The Muslim Mind on Trial: Divine Revelation
vs. Secular Rationalism

Abdessalam Yassine; tr. Muhtar Holland
Iowa City: Justice and Spirituality Publishing, 2003. 98 pages.

Abdessalam Yassine, a Moroccan Qur’anic scholar, passionately argues
that Muslims need to return to the Qur’anic revelation and the prophetic
method of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in order to resurrect the Muslim
mind and worldview, which are currently subjugated to secular western
thought. According to Yassine, the book’s purpose “is the establishment
and reminding of the Prophetic Method” (p. 25). This argument is made
in the format of an introduction and 37 subject variants (ranging in length
from a few paragraphs to seven pages). 

Yassine juxtaposes the Muslim mind with that of the secular materi-
alistic western mind, where the latter is shown to be deficient while the
former, based on and nourished by revelation and the Sunnah, is consid-
ered to be truly emancipatory. He states: “When discussing the choice
between two minds and two mentalities we have only two options: Either
the sovereignty of the Revelation, pure and simple … Or the sovereignty

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of the arena, which occupied the other mind with its materialism, racial-
ism and vagueness of its goals” (p. 9). 

Throughout the book, Yassine provides some insights into Islamic
spiritual practice and critiques mainstream western thought. Interestingly,
his essay “Ritual Purity” eloquently points out the importance of situat-
ing the body in Islamic spirituality and how its purification is intercon-
nected with inner spiritual growth. In addition, he does not romanticize
the current Muslim ummah and shift all blame to the West; rather, he cri-
tiques the ummah for being coopted by western materialism.

However, I had numerous problems with this book, beginning with its
premise. In an age of pluralistic societies, it is very hard to digest a discus-
sion where one does not acknowledge that a pure “western mind” or a
“Muslim mind” does not exist, because this assumption fails to acknowl-
edge the difference and diversity among interpretations of text and ideas.
Yassine employs the dominant discourses in both western and Islamic
thought in order to forward his argument, which, in turn, leads to essential-
ism. Knowledge production is dynamic, and constructing such a binary
framework perpetuates the idea that knowledge is static and fixed to a cer-
tain context, which only bolsters stereotypes. 

One can infer that Yassine is trying to evoke a Muslim praxis in which
we “may lead the human caravan” (p. 91). I find this argument and propo-
sition to be arrogant and narcissistic. As Muslims, we need to accept the
fact that we are just partners of this world and that when we start thinking
of leading, we are trying to objectify as inferior those who are not like us.
This supposition is very problematic, for our planet is filled with difference
and diversity. We need to go beyond tolerance of difference and diversity,
and ensure that such diversity is upheld to create a more just society
through mutual understanding and the knowledge-sharing process. 

In addition, by thinking in terms of universality and such pure cate-
gories as the “Muslim mind” and the “western mind,” Yassine perpetuates
the colonial mission of being violent against those who do not fit neatly
into his definitions and categories. While Yassine claims to be critiquing
the colonizing effect of western imperialism, he actually is bolstering this
same colonizer and colonized mentality by arguing for a different univer-
sal mind known as the “Muslim mind.”  In short, an “us and them” rhetoric
pervades the book and supports a dualistic mode of thinking. 

It took me a while to read this short book, because it was difficult to
move beyond the use of sexist/racist/ableist language and the author’s
style of writing. Throughout the book, he uses “he” and “him,” which

122 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 21:2



renders women invisible. In some rare cases he does mention men and
women. But when it comes to pronouns, Yassine uses “him” to denote
both men and women. I find this very problematic, because it perpetuates
the patriarchical language of Islamic scholarly discourse. Yassine also
employs ableist metaphors to further his argument by calling those who
do not fit in his “Muslim” mindset as being “deaf,” “blind,” and so on.
One wonders whether this is because of the translation from Arabic or
because the author employed such language. 

Furthermore, Yassine makes many claims without elaborating further,
a technique that leaves the reader with some frustration. For instance,
with regards to a discussion on tourism in “Muslim” lands, he states: “We
import AIDS with the blonde tourist whores. There settles in our lands a
plague on top of the plague of the dollars that our children beg on tourist
streets” (p. 76). These kinds of statements are left unsubstantiated, and
the first sentence is, in essence, sexist and racist. Similarly, sometimes
questions are posed and the reader is led to believe that an answer will
come shortly. However, no such answer appears in the following text – or
in the rest of the book for that matter. 

For someone who brings a critical eye to this book, its arguments have
many weaknesses. Powerful metaphors and language coupled with excerpts
from the Qur’an and Hadith literature are used to convince the reader, rather
than provide substantial examples from either Islamic or western literature.
Many questions raised by the author also are left unanswered. 

This book is a personal and visionary opinion of a Qur’anic scholar. It
does not provide substantial new material, as it is like any text that dis-
cusses the prophetic method. However, it is unique in the sense that it
focuses on the Muslim mind. And yet the Muslim mind is not necessarily
discussed, because the author, while discussing the importance of how that
particular mind is different from the western secular mind in terms of
“qalb,” basically discusses the mind’s “`aql” aspect rather than the “qalb,”
which the author posits is central to the Muslim “mind.”  

The book has some relevance to Islamic thought, as there is very little
literature on knowledge production from an Islamic standpoint, and does
make a contribution to that area. It also is short and gets to the point for
Muslims who want to be inspired and have their faith and belief reinforced. 

Riyad Shahjahan
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Theory and Policy Studies

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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