Abbas - Allah O Akbar - 2001

Allah O Akbar: A Journey Through Militant Islam is a seminal 1994 photographic book by the acclaimed Iranian-French photojournalist Abbas Attar (known mononymously as Abbas), a prominent member of the prestigious Magnum Photos agency.

The book serves as a profound visual diary and documentary reportage compiled over a rigorous seven-year journey. Abbas traveled across 29 countries spanning four continents—including Iran, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Morocco, India, Egypt, China, Mali, and Saudi Arabia—as well as Western Muslim communities in cities like Paris and London.
The title plays on a powerful duality: "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) is both the peaceful call to prayer that echoes daily from minarets around the world, and a war cry adopted by Islamic fundamentalists. Through this lens, the book explores the deep internal tensions pulling within Muslim societies, specifically highlighting the friction between:
• A rising political Islam seeking inspiration in a mythical, conservative past.
• The widespread societal impulse toward modernization and contemporary daily life.

Published by Phaidon Press, the 320-page book is widely praised for raising photojournalism to an art form. It features striking black-and-white photography accompanied by English text. Abbas captures everything from intimate religious practices and everyday moments to volatile political upheavals, wars, and revolutions. His signature style combines immediate, dramatic storytelling with subtle compositions, creating a constant and often disturbing visual stimulus.

Copy in near fine condition.