In an opinion piece I wrote almost two years ago, I asked what is the zero point for contemporary Arab culture? My question was inspired by The Hubris of the Zero Point, a work by the Colombian philosopher Santiago Castro-Gomez, in which he considered René Descartes's 1637 statement that "I think, therefore I am" as the zero point of contemporary western societies.
Since that moment, Europeans began to become less reliant on religious texts and more on their own thinking to seek guidance and infer rules for societal, moral and ethical issues. As a result, a massive body of literature has grown in the West that addresses the complex spheres of ethics and morality as they relate to individuals, society and the state.
So, I went on searching for the zero point for our contemporary Arab thought to find very little written on the topic, with two exceptions: Elizabeth Suzanne Kassab's book, Contemporary Arab Thought: Cultural Critique in Comparative Perspective, and Ibrahim Abu Rabi's Contemporary Arab Thought: Studies in Post-1967 Arab Intellectual History.
Both books provide a good anatomy of contemporary Arab thought from Islamists to communists. In them you can read about the thoughts of contemporary Arabs such as Sadiq Al Azm, Farag Foda, Mohammed Abed al-Jabri, Constantin Zureiq, Nawal El Saadawi, Fatema Mernissi, Georges Tarabichi Mohammad Arkoun and many others who have either passed away or are at an old age today.
What transpired from these two books is that almost all contemporary Arab thought is a reaction to European modernity. There has been very little indigenous thought that has drawn on phenomena and observations from beyond Europe or that is simply grounded in domestic Arab experience. From democracy to Marxism to the notion of separation of powers or the separation of state and church, Arab intellectuals broke along the fault lines of pro and con camps for every thought originating in the West.
The pro-westernisation camp sought to advance either Marxist ideas or liberal democracy ones, with the former gaining more sympathy and traction not least due to its spread in other third world countries.
The anti-westernisation intellectual camp consisted primarily of Islamists from liberals who sought to islamisise westernisation, to radicals who sought to reform religion along anti-western thought. There was also an anti-western nationalist movement that was inspired by European fascism to fight European military and cultural dominance. Two pioneer activitist thinkers that left a long legacy in this camp are Michael Aflaq, who founded the Baath movement and Antoine Saadeh who founded the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.
The latter rose to power in several Arab countries and formed single-party military dominated states. What they all had in common though is European modernity as a point of reference. An obsession with European modernity has prevented modern Arabs from developing their own modern thought. There is therefore no point zero for contemporary Arab thought. There are no contemporary Arab schools of thought with whom to agree or disagree in university halls or on the pages of periodicals, magazines and newspapers, or a social movement that manifests itself in visual and performing arts. If the reader is in doubt, she or he can ask themselves whether there is any intellectual thought or idea that non-Arabs flock to our region to study? The answer is certainly none.
Therefore, in search of enlightenment, a young Arab woman or man today will have access to two sources of intellectual thought: a western source or a medieval source. Which source they go to will determine which side they take and what kind of life they will lead. As a result, young Arabs are alienated from their contemporary lives and feel lonely.
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With few exceptions, such as Nawal El Saadawi and Mohammed Abed al-Jabri, there are no contemporary Arab intellectuals engaging with their experiences. And even those intellectuals who existed between post-Second World War and the Cold War and who were busy adopting, adapting or rejecting the West, many have ended their lives in prison, exile or the grave. In fact, today the Arab intellectual when she or he exists is an endangered species.
Instead, what we have is two clashing public narratives. A new extremist narrative that proclaims a new collective memory, experience and persona for Muslims all over the world. The narrative can be summarised as a story of stolen glory and victimhood. On the opposite side, we have a narrative that equates western modernity with salvation; European enlightenment becomes the reference point for all of us and the church there becomes equivalent to the mosque and church here.
What is missing is a contemporary Arab thought that has the courage to look within and defy when necessary both medieval and European thought.
This is not a call to reject or to oppose neither western nor medieval canons, but a call to scrutinise, contextualise, deconstruct and to contrast our own experience as contemporary Arabs with those of other places and different times. For that we need more Arab anthropology and sociology and less Arab orientalists (who study their own history and culture from a western reference point) and perhaps more Arab occidentalists who study the west more critically.
