Walther Benjamin between the illusion of secularism and worldly reason

What does it mean for Walter Benjamin to be Arab? And can the voice of this German philosopher who wrote amidst the ruins of European modernity and its crises still resonate today among the effects of destruction in Beirut, Baghdad, and Gaza? This book offers, for the first time in the Arab library, an in-depth critical introduction that goes beyond mere translation to actual engagement with Benjamin's vast intellectual legacy, in a solid intellectual journey that traces the pathways of Benjamin's reception in Western thought, reaching his presence in the Arab context, revealing its manifestations in the works of Mahmoud Darwish, Sinan Antoun, and others. The book does not merely present Benjamin as an intellectual icon, but delves into the depths of his most complex and controversial concepts, such as the theological dimension and its relation to philosophy of history, attempting to unravel the ambiguities surrounding them. The illusion of secularism is not a retreat into the past, but an attempt to transcend the Enlightenment clash between religion and secularism, towards a contemporary Arab reading of Benjamin's reflections as reformulated by the Italian philosopher Agamben in his secular philosophy, which is concerned with improving human life and reality, rather than the eternal conflict of tearing down the old temple and building new ones.