Professor Mohammed Arkoun (Berber: Muḥemmed Arkun, Arabic: محمد أركون‎), is a French-Algerian scholar and thinker of Berber descent. He was born on February 1, 1928 and he died on September 14, 2010. He was considered to have been one of the most influential secular scholars in Islamic studies contributing to contemporary intellectual Islamic reform.^[1] In a career of more than 30 years, he had been a critic of the tensions embedded in his field of study, advocating Islamic modernism, secularism, and humanism. During his academic career, he wrote his numerous books mostly in French, and occasionly in English and Arabic. He appeared on numerous occasions on French TV and magazines, on Berbère Television channel speaking in Berber, and on Aljazeera TV speaking in Arabic.

Academic career[link]

A native of the Berber village of Tawrirt Mimun, Kabylia, Algeria, and a native speaker of the Berber language, he studied at the Faculty of Literature of the University of Algiers and at the Sorbonne in Paris (Agrégé in Arabic language and Literature, 1956 and Ph.D., 1968). He established his academic reputation with his studies of the history and philosophy of Ibn Miskawayh. As he began to consider how one might rethink Islam in the contemporary world, his questioning provided a counterpoint to the predominant interpretations of both the Muslim world and the non-Muslim West. As the editor of Arabica, he broadened the journal's scope, and played a "significant" role in shaping Western-language scholarship on Islam (source?). He is the author of numerous books in French, English and Arabic, including most recently: Rethinking Islam (Boulder, Colorado, 1994), L'immigration: défis et richesses (Paris, 1998) and The Unthought in Contemporary Islamic Thought (London, 2002).^[2] His shorter studies have appeared in many academic journals and his works have been translated into several languages.

He was decorated as an Officer of the French Légion d'honneur in July 1996. In 2001, Professor Arkoun was asked to deliver the Gifford Lectures, which enable a notable scholar to contribute to the advancement of theological and philosophical thought and was announced as the recipient of the Seventeenth Georgio Levi Della Vida Award for his lifelong contribution to the field of Islamic Studies.

Arkoun taught at the Lyon 2 University (1969–1972), as a professor at the Paris 8 University, and at the New Sorbonne University of Paris (1972–1992). He was a Fellow at Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin (1986–1987 and 1990) and at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.A (1992–1993), visiting professor at University of California, Los Angeles (1969), Princeton University (1985), Temple University, the University of Louvain-la-Neuve, Wallonia, Belgium, (1977–1979), the Pontifical Institute of Arabic Studies in Rome and the University of Amsterdam (1991–1993) and served as a jury member for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. At the time of his death he was Emeritus Professor at La Sorbonne as well as Senior Research Fellow and member of the Board of Governors of The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS), At IIS, he has taught various graduate courses including unthought in contemporary Islamic thought, rethinking Islam, contemporary challenges of Muslim world and traditions for almost a decade.^[3]

Arkoun died on the evening of September 14, 2010, in Paris.^[4]

Publications[link]

In English[link]

1. Arab Thought, ed. S.Chand, New Delhi 1988.
2. Rethinking Islam : Common questions, Uncommon answers, today, Westview Press, Boulder 1994.
3. The concept of revelation : from the people of the book to the societies of the book, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California 1988.
4. The Unthought in Contemporary Islamic Thought, London 2002.
5. Islam: To Reform or to Subvert, Saqi Books, London, 2006.

Title number five is a revised edition of title number four.

In Arabic[link]

