To accept the implications of Charlie Hebdo for what it means to be a Muslim today, writes the author of this book, is to deny the possibility of being the Muslim he wants to be: not his identity as a potential fanatic who upholds an increasingly irrelevant religious dogma, but his claim to a glorious part of civilization’s past to which he happens to have a birthright…
The twelve essays making up Postmuslim show what it means—subjectively—to be a secular, rational moral agent born into Islam in the last quarter of the 20th century. From book- and film-focused essays to involved commentaries on current events in Egypt, it uses the Arab Spring as a starting point for the many complexities and conflicts involved in the process.
They point to the possibility of being, at a deep and meaningful level, both Muslim and contemporary, and they demonstrate how the world order stands in the way of that possibility's realization.
