The Challenge of Modernity The Quest for Authenticity in the Arab World Louay M. Safi. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1994, pp. 211.

Abstract

The question of modernization in the Arab world remains an inexhaustible
subject for debate precisely becau e it has not yet been resolved.
This inconclusive outcome continue to put the issue at the heart of concerns
in these lands. The Arab world is in turmoil: its political elites are
divided and at war with each other, social and economic problems continue
to affect and trouble the masses, basic democratic rights are still a
dream. In short, things are not at all well.
The acute awareness of this problem dates back to the setbacks suffered
by the Ottoman Empire in the eighteenth century. Intellectuals have
since been trying to diagnose and offer solutions for the ailment. In trying
to contribute to the debate, Safi thus joins an illustriou line of "doctors"
from Khayr al D"tn al TOnis1 through al Afgha.n1 and down to Malik
Bennabi and ijassan I:Ianafi, to mention but a few of the valiant souls who
attempted to rise up to the challenge.
Safi's approach departs from the right point. He tries to synthesize
western and Arab views on the modernization and to keep his discussion
as "scientific" as possible. But he makes no secret of his "ideological"
commitment, based on a conception of modernization as a "rationalization
process, i.e., an emancipatory project, aiming at eliminating the ...