Secularism and the Arab World: (1850-1939)

This work aims to show that secular Arabic thought is not a novelty. Spanning the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century when secularism became part of the political, social and educational systems in many Arab countries, this text studies the works of Salama Musa, Shidyaq, Marrash, al-Bustani, Ishaq, Oasim Amin, Farah Antun, Shumayyil, Zaydan, ‘Abd al-Raziq, Lutfi al-Sayyid, Kawakibi, Kurd 'Ali, Rihani, and Taha Husayn. The text shows how writers (both Christian and Muslim) took a secular stand, not only in their writings on the nature of government, nationalism and the socio-economic system, but also when addressing the issues of morality and religion in relation to society, education, women’s rights, language and literature, science, and freedom of thought and expression.