The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental cradle of true art and true science. He who can no longer wonder, no longer feel amazement, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle. Past RA member Albert Einstein
Sami Zubaida is Emeritus Professor of Politics and Sociology at Birkbeck College, London. He is the author of Law and Power in the Islamic World (IB Tauris, 2003) and Beyond Islam: A New Understanding of the Middle East ( I.B. Tauris, 2011)