Nature of Tyranny: And the Devastating Results of Oppression

The Nature of Tyranny is a seminal text by Abdul Rahman Al-Kawakibi,one of the pioneering thinkers of the Arab world,which defines tyranny as a sickness or malaise that seeps into all classes of society,leaving behind decay. The book applies this conception to society's crucial elements,and concludes with a brief programme for remedying the disease.

Format: Hardback
Length: 152 pages
Publication date: 02 December 2021
Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd

At the dawn of the twentieth century, Abdul Rahman Al-Kawakibi, a pioneering thinker of the Arab world, penned and published The Nature of Tyranny. Over a century later, another Arab awakening erupted, led by a new generation of youth who echoed Al-Kawakibi's words in revolutionary cries from Aleppo, his hometown, to Cairo's Tahrir Square. Today, this seminal text makes its English debut, with a foreword by Leon T. Goldsmith providing an overview of Al-Kawakibi's intellectual contributions.

The first chapter of the text offers a definition of tyranny, portraying it as a sickness or malaise that permeates all classes of society, leaving behind decay. The subsequent seven chapters apply this conception of tyranny to the critical elements of society: religion, knowledge, honor, economy, ethics, and progress. By establishing a theoretical framework for understanding the centrality of tyranny, its characteristics, and its devastating effects, Al-Kawakibi concludes by presenting a brief program for remedying the disease of tyranny.

The final chapter outlines another book in which he had planned to elaborate upon his ideas—but, ultimately, his fate arrived too soon.

Weight: 364g
Dimension: 146 x 223 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781787385481