{"product_id":"postmuslim-youssef-rakha-9781644454152","title":"Postmuslim: A Testimony","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn ambitious and timely essay collection exploring what it means to be Arab-Muslim in the twenty-first century\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePostmuslim\u003c\/i\u003e, Youssef Rakha's debut essay collection, tells the story of Islam's clash with the West in the last thirty years from a perspective rarely available to the Western reader. Impassioned, intimate, erudite, and playful, these essays trace Rakha's intellectual and spiritual transformations across multiple decades alongside significant moments in recent history. He recounts \"losing his religion\" as a teenager in Cairo after the fall of the Berlin Wall, resentful of the conservatism and rigid conformism of his middle-class Egyptian milieu. But what he sees and comes to understand about the West eventually disenchants him as well. Along the way, Rakha explores rich subjects such as boxing and democracy, addiction and the \"hungry ghost\" of the great ninth-century poet Al-Mutanabbi, recent Egyptian history rewritten in the form of horror film tropes, and a bold proposal to revitalize Arab-Muslim culture via the surprisingly multicultural lifeways of the Ottoman Empire. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Postmuslim\" is a term of Rakha's invention that embraces the fullness of Muslim identity rather than its essentialized and distorted versions. This is a vital book for anyone negotiating their own relationship to alienation, faith, intersecting identities, and the hypocrisy of those in power.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Youssef Rakha\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1644454157\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781644454152\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Graywolf Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/15\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.25h x 5.50w x 1.00d","brand":"Youssef Rakha","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48242077434111,"sku":"9781644454152","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_2fb62a3f-bf66-4cd7-9412-daa80f153169.jpg?v=1772657390","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/postmuslim-youssef-rakha-9781644454152","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}