Professor Abdelwhab Elmessiri - Philosophers of The Arabs

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Professor Abdel-Wahab Elmessiri

Abdel-wahab Elmessiri (1938 – 2008), professor of English and
comparative literature, an Egyptian thinker, one of the critics of western
modernity, and a pro of founding an 'Islamic' version of modernism,
author of the Encyclopedia "Jews, Judaism and Zionism".
His Life
Professor Abdel-Wahab Mohammad Ahmad Elmessiri, born in
the city of Damanhour, in a province in the Nile delta, around 150 km
north of Cairo, on the 8th of October 1938, died on 3rd of June 2008.
Childhood and early life
Professor Elmessiri has been raised in a countryside wealthy family,

and has been educated in the elementary and secondary schools in his
town Damanhour. His father was a businessman, but he was keen to raise
his children on self-dependence. Dr. Elmessiri remembers this time and
mentions that this way of raising up has made me a stubborn and
dedicated researcher. (Islam online, Elmessiri speaks for his life).
Education
He has been educated during the elementary and secondary

periods in Damanhour, and on 1955 joined Alexandria University, Faculty
of literature, English literature division. He graduated on 1959 and
appointed as a tutor in English literature. On 1961, he left to the United
States to continue his higher studies. He earned his masters degree in
English and comparative literature from Columbia University on 1964,
and earned his PhD degree from Rutgers University in English and
American comparative literature on 1969.
Professional Career
After his return to Egypt, Dr. Elmessiri was appointed as a teacher

of English and American literature and critical theory at Ain shams
University, girls' college, Cairo. He worked as a full professor from 1979
till 1983, and as part time professor till his the end of his life. He worked
also as a professor in English and comparative literature at King Saud
University (1983-1988), and the University of Kuwait (1988-1989), and the
Islamic University at Malaysia. He was also a visiting professor in Nasser
Military Academy.
Besides his work as a university professor, he was appointed as a

member of the council of experts, and chief of the unit of Zionist thought,
in the center of political and strategic studies, Al-Ahram newspaper (1970-
1975); and as a cultural chancellor in the permanent delegate of the Arab
league at the UN, New York (1975-1979); and as an Academic chancellor
for the International Institute of Islamic Thought (from 1992 till the end of
his life); and as a member of the board of trustees of the University of
Social and Islamic Sciences, Virginia State USA (1993 till the end of his
life); and as a member of the board of trustees of the University of Social
and Islamic Sciences, Washington, USA (1997 till the end of his life). In
addition, he participated as an editorial chancellor for several magazines
in Egypt, Malaysia, Iran, USA, England and France.
Political Activities
Since his youth, Elmessiri was active politically. He participated,
during the period of British occupation of Egypt, in several political
movements and was involved in several civic protests against the ruling
parties as well as the British existence. His activities continued in the early
Philosophers of the Arabs - 2

fifties of the twentieth century, after the 1952 revolution, till his leave to
the States for study.
He resumed his political activities in mid nineties when he
participated and played a central role in establishing and formulating the
political agenda of the new 'Wasat Party' (meaning the middle or midway
party). The Wasat is a party that acknowledges the democratic live of
Egypt as a modern state, albeit with an Islamic background. This role can
be viewed as a means of expressing his philosophical vision in the political
arena. On 2005 he joined the newly formed "The Egyptian movement for
change" widely know as "Kefaya", and became its president on 2007 till
the end of his life.
Intellectual Journey
Elmessiri's intellectual journey goes back to the secondary school
period at which he embraced the communist thought and joined an
Egyptian communist party for some time. At this early stage, he believed
in the western modernist thought, in general, and the communist thought
in particular. This conviction continued with him until the time of his
studies at the states in the early sixties of the twentieth century.
Elmessiri during the sixties, in the States, both realistically and
intellectually, has witnessed the essential transformations through which
western modernity have been passing. This situation represents the
starting point of the turn away from his modernist convictions, in general,
and the communist convection in particular. He mentions that the
beginnings of his conversion toward the Islamic thought go back to 1963.
He adds that the essence of his view is that human being is a unique
creature and is not a material one, and consequently, equality and justice
between humans is an essential requirement, he says,
This essential vision is the common thread of all my writings, and in the
evolution of my intellectual life. My philosophical position has been changed
from one time to another, but the required vision is the same, despite the
change in the methods and means to realize this vision. Gradually, through a
journey that consumed thirty years I came back to Islam, not only as beliefs
and rituals, but as a vision to the universe, the life and as an Ideology. (Islam
online, Love is the start of my conversion to belief)
As a response to the Egyptian defeat by Israel at 1967 war,

Professor Elmessiri started his intellectual journey by his interest in
studying Zionist thought. He was at that time in the United States. His
discussions with his colleagues around this catastrophe lead them to the
importance of knowing the enemy, Israel. hence, he became interested in
studying Zionism cognitively.
From this starting point he wrote the first of his books, "The end
of history: an introduction to studying the structure of Zionist thought"
(1972), afterward, his "Encyclopedia of Zionist concepts and terms: a
critical vision" was published on 1975, which was followed by a series of
studies about Judaism and Zionism.
Within his efforts to expand his project, he decided to update and
expand his 'Encyclopedia of Zionism'; he thought that such a process
would take one or two years. Nevertheless, in practice he found that his
earlier version of the encyclopedia was analytical, concentrating on the
particulars and missing the wider collective and cultural view of the
Zionist project. Hence, he realized that he should seek a synthetically
oriented methodology to form a foundational collective view. The result
was his 8 volumes well known major and seminal publication "Jews,
Judaism and Zionism: a new interpretive model", 1999.
During working on expanding and widening his view of the Zionist
project he realized that a prerequisite of constructing a collective view of
the subject studying the social, political and intellectual as well as the
philosophical background of such a project. This meant studying the
modernist western thought with its philosophical and cultural basis.
Consequently, the intellectual project of Elmessiri has surpassed studying

Zionist thought and its social realization and turned out to be a critical
study of Western civilization, in general. Moreover, in the later period his
project has been expanded to present general thought concerning the
construction of a contemporary 'Islamic" modernism that is capable of
offering the remedy for the problems aroused by western modernity,
especially after entering the post-modern state.
In this period he published several studies in modernity critique,
such as "The problematic of partiality: a cognitive vision and a call for
new views" (1992), "The world from a western view" (2001),
"Materialistic philosophy and the dismantling of human being" (2002),
"Modernism and Postmodernism" (2003), and numerous other
publications.
Despite his wide philosophical project, the literal subject, which is
his specialization, continued to be amongst his basic interests and 'his first
love' as he says. Hence, he published "Selections of the English romantic
poetry: some historical and critical studies" (1979), "Language, allegory
between monotheism and Unity of Being" (2002), and several books in
Arabic and English in the literature of the Palestinian resistance. Dr.
Elmessiri has published a poetry work "the songs of experience and
innocence" (2003), as well as several short stories for children. On 2007 he
published in literature, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the poem 'The Rime of
the Ancient Mariner', with a critical study.
Children Fictions and his intellectual project

Elmessiri realized during his journey that the major problem of
western modernity is its failure to assert human dignity and values. He
also realized that this trait is transmitted to the subconscious of the
modern human being through media, especially during the period of
childhood. Therefore, he purported to plant humanist and Islamic values

in the subconscious of children through a collection of short fictions, titled

"Stories of this era". In his stories, the same cognitive view of Elmessiri's
project was impeded.
Gamal Hemdan's Effect on Elmessiri

