Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-241).

"Contemporary Islam is infected with a sickness that is cutting it off from the richness of its own tradition and history. In this impassioned, erudite and deeply moving book, Abdelwahab Meddeb traces the genealogy of this malady and at the same time powerfully demonstrates the pluralist tradition at the heart of Islam. In so doing, he dismantles the common misconceptions of both western scholars of Islam and Islamic fundamentalists, and offers new paths for engagement between Islam and the West." "Meddeb, born and raised in Tunis, and now living in Paris, approaches the rise of fundamentalism with a wide-ranging intellect that encompasses Voltaire, Nietzsche, Goethe, Kant, as well a deep knowledge of classical Arabic literature and philosophy. He is uniquely positioned to see the damage that has been wrought on both cultures by the alienation between Islam and the West. Meddeb shows us why it is imperative for the West to engage with Islam as a part of the Western tradition, and for Islam to look back, not at the letter of the religious text, but to the polemics, controversies, and debates that nourished Islam when it was at its peak."--Jacket.

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