Islamic modernism is a movement that has been described as "the first
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
ideological response to the Western cultural challenge", attempting to reconcile the
Islamic faith with values perceived as modern such as
democracy
Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...
,
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...
,
rationality
Rationality is the quality of being guided by or based on reason. In this regard, a person acts rationally if they have a good reason for what they do, or a belief is rational if it is based on strong evidence. This quality can apply to an ab ...
,
equality, and
progress
Progress is movement towards a perceived refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. It is central to the philosophy of progressivism, which interprets progress as the set of advancements in technology, science, and social organization effic ...
.
[''Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World'', Thomson Gale (2004)] It featured a "critical reexamination of the classical conceptions and methods of
jurisprudence
Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...
", and a new approach to
Islamic theology and
Quran
The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
ic
exegesis
Exegesis ( ; from the Ancient Greek, Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation (philosophy), interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Bible, Biblical works. In modern us ...
(''
Tafsir'').
A contemporary definition describes it as an "effort to re-read Islam's fundamental sources—the Qur'an and the Sunna, (the practice of the Prophet)—by placing them in their historical context, and then reinterpreting them, non-literally, in the light of the modern context."
It was one of several
Islamic movements—including
Islamic secularism,
Islamism
Islamism is a range of religious and political ideological movements that believe that Islam should influence political systems. Its proponents believe Islam is innately political, and that Islam as a political system is superior to communism ...
, and
Salafism
The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a Islamic fundamentalism, fundamentalist Islamic revival, revival movement within Sunni Islam, originating in the late 19th century and influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "''Salafiyya''" ...
—that emerged in the middle of the 19th century in reaction to the rapid changes of the time, especially the perceived onslaught of
Western civilization and
colonialism
Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an Imperialism, imperialist project, colonialism c ...
on the
Muslim world
The terms Islamic world and Muslim world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs, politics, and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is ...
.
Islamic modernism differs from secularism in that it insists on the importance of religious faith in public life, and from
Salafism
The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a Islamic fundamentalism, fundamentalist Islamic revival, revival movement within Sunni Islam, originating in the late 19th century and influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "''Salafiyya''" ...
or
Islamism
Islamism is a range of religious and political ideological movements that believe that Islam should influence political systems. Its proponents believe Islam is innately political, and that Islam as a political system is superior to communism ...
in that it embraces contemporary European institutions, social processes, and values.
One expression of Islamic modernism, formulated by
Mahathir Mohamad, is that "only when Islam is interpreted so as to be relevant in a world which is different from what it was 1400 years ago, can Islam be regarded as a religion for all ages."
[Warde, ''Islamic finance in the global economy'', 2000: p. 127.](_blank)
/ref>
Prominent leaders of the movement include Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan, Namık Kemal, Rifa'a al-Tahtawi, Muhammad Abduh (former Sheikh of Al-Azhar University
The Al-Azhar University ( ; , , ) is a public university in Cairo, Egypt. Associated with Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in Islamic Cairo, it is Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and is known as one of the most prestigious universities for Islamic ...
), Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani, and South Asian poet Muhammad Iqbal
Muhammad Iqbal (9 November 187721 April 1938) was a South Asian Islamic philosopher, poet and politician. Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...
. Since its inception, Islamic modernism has suffered from co-option
Co-option, also known as co-optation and sometimes spelt cooption or cooptation, is a term with three common meanings. It may refer to:
1) The process of adding members to an elite Social group, group at the discretion of members of the body, us ...
of its original reformism by both secularist rulers and by "the official ''ulama
In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam.
"Ulama ...
'' "whose "task it is to legitimise" rulers' actions in religious terms.
Themes, arguments and positions
Some themes in modern Islamic thought include:
* The acknowledgement "with varying degrees of criticism or emulation", of the technological, scientific and legal achievements of the West; while at the same time objecting "to Western colonial exploitation of Muslim countries and the imposition of Western secular values" and aiming to develop a modern and dynamic understanding of science among Muslims that would strengthen the Muslim world and prevent further exploitation.
**After traveling to Europe in the late 19th century, Muhammad Abduh came back so impressed with the order and prosperity he saw, he told Egyptians: "I went to the West and saw Islam, but no Muslims; I got back to the East and saw Muslims, but no Islam."
**Sayyid Ahmed Khan was said to have not only admired the accomplishments of Britain but to have had an "emotional attachment" to the country.[
]
Beliefs
Syed Ahmad Khan sought to harmonize scripture with modern knowledge of natural science; to bridge "the gap between science and religious truth" by "abandoning literal interpretations" of scripture, and questioning the methodology of the collectors of sahih hadith, i.e. questioning whether what are thought to be some of the most accurately passed down narrations of what the Prophet said and did, are actually divinely revealed.[
]
Supernatural beings
Some non-literal interpretations Ahmed Khan came to were:
*Angel
An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...
s are not beings created from light but "'properties' of things or conceptionalizations of the divine moral support which encourages man in his endeavors.
*Jinn
Jinn or djinn (), alternatively genies, are supernatural beings in pre-Islamic Arabian religion and Islam.
Their existence is generally defined as parallel to humans, as they have free will, are accountable for their deeds, and can be either ...
are not beings with free will created from fire, but "projections of evil desires".[
]
Islamic law
Chiragh Ali (1844–1895) and Syed Ahmad Khan (1817–1898) argued that "the Islamic code of law is not unalterable and unchangeable", and instead could be adopted "to the social and political revolutions going on around it".
* "Objectives" of Islamic law ('' maqasid al-sharia'') in support of "public interest", (or '' maslahah'', a secondary source for Islamic jurisprudence) were invoked.[Djamil 1995, 60][Mausud 2005] This was done by Islamic reformists in "many parts of the globe to justify initiatives not addressed in classical commentaries but regarded as of urgent political and ethical concern."
