Qaddafi's Hidden History? The Libyan World Islamic Call Society's Editions and Translations of the Qur'an

Abstract

One of the most important developments in modern Islamic missionary activism was the establishment in 1972 of the Libya-based World Islamic Call Society (WICS, originally the Islamic Call Society) which acted as a leading think tank advocating Muslim unity and Pan-Arabism throughout the Qaddafi era. Despite the severe challenges facing post-revolutionary Libya, WICS remains active today, albeit with reduced global visibility. This article demonstrates the ways that WICS's endeavors in publishing were innovative in the Northern African Arabic context, notably when it comes to the al-Muṣḥaf al-Jamāhīriyya (1983) and the various Qur'an translations it produced, and argues that its activities are a neglected yet critical aspect of modern Islamic missionary endeavors at the nexus of Pan-Islamism and Pan-Arabism. Through exploring WICS's historical background, the individual actors affiliated with it, and its primary publishing projects, the current study sheds light on an overlooked chapter in modern Islamic missionary activity. It also explores the contextual factors that have influenced the success of its Qur'an translations beyond issues of religious identity, offering new insights into the intersection of politics and religion that underlie many modern translations of the Qur'an.