Maxime Rodinson, Marxist expert on Islam, dies

[ertugrul ahmet tonak <eatonak@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Maxime Rodinson, Marxist expert on Islam, dies

MARSEILLE, France, May 25 (AFP) - The French historian and sociologist
Maxime Rodinson, who wrote a series of internationally-acclaimed books
on Islam and the Arab world from a Marxist perspective, has died at the
age of 89, his family said Tuesday.

The son of a Jewish emigre from Russia, who died at Auschwitz along with
his wife, Rodinson was best known for his 1961 biography of the prophet
Mohamed - named simply "Mohamed" - and the follow-up "Islam and capitalism."

For 20 years a member of the Communist party, Rodinson left in 1958 but
remained true to a Marxist analysis of the relations between economic
forces and societies.

© AFP