* Traditional Islamic law was reinterpreted using the four traditional sources of Islamic jurisprudence – the holy book of Islam (Quran
The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
), the reported deeds and sayings of Muhammad (hadith
Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
), consensus of the theologians ('' ijma'') and juristic reasoning by analogy (''qiyas
Qiyas (, , ) is the process of deductive analogy in which the teachings of the hadith are compared and contrasted with those of the Quran in Islamic jurisprudence, in order to apply a known injunction ('' nass'') to a new circumstance and cre ...
''), plus another source—independent reasoning to find a solution to a legal question '(' ijtihad'').
** the first two sources (the Quran
The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
and hadith
Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
) were taken and reinterpreted "to transform the last two (''ijma'' and ''qiyas'') in order to formulate a reformist project in light of the prevailing standards of scientific rationality and modern social theory."
** traditional Islamic law was restricted by limiting its basis to the Quran
The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
and authentic Sunnah
is the body of traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time supposedly saw, followed, and passed on to the next generations. Diff ...
, i.e. limiting the Sunna with radical hadith
Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
criticism.
** '' ijtihad'' was employed not to only in the traditional, narrow way to arrive at legal rulings in unprecedented cases, i.e. where Quran, hadith, and rulings of earlier jurists are silent, but for critical independent reasoning in all domains of thought, and perhaps even approving of its use by non-jurists.
Polygamy, jihad, bank loans, punishments, feminism
These more or less radical (re)interpretations (above) of the authoritative sources applied particularly to cases of Quranic verses or hadith where literal interpretations conflicts with "modern" views: polygyny, the '' hadd'' (penal) punishments
Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or suffering, unpleasant outcome upon an individual or group, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a deterrent to a particular actio ...
(chopping off hands, administering lashes, etc.), treatment of unbelievers, waging of jihad
''Jihad'' (; ) is an Arabic word that means "exerting", "striving", or "struggling", particularly with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it encompasses almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with God in Islam, God ...
, banning of usury
Usury () is the practice of making loans that are seen as unfairly enriching the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is charged in e ...
or interest on loans (''riba
''Riba'' (, or , ) is an Arabic word used in Islamic law and roughly translated as " usury": unjust, exploitative gains made in trade or business. ''Riba'' is mentioned and condemned in several different verses in the Qur'an3:130
'').
*On the topic of Jihad
''Jihad'' (; ) is an Arabic word that means "exerting", "striving", or "struggling", particularly with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it encompasses almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with God in Islam, God ...
, Islamic scholars like Ibn al-Amir al-San'ani, Muhammad Abduh, Rashid Rida, Ubaidullah Sindhi, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, and Shibli Nomani (1851–1914) distinguished between defensive Jihad (''Jihad al-daf'') and offensive Jihad (''Jihad al-talab'' or Jihad of choice). They refuted the notion of consensus on ''Jihad al-talab'' being a communal obligation (''fard kifaya''). In support of this view, these scholars referred to the works of classical scholars such as Al-Jassas, Ibn Taymiyya, etc. According to Ibn Taymiyya, the reason for Jihad
''Jihad'' (; ) is an Arabic word that means "exerting", "striving", or "struggling", particularly with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it encompasses almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with God in Islam, God ...
against non-Muslims is not their disbelief but the threat they pose to Muslims. Citing Ibn Taymiyya, scholars like Rashid Rida, Al San'ani, Qaradawi, etc. argues that unbelievers need not be fought unless they pose a threat to Muslims. Thus, Jihad is obligatory only as a defensive warfare to respond to aggression or "perfidy" against the Muslim community, and that the "normal and desired state" between Islamic and non-Islamic territories was one of "peaceful coexistence".[ Similarly the 18th-century Islamic scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab defined Jihad as a defensive military action to protect the Muslim community, and emphasized its defensive aspect in synchrony with later 20th century Islamic writers.
* Mahmud Shaltut also argued unbelief was not sufficient cause for declaring jihad,] and that the conversion to Islam by unbelievers in fear of death at the hands of jihadists ( mujahideen) was unlikely to prove sincere or lasting. Much preferable means of conversion was education. They pointed to the verse "No compulsion is there in religion".
*On the matter of jurist orthodoxy that forbid any and all interest on bank loans, deposits, etc. as ''riba
''Riba'' (, or , ) is an Arabic word used in Islamic law and roughly translated as " usury": unjust, exploitative gains made in trade or business. ''Riba'' is mentioned and condemned in several different verses in the Qur'an3:130
'' (usury), Syed Ahmad Khan, Fazlur Rahman Malik, Muhammad Abduh, Rashid Rida, Abd El-Razzak El-Sanhuri, Muhammad Asad
Muhammad Asad (born Leopold Weiss; 2 July 1900 – 20 February 1992) was an Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Muslim polymath, born in modern day Ukraine. He worked as a journalist, traveler, writer, List of political theorists, political theori ...
, Mahmoud Shaltout all argued that there was a difference between interest and usury
Usury () is the practice of making loans that are seen as unfairly enriching the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is charged in e ...
(excessive charging of interest).[ Khan, ''Islamic Banking in Pakistan'', 2015: p. 56] These jurists took precedent for their position from the classical scholar Ibn Taymiyya who argued in his treatise "The Removal of Blames from the Great Imams", that scholars are divided on the prohibition of ''riba al-fadl''. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (1292–1350 CE), the student of Ibn Taymiyya, argued that under a compelling need, an item may be sold with delay in return for dirhams or for another weighed substance despite implicating ''riba al-nasi'ah''.
*Concerning Hudud/hadd, (punishments determined in the Quran, i.e. for murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...
