In early 1988, the Egyptian press was inundated with articles and editorials about the controversial book al-Islam al-siyasi (Political Islam), published in Cairo in December of 1987 by Judge Muḥammad Saʿid al-ʿAshmawi. Only in the last two centuries has Islam been so available for redefinition, for repossession, for claims and counter-claims. The critical reception, both public and published, of al-ʿAshmawi’s al-Islam al-siyasi placed in relief this modern phenomenon, this terrifying and leveling conception of Islam as ‘up for grabs’. This article analyses a representative sampling of the most revealing and highly charged reviews by eminent scholars and journalists, including Jad al-Ḥaqq ʿAli Jad al-Ḥaqq (Shaykh al-Azhar), Fahmi Huwaydi, Faraj Foda, ʿAli al-Dali, and ʿAbd al-ʿAẓim Ramaḍan. Al-ʿAshmawi’s claim that Islam is not, never has been, and was never intended by God to be a religion dictating the political and legal infrastructure of Muslim society runs counter to centuries of Islamic thought and raises the stakes in the modern battle over the custody of Islam. What is so threatening about this book for some? For others, what is so welcome about it? In what ways does the critical response to this book reflect changing Egyptian attitudes about Islam? This article attempts to answer these questions and situates the key players in the debate around al-ʿAshmawi’s book within the wider debate over rethinking Islam in the modern world.