Professor Elmessiri mentions that he has been under the influence
of the methodology of Dr. Gamal hemdan, an Egyptian geography
specialist and the writer of "The character of Egypt" a multi volume
seminal work. He says that
I read his book "Jews anthropologically" during my work on the

encyclopedia of Zionism, I have always felt a great admire of his method of
writing as well as his life which was devoted to his project. After finishing the
encyclopedia, I discovered that I was affected, to a great extent, by his way of
thinking. Most importantly, it is clear that I have learned from Gamal Hemdan
refusal of the one-dimensional materialist analytic method, as well as
depending on mathematical models in Human sciences; and learned to reserve
the value of intuition and imagination in the scientific thinking. The most
important, which I have learnt from him, is to get out with the Judaic and
Zionist phenomena from the circle of the Torah and Talmud and put it in
several historical contexts, to become multi-dimensional phenomena. I learned
from him how to uncover the general model from the collection of ever-
changing particulars, and how to abstract reality from 'realities'. (Jews
anthropologically, P 50-51).
His Philosophy
The central concept in the philosophy of Abdel-Wahab Elmessiri
is that of 'Worldview', albeit he uses several terms to express it, such as
'human vision of the universe', 'the cognitive system', and the
'philosophical system'. Based on this central concept, the rest of the

elements of Elmessiri's thought are formulated. One of the essential
elements, which is based on his use of the concept of 'Worldview', is his
distinction between the Western modernist view and the Islamic
modernist view.
The second essential concept, in his thought, is the 'Cognitive
model', which is the cognitive representation of the worldview. Hence, the
function of the cognitive model is to guarantee consistency between the
different elements of our worldview as well as consistency with real facts
under study. The cognitive model, in Elmessiri's thought, represents a
conceptual framework that is composed of a net of particular concepts
and a family of terms, which enables the thinker to use his model to grasp
the collective nature of the phenomenon.
Elmessiri's thought has a theoretical side as well as an applied side.
The theoretical one presents the basic concepts on which his critique of
modernism, and its results, is constructed. Whereas, the applied side is
represented by his treatment of the socio-political phenomenon of Zionism
as a part of modernity thought. Hence, Emessiri's thought is basically an
epistemological one not Ideological. For the epistemological thought
founds its concepts on theoretical basis that possess an epistemological
value, then constructs its overall view on it in an analytic/synthetic way.
This form of thought is usually referred to as 'foundational'. On the other
hand, the Ideological thought starts from fixed theoretical framework and
deduces from it its principles, hence, moves from up downwards.
Within this general framework, Elmessiri founds his work on the
wide spread thought of modernity critique, postmodernism, postcolonial,
and sociology of knowledge. Therefore, his theoretical basis is composed of
different lines of thought that already exist in Western philosophical
literature itself, and, hence, has its legitimacy and strength as a theoretical
basis. Over such a strong base, Elmessiri founds his conceptual

framework that deals with the inherent problems of modernism, from on

side, and the structural problems of Zionism, from the other.
Consequently, through these cognitive tools, Elmessiri's thought
can be characterized by its denial and rejection of the Western modernist
worldview, from one side, and by its advocacy of some form of modernism
that is constructed from an Islamic worldview, from the other. His refusal
of modernism in the way it presented itself in the past few centuries is not
radical. For, he does not refuse modernism as such, as an abstract concept,
but his refusal is to the non-humanistic nature that plagued modernism in
real practice. He supports his view, strongly, by the wide writings of
modernist critics, postmodernists and postcolonialists as well as, figures
such as Max Weber, and members of the Frankfurt school. Hence, his
alternative, which is creating an Islamic version of modernism, is based on
the idea that it is possible to correct problems of Western modernism by
adducing humanistic elements to the abstract idea of modernism. One of
the proposed sources of such humanistic elements, in Elmessiri's vision, is
the Islamic Worldview.
This general position entails two basic results. First, Zionism is not
a mere simple sociological movement; rather, it represents one of the
manifestations of western modernity, with all its anti-human inclination.
Moreover, if Zionism is in conflict with Arabs and denies basic human
wrights of the Palestinians in living free on their own land, then, this does
not represent a political struggle, but a struggle between Western
modernist view and the Islamic worldview. The second is the necessity to
construct the counter Islamic view of modernism, not on the basis of the
traditional Islamic thought, but on the basis of our contemporary Islamic
'modern thought'.
In his words, Elmessiri explains how he relates his general view of
Western modernism to Zionism, as a realistic manifestation of this view,
as follows,

I came back to the topic on 1980 when I wrote my book "The Zionist
Ideology: a case study in sociology of knowledge", in two parts. In this book, I
deepened the cognitive and civilizational dimension of my study of Zionism
and I stressed on the importance to study the Nazi's phenomenon in the same
way, such that it should be looked at both Zionism and Nazism as part of the
western thought and the western civilization. Hence, it is not possible to study
any of them in isolation from the different currents of thought of Western
civilization. In addition, I pointed out in the second part in a section titled
"Zionism and Nazism" that Western studies in the subject rarely exceed the
political and apologetic dimension. These studies have failed to realize that
Nazism was not an aberration from the essence of Western civilization, rather,
it was an essential current in it, as much as Zionism was. (Zionism and Nazism
and the end of history: 13).
The Philosophical Project

On this basis, it can be said that Elmessiri's project has four basic
sides. The first is his methodology which is based upon the concepts of 'the
view of the universe' (or Worldview), and the 'cognitive model' and on his
view of using philosophical terms.
The second is his critique of western modernity, which is based on
contemporary literature of modernity critique and postmodernism.
However, Elmessiri did not follow the same rout of such a literature;
rather he developed a different rout. He introduced new dimensions of
criticism based on his own interpretation of enlightenment thought and
the meaning of 'Secularism' as well as his explanation of the evolutionary
side of modernism.
The third side of his project is his treatment of the Zionist thought
and movement on an epistemological and cognitive basis as an application
of his critical view of modern thought. Elmessiri analyses Zionism both on
the level of its theoretical categories as well as on the social and political

levels of real life. The fourth and final side of his project is his
introduction of a specific view for constructing a contemporary Islamic
version of modernism that, in his view, corrects the insane problematic of
western modernism.
1- His methodology
Elmessiri's methodology is composed of four elements. These

elements integrate together in his writings in an aim to grasp a deep, most
general and collective view of the studied phenomena. Following is a brief
description of these four elements delineated from his own writings:
The concept of Worldview
According to Elmessiri the essential aspect of any worldview, or

cognitive model, is the absolute reference, or the absolute source of
knowledge. This absolute may be either separate and independent from
the universe, or latent and inherent in it.
"Every cognitive system revolves around an absolute, meaning 'a final

pivot' or 'an end base'. It is also possible to define the absolute as the center that
exceeds all the parts and nothing exceeds it, and that it is which its existence
leads to the integration of the parts of the system, it is the source of unity and
coordination of the system, and the final metaphysical reference of it. In
addition, this absolute center is accepted by the followers of this system
without questioning or argument. (Zionism, Nazism and the end of
history:232)
In addition, the 'worldview' has specific aspects that designate it,

and can be formulated philosophically. However, because we cannot
express in a complete way such a Worldview, this formulation becomes a
'model' of the it. And because its function is to be used to 'know' the
world, then it becomes a 'cognitive model'. He expresses this as follows;

We belief that there is a cognitive model stands behind every verbal or

human phenomenon. This model is the source of unity behind diversity, it is
what binds together all the details to acquire a meaning and become a part of
whole, not mere new information. The model is the specific delineation in a
specified context of the human view of universe, which revolves around three
pivots: God – Human being – Nature, which in turn are in deep conjunction,
for they are mere three faces of the same phenomenon. Our comprehension of
this conjunction is what makes us see that the move from the linguistic (the
allegoric pictures and the relation of denotation to meaning) to the religious (
the view of God) to the psychic (the content of comprehension) is coherent
with our methodology, which is analyzing the cognitive models. (Language
and allegory between monotheism and unity of existence: 5)
The Use of Allegoric Models in Worldview
Elmessiri in his analysis of the different phenomena makes use of a

methodological tool termed 'the analytic model'. The 'analytic model' is a
concept, which is to be formulated from the phenomena itself in an
'Inductive-intuitive' fashion in order to be used to study the subject. The
concept of the 'analytic model', in this meaning is a concept that purports
to deal with cases, which belong to human sciences. For, phenomena of
human sciences are not material and differ in its treatment from natural
science. This methodological tool appears almost in all of his writings
when analyzing different subjects, for example he says,
The nature of the method, which is used in this study, is to try to

achieve a definition of the 'general secularism' by surpassing the partial
definitions and concepts and the discrete isolated phenomena of the term in
order to capture the hidden model that lies behind them all. And to uncover the
unity that lies behind the diversity, and to show that the different discrete
phenomena and the different partial definitions are no more than different
manifestations of the same model. Then we use the model (or the general

definition) to read other sides of reality. This means that the methodology of
analyzing through models does not take the form of a strait line, but takes a
spiral form: from the phenomena to the model, and from the model to the
phenomena and other terms. (partial secularism and general secularism: 8-9)
In the same vein says Elmessiri,
I used in this study what is called 'the analytic models'. A model is a

conceptual structure, which is to be abstracted by the human mind from a huge
quantity of relations, details, facts and incidents. Then, the mind discredits
some of them for being irrelevant (from the point of view of the researcher)
and keeps some others, and arranges it in a special way in order to be (from his
point of view) coherent in a similar way to real relations that exist between
members of reality. In other words, when we abstract a model, we consider that
it is inherent in members of reality, arranges it together, and gives it its form
and identity. (Zionism, Nazism and the end of history: 229)
Hence, the 'analytic model' depends essentially on allegoric

expressions, which bear the duty of connecting different parts of human
comprehension of abstract human phenomena. This conception of the
methodology of analyzing human phenomena is close to the Hermeneutic
school in German romanticism, such as in the works of Dilthey and the
centrality of the concepts of 'Understanding' and the 'hermeneutic circle'.
As well as, the works of Marten Heidegger and his stress on the '
hermeneutics of factical life'; and Gadamer's view of the hermeneutic
explanation of phenomena and his stress on the ontological nature of
events and truths, and that the interpreter is part of the subject of
interpretation.
However, in Elmessiri's methodology objective observation of
reality and objective overall vision of the partial definitions of the
constituents of the subject, are never based on a hermeneutic
interpretation. Rather, the process of 'Understanding' and

