Muslims in Modern Turkey: Kemalism, Modernism and the Revolt of the Islamic Intellectuals.

• Author: Magued, Shaimaa
• Position: Book review

Muslims in Modern Turkey

Kemalism, Modernism and the Revolt of the Islamic Intellectuals

By Sena Karasipahi

London: I. B. Tauris, 2008, 256 pages, ISBN 9781780767703.

MUSLIMS IN Modern Turkey: Kemalism, Modernism and the Revolt of the Islamic Intellectuals presents a comprehensive overview of contemporary Turkish intellectuals' thoughts on Kemalist ideology. With a selection of six intellectuals, the first chapter gives an overview of the Kemalist ideology and its sociocultural impact on both the private and public spheres in the newly-formed Turkish state. In the second, third and fourth chapters, more details are given about the lives and thoughts of the selected intellectuals, followed by a comparison with their counterparts in the Arab/Muslim world and the old Islamic intellectuals in Turkey. Overall, the book compiles the views of Islamic intellectuals regarding the secularization process in Turkey since the conception of the state; however, the book has weaknesses that prevent the ignition of the reader's curiosity and leaves one wondering what the author intended to contribute to existing literature.

First, the book lacks a defined research inquiry in its study of Islamic intellectuals in Turkey. There is an insufficient and seldom mobilization of theoretical tools in the study of the intellectuals' discourse. Despite mentioning various conceptual frameworks referring to Foucault, Gramsci and Bourdieu, the author dedicates a large part of the book to the various definitions of the term "intellectual," which does not offer anything considerable to the study. Moreover, the author weaves together the works of several intellectuals without defining a specific question for her study or analyzing a determined point of contention among the intellectuals' stance towards Kemalism; instead, she broadly presents a succession of ideas regarding different issues derived from the Islamic-Secular antagonism.

Furthermore, it is not clear why the author chose these particular Turkish and Arab intellectuals, as there are many significant options whose addition would have rendered the study richer and more pertinent. As Karasipahi considers Kemalism to be a form of modernization on which many Turkish and Arab scholars had an intellectual stance, she failed to mention important Arab intellectuals with strong and influential options on secularism as a manifestation and prerequisite of modernization, such as Sheikh Gamal El Din El Afghani, Mohammad Abdu...