of a venue for scholars to showcase and publish their work, it is also an expression of cultural unity and pride that Zurayq embodied and tirelessly upheld throughout his life.
A second major shockwave hit the Arab world with the 1967 Six-Day War. Although there are always arguments about periodization and epistemic rupture - and though there are other significant historical events that influenced the shift in Arab thought in the years after 1967, including the 1972 reprisal, Sadat’s truce with Israel, the worldwide gas crisis, and more – it nevertheless remains the case, as mentioned in earlier essays, that Arab thought shifted markedly from 1967 forward. Part of this had to do with Cold War political alignments. A great deal more was the result of decolonization - the French finally withdrew from North Africa in 1962, and the British left the Trucial States only by 1972 - and the increase in local Middle East government corruption. But the Six-Day War, soon known as “Al-Naksah” (the setback), was salt in the already deep wound of Arab pride, self-worth, and belief in self-determination, and presaged a transition in Arab thought to radical critique and increasing Islamization, sometimes called “the Second Nahdah.”[1] Overall Arab intellectual thought reflected the broader regional sense of numbness and shock, often characterized as “paralysis,” or “blindness,” which pervaded in the immediate aftermath as Nasser stepped down and Egyptian General Mohammed ‘Abd al-Hakim ‘Amir, commander of the surrendering forces in the Sinai, committed suicide.[2]
The collection begins with two introductory essays on Zurayk himself, Hani A. Faris' "Constantine K. Zurayk: Advocate f Rationalism in Modern Arab Thought," and George N. Atiyeh's "Humanism and Secularism in the Modern Arab Heritage: The Ideas of al-Kawakibi and Zurayk."
Part Two, "The Classical Heritage" moves on to specific themes within Zurayk's work. Muhsin Mahdi writes "On the Use of Islamic History," Jacques Berque on "The Expression of Historicity in the Koran," Majid Khadduri "Equity and Islamic Law"; "Majid Fakhry, "The Devolution of the Perfect State: Plato, Ibn Rushd, and Ibn Khaldun"; Roshdi Rahsed "Al-Khwarizmi's Concept of Algebra"; Ibrahim M. Oweiss "Ibn Khaldun, the Father of Economics," Aziz Sourial Attiya, "A Mamluk 'Magna Carta'".
Part Three "The Modern Age: Challenges and Responses" continues on with Charles Issawi's "The Memoirs of Nubar Pasha as a Source for the Social History of Egypt"; Hisham Sharabi "The Neopatriarchal Discourse: Language and Discourse in Contemporary Arab Society"; Bassam Tibi "The Interplay Between Social and Cultural Change: The Case of Germany and the Arab Middle East"; Mounah A. Khouri, "Criticism and the Heritage: Adonis as an Advocate of New Arab Culture"; Ibrahim Ibrahim "Ahmad Amin and Abbad Mahmud al-Aqqad Between al-Qadim and al-Jadid: European Challenge and Islamic Response"; Irfan Shahid "Amin al-Rihani and King Abdul-Aziz Ibn Sa'ud"; Phillip S. Khoury "A Reinterpretation of the Origins and Aims of the Great Syrian Revolt, 1925-1927"; Abdul Karim Rafeq "The Social and Economic Structure of Bab-al-Musalla (al-Midan), Damascus, 1825-75"; Samir M. Seikaly "Imperial Germany: A View from Damascus"; Fauzi M. Najjar "The Egyptian Press under Nasser and al-Sadat."
[1]
See, e.g., Kassab, 345.
[2]
Ghassan Kanafani, “Thoughts on Change and the ‘Blind Language’,” in Ferial J.
Ghazoul and Barbara Harlow, eds., The View from Within: Writers and Critics
on Contemporary Arabic Literature (Cairo:
American University of Cairo Press, 1994), 43.
This collection of essays honors Constantine Zurayk, the beloved Syrian thinker whose work contributed significantly to Arab thought on nationalism, identity, and society throughout the twentieth century.
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