Summer Intensive Book Club: This Dark Age
During my years in Qom, one of the books repeatedly emphasized to us by some of our teachers was René Guénon’s Crisis of the Modern World, a work considered essential for anyone seriously engaging with modernity and Western civilization. The book was studied privately over the course of nearly two years due to both its depth and difficulty.
Its influence extended far beyond Western traditionalist circles. Major Shi‘i scholars such as Allamah Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i, Ayatullah Hasan-Zadeh Amuli, Ayatullah Jawadi Amuli, and Ayatullah Mamduhi are all known to have engaged with Guénon’s works. Ayatullah Hasan-Zadeh Amuli even studied Guénon in the original French, and Persian translations of these texts exist alongside scholarly annotations and marginalia.
At the same time, Guénon’s writings can be extremely dense and inaccessible for most readers. A few years ago, I was introduced to This Dark Age by Daniel Schwindt, a much more approachable and condensed presentation of many of the same core ideas. In many ways, it serves as a bridge between Seyyed Hossein Nasr’s A Young Muslim's Guide to the Modern World and Guénon’s more advanced works such as The Crisis of the Modern World and The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times.
This summer, I wanted to see if there is interest among our community teachers, leaders and serious readers to work through This Dark Age together as a summer intensive book club. The reading itself would primarily be independent, with periodic online gatherings where we discuss, reflect, and share insights from the text. The goal is not necessarily to “finish” the series, but to begin developing a deeper language and framework for understanding the age we live in.
The entire book series is available online for free:
This Dark Age - a hardcopy can be purchased from Amazon.
Please note that this reading requires genuine commitment and careful reflection over July and August. I would encourage anyone interested to be realistic about the time and intellectual engagement required.
Tentative Online Touch Points (8:00 PM):
Friday, July 3
Friday, July 17
Friday, July 24
Friday, August 7
Friday, August 21
Friday, August 28
Dates and formats may shift depending on interest and availability, and we may also organize an in-person gathering at Al Haadi School during the summer, depending on collective preference.
Reading schedules and guidlines will be given to those who are approved.