Politics & Prose at Busboys and Poets 14th & V welcomes Christopher de Bellaigue to present his new book "The Islamic Enlightenment: The Struggle Between Faith and Reason, 1798 to Modern Times."
De Bellaigue’s revelatory history of nineteenth and twentieth century Cairo, Istanbul, and Tehran challenges the prevailing Western view that Islam has come late to modernity. A former Tehran correspondent for The Economist, frequent media commentator, filmmaker, and author of In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs and Rebel Land, de Bellaigue presents a wealth of examples to show that since at least 1798, the Islamic world has been open to modern Western practices in areas including medicine, politics, and opportunities for women. At the same time, Islam has fostered its own visionaries and leaders, and de Bellaigue charts the achievements of the many feminists, journalists, philosophers, and independent thinkers who have contributed to the rich and transformative culture of an enlightenment Islam.
