Examines the work of Ali 'Abd al-Raziq, considered the intellectual father of Islamic secularism, and his controversial idea that Islam is "a religion, not a state; a message, not a government."

Souad T. Ali is an assistant professor of Arabic and Middle East and Islamic Studies and head of Classics and Middle East Letters and Cultures at the School of International Letters and Cultures at Arizona State University. She has recently been named a Fulbright Scholar.