1) “The illusion of progress in the Arab world: a critique of Western misconstructions” “خرافة التقدم و التخلف” – Dr. Galal Amin
I enjoyed reading this book. I think it’s a genius and honest work of intellect. Hell of a ride! First time to read Dr. Jalal Amin and I’m hoping it’s not the last. So this book is about these false comprehensions we have when it comes to the idea or “myth “as he says of “progress”. He debates whether it’s reasonable to describe a country or countries as advanced , vs. others as backwards. Stating that this generalization of describing progress of a certain country, is not necessarily conceived as one in some aspects of life or so, but rather a general misconception of this country’s superiority in all walks of life.
How this believe and obsession over progress hasn’t been like that throughout history. For example, the ancient Greeks used to observe the timeline and history as circles of ups and downs, or this roller coaster. Not as a rigid line that is only ascending within time, or a ladder with each step forward leading to a much better place. “Ibn Khaldun” also agreed with this believe of the Greeks. He observed history or thought of it as a circular progress , its point of start is its point of end . As if looking to the history of mankind or human beings. We’re born , we grow up -it doesn’t mean we’re actually becoming better or progressing within this time- and then we die!
What we notice is that in individuals or humanity in general, it’s never perfect. And a progress in one aspect or field is accompanied by failures or lack of other elements. So we know that kids has strong and wild imagination with lack of other intellectual abilities or knowledge. As the kid grows older for most people this imaginative gift kind of resolves bit by bit, rationalization, knowledge and information take over his creative imagination.
There are economic, technological and military power that helped certain countries become who they are now, among the most powerful and leaders of this day and age. This power and status provide food, housing and clothing for each individual and the basic demands of a human are being fulfilled.This offers luxury of having absolute freedom to do whatever you want with this time on your hand and to follow your dreams and passions. So all that could fool us or distract us from the fact that there are other things that measure progress and quality of life. Take family’s sanctity as one prime example, are these countries practicing what’s right towards it? I feel like we tend to believe so 
!
Last of all, Freedom of speech and expression, nobody denies it and its importance for everything , including knowledge. Does that mean that not having freedom and the lack of knowledge in Arab countries is “the main and true reason” for our declination and devolution?!
Knowledge and Freedom, are two of the greatest gifts of all. And in life not all good things come together, so there could be freedom of speech and expression for example, but not knowledge and awareness that comes along with. If we have deceptive people controlling the media, spreading false truths and dictating education . On the other hand, there have been prime examples throughout history of having abundant knowledge during totalitarian regimes. We have the elite British universities such as “Oxford” and “Cambridge” that emerged during a dictatorial time, Europe’s renaissance era. So he states that maybe just maybe, these myths we’ve been feeding on, need keen observers and pondering to question the right questions and find new ,improved and true answers!
Anyways, I hope I did this brilliant book justice! I Highly recommend it !
2) “Al-Lahut al-‘Arabi: and the roots of religious violence “اللاهوت العربي و أصول العنف الديني” – Youssef Ziedan
I wanted to read this book so bad, so I finally came around and did it. I took a lot of information out of this book, that I can’t even fit in this review . Probably because I hardly read books of this genre, so it was all new and mind blowing to me. Whereas it maybe is a piece of cake for other – particularly in genre of intellect – passionate readers.
In its essence this book follows the ideas, efforts and developments of theology concepts and interpretations in Christianity , Islam and Judaism . Seeing them as different links of the whole chain. As they all were in the same environment , geography and with similarities in their belief systems more than you would imagine . Then he goes in detail about the connection between religion and politics and its ramifications throughout history .
In my opinion , he didn’t write in much detail about violence and its association with religion and politics , which was a major set back and disappointment . In general , I feel like the book is a great effort of a remarkable writer and researcher , but it lacks purpose. At some point all I had was these interesting pieces of information about different things, with no conclusion or some kind of answer for what appears to be a big issue or question . Maybe that was his point all along , who knows ?! This state of confusion you’re left with upon reading the book , resembles and mirrors the state of confusion in all ideologies , belief systems and concepts of our time !
3) “Women issues and Intellect and Politics” قضايا المرأة في الفكر و الدين و السياسة” – Nawal El Saadawi
What a book! I absolutely loved it. An empowering book about feminism, literature, politics and the rich life of this eccentric,interesting woman Nawal. Her storytelling is what kept me going throughout the book, feeling enriched and learning about all kind of places and people in the process. What I loved about her views, is that she is reasonable and rational , not the kind of an extreme biased and opposing writer.
Good-reads Account: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4770664-tasneemali
Movies , Music & Books Corner ♥ 