'Comprehension' is mediating between such an overall observation and

the formation of the cognitive model. Hence, facts and linguistic terms are
not 'interpreted' as in the case of the 'hermeneutic' interpretation, but
collected, as it is (from the point of view of the researcher), and
reformulated within a more general structure. This new general structure
represents the 'new' context within which the 'old' discrete and partial
parts 'gain' its new meaning. Hence, it appears that, his view is closer to
the 'Contexualist' view in philosophy of language than to that of the
hermeneutic one.
Holism in Scientific Method
It is also important to note that his methodology rests essentially

on his adamant rejection of the reductive analytic methods, which he sees
as plaguing the whole Western modernist thought. In his words,
The view of 'analyzing' and 'dividing' human phenomena, in order to

study it, is wide spread in some of the academic areas which pretend to be
scientific and objective, and in its name supports the strict divisions between
the different areas of human activities. We belief that such view is anti-human
and, even, anti-scientific. For, the duty of science is not to generate values or
impose restrictions on us; rather it is to help explaining the world for us. This
analytic, reductive vision is totally incapable to explain human phenomena, it
does not see a difference between human beings and nature/matter, rather it
views humans as part of nature, subject to its deterministic natural laws.
(Language and allegory between monotheism and unity of existence:7)
This anti-reductive holistic view of the scientific method leads him

to differentiate between the creative researcher, who has a holistic view,
and the mechanistic one who has a reductive view. The first has developed
an overall systematic view, which is composed of coherent parts within his
general view of the universe. Whereas, the second collects many partial
facts that are not necessarily related within one independent general view.
(Jews anthropologically: 10)
Coining New Terms
An essential methodological tool in Elmessiri's thought is his view

in formulating new terms and concepts that are needed to express the
general concepts, or the cognitive models, which have been developed in
an 'Inductive-intuitive' way. For, naturally, some of this 'cognitive
models', due to the nature of his method itself, turns out to be new and
does not have a linguistic equivalent. Hence, the solution is to 'coin' a new
term to refer to the newly formed concept. Consequently, terms such as,
'dwelled materialism'( which expresses the model "that the absolute
becomes the material itself, hence, it dwelled in it'), and 'concrete
materialism' in contrast of 'liquid materialism' (as expressions of the
model that differentiate between 'modernism' and 'postmodernism'), and
the 'functional groups', 'partial secularism', 'general secularism', etc, are
all coined in order to bear the meanings he gives to the models he creates.
See for example his explanation to this view and his detailed description of
the way of coining a new term in Arabic '‫( 'ﺤﻭﺴﻠﺔ‬pronounced hawsalah),
by which he means the sentence 'to turn something into a mere material
for use', (Zionism, Nazism and the end of history: 252).
2- Modernity Critique
We may divide Elmessiri's modernity critique into two levels. The

first represents the starting point for his thought in the subject, and
depends mainly on several sources of western modernity critique. Hence,
he depends on the writings of Max Weber, and we see terms and concepts

such as 'Western capitalist Rationality', 'disenchantment', 'the social

dimension of knowledge', etc. He also, depends on the well known
Frankfurt school, so we see terms and concepts such as 'the instrumental
mind', 'the one dimensional man' and 'alienation', etc. He also depends on
the post-colonial thought, so he uses terms such as 'critique of the concept
of the burden of the white man', and the role of colonialism in subjugating
and exploiting other non-Western communities, in addition to the cases of
mass genocide of indigenous inhabitants.
The second level of his critique is developed by his own thought
through his own constructed 'cognitive model'. Here appears his
constructed terms such as the 'dwelling materialism', hard and liquid
materialism, as well as his own interpretation of the concept of secularism
as a continuous process which moves forward from the partial to the
general secularism. These two levels of his criticism of modernity appears
in the following dialogue,
There is no contradiction in the beginnings, but there are essential

differences between the results, which I come up with, and those of the
humanist and critical current in the west. The starting point is the same, which
is that the critical current acknowledged the danger of the materialistic
modernism and the consumptive trends and the inherent danger in some of the
components of modernism, such as symbolization, alienation and the use of
human beings as a commodity or an element in a machine, etc. There is a
whole dictionary of the negative concepts, which led to the deviation from the
essence of the human being. I have been affected by all these things, and
opened my eyes on the problems that arouse because of modernity and through
it. But when I define the human essence I find it different from the material
nature; he is composed of matter but he also possess a divine bestowal.
(Dialogue: Elmessiri tries to found an Islamic modernism)

Therefore, we will present here his critical position of modernism in

accordance to the development of his thought. We will start by his concept
of modernity, then his view of its internal contradictions, and finally, his
developed concept of secularism, which expresses his deviation from
classical modernity critics in the west.
His Concept of Modernism
Modernism is a social concept, for it expresses specific

transformations that western societies have passed through during the
'modern' period. For Elmessiri the process of transformation continues
until today, but in addition, it expresses a specific view to the world. What
is important, in his view, is not the different manifestations of modernity
in the society, but the modernist view to the universe. Hence, He defines
modernity as a social process based on the theoretical thought of
Enlightenment.
However, the banners of enlightenment, which have been raised
by the modern European thought, such as freedom of human mind,
responsibility of the human being of his future, the use of science to the
benefit of man, etc, are all, Elmessiri's thought, accepted as such.
Nevertheless, the problem, as he sees it, arises when reality shows the
contrary of such banners. Hence, he concludes that the problem lies in the
wide propagation of these banners, which gives the impression that it has
been applied in reality, which is, in his view, not true. He adds that no one
refuses the rights of freethinking and the use of human mind, but the
problem lies in the kind of mind to be used, an instrumental mind, or a
human mind which is capable of surpassing the matter. (The thought of
enlightenment and its contradictions: 4)
Therefore, Elmessiri studies enlightenment thought in an effort to
explain its negative results in realty. H defines it as a materialist view of
the universe that revolves around a specific view of the relation between

mind and nature, upon which is built its view to history, ethics, beauty,
etc. And if every view to the universe is composed of three centers, nature,
Human beings, and God, then in enlightenment, Mind replaces God in this
trinity. (The thought of enlightenment and its contradictions:12-13).
Accordingly, 'Rationality', in the Western modernist view, is the
belief that mind alone without the support of revelation is capable of
attaining reality. And reality is the mere material reality, which is grasped
by mind through senses alone. Hence, mind itself is no more than the
material reality, and limited by it, and because of this, is capable of
founding cognitive, ethical and atheistic meaningful systems upon which it
can understand the past and the future and interprets them. (Zionism,
Nazism, and the end of history: 238).
Contradictions of Modernity
Elmessiri cites several problems that faced western modernity

and resulted in inherent self-contradictions. The first is the process of
continuous decomposition of its thought. A process that is expressed in the
fact that it started by asserting the centrality of the human mind
(enlightenment banners) and ended up by the centrality of matter (its final
reality). This is manifested in the continuous degradation of the roof of the
social values, from higher human values to materialistic body values
centered around sexual satisfaction. This problematic, in Elemssiri's view,
has been reflected in the contest between two types of natural modernist
models, both are classified as rational, the humanist model which assumes
the superiority of humans over matter and the materialist model which
assures its superiority over humans. (The thought of enlightenment and its
contradictions: 28).
In this degradation and decomposition process, the human mind
becomes a material object that receives negatively input from senses. This
is translated on the social level in that humans lose their particularity and

