| Summary/Abstract |
The spike in the number of Arabic writings on the nahḍah since the beginning of the 1990 s represents a new and intriguing development in contemporary Arab thought. This relatively recent nahḍah-frenzy is best reflected in the new editions, collections and re-publications of nahdawi writers whose articles and essays remained, until recently, scattered and dispersed. Why did the 1990 s mark a time where the need to repackage of Nahda literature became urgent? This article argues that only through contextualizing the question of nahḍah within the growing Arab debate on turath, this question finds its resolution. Offering to dissect the debate on turath, explicating the motives that stood behind its propounders, and the cultural sensibilities its gave rise to, affords a vantage point through which to explain the obsession with nahḍah in the post-colonial Arab world.
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