Customer Reviews

Being Arab

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A quick read, compelling, and very relevant. It contains an introduction by Robert Fisk with the title, "Who killed Samir Kassir?" Kassir was assassinated on June 2, 2005, presumably for his work as a journalist. He died outside his home as a result of a car bomb.

Kassir argues in this book that the Arab world is neither static and unchanging nor regressing towards fanaticism. Not only was there the Islamic civilization's flourishing between the 7th and 11th centuries that was one of the richest periods in human history, but that in more modern times the Arab world has continued to contribute to humanity in ways that should be celebrated, and that this occurred while the Arab world was also changing, adapting, and modernizing.

His book calls on the West to stop controlling and subjugating the Arab region (echoing the period of colonialism/imperialism) and on Arabs to give up a sense of victimhood and/or impending doom and instead "finally see our real history, so that we can then be true to it" (p.92). Kassir writes, "The despairing view of Arab thought and culture as permanently ensnared in conservatism and fanaticism has obscured several phenomena that could prepare a way out of the crisis" (p.87). I think he does a very good job of fairly and accurately portraying the difficulties that have led to the present situation.

Kassir has written a "call to arms" - but in this case, it is a call for thought and examination - on Arab identity: "It is not just the West that needs to re-examine its stance. The Arab world in particular needs to make a profound effort to eradicate the ambiguities that encourage a logic of cultural confrontation" (p.86).

A good quote: "We must not confuse terrorism with resistance, as the West confuses resistance with terrorism" (p.86)

A book every Arab should read. Contrary to the Amazon advt., the introduction to the book is by Robert Fisk, not Tariq Ali

Although the book by itself is slim there was way too much stuffing. The first and final chapters are the most enlightening.