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This volume aims at confronting the image of the Middle East as a region that is fraught with totalitarian ideologies, authoritarianism and conflict. It gives voice and space to other, more liberal and adaptive narratives and discourses that endorse the right to dissent, question the status quo, and offer alternative visions for society.

The role of Islam in the state has become one of the most contentious issues in modern Middle Eastern society. It holds a central position in every public debate over constitution, law and civil rights, as well as over the very essence of cultural identity. Here Meir Hatina sheds light on the issue of Islam in the state through the prism of Egypt during the twentieth century. She traces the continuity of Egyptian liberalism, from its emergence during the first half of the century through its repression following the July 1952 revolution, to the rise of secular liberalists such as Faraj Fuda in

Abstract
This article sheds light on a neglected episode in the scholarship on Egypt's intellectual life in the interwar period, as well as on the Arab renaissance (Nahda) and its intensive preoccupation with the triangle of religion, science, and secularism. The discussion focuses on a provocative manifesto published in 1937 by an Egyptian writer Ismaʿil Ahmad Adham, which called for a godless universe. Adham's challenge to established religions is framed within a broader historical and intellectual context. It raises the following questions: How unique is Adham's atheism in the Egyptian and Arab writings of his time? What can we learn from the public discussions of his views about Egyptian civil culture in the 1930s and its commitment to a democratic ethos? Addressing these questions from a comparative perspective in both Islamic and European history may contribute much to the understanding of Arab debates about the existence of God.

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