Alam wa Aqzam fi Mizan al-Islam
- Author died
- -
- Editions
- Dar Majid 'Asiri lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzi'
Alam wa Aqzam fi Mizan al-Islam (Figures and Dwarfs in the Balance of Islam) is a two-volume biographical and ideological critique compiled by Sayyid Husayn al-Affani (Abu al-Turab Sayyid ibn Husayn ibn Abd Allah al-Affani), evaluating modern and contemporary literary and intellectual figures from an Islamic doctrinal perspective.
Purpose and Scope
In his introduction, the author frames the compilation as an intellectual defense of Islam and a form of striving with the pen and tongue against secularization, Westernization, and attacks on religious sanctities. Al-Affani argues that modern intellectual and literary currents—including modernism, nationalism, communism, and secular enlightenment movements—have alienated Muslim societies from their religious foundations and distorted cultural standards by elevating figures who opposed or mocked Islamic tenets. The work contrasts worldly acclaim with Islamic standards of righteousness, asserting that true stature is determined solely by adherence to divine guidance and the Sunnah rather than literary prominence or media fame.
Content and Method
The book reviews the biographies, poetry, and writings of several prominent 20th-century Arab writers, journalists, and poets, subjecting their ideas to doctrinal criticism:
- Literary Modernists and Poets: The text critiques figures such as Nizar Qabbani, Adonis (Ali Ahmad Said), Badr Shakir al-Sayyab, Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati, and Mahmud Darwish, accusing them of introducing atheistic motifs, debasing traditional Arabic poetic values, and promoting ideological deviation.
- Contemporary Intellectuals: The work analyzes modern essayists and critics, including Abbas Mahmud al-Aqqad—scrutinizing his praise of Baha'ism and his treatment of the Prophet Muhammad's ﷺ mission as "genius" (abqariyya) rather than divinely inspired prophethood. It also attacks polemical writers such as Sayyid al-Qimni and Khalil Abd al-Karim for their critiques of Islamic history and the Companions of the Prophet.
Methodologically, the author draws extensively on earlier Islamist critical literature, citing works and analyses by figures such as Anwar al-Jundi and Adnan al-Nahwi, as well as excerpts from newspapers, cultural journals, and the published outputs of the profiled individuals, supplemented by explanatory footnotes.
Publication
The work was published in two volumes by Dar Majid Asiri for Publishing and Distribution in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in its first edition in 1424 AH / 2004 CE, with a legal deposit at the Egyptian National Library (Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya).
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