Husununa Muhaddada min Dakhiliha
- Author died
- 1402 AH
- Editions
- Mu'assasat al-Risālah
Husununa Muhaddada min Dakhiliha (Our Fortresses Are Threatened from Within) is a critical and ideological work by the Egyptian scholar and literary critic Muhammad Muhammad Husayn (d. 1402 AH / 1982 CE) examining internal Westernizing trends, secular influences, and institutional shifts affecting Islamic culture, education, and language .
Background and Publication History
The contents of the book originated as a series of critical articles published in Majallat al-Azhar across the years 1376, 1377, and 1378 AH, mostly appearing under the heading Husununa Muhaddada min Dakhiliha . An early collection of these pieces was first printed under the title Fi Awkar al-Haddamin (In the Dens of Destructive Elements) after Abd al-Muhaymin Abu al-Samh, the imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, obtained the author's permission to publish them, though that edition suffered from typographical errors .
Following an invitation by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs during its first cultural season in 1385 AH (1966 CE), the ministry obtained permission to print the complete set of articles; an official first edition of five thousand copies appeared in 1387 AH (1967 CE) . A second edition was issued in Beirut in 1388 AH (1968 CE), reproduced photographically from the first . A revised third edition of five thousand copies was authorized to Dar al-Irshad in Beirut in 1391 AH (1971 CE) .
For the fourth edition (1397 AH / 1977 CE), the author modified the volume by removing the final three chapters from the section on Islamic studies, transferring them to his companion book al-Islam wa-al-Hadara al-Gharbiyya (Islam and Western Civilization), and adding a memorandum concerning the development of Arabic and Islamic studies . The book subsequently went through numerous printings with Mu'assasat al-Risala in Beirut, including a seventh edition in 1402 AH (1982 CE), an eighth in 1404 AH (1983 CE), and a tenth in 1406 AH (1986 CE) .
Themes and Structure
The book addresses what Husayn perceived as ideological erosion occurring within Arab and Muslim institutions rather than from direct external military pressure . The author argues that modern cultural and educational authorities—specifically ministries of education, the press, radio, and cinema—had begun dismantling traditional values under slogans of progress and liberation .
Key topics covered across its sections include:
- Educational and Cultural Institutions: Husayn highlights the central role of education in safeguarding cultural identity, arguing that the introduction of secularized curricula, co-education (ikhtilat), and the weakening of classical literary texts undermined moral and religious training among youth .
- Critique of Orientalism and Western Conferences: The work analyzes conferences organized by Western institutions such as Princeton University (including the conference volume translated as al-Sharq al-Adna: Mujtama‘uhu wa-Thaqafatuhu) and critiques books like Wilfred Cantwell Smith's Islam in Modern History .
- Academic Controversies in Egypt: In the section Fi Manahij al-Lugha wa-al-Din ("On Curricula of Language and Religion"), Husayn documents controversial academic theses at Egyptian universities, such as the debate over a master's thesis on Quranic storytelling (al-Qasas al-Qur'ani) at Cairo University and an unconventional study on Quranic phonetic modes presented at Alexandria University in 1385 AH (1965 CE) .
- Spiritualism: An earlier planned section titled Fi Shu'un al-Ruh ("On Affairs of the Spirit") was separated after its serial publication in Majallat al-Azhar ceased, later appearing as an independent book titled al-Ruhiyya al-Haditha: Da‘wa Haddama .
Reception
Scholars and bibliographers have classified Husununa Muhaddada min Dakhiliha alongside Husayn's al-Ittijahat al-Wataniyya fi al-Adab al-Mu'asir as essential reference texts for examining intellectual transformations and secularization in modern Arab thought . Contemporary commentators have cited it as an influential critique of ideological drift in educational policy and cultural media across the Arab world .
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