Jan 27, 2023·edited Jan 27, 2023Liked by Ahmed Askary
This was a much-needed piece and I very much look forward to your further writing on this topic. I had a suggestion and I wondered what you thought of it. I agree that this generation of urban culture must be local, but is there also something to be said for the creation of a high Islamic culture that has global influence and resonance similar to the Western global culture that the secular elites model their local cultures after? And in this vein, do you think the culture(s) of Muslims who live in the West could act as that alternative model for the Muslim proto-elites you mention?
I say this based on a book with which you may be familiar: Islam: The View from the Edge by Bulliet. He makes the case that, historically, many of major developments of Islam came from the edge of the Muslim world where Muslims were in contact with converts and non-Muslims. It seems to me that the edge today is the West and those living on that edge are Western Muslims.
Very well written, insightful, concise, and relevant. A lot to consider regarding what Islam looks like in the cities of the remainder of this century and beyond
Very insightful ideas, as always. I am excited to read about post apathy blogs on these topics in 2013!
It probably says a lot about the power of Americana that I can’t pin it down myself, but I wonder if it might be worth writing about how an elite urban culture in the Islamic world looked like before colonialism?
A millennial/Gen Z in Lahore or Cairo, and their diaspora counterparts might have some recollection about the poets, philosophical and metaphysical thinkers of the time. But probably nothing more than that.
For a much longer series of essays (aiming eventually at being a sort of book) on his take on the solution to the limits of rationality, I might recommend his other website: https://metarationality.com/introduction.
You might also find the rest of https://meaningness.com interesting. I can't explain why entirely, but this piece felt very related to his work.
Nice piece brother. It could be shorter to make it easier to read for your audience though.
This was a much-needed piece and I very much look forward to your further writing on this topic. I had a suggestion and I wondered what you thought of it. I agree that this generation of urban culture must be local, but is there also something to be said for the creation of a high Islamic culture that has global influence and resonance similar to the Western global culture that the secular elites model their local cultures after? And in this vein, do you think the culture(s) of Muslims who live in the West could act as that alternative model for the Muslim proto-elites you mention?
I say this based on a book with which you may be familiar: Islam: The View from the Edge by Bulliet. He makes the case that, historically, many of major developments of Islam came from the edge of the Muslim world where Muslims were in contact with converts and non-Muslims. It seems to me that the edge today is the West and those living on that edge are Western Muslims.
Very well written, insightful, concise, and relevant. A lot to consider regarding what Islam looks like in the cities of the remainder of this century and beyond
Very insightful ideas, as always. I am excited to read about post apathy blogs on these topics in 2013!
It probably says a lot about the power of Americana that I can’t pin it down myself, but I wonder if it might be worth writing about how an elite urban culture in the Islamic world looked like before colonialism?
A millennial/Gen Z in Lahore or Cairo, and their diaspora counterparts might have some recollection about the poets, philosophical and metaphysical thinkers of the time. But probably nothing more than that.
You might find David Chapman's work interesting (perhaps also frustrating, or challenging). For a more polemical piece, I would recommend the following essay: https://meaningness.com/fundamentalism-countercultural-modernism
For a much longer series of essays (aiming eventually at being a sort of book) on his take on the solution to the limits of rationality, I might recommend his other website: https://metarationality.com/introduction.
You might also find the rest of https://meaningness.com interesting. I can't explain why entirely, but this piece felt very related to his work.
Hopefully some of this is generative for you.