, adultery, slander
Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making wikt:asserti ...
and theft,[Z. Mir-Hosseini (2011), "Criminalizing sexuality: zina laws as violence against women in Muslim contexts," ''SUR-International Journal on Human Rights'', 8(15), pp. 7–33] ranging from lashing to stoning to death, amputation of hands and crucifixion), specifically the cutting off the hand of the thief, the "classic modernist argument" is that it should be applied only in a "perfectly just" Islamic society where "there is no want", i.e. where no one steals anything because they need it and can't afford it.[
* According to Mansoor Moaddel, the "modernist exegesis" of the Quran advanced by scholars such as Sayyid Ahmad Khan, Chiragh Ali, Amir Ali (1849–1928), Shibli Nomani, and Mumtaz Ali (1860–1935) supported "Islamic feminism" – including women's education and involvement in social affairs, and opposition to polygamy.]
Government
Contrary to the traditional (and especially the Islamist) belief that the Caliphate
A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...
or imamate is "mandated" by Islam, some modernists argue that this is not supported by the Quran or what is known about the preaching and life of Muhammad. Taha Hussein (1889-1973) says:
Searching the Quran and Hadith, Egyptian religious scholar and judge in religious courts Ali Abdel Raziq (1888-1966) also found no mention of the position of caliph, of the caliphate, of government or state.
In the same vein, late 20th century Modernist historican Jebran Chamieh writes that Muhammad
Chamieh also points out that this practice (or lack thereof) was followed by the Rashidun caliphate
The Rashidun Caliphate () is a title given for the reigns of first caliphs (lit. "successors") — Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali collectively — believed to Political aspects of Islam, represent the perfect Islam and governance who led the ...
. They never established a police force to enforce their law, so that there was no security force to defend the head of state (Caliph Othman) when rebels attacked and killed him in his house. "The caliphs did not establish an administration, a fiscal system, or a budget ... In the conquered lands, they retained the previous Byzantine and Persian administrative systems and kept the local employees to administer the country."
Apologetics
* Apologetic writing linked aspects of the Islamic tradition with Western ideas and practices, and claimed Western practices in question were originally derived from Islam. Islamic apologetics has been severely criticized by many scholars as superficial, tendentious and even psychologically destructive, so much so that the term "apologetics" has almost become a term of abuse in the literature on modern Islam.
History of Modernism
Origins
According to Henri Lauzière, during the second half of the 19th century numerous Muslim reformers began efforts to reconcile Islamic values with the social and intellectual ideas of the Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a Europe, European Intellect, intellectual and Philosophy, philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained th ...
by purging (alleged) alterations from Islam and adhering to the basic tenets of Islam held during the Rashidun era. Their movement is regarded as the precursor to Islamic Modernism.[Henri Lauzière ''The Making of Salafism: Islamic Reform in the Twentieth Century'' ]Columbia University Press
Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's la ...
2015 According to Voll, when faced with new ideas or conflicts with their faith Muslims operated in three different ways: adaptation, conservation, and literalism. Similarly, when juxtaposed with the modern European notion of reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...
, which primarily entails the alignment of conventional doctrines with Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
and Enlightenment principles, it led to the emergence of two contrasting and symbiotic camps within the Muslim sphere: adaptionist modernists and literal fundamentalists. Modernists, in their divergence from traditionalist reformers, take umbrage with the term “reform,” deeming it an inaccurate descriptor for the latter’s objectives. Conversely, fundamentalists, driven by their Eurocentric convictions, perceive any semblance of reform as inherently malevolent.
Mansoor Moaddel argues that modernism tended to develop in an environment where "pluralism" prevailed and rulers stayed out of religious and ideological debates and disputes. In contrast, Islamic fundamentalism thrived in "bureaucratic authoritarian" states where rulers controlled the means of cultural production, (even though they may have opposed fundamentalism).
Ottoman Tanzimat
Islamic modernist discourse emerged as an intellectual movement in the second quarter of nineteenth century; during an era of wide-ranging reforms initiated across the Ottoman empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
known as the Tanzimat (1839–1876 C.E). The movement sought to harmonise classical Islamic theological concepts with liberal constitutional ideas and advocated the reformulation of religious values in light of drastic social, political and technological changes. Intellectuals like Namık Kemal (1840–1888 C.E.) called for popular sovereignty and " natural rights" of citizens. Major scholarly figures of this movement included the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Hassan al-Attar (d. 1835), Ottoman Vizier Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha (d. 1871), South Asia
South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
n philosopher Sayyid Ahmad Khan (d. 1898), and Jamal al-Din Afghani (d. 1897). Inspired by their understanding of classical Islamic thought, these rationalist scholars regarded Islam as a religion compatible with Western philosophy
Western philosophy refers to the Philosophy, philosophical thought, traditions and works of the Western world. Historically, the term refers to the philosophical thinking of Western culture, beginning with the ancient Greek philosophy of the Pre ...
and modern science.
At least one branch of Islamic Modernism began as an intellectual movement during the Tanzimat era and was part of the Ottoman constitutional movement and newly emerging patriotic trends of Ottomanism during the mid-19th century. It advocated for novel redefinitions of Ottoman imperial structure, bureaucratic reforms, implementing liberal constitution, centralisation, parliamentary system and was supportive of the Young Ottoman movement. Although modernist activists agreed with the conservative Ottoman clergy in emphasising the Muslim character of the empire, they also had fierce disputes with them. While the Ottoman clerical establishment called for Muslim unity through the preservation of the dynastic authority and unquestionable allegiance to the Ottoman Sultan; modernist intellectuals argued that imperial unity was better served through parliamentary reforms and enshrining equal treatment of all Ottoman subjects; Muslim and non-Muslim. The modernist elites frequently invoked religious slogans to gain support for cultural and educational efforts as well as their political efforts to unite the Ottoman empire under a secular constitutional order.
