Why Am I an Atheist

Bibliographic Data

ID12457482
AuthorsMeir Hatina (0000-0003-0113-5380, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume44
Issue1
Pages34-48
Publication date2024-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueComparative Studies of South Asia Africa and the Middle East (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1089-201X • E-ISSN: 1548-226X
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1215/1089201x-11141527
OpenAlexW4399202258
LanguageEN
References cited27

This article sheds light on a neglected episode in the scholarship on Egypt's intellectual life in the interwar period, as well as on the Arab renaissance (Nahda) and its intensive preoccupation with the triangle of religion, science, and secularism. The discussion focuses on a provocative manifesto published in 1937 by an Egyptian writer Ismaʿil Ahmad Adham, which called for a godless universe. Adham's challenge to established religions is framed within a broader historical and intellectual context. It raises the following questions: How unique is Adham's atheism in the Egyptian and Arab writings of his time? What can we learn from the public discussions of his views about Egyptian civil culture in the 1930s and its commitment to a democratic ethos? Addressing these questions from a comparative perspective in both Islamic and European history may contribute much to the understanding of Arab debates about the existence of God

Atheism · Context (archaeology · Democracy · Ethos · Islam · Manifesto · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Secularism · Sociology · Theology · African history and culture analysis · History · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Multiculturalism, Politics, Migration, Gender · Philosophy · Religious studies

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