The historical and civilizational thought of Malek Bennabi through his writings

Abstract

This attempt aims to study Malek Bennabi's historical and civilizational thought, by analyzing the theoretical foundations upon which he developed his vision of the Islamic model of civilization. The article seeks to reveal the extent of his influence by Western theories in interpreting history, such as Keyserling's theories on the religious dimension, Karl Marx's on the economic dimension, and Arnold Toynbee's on the geographical dimension. It also highlights how he transcended these concepts to establish a comprehensive vision based on the Quranic reference. This attempt concludes that Malek Bennabi presented an original intellectual project that links religion, history, and civilization, through the law of the civilizational cycle, which is based on three stages: spirit, reason, and instinct. He also demonstrated that the religious idea represents the primary driver of historical movement, and that the decline of civilizations is due to the loss of this spiritual energy. The article asserts that Bennabi's vision constitutes an intellectual basis for understanding the problems of the contemporary Islamic world and rebuilding its renaissance on balanced spiritual and moral foundations