Work · Philosophy in the Islamic World
The Conditions of the Renaissance
Why the Muslim world declined and how it might rise again: civilisation combines people, soil and time under the impulse of a religious idea, and colonial domination presupposes an inner “coloniability”.
Introduction
Bennabi wrote the book in France and published it in Algiers in 1949. It sets out his theory of civilisation: a civilisation arises when a religious idea binds together the human being, the soil and time, and it declines when this synthesis dissolves. In the second part he introduces the concept of “coloniability”, the inner condition of a society that makes colonisation possible. The book calls for an inner renewal of the Muslim world rather than an imitation of Europe or a mere political struggle. It was translated into Arabic and widely read across the Muslim world.
Connections
Builds on
- Muqaddimah1377 · Ibn Khaldun
Taken up in
- Vocation of Islam1954 · Malek Bennabi
More works by Malek Bennabi
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