1. Al-Fikr al-'arabiyy, éd.'Uwaydat, Beyrouth 1979.
2. Al-Islâm: Asâla wa Mumârasa, Beyrouth 1986.
3. Ta'rîkhiyyat al-fikr al-'arabiyy al-islâmiyy, éd. Markaz al-inmâ' al-qawmiyy, Beyrouth 1986.
4. Al-Fikr al-islâmiyy: Qirâ'a 'ilmiyya, éd. Markaz..., 1987.
5. Al-islâm: al-Akhlâq wal-Siyâsa, éd. Markaz..., 1988.
6. Al-Islâm: Naqd wa-jtihâd, éd. Dâr al-Sâqî, Beyrouth 1990.
7. Al-'almana wa-l-dîn, Dâr al-Sâqî 1990.
8. Mina-l-ijtihâd ilâ naqd al-'aql al-islâmî, Dâr al-Sâqî 1991.
9. Min Faysal al-Tafriqa ilâ Fasl-al-Maqâl: Ayna huwa-l-Fikr al-islâmiyy al-mu‘âsir, Dâr al-Sâqî 1993.
10. Al-Islâm, Urubbâ, wal-Gharb: Rihânât al-ma'nâ wa Irâdât al-Haymana, Dâr al-Sâqî 1995.
11. Naz‘at al-Ansana fî-l-fikr al-‘arabiyy, Dâr al-Sâqî 1997.
12. Qadâyâ fî Naqd al-Fikr al-dînî, Dâr al-Talî‘a, Beyrouth 1998.
13. Al-Fikr al-usûlî wal-stihâlat al-Ta’sîl, Dâr al-Sâqî 1999.
14. Ma‘ârik min ajli-l-ansana fî-l-siyâqât al-islâmiyya, Dâr al-sâqî, 2001.
15. Min al-Tafsîr al-mawrûth ilâ tahlîl al-khitâb al-dînî, Dâr al-Talî‘a, Beyrouth 2001.

In French[link]

1. Deux Epîtres de Miskawayh, édition critique, B.E.O, Damas, 1961.
2. Aspects de la pensée islamique classique, IPN, Paris 1963.
3. L'humanisme arabe au 4e/10e siècle, J.Vrin, 2°éd. 1982.
4. Traité d'Ethique, Trad., introd., notes du Tahdhîb al-akhlâq de Miskawayh, 1e éd.1969; 2e éd.1988.
5. Essais sur la pensée islamique, 1e éd. Maisonneuve & Larose, Paris 1973; 2e éd. 1984.
6. La Pensée arabe, 1e éd. P.U.F., Paris 1975; 6e éd. 2002.
7. L'Islam, hier, demain, by Mohammed Arkoun & Louis Gardet, 2e éd. Buchet-Chastel, Paris 1982; translation in Arabic, Beyrouth 1983.
8. L'Islam, religion et société, éd. Cerf, Paris 1982; translated in Italia, RAI 1980.
9. Religion et laïcité: Une approche laïque de l'Islam, L'Arbrelle, Centre Thomas More, 1989.
10. Lectures du Coran, 1e éd. Paris 1982; 2e Aleef, Tunis 1991.
11. Ouvertures sur l'Islam, 1e éd. J. Grancher 1989.
12. L’Islam. Approche critique, Le livre du mois, Club du livre 2002.
13. Pour une critique de la Raison islamique, Paris 1984.
14. L'Islam, morale et politique, UNESCO-Desclée 1986.
15. Combats pour l’Humanisme en contextes islamiques, Paris 2002.
16. The Unthought in Contemporary Islamic Thought, London 2002.
17. De Manhattan à Bagdad: Au-delà du Bien et du Mal, Paris 2003.
18. L´Islam et les musulmans dans le monde. Paris 1993.

In Dutch[link]

1. Islam in Discussie, 24 vragen over de Islam, éd. Uitgeverij Contact, Amsterdam 1993.
2. Islam & De Democratie; Een ontmoeting, en collaboration avec Frits Bolkestein, Uitgeverij Contact, Amsterdam 1994.
3. Plusieurs articles et interviews dans Revues et journaux néerlandais.. / Meerdere artikels en interviews in Nederlandse kranten en tijdschriften..

In Indonesian[link]

1. Nalar islami dan nalar modern: Berbagai Tantangan dan jalan Baru, trans. Johan H. Meuleman, INIS, Jakarta 1994.
2. Berbagai Pembacaan Quran, trans. Johan H. Meuleman, INIS, Jakarta 1997, 256 p.

References[link]

External links[link]

1. Autobiography of Mohammad Arkoun in Ibn-rush.org
2. Biography of Arkoun in Center for Islam and Science (CIS) website
3. Interview with M. Arkoun on Rawafid part 1
4. Interview with M. Arkoun on Rawafid part 2
5. Mohammed Arkoun:A Modern Critic of Islamic Reason
6. Obituary for Mohammed Arkoun on Qantara.de
7. Mohammed Arkoun (1928-2010): Trailblazer for New Approaches to the Study of Islam

• Obituary for Mohammed Arkoun: A Pioneer of Modern Critical Islam Studies

Jacques Attali
Born	(1943-11-01) November 1, 1943 (age 68) Algiers, French Algeria
Nationality	French
Occupation	Economist, Writer, Senior civil servant

Jacques Attali (born 1 November 1943 in Algiers, French Algeria) is a French economist, writer and senior civil servant.

