Alhamdu Lillah, I started this book about five months ago and today I finished it! It’s not a long book nor is it written in a complicated, heavy style, but the ideas in it are deep and I wanted to take it slowly to give myself time to understand them properly (I was also extremely busy for several of those months, so that didn’t help).

This isn’t a review post; I don’t expect to write a review of this book because that is beyond my ability, but I might write a different type of post, in sha Allah. For now, I’m just excited about this moment and thought I’d celebrate it by sharing a striking few lines from the conclusion. Bennabi is certainly not one for superficial, feel good statements; although a lot of this book focuses on the numerous complex problems facing the Muslim world, there is always a sense of optimism based in complete confidence in Islam as the ultimate guidance for all mankind and I think this confidence comes through in these final words. May Allah have mercy on him and accept all his work as a source of ongoing charity for him and his family.