Most recent articles by Rachid Boutayeb
-
Interview with Islamic scholar Stefan Weidner
Thinking outside the Western box
In interview with Rachid Boutayeb, Stefan Weidner complains that even the most critical thinkers of Western tradition have practically never looked beyond their Western horizons. Islam, Indian religions and philosophies of non-European cultures are virtually absent from this thinking
-
Interview with Hazem Saghieh
Beyond the Authority of Religion and the Rule of Family Clans
The Lebanese political analyst and opinion-maker Hazem Saghieh is one of the foremost liberal thinkers in the Arab world. He has just published a book in which he analyses why democratic modernisation has failed to make much headway in Arab countries so far. Rachid Boutayeb spoke with him on the subject
-
Mohamed Aziz Lahbabi's 'Muslim Personalism'
Draft of an Islamic Anthropology
The idea of the human being as an individual personality bears the deep stamp of the Christian religion and European culture. For Muslims, this way of thinking is not a matter of course. Moroccan philosopher Mohamed Aziz Lahbabi interpreted the concept of the person from the perspective of Islamic sources, generating a dialogue between the Muslim image of man and that of Western anthropologies. An interview with Markus Kneer, expert on Lahbabi's philosophy
-
Mohamed Talbi
''Religious Dogmas Terrorize the Spirit''
The Tunisian intellectual Mohamed Talbi is regarded as one of the most critical leading thinkers in the Arab world. In his most recently published book, he denounces traditional Islamic religious scholars and argues for a contemporary reading of the Koran. Rachid Boutayeb introduces Mohamed Talbi