singularity and becomes a part of a huge machine, and lose control over
their own destiny for the materialistic natural laws. (The thought of
enlightenment and its contradictions: 35).
The second problem, which Elmessiri cites, is the problem of
skepticism and absolute relativism, which he sees as an inherent
problematic in Western modernism. Here, he makes use of one of his
'analytic models', namely his created concept of 'the surpassing meaning',
which is developed within his view of the problem of meaning. He
addresses this problem as follows'
Every thing has a center, without such a center we will not be able to
define for that thing a beginning or and end, and chaos and relativism will
prevail. Language, which is not different from any other human phenomena,
must have a center, otherwise the words (the denotations) will be in a complete
chaos. For example, any linguistic expression assumes the existence of a
present, past, and a future, a human volition, and a cause and result. However,
what guarantees for us the truth of such assumptions? The only guarantee is the
existence of something surpassing those assumptions ensures its continuity in
existence. This thing is the 'Surpassing meaning', the essential basis (the unique
principal, the Logos) for all the denotations, which stands outside (or
surpassing) it, for, it already exists before it, and is not plagued by this playing
with it. It is not part of the language, which cannot become a tool for
communication unless this dentations' playing stops at some point. The
existence of a surpassing denotation is the only way to get out of the world of
senses, evolution, and self-dwelled absolute and to stop dentations' playing and
achieve stability, and hence, be able to form philosophical, cognitive and
ethical systems. (language and Allegory between monotheism and unity of
being: 131).
These basic contradictions, in his view, can be traced in may areas

such as theory of knowledge, the relation of the individual to the state, the

economic system, the role of technology in the society, the concept of

history, the concept of advancement, and the theory of ethics. (The thought
of enlightenment and its contradictions: 27-60).
The Concept of Secularism
Secularism is an essential social value in modern societies. However,

social values can be defined on two levels, the procedural level and the
conceptual level. For example, democracy is an essential social value in
any modern society. Such a value can be defined on the procedural level
by the process of 'the neutral electoral system', and on the conceptual level
by the concept of 'freedom of people to rule themselves', i.e., the equal
participation in decision-making. Secularism is no different, on the
procedural level, it can be defined by 'separation between religion and
state', and on the conceptual level by 'excluding the role of religion,
including the religious values, from the society and the state'. It is true
that secularism experiences a variety of opinions; nevertheless, this
differentiation between these two levels keeps its validity.
This basic differentiation between the procedural and conceptual
levels of secularism is what Elmessiri's expresses as the 'partial
secularism' (the procedural level) and 'general secularism' (the conceptual
level). This division, on the basis of these two levels, is manifest in his
writings, for example,
The term 'Secularism' is, for several reasons, a controversial term, it

has been commonly defined as the 'separation between religion and state', and
hence has been conceptualized, commonly, on the exercise level. (Partial
Secularism and General Secularism: 15)
For Elmessiri, the procedural level does not cause any problem for
any society, or any religion, this includes the Islamic religion,

Hence, separation between religious and state organizations is a

process that is not limited to secular societies in any way, rather it is a process
that exists in most of the complex societies, in one way or another. The state
here, in reality, means some political and economic procedures, which have,
basically, a technical nature. (Partial Secularism and General Secularism: 18)
Within this basic differentiation, Elmessiri do not purport to reject

secularism on its procedural level, rather, he rejects only its all inclusive
conceptual level, in which religious belief systems are excluded practically,
not only from the technical dimension of the society, but from all other
'dimensions' including higher values, education, family system, etc.
Consequently, he places efforts to study the deep structural
transformations through which Western secular societies have been
passing in the last century, in order to uncover the conceptual and
intellectual side of the concept of secularism, he explains,
The appearance of secularism is not due to corruption of some clerics,

or the tight relations between Catholic Church and Western feudal system, or
the rejection of the scientific revolution by the church, the problem is much
more deeper. It is related to a deep structural transformation of the western
societies in the world of politics and economy, and the rest of the human life.
Those who participated in the appearance of such transformations did not
know to what extent it will affect the view of human being to himself, to God,
and to nature. (Partial Secularism and General Secularism: 22-23)
From his study he concludes that 'secularism' in reality has passed

through what he calls 'a sequential of models',
Partial secularism has been related only to the early stages of

development of Western secularism. But with time, through the realization of
the secular sequential of models, it has been marginalized, for, the rate of
secularization has been increased, and exceeded the areas of economics,
politics and Ideology, and became an overwhelming phenomenon, so that there

became no more space for general life that is not independent from private live.
(Partial Secularism and General Secularism: 19-20).
This escalation of the rate of secularization is, basically, a product

of one of the contradictions of enlightenment thought, which is the gradual
and continuous degradation of higher human values to the lower material
values. In this context, Elmessiri visions that this overall and all-inclusive
analysis of the different aspects of Western secularism has been missing in
Western thought. He notices that most of the Western studies deal with
such a phenomenon on a reductive basis, in which the different
manifestations of the phenomenon are studied separately in isolation form
its holistic view. However, he excludes Max Weber from this accusation, as
follows,
Perhaps, Max Weber is the Western social scientist who have been
close to the process of establishing the relation between all the terms and
phenomena of the concept, in a way that was nearly holistic through the
concept of 'Rationalization'. (Partial Secularism and General Secularism: 43).
These structural transformations are epitomized by Elmessiri

through one of his tools, the 'consequential of models' mentioned above,
which means a series of models that developed consequentially through
the course of transformations of modernity. These sequential models can
be listed, according to Elmessiri, as follows:
1. The center of the universe is to be transmitted from humans to nature.
2. The duality of human and nature is eliminated, and material monism
prevails, i.e., human being is to be dismantled, and his dignity is to be
stripped. Hence, Every thing, including humans, is to be subjected to
the logic of natural laws.
3. Humans become one dimensional, a functional one, stereotyped,
programmed, and alienated from their human essence.

4. Nature becomes disenchanted and the world turns out to be a space for
relentless struggle.
5. The world (i.e. humans and nature) becomes with no purpose, goal, or
meaning, and can be controlled totally through knowledge. And the one
who possess power becomes capable of conquering and exploiting it for
his own interests.
6. All societies meet together, at the end, to be subject to the model of
nature/matter, and technical rationality prevails, and history ends.
Elmessiri comments at the end that despite all this sequence of
transformation, man does not give up totally, and realize the crisis of
meaning, and may fall into nihilism if he does not formulate an alternative
to the materialist monist model. (Partial Secularism and General Secularism:
194-196).
3- Zionism
Zionism, in Emessiri's thought, is no more than a sociological
movement that constitutes an inseparable part of Western modernism.
Consequently, Zionism's thought is essentially a manifestation of Western
enlightenment's thought. Therefore, study of Zionism, in his view, is, as
much as every other sociological topic, subject to objective methodology.
Elmessiri, on this basis, studies Zionism within the framework of his
general view of Western modern civilization. As mentioned above, due to
this method, his position from Zionism is epistemological, not ideological,
one; its place is study room not political conventions. In his words,
The analytic Arabic discourse has classified Zionism as a Jewish

movement or phenomenon, and started to study it in light of Torah and
Talmud, and even Zion's Protocols. I believe that this classification has
weakened the explanatory power of our study of the Zionist phenomenon. For,
Zionism is a part of the Western Imperial formation in its settlement and
replacement side, it also expresses a 'general secular' vision which transforms
every thing into a subject for exploitation. It can be said that Zionism is one of
the most important secular creeds, which disguise under a Jewish dress. It is an
ideology based on several other secular ideologies, such as 'Social Darwinism'
and 'Nietzscheism'. This Ideology has put itself in the process of execution
through Western secular Imperial mechanisms. Despite that, Zionism has
recognized the value of the religious discourse as an effective motive and
transformed it into some general stereotypes, with some alterations. So, it
asserted the importance of the old Hebraic legacy (before Judaism), and the
non religious and non ethical Hebraic Heroisms. In addition, in many cases, it
transformed the heroes of the Old Testament into national heroes. (Partial
Consequently, Elmessiri asserts the faultiness of the conspiracy

view about Jews, which gives them supernatural powers,
The other book is called 'The hidden hand', it will be printed within one
month or two, a study of the Jewish secrete movements, an endeavor to explain
some of these sides in order for the Arabs not to fall in the idea of conspiracy
and relate supernatural powers to the Jews. What I am trying to do in this book
is to proof that Jews are humans, and that all the phenomena surrounding them
are human phenomena. (dialogue: Consciousness of the other is a necessity)
His study of Zionism, from his general view of Western modernism,

has been extremely wide, covering up all the factors related to Zionism as
a Socio-political phenomenon. It is not possible, naturally, in this limited
space to present a comprehensive picture about this wide study, which is
composed of eight volumes, but we can illuminate some of the basic
principles upon which the study rests.
We will present here, in brief, his view that Zionism represents a
part of Western modernity, and his 'analytic model' termed 'the
functional groups', then his view about the problem of 'genocide' as a part
of Western civilization.