A contemporary Arab thought that is grounded in contemporary Arab experiences from Casablanca to Dubai holds within it a promise of human enrichment. Arabs occupy a geographic and cultural space that overlaps cultures and ethnicities and therefore their experiences resonate with people in Africa, Asia, Southern Europe and Latin America.
In fact, a contemporary Arab intellectual project that examines the lives and experiences of young people, women, communities and societies in the Arab world will enrich the debate about justice, poverty, faith and peace around the world. In her book, Kassab makes the following observation: “More than any other regional debate, the Arab one has remained relatively unknown, misrepresented, isolated and stigmatised with exceptionalism”.
Sami Mahroum is director of the innovation and policy initiative at Insead in Abu Dhabi
Turning%20waste%20into%20fuel
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The Porpoise
By Mark Haddon
(Penguin Random House)
The%20specs
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The%20specs
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STAY%2C%20DAUGHTER
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAuthor%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EYasmin%20Azad%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESwift%20Press%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAvailable%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Results
4pm: Maiden (Dirt) Dh165,000 1,600m
Winner: Moshaher, Pat Dobbs (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer).
4.35pm: Handicap (D) Dh165,000 2,200m
Winner: Heraldic, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
5.10pm: Maiden (Turf) Dh165,000 1,600m
Winner: Rua Augusta, Harry Bentley, Ahmad bin Harmash.
5.45pm: Handicap (D) Dh190,000 1,200m
Winner: Private’s Cove, Mickael Barzalona, Sandeep Jadhav.
6.20pm: Handicap (T) Dh190,000 1,600m
Winner: Azmaam, Jim Crowley, Musabah Al Muhairi.
6.55pm: Handicap (D) Dh190,000 1,400m
Winner: Bochart, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
7.30pm: Handicap (T) Dh190,000 2,000m
Winner: Rio Tigre, Mickael Barzalona, Sandeep Jadhav.
Duterte Harry: Fire and Fury in the Philippines
Jonathan Miller, Scribe Publications
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
How Islam's view of posthumous transplant surgery changed
Transplants from the deceased have been carried out in hospitals across the globe for decades, but in some countries in the Middle East, including the UAE, the practise was banned until relatively recently.
Opinion has been divided as to whether organ donations from a deceased person is permissible in Islam.
The body is viewed as sacred, during and after death, thus prohibiting cremation and tattoos.
One school of thought viewed the removal of organs after death as equally impermissible.
That view has largely changed, and among scholars and indeed many in society, to be seen as permissible to save another life.
UAE gold medallists:
Omar Al Suweidi (46kg), Khaled Al Shehhi (50kg), Khalifa Humaid Al Kaabi (60kg), Omar Al Fadhli (62kg), Mohammed Ali Al Suweidi (66kg), Omar Ahmed Al Hosani (73), all in the U18’s, and Khalid Eskandar Al Blooshi (56kg) in the U21s.
Hidden killer
Sepsis arises when the body tries to fight an infection but damages its own tissue and organs in the process.
The World Health Organisation estimates it affects about 30 million people each year and that about six million die.
Of those about three million are newborns and 1.2 are young children.
Patients with septic shock must often have limbs amputated if clots in their limbs prevent blood flow, causing the limbs to die.
Campaigners say the condition is often diagnosed far too late by medical professionals and that many patients wait too long to seek treatment, confusing the symptoms with flu.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Biography
Favourite drink: Must have karak chai and Chinese tea every day
Favourite non-Chinese food: Arabic sweets and Indian puri, small round bread of wheat flour
Favourite Chinese dish: Spicy boiled fish or anything cooked by her mother because of its flavour
Best vacation: Returning home to China
Music interests: Enjoys playing the zheng, a string musical instrument
Enjoys reading: Chinese novels, romantic comedies, reading up on business trends, government policy changes
Favourite book: Chairman Mao Zedong’s poems
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The biog
Name: Gul Raziq
From: Charsadda, Pakistan
Family: Wife and six children
Favourite holes at Al Ghazal: 15 and 8
Golf Handicap: 6
Childhood sport: cricket
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