On the other hand, '' Salafiyya'' movement emerged as an independent revivalist trend in Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
amongst the scholarly circles of scripture-oriented Damascene '' ulema'' during the 1890s. Although Salafis shared many of the socio-political grievances of the modernist activists, they held different objectives from both the modernist and the wider constitutionalist movements. While the Salafis opposed the autocratic policies of the Sultan Abdul Hamid II and the Ottoman clergy; they also intensely denounced the secularising and centralising tendencies of '' Tanzimat'' reforms brought forth by the Constitutionalist activists, accusing them of emulating Europeans.
Spread
Eventually the modernist intellectuals formed a secret society known as ''Ittıfak-ı Hamiyet'' (Patriotic Alliance) in 1865; which advocated political liberalism and modern constitutionalist ideals of popular sovereignty
Popular sovereignty is the principle that the leaders of a state and its government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state.
In the case of its broad associativ ...
through religious discourse. During this era, numerous intellectuals and social activists like Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938 C.E.) and Egyptian Nahda figure Rifaa al-Tahtawi (1801–1873). introduced Western ideological themes and ethical notions into local Muslim communities and religious seminaries.
India
Away from the Ottoman Empire in British India Syed Ahmad Khan (1817–1898) was "the first of the modernist thinkers to have a substantial impact upon the Muslim world at large. He founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh with the intent of producing "an educated elite of Muslims able to compete successfully with Hindus for jobs in the Indian administration". The college provided both training in the "European arts and sciences" and "traditional Islamic studies". He sought to "reconcile the contradictions between Islam as traditionally understood and the modern sciences he so much admired."
Egypt
The theological views of the Azharite scholar Muhammad 'Abduh (d. 1905) were greatly shaped by the 19th century Ottoman intellectual discourse. Similar to the early Ottoman modernists, Abduh tried to bridge the gap between Enlightenment ideals and traditional religious values. He believed that classical Islamic theology was intellectually vigorous and portrayed '' Kalam'' (speculative theology) as a logical methodology that demonstrated the rational spirit and vitality of Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
. Key themes of modernists would eventually be adopted by the Ottoman clerical elite who underpinned liberty as a basic Islamic principle. Portraying Islam as a religion that exemplified national development, human societal progress and evolution; Ottoman Shaykh al-Islam Musa Kazim Efendi (d. 1920) wrote in his article "Islam and Progress" published in 1904 that "the religion of Islam is not an obstacle to progress. On the contrary, it is that which commands and encourages progress; it is the very reason for progress itself."
Commencing in the late nineteenth century and impacting the twentieth-century, Muhammed Abduh and his followers undertook an educational and social project to defend, modernize and revitalize Islam to match Western institutions and social processes. Its most prominent intellectual founder, Muhammad Abduh (d. 1323 AH/1905 CE), was Sheikh of Al-Azhar University
The Al-Azhar University ( ; , , ) is a public university in Cairo, Egypt. Associated with Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in Islamic Cairo, it is Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and is known as one of the most prestigious universities for Islamic ...
for a brief period before his death. This project superimposed the world of the nineteenth century on the extensive body of Islamic knowledge that had accumulated in a different milieu.
These efforts had little impact at first. After Abduh's death, his movement was catalysed by the demise of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1924 and promotion of secular liberalism – particularly with a new breed of writers being pushed to the fore including Egyptian Ali Abd al-Raziq's publication attacking Islamic politics for the first time in Muslim history. Subsequent secular writers of this trend including Farag Foda, al-Ashmawi, Muhamed Khalafallah, Taha Husayn, Husayn Amin, et al., have argued in similar tones.
Abduh was skeptical towards many Ahadith (or "Traditions"). Particularly towards those Traditions that are reported through few chains of transmission, even if they are deemed rigorously authenticated in any of the six canonical books of Hadith (known as the Kutub al-Sittah). Furthermore, he advocated a reassessment of traditional assumptions even in Hadith studies, though he did not devise a systematic methodology before his death.[The Modernist Approach to Hadith Studies]
By Noor al-Deen Atabek, onislam.net, 30 March 2005
Ibn Ashur's ''Maqasid al-Sharia''
Tunisian Maliki scholar Muhammad al-Tahir ibn Ashur (1879–1973 C.E) who rose to the position of chief judge at Zaytuna university was a major student of Muhammad 'Abduh. He met 'Abduh in 1903 during his visit to Tunisia
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
and thereafter became a passionate advocate of 'Abduh's modernist vision. He called for a revamping of the educational curriculum and became noteworthy for his role in revitalising the discourse of ''Maqasid al-Sharia'' (''Higher Objectives of Islamic Law'') in scholarly and intellectual ciricles. Ibn Ashur authored the book ''Maqasid al-Shari'ah al-Islamiyyah'' in 1946 which was widely accepted by modernist intellectuals and writers. In his treatise, Ibn Ashur called for a legal theory that is flexible towards 'urf (local customs) and adopted contextualised approach towards re-interpretation of hadiths based on applying the principle of ''Maqasid'' (objectives).
Decline
After its peak during the early 20th century, the modernist movement would gradually decline after the Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in the 1920s and eventually lost ground to conservative reform movements such as Salafism
The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a Islamic fundamentalism, fundamentalist Islamic revival, revival movement within Sunni Islam, originating in the late 19th century and influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "''Salafiyya''" ...
. Following the First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, Western colonialism of Muslim lands and the advancement of secularist trends; Islamic reformers felt betrayed by the Arab nationalists and underwent a crisis.