Former adviser to President François Mitterrand and first president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, he founded the non-profit organization PlaNet Finance and was nominated President of the Commission for the Liberation of French Economic Growth. He is also Founder and President of A&A, a consultancy firm. He published more than fifty books, including essays and novels.

He belongs to the top 100 public intellectuals in the world, according to the Foreign Policy Magazine (May/June 2008)

Early life[link]

Jacques Attali was born on November, 1st 1943 in Algiers (Algeria), with his twin brother Bernard Attali, in a Jewish family . His father, Simon Attali, is a self-educated person who achieved success in perfumery (« Bib et Bab » shop) in Algiers. In 1956, two years after the beginning of the Algerian independence war (1954–1962), his father decided to move to Paris, with his family (Jacques was then 13).

Jacques and Bernard studied at the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly, in the 16th arrondissement, where they met Jean-Louis Bianco and Laurent Fabius. In 1966, Jacques graduated from the École polytechnique (first in the class of 1963). He also graduated from the École des mines, the Institut d’études politiques de Paris and the École nationale d'administration (third in the class of 1970). He also has a doctorate in economics.

In 1968, he met François Mitterrand for the first time, while he was doing an internship at the prefecture of a French department (Nièvre).

He has a passion for music: he plays the piano (he once played for the association Les Restos du cœur), and wrote lyrics for Barbara. He is the author of Bruits, an essay which deals with the economy of music and the importance of music in the evolution of our societies. He directed the Grenoble University orchestra (performing very different pieces, which ranged from a symphony composed by Benda to Bach’s violin concertos, a mass composed by Mozart, Barber’s Adagio and Mendelssohn’s double concerto for violin, piano and orchestra), and co-directed the Lamoureux orchestra with his friend, the geneticist Daniel Cohen, during the gala of Technion university, in Paris.

Political career[link]

In 1970, when he was 27, he became a member of the Council of State. In 1972, he published his first two books, Analyse économique de la vie politique and Modèles politiques, for which he was awarded with a prize from the Academy of Sciences.

He taught economics from 1968 at the Paris Dauphine University, at the École polytechnique and at the École des Ponts et chaussées.

His network comprises several young researchers : Yves Stourdzé (who ran the European research program Eurêka invented by Jacques Attali) and Erik Orsenna, but also leading figures in various fields (journalism, mathematics, show business, financial analysis …).

In 1979, he founded the international NGO Action contre la Faim (ACF).

His close collaboration with François Mitterrand began in December 1973, and led his campaign for presidential elections in 1974 and 1981. In 1981, François Mitterrand, after he was elected President, named him as his special adviser. From this moment on, Jacques Attali wrote, each evening, notes for the attention of the French President, which dealt with economics, culture, politics or the last book he read. The President also entrusted him with the role of « sherpa » (personal representative of a head of State) for the G7 summits.

Jacques Attali then enlarged his circle of acquaintances to Raymond Barre, Jacques Delors, Philippe Séguin, Jean-Luc Lagardère, Antoine Riboud, Michel Serres, Coluche. He advised the President to get Jean-Louis Bianco, Alain Boublil and several young, promising graduates from the École nationale d’administration (like François Hollande and Ségolène Royal) to join his team.

In 1982, he pleaded for « economic rigour ». As "sherpa" of Mitterrand during 10 years, he organised the Paris G7 summit in 1982. In 1984, he launched the European program Eurêka, dedicated to the « development of new technologies ». He organised the bicentennial of the French Revolution of July 14, 1789. In 1989, he initiated an international plan of action against the disastrous flooding in Bangladesh.

Jacques Attali has always been in favor of the creation of a global government, and his arguments tend to demonstrate that the constitution of a new world order is essential to maintain democracy. He thinks that the regulation of the economy by a global financial institution can be a solution to the financial crisis which started in 2007. This institution would be a first step towards the institution of a global government, of which the European Union is an illustration.

Financial career[link]

In 1990, during François Mitterrand’s second mandate, Jacques Attali gave up politics and left the Elysée Palace. He founded the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), in London, and became its first President. He had initiated the idea of this institution in June 1989, before the fall of the Berlin wall, in order to support the reconstruction of Eastern European countries. Jacques Attali thus founded the first institution dedicated to Eastern Europe. Under the leadership of its President, the EBRD promoted investments which aimed at protecting nuclear power plants, protecting the environment and, more generally, developing infrastructure and reinforcing private sector competitiveness.

