Abdullah Al-Qassemi: The Arab Embodiment of Western Thought

Abstract

Of all the branches that witness a hiatus of scholarly writing in the Arab world, a typical story of apostasy in general, and from Islam to another faith in particular, remains a prime example. The following paper is an attempt that endeavors to comment on, and intervene in, the turbulent and momentous life of Abdullah-Al-Qassemi. It locates Al-Qassemi’s intellectual and spiritual development from Wahhabism to radical atheism in his foray to historical opprobrium of the Quran and expulsion from Egyptian academic culture. This is the   first study devoted exclusively to Al-Qassemi’s conversion in the English language. It underscores his experience of atheism and faith, and offers, among other things, new insights into the peculiar social processes behind his apostasy. In a tremendous amount of scholarly writing, he succeeds to seamlessly give birth to some of the most controversial ideologies that the Arab world has never seen before.

Keywords: Religion, Atheism, Apostasy, Arab world, Islam

DOI: 10.7176/JCSD/71-06

Publication date:December 31^st 2023