The Absent Truth – Farag Foda
Author: Farag Foda
Publication Date: 1984
Genre: Political-Religious Thought
Subject: A critique of political Islam and a call for a secular civil state
Length: ~250 pages (varies by edition)
About the Author:
Farag Foda (1945–1992) was an Egyptian intellectual, writer, and professor. A staunch defender of rationalism and the civil state, he was one of the most outspoken critics of political Islam and fundamentalist groups. In 1992, after sustained campaigns of incitement against him by certain clerics, he was assassinated by extremists.
Core Idea of the Book
The Absent Truth is a sharp critique of the historical distortions invoked by Islamist movements to justify calls for the “return of the caliphate” and the “rule of Sharia.”
Through a critical and evidence-based reading of Islamic history, Foda dismantles these claims, exposing the gap between historical reality and the propaganda used to mobilize people.
1. Deconstructing the Idea of the “Islamic Caliphate”
Foda rejects the notion that the caliphate was an ideal political system.
-
He shows that most caliphs seized power by the sword, not through consultation.
-
He highlights the bloody conflicts among the Prophet’s companions and later rulers.
-
He stresses that assassinations, coups, and civil wars were the rule, not the exception—contrary to the idyllic image promoted by Islamist rhetoric.
“From the very first moment after the Prophet’s death, political struggle began in the name of religion—not in the name of God.”
2. Questioning the Call for “Rule by Sharia”
Foda argues that the call to “implement Sharia” is a hollow slogan, open to endless interpretations.
-
He asks: Which Sharia? That of the Prophet’s time? The caliphs’? The jurists’?
-
He exposes the contradictions among classical jurists themselves, showing the impossibility of speaking of a single, unified Sharia.
3. Religion and the State
Foda carefully distinguishes between religion as a spiritual value and its manipulation as a political tool.
-
He advocates for a civil state that separates religion from politics without antagonizing religion itself.
-
He criticizes the exploitation of religion for partisan or authoritarian ends.
“Religion belongs in the heart, not in parliament.”
4. Islamist Movements and Sacred Illusions
-
He accuses these groups of falsifying history and manufacturing myths in the name of faith.
-
He demonstrates how they fabricate a utopian “Islamic past” divorced from historical reality.
-
He condemns their practice of declaring intellectuals heretics and imposing religious guardianship over society.
5. Shocking Historical Realities (from his perspective)
Foda revisits the Wars of Apostasy, the Battle of the Camel, the Battle of Siffin, the arbitration, and the assassinations of the Rightly Guided Caliphs.
He presents them as evidence that political conflicts in Islamic history were entirely human struggles—not sacred wars.
Notable Quotes
-
“History is not written in Friday sermons, but in the blood of its victims.”
-
“The call for an Islamic state today is nothing more than a call to reproduce tyranny in the name of religion.”
-
“An illusion, when repeated often enough, becomes truth in the eyes of the ignorant.”
Purpose of the Book
-
To defend rationality against superstition.
-
To expose the emptiness of political slogans cloaked in religion.
-
To call for separating religion from the state, not from society.
-
To remind readers that secularism is not atheism but rather a safeguard protecting religion from political exploitation.
Reception
The book was met with fierce hostility from Islamist groups.
Foda was accused of atheism and blasphemy—even though he was not an atheist.
This campaign of vilification fueled incitement against him, culminating in his assassination in 1992.
For the original summary in Arabic
0 تعليقات