The two decades that preceded the 2011 Arab revolts witnessed animated debates on Enlightenment (Tanwir) both in Egypt and Syria. I argue that the concerns and issues expressed in these debates are a further articulation of the themes that dominated post-1967 Arab critical thought, namely the prioritization of politics and the failure of the brutality of the late 20th century Arab state. The tanwir debates turn away from the 1980s culturalist preoccupation with turath and emphasize the wide-ranging damage caused by the absence of accountability in Arab regimes. The debates call on the urgency of reconstructing the human intellectually, morally and politically, in the midst of the overwhelming ruin and recall the Nahda as a source of renewed inspiration. The re-establishment of the connection with the Nahda becomes for those tanwiris an essential tool for constructing a future different from the realities imposed by the regimes. The latter had severed the connection with the emancipatory legacy of the Nahda and the tanwiris saw the necessity of reconnecting with that legacy. By reconstructing modern Arab intellectual history they hoped to provide the elements for a new Arab future.