ARAB INTELLECTUALS AND AUTHORITY A Continuity of an Implied System

Abstract

The ruler doesn’t want from the thinker free thinking. He wants his loyal thinking.
Tawfiq al-Hakim, A‘wdat al-Wa‘y (The Return of Consciousness)
The modern intellectuals’ crisis has roots that lie in the past, when the pro-authority Arab intellectuals’ predecessors instilled in them the fact that power is always a prerequisite for the nation and should be divinely and earthly sustained. This has been engraved in the mindset for generations, and I would suggest that the continuity of this notion in the socio-political tradition needs to be reconsidered as a major factor in the formulation of the Arab intelligentsia. In short, I believe that the present for Arab intellectuals is a continuation of their past. This paper will provide a synthesis of different positions of Arab intellectuals, with emphasis given to the suitability and continuity of Arab tradition in the present condition of the modern Arab intellectuals.