The Kemalists

Abstract

The range of titles in Prometheus Books’ “Islamic Studies” section is quiteintriguing. According to its webpage, this “leading publisher in philosophy,popular science, and critical thinking” appears to be dedicated to coveringIslamic-related topics of interest in a comprehensive manner for a post-9/11western audience. Recnet publications include The Legacy of Jihad: IslamicHoly War and the Fate of Non-Muslims (the author is a professor of medicine),The Myth of Islamic Tolerance (authored by the “director of JihadWatch”), and Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out and Why I Am not aMuslim (both by the notorious Ibn Warraq).The book under review fits into this series due to its apologetic characterand narrow perspective on Islam – a perspective that sees political enunciationsmotivated by Islam as threatening and in direct contradiction to the(presumably universal) modern. The front book flap sets the tone and catersto a broad readership: “A clash of civilizations – between the secular traditionsof the West and the fundamentalist Islamic revival in the East – hasplunged the world into serious crisis.”First of all, it has to be stated that The Kemalists is neither an academicbook nor an “Islamic Studies” book. It is filled with methodological problemsand utterly incorrect statements about Islam. One particularly blatant exampleshould suffice to make this point: On page 198, Kaylan lumps together asbrotherhoods the “reactionary” Muslim Brotherhood, the “Shafis” (sic), the“Maliki Brotherhood,” and the “liberal … Melami and Bektashi brotherhoods”– apparently not understanding the differences between a modernIslamist movement, schools of law, and Sufi orders. To be fair, the author doesnot claim to be an Islamicist; however, it is disturbing to see how politicallymotivated treatises such as his gain publicity under an “Islamic Studies” label ...