The Muslim Council of Elders’ stand at the Cairo International Book Fair offers visitors a selection of the latest publications from Al-Hokama Publishing for the year 2025. Among the highlights is the book ‘On Public Culture’ by Dr. Ali Al-Anani, a professor of philosophy at the Faculties of Dar Al-Uloom and Usuluddin (Islamic Studies), who passed away in 1940.
In this book, Dr. Al-Anani considers the scope of public culture as defined by the esteemed leadership of the Faculty of Usuluddin. The book includes an introduction that discusses general intellectual life and the subject of culture, followed by a main text that delves into three issues: religious thinking, philosophical inquiry, and literature.
The author underscores that the concept of culture encompasses the entirety of human intellectual output from its earliest instances to modern times. This output is categorized into four major domains: religious thought, philosophical inquiry, literary efforts, and the sciences. He notes that religion represents the oldest form of human thinking, which subsequently gave rise to both philosophy and literature. From these two areas, the field of science developed. The domains of philosophy, literature, and science are all encompassed within the broad and overarching realm of religion, which is the earliest to emerge and remains the most inclusive to this day.
The author further advises that research into human intellectual production should start with religion, progress to philosophy, move on to literature, and end with science and its various branches. He points out that philosophical thought originally stemmed from religion during the ages of Tadween (compilation of knowledge), thus placing literature before philosophy in terms of historical emergence. Therefore, it is necessary to rank literature second after religion, followed by philosophy, and lastly science, in their historical order of development.
The Muslim Council of Elders is participating with a special stand at the 56th Cairo International Book Fair, from January 23 to February 5, 2025. The stand features a wide array of the Council’s distinguished publications, in addition to hosting a series of seminars, activities, and events focused on promoting the values of kindness, love, peace, and communal coexistence among all people.
The Muslim Council of Elders’ stand at the Cairo International Book Fair is located next to Al-Azhar Al-Sharif’s stand, in Heritage Hall (Hall No. 4), at the Egypt International Exhibition Center in the Fifth Settlement.