Zionism and Western Civilization
In his study of Zionism as a part of Western Civilization and based

on its modernist thought, Elmessiri goes from the general to the
particular. For, in order to proof the general picture he had to, first, study
Western civilization in its overall view and abstract its basic tenets, and,
second, extract some examples that present clearly such basic tenets.
Hence, after presenting his detailed study of Western civilization,
Elmessiri picks up some of its most telling models.
The basic tenet of Western civilization, in Elmessiri's view is its
relentless inclination for domination and exploitation of the world. Hence,
as Elmessiri stresses, the most telling models of such a basic tenet, is the
creation of the United States and the extermination of its indigenous
inhabitants, the dictatorship of Stalin in the ex Soviet Union, and the Nazi
rule in Germany. These models, in Elmessiri's thought, are no more than
examples of other similar activities such as in Vietnam, Algeria, South
Africa, Australia, and lately in Bosnia and Iraq, etc, in addition to mass
slavery in the colonies, which constitute a continuous pattern and ideology
of the 'White Man'.
He then establishes a relation between the general case, i.e.,
Western civilization in general, and the specific case, i.e., Zionism.
Elmessiri concentrates on Nazism, as a representing model of the general
case, and on Zionism as a particular case. Here, the central theme in both
cases is the expulsion of the original inhabitants (or part of them) on the
basis of some irrational banner, the ethnic origin in the first, and the
religious origin in the second. He expresses his view as follows,
This is what we tried to do in this work, we study the deep structure of

Nazism and put it in its Western civilization context, and uncover its relation to
Zionism on the level of its deep cognitive discourse and regain Imperialism as
an essential 'analytic model' in all the modern Western phenomena. We say

that it is not possible to separate the modern Western civilization with its
general secularism and its materialist rationalism from its Imperial disposition.
(Zionism, Nazism and the end of history: 16)
In the context of describing the common factors of all the Imperial

phenomena of Western civilization, including Zionism, he writes,
There is a common phenomenon between Nazism, Zionism, and

Western civilization, in general, that is the rationality of the procedures and the
irrationality of the purpose. This phenomenon has been cited by Max Weber in
his writings. Apprehension camps in both Nazi Germany and Zionist Israel is
a good example of this side of Western civilization. These camps are organized
in a rational and 'methodological' way in which gain and loss is accounted
correctly.
May be the strongest evidence on the close relation between Nazism and
Western civilization is that the Western response on the apprehension and
concentration camps of the Jews was not, in essence, different from the Nazi's
crime. The West tried to solve the Jewish problem by creating a Zionist state
on the bodies of the Palestinians, as if the crime of Auschwitz can be erased by
the crime of 'deer yaseen' or the slaughter of Beirut. (Zionism, Nazism and the
end of history: 14)
The Functional Groups
The concept of the 'functional groups' in Elmessiri's thought is a

central concept and takes a big space of analysis. It is in fact one of his
methodological tools, a 'cognitive model' he uses to analyze the Jewish and
Zionist role in a totally rational and cognitive way. Here we cite part of his
detailed description of the concept, then a brief analysis for the relation
between the 'functional groups' and Judaism and Zionism. In defining this
concept he wrote,

The functional groups are small human groups to which the classical
society assigns different functions, which members of the society see that, for
one reason or another, they cannot do it themselves. These functions may be
degrading from the point of view of the society and is not viewed with
reverence in its value system (such as astrology, prostitution, and Usury), it
may also be important and prominent (such as medicine, especially for the
ruling family, and fighting). These functions may require a great deal of
neutrality and keeping with agreements due to the need of the society to stick
to its holiness and higher values. The society might use the human functional
member to fill a gap that might come up between his needs and his ability to
fulfill these needs (such as the need for new settlers in rural areas, rare
experiences, and the need for a capital). (Partial Secularism and General
Secularism: 269), and,
Members of the functional groups bequeath the functional experiences

in their specialization across generations and monopolize it, and even unite
with it. After importing the functional member, the following happens: a) a
contractual relation. B) isolation, alienation and the feeling of impotence. C)
isolation from time and space, and a false feeling of identity. D) ambivalence
and relativism in ethics. E) migration. And, f) centrism around the self and
centrism around the object. Within this circumstance, members of functional
groups become isolated alienated characters ready for being used, with no roots
nor loyalty. Nevertheless, at the same time they look to themselves and to their
relation to the society as a material to be used. The view of the universe of
these groups, in most cases, is a dwelling monistic one. For, the dwelling
vision makes the member of the functional group a point of dwelling by god
(and hence becomes self sufficient), and a member of a chosen people. This
makes it easier to bear his painful position and get into a relentless contractual
relation with the society. (Partial Secularism and General Secularism: 270-272)

Elmessiri then expounds the relation between the concept of the

functional groups and Judaism and the appearance of Secularism as
follows,
Members of the Jewish groups have participated in bearing the

secular thought and its propagation. It is important to assert here that they did
not do that due to their hidden purpose to hurt people, as it is a common idea,
but they have moved as a group in the framework of a Western social system,
which exceeds their volitions and inclinations. However, this does not immune
the human being from his responsibility about his deeds. For, he stays
responsible on the personal level on what he does. There are many Jewish
groups who tried to confront secularism and stop it. However, it is well known
that members of the Jewish groups have undertaken the role of the mediating
functional groups in the Western society, which built in them a dwelling
inclination and a disposition for secularism. We may add here that undertaking
this role made them one of the most important elements of the direct
secularization of the Western societies. They widened the space of
commutative economy, and they represented a very much moving member in a
society that was essentially characterized by being a stable one. (Partial
Genocide
Through his concept of functional groups and its relation to his

extensive analysis of the Western civilization Elmessiri studies the
different aspects of Zionism and its relation to Judaism. Here we will
present his view of the incidents of genocide which have happened during
the last European world war.
Monopoly of the Genocide
In Elmessiri's view the problem is not to admit or deny the Jewish

genocide on the hands of the Nazis, rather, the problem is that this

incident have happened to several minorities and functional groups in the

same time and circumstances. However, Zionism through the wide spread
media have monopolized this incident giving the impression that it was
only the Jews who have passed through it, in his words,
This study will try to accomplish its aims without reducing in any way
the size of the Nazi's crime against the Jews (and the Slavs and Gypsies and
others). For, reducing the size of the Nazi's crime constitutes a cognitive as
well as ethical failure. On the cognitive side, failing to recognize it means
failing to recognize one of the most important features of modern Western
civilization, its disposition for committing genocide. On the ethical side, it
represents the failure of a person who is responsible ethically who saw a crime
committed against a group of people and chose to keep silent. ( Zionism,
Nazism and the end of history: 16)
After admitting the cognitive and ethical responsibility in

confronting such an insane incident, Elmessiri then describes his idea of
monopolizing the genocide as follows,
Zionists try to monopolize the role of the victim for themselves alone
without other minorities and ethnic groups, so that they picture the genocide as
a crime directed against Jews alone. For this reason, Zionists and their allies
refuse any view of the Nazi's genocide as an historical model that exceeds the
case of the Nazis and the Jews. They also refuse to compare what happened to
the Jews by the Nazis to what happened to the Gypsies and the Polishes, for
example, or to what happened to the indigenous inhabitants of America by the
White Man or to what happened to the Palestinians on their hands. ( Zionism,
Nazism and the end of history: 94)
Elmessiri also discusses the question of the scientific research in

the incident of Nazi genocide, and sees that it is not acceptable to impose a
global ban on studying such an important historical incident,

