The author in a few words:

Najih Ibrahim Abdullah Sayyid

ـ Born in Deirut city, Asyut governorate in 1955.

ـ Studied medicine in Asyut University and graduated in 1979 with honours and very-good esteem.

ـ He was subject to the Reservation Decrees issued by the late president Al Sadat.

ـ He had disappeared till he got arrested after Al Sadat's assassination in 1981.

ـ He was tried and sentenced to a lifetime penal servitude.

ـ He joined the Faculty of Arts, Islamic studies Dept., Al Minya University and graduated in the early 1990's.

ـ Joined the Faculty of Law, Cairo University and graduated in 1998.

ـ Took part in the Islamic Group revisions called 'notions correcting series'.

ـ Participated in declaring the statement of the 1997 initiative which called for putting all the fighting operations to halt.

ـ Authored the book "The River of Memories" and "The Riyadh explosions: the verdicts and ratifications".

ـ  Was imprisoned for 24 years.

ـ  Married and have 5 children: 3 boys and two girls.

In this book …

ـ The eleventh of September events … a moment of truth in our contemporary process.

ـ The religious discourse should not stand still amidst the incessant movement surrounding it.

ـ The Islamic Jurisprudence is marked with detailing the constant and giving general brief account of the changeable. It might not even tackle it altogether.

ـ We say, "Yes!" to updating the religious discourse. But it is a "No!" to erasing our identity and blurring the features of our civilization.

ـ We say "Yes" to updating the religious discourse and "No!" to the flagrant intervention with our country's affairs and the attempt to change our culture.

ـ Islam never stood as a stumbling block in the way of the human mind creativity when it comes to man's interest in this world and the Hereafter.

ـ The Conspiracy theory is the worst theory that hampers the Arab and Islamic minds from moving forward.

ـ The religious discourse is to plant the mechanism of constructive self-criticism within the nation.

ـ Islam never puts its followers in a state of struggle and animosity with this worldly life as some people think.

ـ Muslims should abandon the life of indolence and dependence. Our religion is a religion of hard work.

ـ Islam knows not religious or theocratic governments.

ـ In Islam, the nature of government is a contract between the ruler and the subjects.

ـ The current western democracy suffers serious problems.

ـ Islam is the religion that has given women their rights and maintained their dignity and pride.

ـ The attempt of turning women into duplicates of men is humiliating and underestimates  women.

 ـThe callers unto Allah should be keen on giving constructive criticism. They should not object for the sake of objection.

After "The River of Memories", "The Riyadh Explosions: the verdicts and ratifications" and "the Qaeda Explosions: the Faults and Risks", with these publications the Islamic Group continued its reforming process. It moved towards putting brand new bases for the relation between the Islamic movement and others. These publications were widely applauded and welcomed among the cultural and Islamic circles.

- After these publications, the Islamic Group site is pleased to introduce the latest publication of the Group to the honoured readers. This book is authored by Dr. Najih Ibrahim, a member of the Islamic Group Council and one of its most prominent leaders. The book is entitled "Islam and the 21^st century challenges". But, what is this series fro? What is reason of its publication? The author answers these questions in the introduction:

"I wrote this series to expose my most humble vision of giving a momentum to the process of promoting the religion of Islam. Yet, I do not aspire at being one of the promoters of ISalm. I only aspire to be on their side and under their banner. I wrote this series in pursuit of gathering the Muslims' hearts in love, uniting them and striking an agreement among the nation on what is best for our religion and homeland."

- This series contains the essence of the writer's long experience, of which he spent about 23 years in prison. These years were sufficient- as described by the author- to study matters thoroughly with all their facets. This profound thinking is what led the author in the end to a conviction to the purport that the nation is in a pressing need for an integral encompassing vision. It needs an approach that calls for renovation and development within the frame of the constants of Islam in a way that serves Islam and serves not others. This renovation should hold the motto:

ـ Yes for updating the religious speech … no for undermining religion and Islam

ـ Yes for updating the religious speech … no for abrogating the Islamic Jurisprudence.

ـ Yes for updating the religious speech … no for eliminating our identity and civilization.

ـ Yes for updating the religious speech … no for severing our cognitive relationship with our great legacy.

ـ Yes for updating the religious speech … no for the flagrant intervention with our countries' affairs and the attempt to change our culture.

ـ The importance of this series lies in the fact that the writer could through its six books tackle many of the urgent issues which reality proved their need to be reconsidered. Thus, they need to be reworded in the light of practice and experience. The author could also discuss issues that became today's headlines due to their content and significance.

- In the first book, the writer tackles the issue of "Updating the religious discourse" through two pivots: the importance and the content. In this book, the author exposes his opinion about this important issue that aroused a lot of controversy and triggered the release of many opinions.

- In the second book, "the Tartars Fatwa", the author discusses the constraints of copying a fatwa and applying it to certain situations. The author did so through theorization and application. As for theorization, it comes in the first chapter when the writer talks about the change of fatwa with time and place. In the second chapter we see the application aspect. In it the writer tackles the well-known fatwa of Ibn Taimiyya concerning the Tartars. Misunderstanding such fatwa led to the outbreak of violence in several Arab and Muslim countries.

- The writer alarms the youth and admonishes them to reconcile with the society. This alarm and advice is to be found in the third book. The writer stops at many important points before reaching his main goal. First, he declares that loyalty to one's homeland contradicts not loyalty to Islam. Then, he enumerates the reasons of clashes with society so as to evade them. The writer, further, highlights the importance of invoking Allah's guidance and not His Wrath on people. In the last chapter of this book, the writer calls for abiding by good manners.

- Then comes the fourth book. This book with its nine chapters is considered the longest in the whole series. The writer entitled it "Guiding people between the ends and the means". In this book, the writer discusses several important issues like the difference between the means and the ends, the system of weights and measures between the past and nowadays. He also mentions the options deployed by the Prophet (PBUH) who did not confine himself to merely one option. Of these options, the author mentions seeking support, making alliances, reconciliation and truce. He also touches upon another detail to be clarified later in our review of the series book.

- The author consecrates the fifth book for discussing the "inevitability of combat". This issue used to be one of the basic foundations of the thought of the Islamic Group that led it into bloody conflicts with the government. The author discusses this issue in a calm rational way. He entitles the fifth book "the inevitability of combat in the balance". In this book, the author states that the justice of any given cause does not mean the inevitability of combat and clashes. He holds that it is highly imperative to draw the attention to the importance of result-based fiqh. The author fails not to open this book with a very significant chapter "no sanctity for the human thought". This is to prepare the minds for the crucial and hectic issues following it.

- The author dedicates the last book for discussing the truth of taking pride in faith. In it, he steers the readers to see the importance of exerting one's best. He highlights the fact that taking pride in faith should not make man forget about his potentials. Thus, this series could cover a large number of issues that concern different brackets of people. As the author says in the epilogue, this series may be a new addition to the correct Islamic thought: an addition that enlightens the way for Muslims and outlines the right path for them. This addition may be a ray of hope and the light at the end of the tunnel that heralds the return of the Arab and Muslim nation to the forefront despite these difficult circumstances and the crucial phase which Islam and Muslims undergo nowadays.

- As for the author's dedication of this book, it surprises the reader as different from all the writer's other dedications in his former books. The author dedicates this book to his parents saying, "I dedicate this book to my father and mother, for they are the reason of my existence and the origin of my life. If it were not for them, I would be drowned into oblivion and I would not be alive. After Allah Almighty, they have credit for each and every good aspect of my life. How much did they bear with me throughout my lengthy adversary?!"

Now, we start reviewing the first book of this series entitled, " Updating the religious discourse: its importance and content".

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