BIODATA
Ali Harb, formerly a professor of philosophy, is a writer and researcher. Between 2002 and 2004, he sat on the advisory committee of the Arab Thought Foundation. His works include: تواطؤ الاضداد (Conspiracy of the contradictories), Beirut, Al-Dar al-ʿArabiyya li-l-ʿUlum, 2008; حديث النهايات (Talk of the endings), Casablanca, Arab Cultural Center, 2000; اوهام النخبة او نقد المثقف (Illusions of the elite or critique of the intellectual), Casablanca, Arab Cultural Center, 1996; نقد الحقيقة (Critique of the truth), Beirut, Arab Cultural Center, 1993; مداخلات (Interventions), Beirut, Dar al-Hadatha, 1985. Born in 1939 in Al-Babiliyya, Lebanon, Harb holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the Université Libanaise.
SYNOPSIS
Ali Harb has engaged in a thorough critique of Arab modernity from a sympathetic point of view, a critique aimed at dissecting the evolution of form and content in the Arab embrace of Western ideas, underlining its tendency to preserve pre-modern patterns of relationship with authority. While the direct impact of his efforts is limited by the intense academic tone of his work, his critique has been internalized by a new generation of thinkers.
EXCERPT (Translated)
The first [fact] is that Islam is not one, but multiple. It differs or is contradictory too, according to the Muslim population’s diversity, its sects and the opposing factions within each sect. We ought to acknowledge this reality if we intend to succeed in solving and containing the dispute in a peaceful and positive manner so as to rebuild what had disintegrated and cracked….
The second unmistakable fact, which is concealed because of narcissism and arrogance, is that Muslims were no longer isolated but had become receptive of one another. This was not triggered by a return to the righteous predecessors and a clinging to the covenant of God but because they had become assimilated into the world of modernity, its philosophies, values, systems and institutions, as well as its rational and enlightening horizons. It is when Muslims had recourse to jurisprudence and ideologies again for organizing daily life and confronting challenges that they had become overwhelmed with disputes and civil wars, similar to what is occurring today. Life cannot exist and communities cannot be built by imitating “the other” or following the predecessors, but through the creative invention of symbols, formulas, models, and instruments for our participation in the making of this world.
–Ali Harb, The Damascus Center for Theoretical and Civil Rights Studies, October 8, 2008.
EXCERPT (Original in Arabic- Link)
[ الحقيقة] الأولى هي أن الإسلام ليس واحداً، بل متعدد ومختلف أو متعارض، بتعدد شعوبه أو باختلاف طوائفه أو بتعارض أحزابه داخل كل طائفة. هذا واقع يجدر بنا الإقرار به، إذا شئنا أن ننجح في معالجة النزاع والسيطرة عليه، بصورة سلمية وإيجابية تعيد بناء ما تفكّك وتصدّع.
[...]
الحقيقة الثانية التي تُطمس من فرط سطوعها بسبب النرجسية والمكابرة، هي أن المسلمين قد فكوا عزلتهم بعضهم عن بعض، وانفتح بعضهم على بعض، ليس بسبب العودة الى السلف الصالح والاعتصام بحبل الله، بل بفضل الانخراط في عالم الحداثة بفلسفاتها وقيمها ونظمها ومؤسساتها وفضاءاتها العقلانية والتنويرية… ولكنهم، وكما يحصل اليوم، بعدما عادوا الى فقههم وعقائدهم لتنظيم الحياة ومواجهة التحديات، غرقوا في النزاعات والحروب الأهلية. لأنه لا يمكن صناعة الحياة وبناء المجتمعات، لا بتقليد الآخر، ولا بتقليد السلف، بل بالخلق والابتكار للعناوين والصيغ والنماذج والوسائل التي نشارك فيها في صناعة العالم.
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