Western and Zionist media attack strongly books that questions the
number of the Jewish victims, scientific or non-scientific, and accuses any one
declares his doubt around such number, even if he was a specialist scientist in
the subject. This happens despite that there are studies written by some Israeli
scientists in which they expressed their doubt of the number of six millions.
May be it was more fruitful to distinguish between the scientific and non-
scientific studies, and to open all the secret documents and archives in the West
and the East, to explore the accuracy of these results. (Zionism, Nazism and the
end of history: 98)
Elmessiri, then, discusses the way Zionist media has

manipulated the incident so that it becomes iconized as an incident that
defies rational understanding,
The west defined the meaning of the Nazi's genocide of the Jews in a
way that manipulates the general and particular levels and separating it from its
modern civilization's and political Western context. (Zionism, Nazism and the
end of history: 98)
The procedure of manipulation goes as follows:

1. With respect to responsibility of the crime; the crime becomes too
limited for the Germans alone, and at the same time becomes too wide
as a crime of the whole non-Jews as such.
2. With respect to the victim; the crime becomes too limited so that it
becomes against Jews alone, ignoring other victims, and at the same
time becomes too wide as a crime against every Jew in the world, not
against Western Jews alone.
3. After that genocide becomes an icon, which refers to itself and defies
any rational scrutiny, it becomes the source of the end meaning. At the
end, it becomes a metaphysical point that surpasses time and space.
4- The Future: Islamic Modernity

The futuristic vision of Elmessiri can be epitomized in the necessity

of constructing what he calls the 'Islamic Modernity'. This means
essentially to maintain the fruitful side of modernity, especially partial
secularism' while presenting the remedy for the insane and non-human
exercises of Western modernity, especially its general secularism. This
means that the concept of 'Islamic modernity' does not entail isolation
from contemporary human civilization, nor, reestablishing the same
'classic' societies of the old Islamic civilization, rather, it is a concept that
expresses participation in contemporary civilization on the basis of
preserving the culture of the self. Hence, the adjective 'Islamic' refers to
participate in contemporary human civilization and thought through a
creative thinking that reflect the 'Islamic' self as a unique major culture.
He expresses this view as follows,
This study hopes to be a part of a new current of thought in the modern

Arab/Islamic civilization that started to appear by the end of the forties [of the
twentieth century] and started to be crystallized lately. This current aims at
participating in the human civilization through getting started from the
Arab/Islamic civil and cognitive particularity. And we belief that the
Arab/Islamic civilization project, in its modern era, has been into a close ended
tunnel when it has defined its aim as to 'reach the west'. For, this banner meant
that the other is the purpose and that we become a means. Hence, we become
humans of the third class, in most cases, and at best of the second class. In our
endeavor to fulfill our aim we had to silence our creativity and drop our values.
Elmessiri clarifies his concept in another way in a dialogue

about the problem of modernization,
With this meaning, some of the Arab/Islamic thinkers try to make use
of Western modernity critique to try to found a new Arab/Islamic modernism
that makes use of the previous experiences of the others, their views, and their

mistakes, as well. We have seen the Western human being, moving within
modernist systems, accomplished what he accomplished and destroyed what he
destroyed. Now the question confronts us: are we going to make use from the
accomplishments, and avoid some of the problems arising from modernism,
such as the ascending rates of divorce, the fall of the institution of family, the
huge anti-human cities. Can we establish a modernism that does not lead
necessarily to pollution as a result of industrialization. Can we establish a
modernism that is not non-normative? A modernism that is based on reason but
do not exclude the heart? (dialogue: consciousness of the other is a necessity)
The cost of modernism
The motive for Elmissiri to present his view to 'create' a new

'Islamic' modernism is not only to preserve the Arab/Islamic particularity
but also what he calls the high price of modernism, in a dialogue with
Albagh newspaper says,
Modernity has, no doubt, a very high price, the modernist system has
succeeded in presenting itself and hide, till today, the price; pornography, no
doubt, brings enjoyment to the person on some level, but on the other side it
disintegrates the family and the society, at the end every body must reassess his
calculations. Consequently, I see that we have to open the file of the cost of
modernist advancement; we have to accumulate the cost of the disintegration
of the family, the cost of pollution, the cost of the recess of ethics, the cost of
the speeding up of the rate of live, which affects human health in different
ways. People must know that the great Western advancement is strongly
related to four centuries of depredation of the resources of earth through
colonialism. In my age, when I graduated things were clear, either you become
socialist or capitalist, but at the end modernity is Western. Now you search for
the socialist reference you do not find it, you search for capitalist reference you
find it in a crisis, in such a case you become forced to think. It was not a mere
chance that many like me have started their journey to come back to Islam at
the end of the sixties, which is the time of the beginning of congestion of
Western modernity and the appearance of postmodernism. Coming back to
Islam is a worldwide phenomenon and one of its most prominent
manifestations is that we started to acknowledge the importance and the need
for creative thinking and the correct arrangement of priorities. (Dialogue:
prerequisites of the contemporary Islamic activity)
His Concept of 'Islamic Modernity'
From some of his texts, we can extract Elmessiri's theoretical

concept of 'Islamic Modernity'. First, it depends on a specific conception
of 'rationality' in which 'rationality' is not taken in the Western modernist
view which means that humans are capable of possessing unlimited
knowledge of the world. Rather, reason has its limits; in addition,
rationality does not exclude human feelings and beliefs. Second, his view
rests on the 'separation-connection' relation between the material world
and God. This is in contradiction to 'dwelling materialism' (i.e. eliminative
materialism) and 'absolute idealism', where, in both cases, from his point
of view, distance is eliminated between the absolute and the relative.
Hence, both views are two faces of the same coin. Third, His view depends
on the differentiation between the procedural side of secularism (partial
secularism) and its philosophical side (general secularism). If this
separation is acknowledged then we can apply the procedural side of
secularism while depending, in the same time, on the Islamic humanistic
thought. Moreover, Elmessiri expresses his optimism about the prospects
of realizing such a view.
With respect to his view of 'Islamic' rationalism, he says,
Rationalism is the belief that mind is capable of comprehending reality
through the different comprehension channels, among which the strict material
calculations, but without excluding feelings, intuition and revelation. Truth
according to this view might be simple material truth, or complex human one,

or truths that cut with the natural system. Hence, it is possible for this mind to
comprehend the known and does not refuse the unknown. This mind
understands completely that it does not found cognitive or ethical systems, it
receives some of the primary ideas and formulates it on the basis of a pre-
existing cognitive and ethical system. (Zionism, Nazism and the end of history:
238)
With respect to the 'separation-connection' relation between the

world and God, says,
We may say that the essence of the Islamic monistic system is its
concept of the 'distance', which asserts the separation and connection between
the creator and the creature. God is like no other, a complete empirical
absence, can not be comprehended through our senses, but at the same time, he
is closer to us from our own veins without being part of us and hence part of
the world of change. (language and Allegory between monotheism and unity of
being: 131).
With respect to the foundation of a modern society on the basis

of an Islamic ethics, says,
Western material modernism dismantles the human being and

transforms it into something that is not human, that is what I do not agree with.
Rather my discourse is optimistic and finds the solution in surpassing the
material surface and to start looking to the world as inclusive of ethical and
humanistic systems, which exists in general in Islam, and in other humanistic
philosophies even if it were atheistic. Therefore, I always say that I am ready to
cooperate with an atheistic humanist thinker who believes in absolute ethical
values, believes in equality between humans. Naturally, I do not see that he has
a strong philosophical basis, but we can discuss that in specialized
conventions. But when we found a social contract I am very much ready to
establish a relation with him as long as he is ready to found a society on ethical

basis, I see it Islamic and he sees it humanistic as such. (dialogue: Elmessiri

tries to found an Islamic modernism)
In another dialogue, he explains how secularism can be applied in

the Arab/Islamic societies on the basis of his distinction between partial
and general secularism,
I differentiate between partial and general secularism; most of those

who call themselves the Arabic secularists believe in the partial secularism,
i.e., secularism of only, the political domain, and some of them believe in the
ethical values, and the religious values as well. This is on the contrary of the
general secularism which secularizes all the domains: the relation between man
and woman, between him and his body, food, etc.
I think if we put this into consideration the discourse between

secularists and religious people would take a different form. For, there is a
wide common area, there is secularism of politics, which means official
religious symbols should not sit in the ministry of foreign affairs, or defense,
for example. Most of the religious people would accept that; they would see
that the relation of religion to politics is not direct, rather, it is a relation
through religious values. The procedural every day politics is left for the
professionals. However, to decide to launch a war and evaluate whether it is a
just war or not is something else. In this case, we revert to the absolute ethical
and religious values. In such a case specialists are not capable of taking the
decision, for the mind of the specialist is instrumental. In this way, we can
formulate a new social contract. (dialogue: consciousness of the other is a
necessity)