In 1991, Jacques Attali invited Mikhail Gorbachev to the EBRD headquarters, in London, against the opinion of British Prime minister John Major. By doing so, he compelled the heads of State of the G7, who were attending a summit in this town, to receive the Soviet head of State. After a stormy phone call between Jacques Attali and John Major, the British press started to criticize the President of the EBRD and spread suspicions about the management of the institution. These suspicions were taken up by some French journalists. Jacques Attali explains his stance in a chapter of his book C’était François Mitterrand, entitled « Verbatim and the EBRD » : « the work in question had been done under the supervision of an international working group to which I did not belong. » Indeed, when Jacques Attali left, voluntarily, the EBRD, the board of governors gave him final discharge for the management of the institution.

In 1993, Jacques Attali won a libel suit ; he had been accused of having reproduced in his book Verbatim, without François Mitterrand’s authorization, secret archives and several sentences of the French head of State which were meant for another book. The Herald Tribune even published, on the front page, an article claiming (wrongly) that President Mitterrand had asked for the book to be withdrawn from selling. François Mitterrand confirmed in a long interview that he had asked Jacques Attali to write this book, and acknowledged that he had proofread it and had been given the possibility to make corrections.

In 1994, Jacques Attali founded Attali & Associates (A&A), which gathers all the competences in strategy consulting, corporate finance and venture capital to help companies develop on the long run with profitability.

In 1998, he founded PlaNet Finance, a non-profit organization which is active in more than 80 countries and provides funding, technical assistance and advisory services to 10,000 microfinance players and stakeholders.

In 2001, Jacques Attali was subject to investigations on the charges of « concealment of company assets which have been misused and influence peddling ». He was discharged on October, 27th 2009 by the magistrate’s court of Paris, « on the benefit of the doubt ».

"Attali Commission"[link]

On July, 24th 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy entrusted Jacques Attali with the presidence of a Commission dedicated to the study of the obstacles to economic growth, known as 'The Commission for the Liberation of the French Economic Growth'. This bipartisan commission was composed of 42 members. They handed their report to the French President on January, 23rd 2008. They made several recommendations which aimed at transforming the French economy and society in order to « liberate growth » and take up various economic challenges.

Other activities[link]

On September, 9th 2010, Jacques Attali was appointed as a member of the directorate of the Musée d’Orsay. Since 2006, he directs the Grenoble University orchestra with Patrick Souillot.

Bibliography[link]

• Cannibalism and Civilization: Life and Death in the History of Medicine (1984)
• Noise: The Political Economy of Music (1985) Translated by Brian Massumi. Foreword by Fredric Jameson, afterword by Susan McClary. University of Minnesota Press ISBN 0-8166-1287-0.
• "A man of influence: Le destin d'un homme d'influence S.G. Warburg (1987)
• Millennium: Winners and Losers in the Coming Order (1992)
• Labyrinth in Culture and Society: Pathways to Wisdom (1999) Translated by Joseph Rowe. North Atlantic Books ISBN 1-55643-265-8
• Fraternités (1999) ISBN 84-493-0977-8
• Karl Marx or the thought of the world (2005) - original title: Karl Marx ou l'esprit du monde
• Les Juifs, le Monde et l'Argent, Histoire économique du peuple juif (2002) Fayard (The Jews, the World and Money, an Economic History of the Jewish People) ISBN 2-253-15580-2
• C'était François Mitterrand (2005) Fayard
• A Brief History of the Future (2006) Arcade Publishing ISBN 1-55970-879-4 - original title: Une Brève histoire de l'avenir
• La crise, et après ? (2008) Fayard ISBN 2-213-64307-5

See also[link]

• Social innovation
• Sound culture
• PlaNet Finance
• Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster

External links[link]

• Jacques Attali's home page
• Biography
• Jacques Attali's home page (English)
• Jacques Attali's blog page
• Jacques Attali's blog page (English)
• Books/Latest Publications
• NotBored.org: Jacques Attali's Noise Takes a critical stance on Attali's class position.
• Jacques Attali interviewed by Angus Carlyle
• Outline of Jacques Attali, Noise
• Jacques Attali, a video interview by Denis Failly around his last book "Une brève histoire de l'avenir"