… the great Tunisian poet, writer, essayist & translator who would have turned 75 today. A good friend for several decades, I learned much from him about the literature & culture of the Maghreb and the wider Arab world. (See my essay on Abdelwahab & his work in my Arabia (Not So) Deserta. And wondering why his book The Malady of Islam, which I co-translated & published back in … Read more Thinking of Abdelwahab Meddeb…
A street has been named for poet & essayist Abdelwahab Meddeb (1946—2014) in el-Omrane, his native quarter in the city of Tunis. I am of course very pleased that his hometown is acknowledging Abdelwahab’s life, though some more information, at least his dates would have been useful. I still regret that I was unable to be in Tunis on 11/5/15 when many of our friends gathered at the National Library … Read more Rue Abdelwahab Meddeb à El-Omrane
The Malady of Islam by Abdelwahab Meddeb translated from the French by Pierre Joris and Charlotte Mandell (18th installment) P a r t I V The Western Exclusion of Islam 33 Now that I’ve come to the end of this book, written in urgency, I would like to enrich the “testimonies against intolerance” collected by Voltaire to form the fifteenth chapter of his Traité sur la tolérance with two verses from … Read more Abdelwahab Meddeb: The Malady of Islam (18)
The Malady of Islam by Abdelwahab Meddeb translated from the French by Pierre Joris and Charlotte Mandell (17th installment) P a r t I V The Western Exclusion of Islam 32 That is the sickness of Islam. It has existed throughout history. It exists now. It is identifiable through the actions and words of the fundamentalists. But I do not confuse Islam with its sickness, even if I can see … Read more Abdelwahab Meddeb: The Malady of Islam (17)
Arab Culture, Cultural Studies, Intellectuals,Islam, Islamic Fundamentalists ·Edit The Malady of Islam by Abdelwahab Meddeb translated from the French by Pierre Joris and Charlotte Mandell (16th installment) P a r t I V The Western Exclusion of Islam 31 In a world in which interference reigns, on a planet subject to globalization, one must use the dialectics that combine the particular with the universal, the specific and the general, the … Read more Abdelwahab Meddeb: The Malady of Islam (16)
The Malady of Islam by Abdelwahab Meddeb translated from the French by Pierre Joris and Charlotte Mandell (15th installment) P a r t I V The Western Exclusion of Islam 30 Should we think back to the Ismailians when we recall the secrecy so complete in the conduct of the September 11th terrorists? In fact, the examples of dissimulation and disguise as concerns the Ismailian fidâ’is are just as impressive … Read more Abdelwahab Meddeb: The Malady of Islam (15)
The Malady of Islam by Abdelwahab Meddeb translated from the French by Pierre Joris and Charlotte Mandell (14th installment) P a r t I V The Western Exclusion of Islam 28 Sacrifice and secretiveness have often been mentioned in explaining how the terrorists acted on September 11. We should be careful when analyzing these two characteristics, and not try to shed light on them only by invoking Islamic history and … Read more Abdelwahab Meddeb: The Malady of Islam (14)
The Malady of Islam by Abdelwahab Meddeb translated from the French by Pierre Joris and Charlotte Mandell (13th installment) P A R T III Fundamentalism Against the West 27 I would like to take up again the question of the decline, and to understand the gap that separates ancient Islam from present Islam, to grasp the causes that led from splendor to wretchedness. Bîrûni, you will recall, contrasts the elite … Read more Abdelwahab Meddeb: The Malady of Islam (13)
The Malady of Islam by Abdelwahab Meddeb translated from the French by Pierre Joris and Charlotte Mandell (12th installment) P A R T III Fundamentalism Against the West 25 It was such an indoctrination that reanimated a caricature version of a Medinese utopia in the Afghanistan of the Taliban. The ridiculous regime of the Afghan mullahs was judged by Osama bin Laden to be the unique earthly realization of the … Read more Abdelwahab Meddeb: The Malady of Islam (12)
