Ahmed Soubhi Mansour Responds to Attacks on ICDS's Islamic Reformation Project

In light of Western misconceptions on the nature of Islam following the attacks of September 11th, the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies launched a project aimed at publishing a series of books- to be translated into English- that would present a true and modern interpretation of Islam. The project's ultimate mission was to demonstrate that Islam is compatible with democratic values, and upholds women's rights, minority rights, and in general human rights, as well as the freedom of expression and belief.

To implement this project ICDS chose to resort to young researchers in the hope that this would provide them with an opportunity to expand their expertise and deepen their knowledge. The first in the series of these books was assigned to Mr. Abd el- Raheem Aly. The book's purpose was to study and analyze Islamic fundamental sources to show that Islam was not inimical, but indeed highly supportive, of freedom of thought and _expression. Unfortunately, while Mr. Aly has devoted efforts to researching political Islamic movements, it soon became evident that he has very limited insight on early Islamic history, Islamic jurisprudence, Quranic interpretation, and the Prophet's sayings. In fact, while preparing his work, he has frequently contacted me to clarify his understanding on the aforementioned topics.

As a consequence, his first draft presented to the Center was returned to him with remarks pointing to flaws that should be addressed.

It is very disappointing that instead of continuing a dialogue with the project manager in order to reach an understanding on the final version of the publication, Mr. Aly chose to go public and in a virulent article published in a major weekly magazine attacked the Center's efforts to allay Western misgivings and correct the stereotyping on Islam and Muslims. It is only natural that the publisher and the writer have differences in their visions of the final manuscript, but such differences should be resolved through dialogue and collaboration in the spirit of freedom of expression and opinion, which the project's publication intended to promote.

The Center’s Response

Mr. Aly’s article was addressed to the competent authorities denouncing the Center for “conspiring to disparage the image of Islam” in the West. In conformity with our policy, we did not respond to such silly accusations. But since Mr. Aly lied blatantly in his article claiming that he purged himself of association with the Center by returning the advance money he received, we have asked him to refund that money. Thus far he has failed to do so.