Of the nature of despotism and the end of slavery

By Abd al-Rahman al-Kawâkibî, Collection Islam otherwise

Living testimony of a 19th century intellectual, this book describes all the mechanisms used by tyrants to enslave their own people. The first and most fundamental, as the author reminds us, is that the tyrant must, like the killer who makes sure of the weakness and vulnerability of his prey, make sure of the ignorance of the people he governs. Like a bat, the tyrant chases his subjects into the darkness of naivety and credulity.

Here is a book that, using examples from East and West, guides us through the processes of tyrannical drift. Drift hiding doctrinal concepts on which Muslims have been torn for several centuries, such as the use and place of reason in the face of revelation. Finally, before concluding on a positive note indicating how to put an end to tyrants, the author poses a list of questions as clear as they are pressing for current Islamic societies caught between tradition and modernity, between revelation and customs.