Islamism
This schism was epitomised by the ideological transformation of Sayyid Rashid Rida, a pupil of 'Abduh, who began to resuscitate the treatises of Hanbali theologian Ibn Taymiyyah
Ibn Taymiyya (; 22 January 1263 – 26 September 1328)Ibn Taymiyya, Taqi al-Din Ahmad, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001/acref-9780195125580-e-959 was a Sunni Muslim ulama, ...
and became the "forerunner of Islamist thought" by popularising his ideals. Unlike 'Abduh and Afghani, Rida and his disciples susbcribed to the Hanbali theology. They would openly campaign against adherents of other schools, like the Shi'ites, who they considered deviant. Rida transformed the Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...
into a puritanical movement that advanced Muslim identitarianism, pan-Islamism and preached the superiority of Islamic culture
Islamic cultures or Muslim cultures refers to the historic cultural practices that developed among the various peoples living in the Muslim world. These practices, while not always religious in nature, are generally influenced by aspects of Islam ...
while attacking Westernisation. One of the major hallmarks of Rida's movement was his advocacy of a theological doctrine that obligated the establishment of an Islamic state
The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...
led by the '' Ulema'' (Islamic scholars).
Rida's fundamentalist/ Islamist doctrines would later be adopted by Islamic scholars and Islamist movements like the Muslim Brotherhood. According to the German scholar Bassam Tibi, "Rida's Islamic fundamentalism has been taken up by the Muslim Brethren, a right wing radical movement founded in 1928, which has ever since been in inexorable opposition to secular nationalism."
Contemporary Era
Contemporary Muslim modernism is characterised by its emphasis on the doctrine of ''Maqasid al-sharia'' to navigate the currents of modernity and address issues related to international human rights. Another aspect is its promotion of ''Fiqh al-Aqalliyat'' (minority jurisprudence) during the late 20th century to answer the challenges facing the growing Muslim minority populations in the West. Islamic scholar Abdullah Bin Bayyah, professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...
of Islamic studies
Islamic studies is the academic study of Islam, which is analogous to related fields such as Jewish studies and Quranic studies. Islamic studies seeks to understand the past and the potential future of the Islamic world. In this multidiscipli ...
at King Abdul Aziz University in Jiddah, is one of the major proponents of '' Fiqh al-Aqalliyat'' and advocates remodelling the legal system based on the principles of ''Maqasid al-Sharia'' to suit the sensitivities of the modern era.
Influence on Revivalist movements
Salafiyya movement
Origins
The modernist movement led by Jamal Al-Din al-Afghani, Muhammad 'Abduh, Muhammad al-Tahir ibn Ashur, Syed Ahmad Khan, and to a lesser extent Mohammed al-Ghazali; shared some of the ideals of the conservative revivalist Wahhabi movement, such as endeavoring to "return" to the Islamic understanding of the first Muslim generations (Salaf
Salaf (, "ancestors" or "predecessors"), also often referred to with the honorific expression of al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ (, "the pious predecessors"), are often taken to be the first three generations of Muslims. This comprises companions of the ...
) by reopening the doors of juristic deduction ('' ijtihad'') that they saw as closed.[
The connection between modernists and Salafists is disputed, with various academics asserting there never really was one. There are those scholars maintain that they used to share the "salafi" designation, but nothing else (Oxford Bibliographies,][ Quintan Wiktorowicz);][ or that modernists "al-Afghani and Abduh were hardly Salafis to begin with" (Henri Lauziere);] or contrary to that, call Al-Afghani, Abduh, and Rida founders of ''Salafiyya'' and go on to describe their creation without ever mentioning modernism ( Olivier Roy).[ Those that believe they did have the same ancestors (a view propagated in early 20th century by French Orientalist Louis Massignon),][ do not always agree on what happened: Salafists starting out on the side of "enlightenment and modernity" and "inexplicably" turned against these virtues and to puritanism (World News Research);][ or the term "Salafist" was coined by Rashid Rida, a student of Abduh, who later distanced himself from Abduh's teachings in favor of puritanism but was appropriated by one Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani, so that the world now associates it with al-Albani and his disciples but not with Rida his movement (Ammaar Yasir Qadhi);][ or that it was Muhammad ʿAbduh and Rida who established "enlightened Salafiyya" (modernism) and it was Rashid Rida (no mention of al-Albani) who incrementally transformed it into the Wahhabi-friendly Salafiyya we know today (Raihan Ismail).][ In any case, it is generally agreed that in the early 21st century, conservative Salafi Muslims see their movement as understanding "the injunctions of the sacred texts in their most literal traditional sense", looking up to Ibn Taymiyya rather than 19th century Reformers.
Olivier Roy describes the characteristics of the 19th-century movement of the likes of Al-Afghani and Abduh as rejection of cultural themes (''adat, urf''), rejection of ]marabout
In the Muslim world, the marabout () is a Sayyid, descendant of Muhammad (Arabic: سـيّد, Romanization of Arabic, romanized: ''sayyid'' and ''sidi'' in the Maghreb) and a Islam, Muslim religious leader and teacher who historically had the f ...
ism (belief in the powers of intervention of those blessed with divine charisma, or '' barakah''), and opposition to rapprochement with other religions. These were standard fundamentalist reformist doctrines. Where Salafists were different was in their rejection of the tradition of the ulama
In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam.
"Ulama ...
(Islamic clergy), the ulama's "body of additions and extensions" to the Sunnah and Quran: the '' tafsir'' commentary on the Quran, the four legal schools of '' madhahib'', philosophy, culture, etc. ''Salafiyya'' were traditional in their politics or lack thereof, and unlike later Islamists "made no wholesale condemnations of existing Muslim governments". Issues of governance they were interested in were application of sharia
Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...
and the reconstitution of the ummah
' (; ) is an Arabic word meaning Muslim identity, nation, religious community, or the concept of a Commonwealth of the Muslim Believers ( '). It is a synonym for ' (, lit. 'the Islamic nation'); it is commonly used to mean the collective com ...