His Works
Works Published in Arabic
On Modernity Thought
• The Profane Paradise: Studies and Impressions on the American Civilization,

the Arabic establishment of studies and publishing, Beirut, 1979.
• The Secrete Societies in the World, Dar Elhelal, Elhelal Book, Cairo, 1993.
• The problematic of partiality: a cognitive vision and a call for new views,
authoring and editing, two volumes, the Engineers' Syndicate, Cairo, 1993,
International Institute for Islamic Thought, Washington, 1996).
• The thought of enlightenment and its contradictions, Dar Nahdat Masr, Cairo,
1999.
• The Issue of the Woman between Freedom and Female Centrism, Dar Nahdat
Masr, Cairo, 1999.
• Secularism Under Scrutiny, with Dr. Aziz Al'azma, Dar Elfikr, Damascus,
2000.
• The World from a Western View, Dar Elhelal, Elhelal Book, Cairo, 2001.
• Humans, Civilization and the Complex Models: a theoretical and Practical
study, Dar Elhelal, Elhelal Book, 2002.
• The Materialist Philosophy and Dismantling of Humans, Dar elfikr, Damascus,
2002.
• Language and allegory between monotheism and unity of existence, Dar
Elshorouk, Cairo, 2002.
• Partial Secularism and General Secularism, two volumes, Dar Elshorouk,
Cairo, 2002, 2005.
• Zionism and the Modern Western Civilization, Dar Elhelal, Elhelal Book,
Cairo, 2003.
• A Defense of Human: a theoretical and practical study in complex models, Dar
Elshorouk, Cairo, 2003.

• Modernism and Postmodernism, with Dr. Fathi Eltereiki, Dar Elfikr,

Damascus, 2003.
• A Cognitive Studies in Western Modernism, Dar Elshorouk, Cairo, 2006.
On Zionist Thought
• The End of History: an introduction to study the structure of the Zionist

thought, Al-Ahram center for political and strategic studies, Cairo, 1972, the
Arabic establishment of studies and publishing, Beirut, 1979.
• The Encyclopedia of Zionist Terms and Concepts: a critical vision, , Al-
Ahram center for political and strategic studies, Cairo, 1972.
• Jewish Minorities between Commerce and Nationalist Claim, the Institute of
Arabic Researches and Studies, 1975.
• The Zionist Racism, little encyclopedia series, Ministry of Arts and Culture,
Baghdad, 1979.
• Jews, Zionism and Israel: a study in the propagation and decline the Zionist
vision to reality, the Arabic establishment of studies and publishing, Beirut,
1976.
• The Zionist Ideology: a case study in sociology of knowledge, two volumes,
the national council for culture, arts and literature, Alam Alma'refa, Kuwait,
1981, 1988.
• The Palestine's' Uprising and the Zionist Crisis: a study in the
comprehension and dignity, Tunis, 1987, Alfaneya print, Cairo, 1988, the
general organization for the book, Cairo, 2000.
• Zionist Colonialism and the Naturalization of the Jewish Character: a study
in some of the Zionist concepts and Israeli exercises, The Arabic establishment
for research, Beirut, 1990.
• Soviet Jewish Migration: a method in observation and Information analysis
(Dar Elhelal, Elhelal Book, Cairo, 1990.
• Secrets of the Zionist Mind, Dar Elhusam, Cairo, 1996.
• Zionism, Nazism and the End of History: a new civilized vision, Dar
Elshorouk, 1997, 1998, 2001.
• Who is the Jew?, Dar Elshorouk, Cairo, 1997, 2001, 2002.

• Encyclopedia of the history of Zionism, three volumes, Dar Elhusam, Cairo,

1997.
• Jews in the Mind of Those, Dar Elma'aref, Cairo, 1998.
• The Hidden Hand: a study in the secret destructive and secrete Jewish
movements, Dar Elshorouk, 1998, 2001, the general organization for the book,
Cairo, 2000.
• The Encyclopedia of Jews, Judaism and Zionism: a new interpretive model, 8
volumes, Dar Elshorouk, Cairo, 1999.
• Zionist Lies from the beginning of Settlement to the Aqsa Uprising, Dar
Elma'aref, Cairo, 2001.
• Zionism and Violence from the beginning of Settlement to the Aqsa Uprising,
Dar Elshorouk, Cairo, 2001.
• From the 'Intifada' to the Palestinian Liberation War: the effect of the
'Intifada' on Israel, several prints, Cairo, Damascus, Berlin, New York,
Electronic publishing, 2002.
• The Fall of Israel from Inside, Dar Elma'aref, Cairo, 2002.
• The Jewish Functional Groups: a new interpretive model, Dar Elshorouk,
Cairo, 2003.
• An Introduction to the study of the Arab-Israeli struggle: its roots, coarse,
and destiny, Dar Elfikr, Damascus, 2002.
• The Protocols, the Jews and Zionism, Dar Elshorouk, Cairo, 2003.
• On the Zionist terminology and discourse, Dar Elshorouk, Cairo, 2003.,
2005.
• The Zionist Comprehension of Arabs and the Armed Discourse, Dar
Elhamraa, Beirut, 2003.
• The Jewish Homogeneity and the Jewish Character, Dar Elhelal, Elhelal
Book, Cairo, 2004.
• The Concise Encyclopedia, two volumes, Dar Elshorouk, Cairo, 2004.
• Zionism and the Spider strings, Dar Elfikr, Damascus, 2006.

Literature and Critical Works
• Selections of the English Romantic Poetry: some basic texts and some
historical and critical studies, the Arabic establishment of studies and
publishing, Beirut, 1979.
• Palestinian, it was, and still: the hidden and recurrent subject of the
Palestinian poetry, self publishing, Cairo, 2002.
• Studies in Poetry, the International library of Elshorouk, Cairo, 2007.
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the poem 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner',
seven parts, printed in Arabic and English, translation and comments, London,
California, 2007.
Children Fictions
• The Princess and the poet: a story for children, Alfata Alarabi, Cairo, 1993.
• A collection of fictions, 7 stories, Dar Elshorouk, Cairo, 1999.
• Songs to the beautiful things: a poem for children, Dar Elshorouk, Cairo,
2002.
Translations
• Israel and South Africa: with others, the general organization for
information, 1979.
• The Land of Return, the general organization for information, 1980.
• West and the World, by Kevin Riley, translation with others, two volumes,
the national council for culture, arts and literature, The World of Thought,
Kuwait, 1985.
• Openings of the Calm, by Steven Soundaiem and John Weidman, translation
with others, Ministry of Media, Kuwait, 1988.
Biography
• My Journey from the seeds to the fruits: a non objective non subjective
Biography, the general organization of the palaces of culture, Cairo, 2000.

• The Songs of the Experience, Perplexity, and Innocence: a poetic Biography,

quasi subjective, quasi objective, Dar Elshorouk, Cairo, 2003.
Works Published in English
• Israel, Base of Western Imperialism (Committee of Supporting Middle

East Liberation, New York, 1969).
• A Lover from Palestine and Other Poems: Palestine Information
Office, Washington D.C. , 1972
• Israel and South Africa :The Progression of a Relationship (North
American, New Brunswick, N.J. , 1976 ;Second Edition 1977; Third
Edition,1980; Arabic Translation, 1980).
• The Land of Promise: A Critique of Political Zionism (North
American, New Brunswick, N.J. , 1977).
• Three Studies in English Literature: (North American, New
Brunswick, N.J. , 1979 (The Palestinian Wedding: A Bilingual Anthology
of Contemporary Palestinian Resistance Poetry (Three Continents Press,
Washington D. C. , 1983).
• A Land of Stone and Thyme :Palestinian Short Stories (Co- editor)
(Quartet, London, 1996).
Translated Works
• Zionism, translated by Louaa Roupary, an Iranian translation of the

encyclopedia of the history of Zionism, Gap wantesharat organization, Tahran,
1994.
• Israel-Africa Do Sul: A Marcha Deum Relacionamento, a translation
to Portuguese of the book 'Israel and South Africa: the development of the
relation between them, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, 1987.
• A translation to the Turkish language of a study in English titled, 'Toward a
more complex and general model of secularism, published in 'Secularism in the

Middle East', ed. John Esposito and Azzam al- Tamimi, Istanpole, 1997, ,
London, 2000.
Studies About Him
• A conference in College of Economics and Political Science about the

Encyclopedia of Jews, Judaism and Zionism , 29-31 Mars, 2000.
• In the World of Abel-Wahab Elmessiri, a book about his works, with
participation of several major writers, 2004.
• Emessiri in the Eyes of his friends and critics, an Honoring book in a series "
Honored Scientists", contains the works of the conference, "Elmessiri: the vision
and the methodology", held in the higher council of culture-Egypt, Dar Elfikr,
Damascus, 2007.
Awards and Honor Certificates
• Honor Certificate from the association of the Indonesian thinkers, 1994.

