Defending the French Revolution during World War II - Raif Khoury and the Intellectual Challenge of Nazism in the Levant

In the years of World War II, Arab intellectuals engaged in a passionate search for new ideological fundaments for modern Arab societies. The writings of the Lebanese intellectual and political activist Raif Khoury were an important contribution to these debates. In his works, Khoury analyzes the development of philosophy and thought within the historical context of their time. For him, intellectual sources of secularism, progress, and human rights—but also of Nazism, Fascism, and authoritarianism—cannot be reduced to a distinct European culture; instead, they should be understood as potentially universal concepts. Linking the ideals of the French Revolution to the early history of Islam, Khoury develops a historical vision of ‘Arab companionship’ with the western world: ‘a companionship in equality, for the justice of governments and the freedom and progress of peoples’.