(Muslim community), and particularly with the restoration of the caliphate
A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...
.[Roy, The Failure of Political Islam, Harvard University Press, 1994, 32–33] Yasir Qadhi argues that modernism only influenced Salafism
The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a Islamic fundamentalism, fundamentalist Islamic revival, revival movement within Sunni Islam, originating in the late 19th century and influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "''Salafiyya''" ...
.[On Salafi Islam , IV Conclusion](_blank)
, Dr. Yasir Qadhi
April 22, 2014 According to Quintan Wiktorowicz:There has been some confusion in recent years because both the Islamic modernists and the contemporary Salafis refer (referred) to themselves as al-salafiyya, leading some observers to erroneously conclude a common ideological lineage. The earlier salafiyya (modernists), however, were predominantly rationalist Asharis.[Anatomy of the Salafi Movement]
By Quintan Wiktorowicz, Washington, DC, p. 212
Similarly, Oxford Bibliographies distinguishes between the early Islamic modernists, such as Muhammad Abdu who used the term "Salafiyya",[Salafism, Modernist Salafism from the 20th Century to the Present]
oxfordbibliographies.com for example to refer to their attempt at renovation of Islamic thought,[ and the very different, more purist, and traditional ''Salafiyya'' of movements, such as '' Ahl-i Hadith'' and ]Wahhabism
Wahhabism is an exonym for a Salafi revivalist movement within Sunni Islam named after the 18th-century Hanbali scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. It was initially established in the central Arabian region of Najd and later spread to oth ...
, among others. Both groups wanted to strip away '' taqlid'' (imitation) of post-Salaf doctrine they thought not truly Islamic, but for different reasons. Modernists thought taqlid prevented the Muslims from flourishing because it got in the way of compatibility with the modern world, traditional revivalists simply because (they believed) it was impure. What was needed was not reinterpretation but a religious revival of pure Islam. Muhammad 'Abduh and his movement have sometimes been referred to as "Neo-''Mu'tazilites''" because his ideas are congruent to the '' Mu'tazila'' school of theology. Abduh himself denied being either '' Ash'ari'' or a ''Mu'tazilite'', although only because he rejected strict '' taqlid'' (conformity) to any one group. After World War I, some Western scholars, such as Louis Massignon categorising many scripture-oriented rationalist scholars and modernists as part of the paradigm of "''Salafiyya''"; other scholars dispute this description.[Robert Rabil ''Salafism in Lebanon: From Apoliticism to Transnational Jihadism'' Georgetown University Press 2014 chapter: "Doctrine"]
Revivalism
The rise of pan-Islamism across the Muslim World
The terms Islamic world and Muslim world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs, politics, and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is ...
after the First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and the collapse of the Ottoman empire, would herald the emergence of Salafi religious purism that fervently opposed modernist trends. The anti-colonial struggle to restore the '' Khilafah'' would become the top priority; manifesting in the formation of the Muslim Brotherhood, a revolutionary movement established in 1928 by the Egyptian school teacher Hassan al-Banna. Backed by the Wahhabi clerical elites of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
, Salafis who advocated pan-Islamist religious conservatism emerged across the Muslim World, gradually replacing modernists during the decolonisation period, and then dominating funding for Islam via petroleum export money starting in the 1970s. According to Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi:Rashid Rida popularized the term 'Salafī' to describe a particular movement that he spearheaded. That movement sought to reject the ossification of the madhhabs, and rethink through the standard issues of fiqh and modernity, at times in very liberal ways. A young scholar by the name of Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani read an article by Rida, and then took this term and used it to describe another, completely different movement. Ironically, the movement that Rida spearheaded eventually became Modernist Islam and dropped the 'Salafī' label, and the legal methodology that al-Albānī championed – with a very minimal overlap with Rida's vision of Islam – retained the appellation 'Salafī'. Eventually, al-Albānī's label was adopted by the Najdī daʿwah as well, until it spread in all trends of the movement. Otherwise, before this century, the term 'Salafī' was not used as a common label and proper noun. Therefore, the term 'Salafī' has attached itself to an age-old school of theology, the Atharī school.
Islamic revivalists, such as Mahmud Shukri Al-Alusi (1856–1924 C.E), Muhammad Rashid Rida (1865–1935 C.E), and Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi (1866–1914 C.E), used ''Salafiyya'' as a term primarily to denote the traditionalist Sunni theology, Atharism. Rida also regarded the Wahhabi movement as part of the ''Salafiyya'' trend. Apart from the Wahhabis of Najd, Athari theology could also be traced back to the Alusi family in Iraq
Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
, '' Ahl-i Hadith'' in India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, and scholars such as Rashid Rida in Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
. After 1905, Rida steered his reformist programme towards the path of fundamentalist counter-reformation. This tendency led by Rida emphasized following the '' salaf al-salih'' and became known as the ''Salafiyya'' movement, which advocated a re-generation of pristine religious teachings of the early Muslim community. According to Dallal's interpretation, for Rida, revival and reform were not a function of the quality of the thought of the reformer, nor the extent of reception of the reformer's ideas; rather, a reformer's sphere of influence might be any "large or small locality," and the criterion for judging his views is solely the extent to which these ideas are needed at a particular point in time. He links it to Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab being offered stands on the same footing (and in the same paragraph) with that of Shawkani in Rida's list of revivers. This outlook diminishes the significance of a reformer's ideas having universal value beyond their local origins. Furthermore, the intellectual merit of these ideas becomes of secondary importance in Rida's framework.
The progressive views of the early modernists Afghani and Abduh were soon replaced by the puritan Athari tradition espoused by their students; which zealously denounced the ideas of non-Muslims and secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...
ideologies like liberalism
Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...
