Lafif Lakhdar Explained

Lafif Lakhdar (also written "Al-Afif Al-Akhdar" or "Afif Lakhdar") was a French-Tunisian writer and journalist. He was born the 6th of February 1934 in Maktar and died the 26th of July 2013.^[1]

Life

Lafif Lakhdar was born into a very poor family. He studied in a madrasa and applied the University of Ez-Zitouna in Tunis ; he became a lawyer in 1957. He left Tunisia in 1961 and moved to Algeria, where he was one of Ahmed Ben Bella's close friends. He began a long journey throughout the Middle East. In 1979 he settled in France.^[2]

As a leftist thinker he took part to the debate on secularism in Muslim countries. As a journalist he worked for several newspapers : Al-Hayat, Al-Quds Al-Arabi and more recently for the online magazine Elaph.

Books

• The Position on Religion (in Arabic), Dar al-Tali'a, Beyrouth, 1972.
• L'organisation moderne, Dar Al-Tali'a, Beyrouth, 1972.
• Mohamed Abd El Motaleb Al Houni, L'impasse arabe. Les Arabes face à la nouvelle stratégie américaine, Preface by L. Lakhdar, Paris, L'Harmattan, 2004
• Min Muhammad al-iman ila Muhammad at-tarikh ("Muhammad: From Faith to History"), Al-Kamel Verlag, Cologne, 2014.

Selected articles

• "Moving From Salafi to Rationalist Education," in The Middle East Review of International Affairs (Volume 9, No. 1, Article 3, March 2005).

Bibliography

• Shaker Al-Nabulsi, The Devil's Advocate : A Study of Al-Afif Al-Akhdar's Thought, Beyrouth, Arab Institute for Research & Publishing, 2005

External links

• Articles in Arabic on "SSRCAW.org" dealing with the "Arab Spring" (2011) : http://www.ssrcaw.org/default.asp?cid=&serchtext=%C7%E1%DA%DD%ED%DD+%C7%E1%C3%CE%D6%D1
• "Is the Qu'ran an Encyclopædia of Science ?" (in English) : http://almuslih.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=167:is-the-qurn-an-encyclopaedia-of-science-1&catid=42:ethical-issues&Itemid=210
• "Why reform Islam?" (in English) : http://almuslih.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=153:why-reform-islam&catid=38:obstacles-to-reform&Itemid=207
• Articles on MEMRI (in English) : https://web.archive.org/web/20110104065457/http://www.memri.org/subject/en/137.htm
• Article published in Haaretz ("An Arab Spinoza"), Herald Tribune (17 March 2006) : https://web.archive.org/web/20110112073554/http://artsci.wustl.edu/~marton/JihadRoots.html
• Selected articles in Arabic : https://archive.today/20041129023408/http://www.yassar.freesurf.fr/authors/lakhdar.html

Notes and References

1. Web site: عاش فريدا ومات فريدا. اختار توقيت موته وطريقة موته - الأوان. Alawan.org. 2013-08-06. dead. https://archive.today/20130726153035/http://www.alawan.org/%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%B4-%D9%81%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A7-%D9%88%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%AA.html. 2013-07-26.
2. Web site: The Arab Spinoza . April 8, 2011 . Haaretz . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110112073554/http://artsci.wustl.edu/~marton/JihadRoots.html . January 12, 2011 .