MODERNISME ELLER MIDDELALDER?
Libyan Intellectual Dr. Muhammad Al-Houni: The Arabs Must Choose Between Western Civilization and the Legacy of the Middle Ages By A. Dankowitz.
One Arab intellectual who has dealt extensively with the implications of the 9/11 attacks is Dr. Muhammad Abd Al-Muttalib Al-Houni, a Libyan reformist living in Italy. In a book published in 2004, titled The Arab Dilemma in the Face of the New American Strategy (with a preface by Tunisian intellectual Lafif Lakhdar), Dr. Al-Houni explains the basic change in American strategy since 9/11. He writes that unlike in the Cold War era, the U.S. will no longer support tyrannical Arab regimes that serve its interests. Instead, it considers the democratization of the Arab world to be in the American national interest, directly linked to the war on terror and to U.S. security. That is also why this new strategy will include efforts to promote civil society in Arab countries.
Al-Houni expresses the hope that the Arabs will cease to believe that life will go on as usual, and will recognize the change in U.S. strategy. Thus, they will make informed, correct decisions and will not be led astray by outmoded perceptions.
Al-Houni sets out in detail the factors generating Arab and Islamic terrorism, describes America's new enemies, and proposes ways to combat terrorism. He focuses on democracy in the Arab world, describing the intellectuals who oppose democracy and the factors obstructing its implementation. At the end of his study, he concludes that Arab societies are facing a dilemma: they must either sever their ties with their medieval legacy and adopt a philosophy of life and freedom rather than one of death and hatred, or else must sever their ties with Western civilization and reject democracy and modernity.
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