. This theological transformation was led by Syed Rashid Rida who adopted the strict Athari creedal doctrines of Ibn Taymiyyah
Ibn Taymiyya (; 22 January 1263 – 26 September 1328)Ibn Taymiyya, Taqi al-Din Ahmad, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001/acref-9780195125580-e-959 was a Sunni Muslim ulama, ...
during the early twentieth century. The ''Salafiyya'' movement popularised by Rida would advocate for an Athari- Wahhabi theology. Their promotion of '' Ijtihad'' was based on referring back to a strictly textual methodology. Its traditionalist vision was adopted by the Wahhabi clerical establishment and championed by influential figures such as the Syrian- Albanian Hadith scholar Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani (d. 1999 C.E/ 1420 A.H).
As a scholarly movement, "Enlightened Salafism" had begun declining some time after the death of Muhammad ʿAbduh in 1905. The puritanical stances of Rashid Rida, accelerated by his support to the Wahhabi movement; transformed '' Salafiyya'' movement incrementally and became commonly regarded as "traditional Salafism". The divisions between "Enlightened Salafis" inspired by ʿAbduh, and traditional Salafis represented by Rashid Rida and his disciples would eventually exacerbate. Gradually, the modernist Salafis became totally disassociated from the "Salafi" label in popular discourse and would identify as ''tanwiris'' (enlightened) or Islamic modernists. This is how Rida including his lineage of teachers, Abduh and Afghani, pioneered a Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
styled reform in the late 19th and early 20th century Muslim world as Afghani always aspired for. They recognized the challenges posed by imperialism but sought integration into the modern European era. They redefined Islamic values and institutions to adapt to the changing times while emphasizing historical precedents to legitimize European institutions with an Islamic touch.
Muslim Brotherhood
Islamist movements like Muslim Brotherhood (''al-Ikhwān al-Muslimūn'') were highly influenced by both Islamic Modernism and Salafism
The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a Islamic fundamentalism, fundamentalist Islamic revival, revival movement within Sunni Islam, originating in the late 19th century and influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "''Salafiyya''" ...
. Its founder Hassan Al-Banna was influenced by Muhammad Abduh and particularly his Salafi student Rashid Rida. Al-Banna attacked the '' taqlid'' of the official ''ulama
In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam.
"Ulama ...
'' and insisted only the Qur'an and the best-attested ''ahadith'' should be sources of the ''Sharia''. He was a dedicated reader of the writings of Rashid Rida and the magazine that Rida published, '' Al-Manar''. Sharing Rida's central concern with the decline of Islamic civilization, Al-Banna too believed that this trend could be reversed only by returning to a pure, unadulterated form of Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
. Like Rida, (and unlike the Islamic modernists) Al-Banna viewed Western secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...
ideas as the main danger to Islam in the modern age. The Brotherhood moved gradually in a traditionalist and conservative direction as Islamic Modernist beliefs were co-opted by secularist rulers and official ''`ulama'', and as the group became "the only available outlet" for pious Muslims "whose religious and cultural sensibilities" were outraged by "the impact of Westernisation". The Brotherhood argued for a Salafist solution to the contemporary challenges faced by the Muslims
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
, advocating the establishment of an Islamic state
The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...
through implementation of the '' Shari'ah'', based on Salafi revivalism.
Although the Muslim Brotherhood officially describes itself as a Salafi movement, the Quietist Salafis often contest its Salafist credentials. The Brotherhood differs from more purist salafis in their strategy for combating the challenge of modernity, and is focused on gaining control of the government. Despite this, both the Brotherhood and more thorough-going Salafists advocate the implementation of ''sharia
Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...
'' and emphasizes strict doctrinal adherence to the Quran and Sunnah and the '' Salaf al-Salih''. The Salafi-Activists who have a long tradition of political involvement; are highly active in Islamist movements like the Muslim Brotherhood and its various branches and affiliates. Some Brotherhood's slogans and principles expressed by former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi includes "the Koran is our constitution, the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings upon him, is our leader, jihad is our path, and death for the sake of Allah is our most lofty aspiration ... sharia, sharia, and then finally sharia. This nation will enjoy blessing and revival only through the Islamic sharia."
Islamic modernists
Although not all of the figures named below are from the above-mentioned movement, they all share a more or less modernist thought or/and approach.
* Muhammad Abduh (Egypt)
* Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (Afghanistan or Persia/Iran)
* Muhammad al-Tahir ibn Ashur (Tunisia)
* Chiragh Ali (British India)
* Syed Ameer Ali (British India)
* Qasim Amin (Egypt)
* Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...
(Turkey)
* Malek Bennabi (Algeria)
* Musa Jarullah Bigeev (Russia)
* Ahmad Dahlan (Indonesia)
* Farag Fawda (neomodernist) (Egypt)
* Abdulrauf Fitrat (Uzbekistan, then Russia)
* Muhammad Iqbal
Muhammad Iqbal (9 November 187721 April 1938) was a South Asian Islamic philosopher, poet and politician. Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...
(British India)
* Wang Jingzhai (China)
* Muhammad Ahmad Khalafallah (Egypt)[
* Syed Ahmad Khan (British India)]
* Shibli Nomani (British India)
* Ğäbdennasír İbrahim ulı Qursawí (Russia)
* Mahmoud Shaltout (Egypt)
* Ali Shariati (Iran)
* Mahmoud Mohammed Taha (neomodernist) (Sudan)
* Rifa'a al-Tahtawi (Egypt)
* Mahmud Tarzi (Afghanistan)
Contemporary Modernists
* Mohammed Arkoun (Algeria)
* Khaled Abou El Fadl (United States)
* Gamal al-Banna (Egypt)[
* Soheib Bencheikh (France)][
* Abdennour Bidar (France)][
* Taha Hussein (Egypt) ]
* Wahiduddin Khan
Wahiduddin Khan (1 January 1925 – 21 April 2021), known with the honorific "Maulana", was an Indian Islamic scholar and peace activist and author known for having written a commentary on the Quran and having translated it into contemporary E ...