• Honor Certificate from Alquds University, Palestine, 1995.
• Honor Certificate from the International Islamic University, Malaysia, 1996.
• International Educators, Hall of Fame 1996
• Honor Certificate from the syndicate of physicians, Cairo, 1997.
• Honor Certificate from Albehera Governorate, 1998.
• Honor Certificate from the union of the Indonesian students, 1999.
• Honor Certificate from Faculty of Sharee'a and Law, Emirates University,
1999.
• Award of the best book, Cairo international fair, on the encyclopedia of
Jews, Judaism and Zionism, 2000.
• Best book award, Cairo International fair, on the book 'my intellectual
journey', 2001.
• Honor Certificate from FATH, Palestinian Organization, 2001.
• Sultan Al'owees award, United Arab Emirates, on his overall intellectual
production, 2002.

• Honor Certificate from the 17th convention of the Arab writers, Alexandria,
2002.
• Honor Certificate from the Arab Physicians Syndicate, 2003.
• Suzan Mubarak award for best writer in children literature, 2003.
• The Honor National Award in literature, 2004.
Articles and Lectures
Professor Elmessiri wrote many articles in both Arabic and English in

different magazines and newspapers, such as, Al-Ahram, Alhayat, Alsharq
Alawstat, Alsha'ab, Minbar Alsharq, Al-insan, Political readings, Palestinian
Affairs, Al-Araby, New York Times - Journal of Arabic Studies - Journal
of Palestine Studies - Al- Ahram Weekly ,etc .
References and Sample Texts

Following is a list of a sample of his articles and dialogues and some of
the articles written about him and some of his texts, most of this material is in
Arabic.
Articles
• Humans and History
• The cost of occupation
• The Israeli feelings in the post-Zionist era
• A disaster or a genocide?
• The Zionist state and World Jews
• The End of Israel
• Introduction of the New Wasat Party
• Arabs, Muslims and
the Nazi genocide of the Jews (in English)
• Modernism and the Scent of Gunpowder (in English)

• Progress and Science (in English)
Dialogues
• Professor Elmessiri to 'Althaqafia'
Elmessiri tries to found a New Islamic Modernity
• Alblagh makes a dialogue with Dr. Abel-Wahab Emessiri around
Prerequistes of the Contemporary Arabic Activity)
• A meeting with Algazira Satellite channel
Abel-Wahab Elmessiri..A journey of thought and literature part1
Abel-Wahab Elmessiri..A journey of thought and literature part2
• Elmessiri Speaks of his Life – Islam on line
• Dr. Abdel-Wahab Elmessiri in a dialogue with 'Albaheth Al-Araby"
newspaper: Consciousness of the Other is a Necessity
• In a talk to 'Culture Today'
Dr. Abel-Wahab Elmessiri: it is possible for modernism to live with Islamic
discourse with conditions
Articles About Him

• Elmessiri and the Conceptions Prolematic – Dr. Saad Elbazeghy
• Elmessiri and the rare moments of enlightenment – Khaled Alawad
• Centrality of Monism or defending the human through raising the 'philosophy
of surpassing' – Algazira Althaqafyah
• Elmessiri and Western Modernity – hagag Abulkhair
• Abdel-Wahab Elmessiri the exempler of the organic intellect – Dr. Mahmoud
Abdel-Fadeel
• The Philosopher of the thinkers and the layman – Fouad Elsaeed.
• Liberation of the Arabic mind from superstitions – Hamad Abdel-Aziz Al-
Eisa.
• Abel-Wahab Elmessiri and the interpretive model – the functional groups –
Abdallah Dalkus
• Emessiri defines 10 signs of the fall of Israel – Iman Abel-Mon'em.

• Elmessir: The protocols are fake and believing in it is a defeat – Islam online.
• Elmessiri: the Zionist conspiracy is a big lie – Islam online.
• Elmessir…a unique Arabic exempler of knowledge integration – Basiouny
Fathy
• Elmessiri books an effective weapon against Zionism – Samira Sulaiman.
• Jury decision, Professor Abdel-Wahab Elmessiri – the winner of the
humanistic and futuristic award, 2000-2001, Sultan bin Ali Al'ewas cultural
foundation.
• Elmessiri; the last leave – Sayar Algameel.
• Abdel-Wahab El-Messiri: A scholar and three wolves (in English)
• In memoriam: Dr Abdelwahab El-Messiri (in English)
Selected Texts of His Works

• The term 'Secularism' – a chapter of his book 'Secularism under scrutiny'.
• Some internal contradictions in enlightenment thought – a chapter from his
book 'Enlightenment and its contradictions'.
• The Zionist criticism of the Jewish character – a chapter from his book
'Zionism and violence'
Sources
• The site of Abdel-Wahab Elmessiri
By: Samir Abuzaid

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Philosophers of the Arabs www.arabphilosophers.

Professor Abdel-Wahab Elmessiri

Childhood and early life

Professor Elmessiri has been raised in a countryside wealthy family,

He has been educated during the elementary and secondary

After his return to Egypt, Dr. Elmessiri was appointed as a teacher

Besides his work as a university professor, he was appointed as a

Philosophers of the Arabs - 2

As a response to the Egyptian defeat by Israel at 1967 war,

Consequently, the intellectual project of Elmessiri has surpassed studying

Children Fictions and his intellectual project

Philosophers of the Arabs - 5

in the subconscious of children through a collection of short fictions, titled

Gamal Hemdan's Effect on Elmessiri

I read his book "Jews anthropologically" during my work on the

'philosophical system'. Based on this central concept, the rest of the

Philosophers of the Arabs - 7

framework that deals with the inherent problems of modernism, from on

Philosophers of the Arabs - 8

The Philosophical Project

Philosophers of the Arabs - 9

Elmessiri's methodology is composed of four elements. These

The concept of Worldview

According to Elmessiri the essential aspect of any worldview, or

"Every cognitive system revolves around an absolute, meaning 'a final

In addition, the 'worldview' has specific aspects that designate it,

Philosophers of the Arabs - 10

We belief that there is a cognitive model stands behind every verbal or

The Use of Allegoric Models in Worldview

Elmessiri in his analysis of the different phenomena makes use of a

The nature of the method, which is used in this study, is to try to

Philosophers of the Arabs - 11

In the same vein says Elmessiri,

I used in this study what is called 'the analytic models'. A model is a

Hence, the 'analytic model' depends essentially on allegoric

Philosophers of the Arabs - 12

'Comprehension' is mediating between such an overall observation and

Holism in Scientific Method

It is also important to note that his methodology rests essentially

The view of 'analyzing' and 'dividing' human phenomena, in order to

This anti-reductive holistic view of the scientific method leads him

Coining New Terms

An essential methodological tool in Elmessiri's thought is his view

We may divide Elmessiri's modernity critique into two levels. The

Philosophers of the Arabs - 14

such as 'Western capitalist Rationality', 'disenchantment', 'the social

There is no contradiction in the beginnings, but there are essential

Philosophers of the Arabs - 15

Therefore, we will present here his critical position of modernism in

His Concept of Modernism

Modernism is a social concept, for it expresses specific

Philosophers of the Arabs - 16

Elmessiri cites several problems that faced western modernity

Philosophers of the Arabs - 17

These basic contradictions, in his view, can be traced in may areas

Philosophers of the Arabs - 18

economic system, the role of technology in the society, the concept of

The Concept of Secularism

Secularism is an essential social value in modern societies. However,

The term 'Secularism' is, for several reasons, a controversial term, it

Philosophers of the Arabs - 19

Hence, separation between religious and state organizations is a

Within this basic differentiation, Elmessiri do not purport to reject