'This is a scholarly achievement of the highest caliber. Salama goes to great lengths to offer a compelling (re)reading of Egypt's cultural history through the lens of literary theory in a project intent on deciphering the codes connecting Islam, culture, and modernity. He boldly identifies vital intersections between the formative tenets of modernity and conventions of Islamic thought . Salama's book is bound to provoke vital debate that will enrich knowledge and elevate consciousness of a moment of history in Egypt's culture which current generations are in dire need of revisiting and contemplating, as Salama does, armed with tools of contemporary literary theory. It shows us that we must not be content with reading our history using only the tools of the past. Modernity does not have a definitive endpoint and therefore readings and re-readings can only yield positive epistemologies and fresh understandings of both Islam and modernity.' Gaber Asfour, Cairo University and Former Minister of Culture, Egypt.