(India)
* Irshad Manji (Canada)
* Abdelwahab Meddeb (France)[ Céline Zünd, Emmanuel Gehrig et Olivier Perrin, "Dans le Coran, sur 6300 versets, cinq contiennent un appel à tuer", '' Le Temps'', 29 January 2015, pp. 10–11.]
* Mahmoud Mohammed Taha (Sudan)
* Ebrahim Moosa (South Africa)
* Tariq Ramadan (Switzerland)[
* Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri (Pakistan)
* Amina Wadud (United States)]
Contemporary use
Turkey
In 2008, the state directorate of religious affairs ( Diyanet) for the Republic of Turkey launched the review of all the Ahadith. The school of theology at Ankara University
Ankara University () is a public university, public research university in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the History of the Republic of Turkey, formation of the Turkish republ ...
undertook this forensic examination with the aim of removing the centuries-old conservative cultural burden and rediscovering the spirit of reason in the original message of Islam. Fadi Hakura of Chatham House
The Royal Institute of International Affairs, also known as Chatham House, is a British think tank based in London, England. Its stated mission is "to help governments and societies build a sustainably secure, prosperous, and just world". It ...
in London compared these revisions to the 16th century Protestant Reformation of Christianity.["Turkey in radical revision of Islamic texts"](_blank)
Robert Pigott, Religious affairs correspondent, BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
, 26 February 2008 Turkey has also trained women as theologians, and sent them as senior Imam
Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...
s known as 'vaizes' all over the country, to explain these re-interpretations.
Pakistan
According to Charles Kennedy, in Pakistan as of 1992 the range of views on the "appropriate role of Islam" runs from "Islamic Modernists" at one end of the spectrum to "Islamic activists" at the other. "Islamic activists" support the expansion of "Islamic law and Islamic practices", "Islamic Modernists" are unenthusiastic to this expansion and "some may even advocate development along the secularist lines of the West".
Muhammadiyah
The Indonesian Islamic organization Muhammadiyah was founded in 1912. Often described as Salafist, and sometimes as Islamic modernist, it emphasized the authority of the ''Qur'an
The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...
'' and the ''Hadith
Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
s'', opposing syncretism
Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various school of thought, schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or religious assimilation, assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the ...
and '' taqlid'' (blind-conformity) to the ulema. As of 2006, it is said to have "veered sharply toward a more conservative brand of Islam" under the leadership of Din Syamsuddin, the head of the Indonesian Ulema Council.
Criticism
Many orthodox, fundamentalist, puritan, and traditionalist Muslims strongly opposed modernism as '' bid'ah'' and the most dangerous heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy.
Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...
of the day, for its association with Westernization and Western education, although some orthodox/traditionalist Muslims, and Muslim scholars agree that going back to the Qur'an and the Sunnah to update Islamic law would not be in violation of the principles of ''fiqh
''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.[Fiqh](_blank)
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...
''.
One of the leading Islamist thinkers and Islamic revivalists, Abul A'la Maududi agreed with Islamic modernists that Islam contained nothing contrary to reason
Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, religion, scien ...
, and was superior in rational terms to all other religious systems. However, he disagreed with them in their examination of the Quran and the Sunna using reason as the standard. Maududi, instead started from the proposition that "true reason is Islamic", and accepted the Book and the Sunna, not reason, as the final authority. Modernists erred in examining rather than simply obeying the Quran
The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
and the Sunna.
Scholar Malise Ruthven argues that the beliefs that were "integral" to at least one prominent modernist (Abduh) -- namely that the basic revealed truths of Islam and the observable, rational truth of science must be, "in the final analysis be identical"—is problematic. This is because the idea is "based on the essentially medieval premise that science, like scripture itself is a finite body of knowledge awaiting revelation", when in fact science is "a dynamic process of discovery subject to continual revision". The establishment of non-religious institutions of learning in India, Egypt and elsewhere, which Abduh encouraged, "opened the floodgates to secular forces which threatened Islam's intellectual foundations".
Advocates of political Islam argue that insofar as Modernism seeks to separate Islam and politics it is adopting the Christian and secular principle of " Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's", but that politics is inherent in Islam, since Islam encompasses every aspect of life. Some, (Hizb ut-Tahrir
Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT; ) is an international pan-Islamist and Islamic fundamentalist political organization whose stated aim is the re-establishment of the Islamic caliphate to unite the Muslim community (called ''ummah'') and implement sharia glo ...
for example), claim that in Muslim political jurisprudence, philosophy and practice, the Caliphate is the correct Islamic form of government, and that it has "a clear structure comprising a Caliph, assistants (mu'awinoon), governors (wulaat), judges (qudaat) and administrators (mudeeroon)."[Mawardi, "Ahkaam al-Sultaniyyah".]
See also
* Islam and modernity
* Islamic revival
* Islamism
Islamism is a range of religious and political ideological movements that believe that Islam should influence political systems. Its proponents believe Islam is innately political, and that Islam as a political system is superior to communism ...
* Liberalism and progressivism within Islam
Liberalism, Liberal and Progressivism, progressive ideas within Islam is a range of interpretation of Islamic understanding and practice, ranging from centrist to left-wing perspectives. Some Muslims have created a considerable body of Progres ...
* Contemporary Islamic philosophy
* Muslim Reform Movement
* Reform (religion)
A religious reform (from Latin ''re-'': "back, again", and ''formare'': "to form"; i.e. put together: "to restore, reconstruct, rebuild") aims at the reform of religious teachings. It is not to be confused with an organizational reform of a religi ...
* Tafazzul Husain Kashmiri
Notes
References
Bibliography
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