Christian criticisms, Islamic proofs : Rashåid Riòdåa's modernist defense of Islam

Muhammad Rashid Rid is among the most influential Muslim thinkers of the modern period and yet, until now, his writings on Christian-Muslim relations have remained unpublished in English.

In this flagship English edition, Simon A. Wood rights this wrong by translating and analysing one of his most important works, "The Criticisms of the Christians and the Proofs of Islam".

Responding to arguments made around the turn of the twentieth century that Islam was 'irrational' or 'inferior to Christianity' and that the unification of religious and political power was a 'barrier to progress', Rid sought to defend Islam and often charged Christianity with its own brand of irrationality.

Wood analyses these arguments and contends that Rid's work cannot be separated from the period of colonial humiliation from which it originated.

He also revises the view that Rid was a fundamentalist and argues that his response to Christian criticisms was distinctly modernist.