If Islam is in the headlines today, it is often because it is accused of terrorism and fanaticism. Current events associate it with the most disturbing aspects of religion for largely secularized societies. What exactly is this fanaticism that, since the Enlightenment, religions have been accused of? And is Islam, by its very nature, affected by this illness of religion?

Father Adrien Candiard is French and lives in Cairo. After training in history and political science, Father Candiard joined the Dominican order in 2006. After his training in theology, he arrived in Egypt in 2012. There he earned a master’s degree in Islamology at the American University in Cairo, and is now writing a doctorate at the École pratique des hautes études (EPHE) in Paris. His research focuses on classical Muslim theology (kalam) and the relationship between reason and revelation in Islam. He is notably the author of “En finir avec la tolérance? Différences religieuses et rêve andalou” (Paris, PUF, 2014) and “Comprendre l’islam. Ou plutôt : pourquoi on n’y comprend rien ” (Paris, Flammarion, 2016).