Sceptics of Islam: revisionist religion, agnosticism and disbelief in the modern Arab world

Arab debates about the critical relationship between religion and modernity began in the early 19th century.

Such debates are now integral to the struggle for power between a variety of political groups and their opponents, and are vital to understanding the modern Middle East.

This volume introduces the writings of the Muslim and Arab Christian revisionist 'free-thinkers' who have tried to redefine the relationship.

It challenges the deeply entrenched idea that the contemporary Islamic world has been impermeable to a critique of religious ideas and practices.

Authors from the 19th century to the present are included.

Some are avowed believers, even if they adopt positions many might regard as heretical; others are openly agnostic and atheistic.