Islam and modernity
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Islam and modernity is a topic of discussion in contemporary sociology of religion. The history of Islam chronicles different interpretations and approaches. Modernity is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon rather than a unified and coherent one. It has historically had different schools of thought moving in many directions.[1]
Industrial Revolution's impact on Islam
In the 18th century
The rise of modern Europe coincided with what many scholars refer to as the decline of the Ottoman Empire, which by the 18th century was facing political, military, and economic breakdown.[3] While prior to the 18th century the Ottomans had regarded themselves to be either of superior or, by the mid-18th century, of equal strength to Europe, by the end of the 18th century the power relationship between the Ottoman Empire and Europe began to shift in Europe's favor.[4]
French occupation of the Ottoman Empire
In 1798
Ottoman scholars in Europe
The exposure to European power and ideas would later inspire the new governor of Egypt,
Like Tahtawi, Khayr al-Din was also sent to Paris where he spent four years. After his return from Europe he wrote a book in which he argued that the only way to strengthen the Muslim States was by borrowing ideas and institutions from Europe, and that this did not contradict the spirit of the Sharia.[9]
Modernization reforms in the Ottoman Empire
In the period between 1839 and 1876 the Ottoman government began instituting large-scale reforms as a way to modernize and strengthen the empire.[
The
Eventually, the Turks adopted the metric system in 1869. The key figure in the Turkish modernist movement was
The Greater Muslim world
The influence of modernism in the Muslim world resulted in a cultural revival.[14] Dramatic plays became more common, as did newspapers. Notable European works were analyzed and translated.
Legal reform was attempted in Egypt, Tunisia, the Ottoman Empire, and Iran, and in some cases these reforms were adopted.[15] Efforts were made to restrict the power of government. Polygamy was ended in India.[16] Azerbaijan granted suffrage to women in 1918 (before several European countries).[16]
At the recommendations of reform-minded Islamic scholars, western sciences were taught in new schools.[15] Much of this had to do with the intellectual appeal of social Darwinism, since it led to the conclusion that an old-fashioned Muslim society could not compete in the modern world.[15]
In 19th century
Modernism, religion and ideology
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Islamic Modernism
Modernism impacted interpretations of Islam. One movement was Islamic Modernism, which was both an attempt to provide an Islamic response to the challenges presented by European colonial expansion, and an effort to reinvigorate and reform Islam from within as a way to counter the perceived weakness and decline of Muslim societies in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It called for "a 'reformation' or reinterpretation (ijtihad) of Islam", and emerged in the Muslim world from Egypt to Southeast Asia.[12]
Islamic modernists argued that Islam and modernity were compatible and "asserted the need to reinterpret and reapply the principles and ideals of Islam to formulate new responses to the political, scientific, and cultural challenges of the West and of modern life".[12] The reforms they proposed challenged the status quo maintained by the conservative Muslim scholars (ulama), who saw the established law as the ideal order that had to be followed and upheld the doctrine of taqlid (imitation / blind following). Islamic modernists saw the resistance to change on the part of the conservative ulama as a major cause for the problems the Muslim community was facing as well as its inability to counter western hegemony.
Modernists
Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838–1897) is regarded as one of the pioneers of Islamic modernism. He believed that Islam was compatible with science and reason and that in order to counter European power the Muslim world had to embrace progress.[18]
Qasim Amin was another reformer in Egypt and Abduh's disciple who was heavily concerned with the rights of women. Khayr al-Din al-Tunisi was similarly educated in Paris around the same time. He surveyed the political systems of 21 European countries in an effort to reform Tunisia.[13]
Notable Modernists on the Indian subcontinent include
Other Modernists include Mahmud Tarzi of Afghanistan, Chiragh Ali of India, Ahmad Dahlan of Java, and Wang Jingzhai of China.[13]
Although Islamic modernists were subject to the criticism that the reforms they promoted amounted to westernizing Islam, their legacy was significant and their thought influenced future generations of reformers.[12]
Pakistan and Turkey
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was also a prominent Muslim modernist of the twentieth century.[22][23]
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In some parts of the world, the project of Islamic modernity continued from the same trajectory before World War I. This was especially the case in the new
Turkey has continued to be at the forefront of modernising Islam. In 2008 its Department of Religious Affairs launched a review of all the
After World War I
The aftermath of
Arab socialism
As a political ideology based on an amalgamation of Pan-Arabism and socialism, Arab socialism is distinct from the much broader tradition of socialist thought in the Arab world which predates Arab socialism by as much as 50 years. Michel Aflaq, the principal founder of ba'athism and the Ba'ath Party, coined the term in order to distinguish his version of socialist ideology from the Marxist socialism in Eastern Europe and Eastern Asia, and social democracy and democratic socialism in Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
The Six-Day War between Israel and its neighbours ended in a decisive loss for the Muslim side. Many in the Islamic world saw this as the failure of socialism. It was at this point that "fundamental and militant Islam began to fill the political vacuum created".[25]
Islamic fundamentalism
In the late 20th century an Islamic Revival or Islamic Awakening developed in the
It was manifested in greater religious piety and in a growing adoption of Islamic culture.[27] One striking example of it is the increase in attendance at the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, which grew from 90,000 in 1926 to 2 million in 1979.[28] But the said increase in the number of pilgrims may also be attributed to other factors such as increase in populations, modern transportation facilities and to some extent the over all financial prosperity of the Muslims all over the world thus making the Pilgrimage affordable to more and more Muslim populations.
Two of the most important events that fueled or inspired the resurgence were the
The revival is a reversal of the Westernisation approach common in Arab and Asian governments earlier in the 20th century. It is often associated with the political Islamic movement,
The revival has also seen a proliferation of
In the book Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Arab World (1994), the author N. Ayubi explained what he believes to be the two main concerns of Islamic political movements and extremist groups in the Middle East:
- The Western belief in a bureaucratic state; and
- The secular values and beliefs associated with concepts such as modernity.[31]
According to John Esposito:
The tendency to judge the actions of Muslims in splendid isolation, to generalize from the actions of the few to the many, to disregard similar excesses committed in the name of other religions and ideologies ... is not new.[32]
The number of militant Islamic movements calling for "an Islamic state and the end of Western influence" is relatively small.[33] According to polls taken in 2008 and 2010 by Pew and Gallop, pluralities of the population in Muslim-majority countries are undecided as to what extent religion (and certain interpretations of) should influence public life, politics, and the legal system.[34][35]
People
- Namık Kemal
- Mirza Malkom Khan
- Qasim Amin
- Mahmud Tarzi
- Sayyid Ahmad Khan
- Kijai Hadji Ahmad Dachlan
- Jamal al-Din al-Afghani
- Allama Muhammad Iqbal
- Muhammad Abduh
- Muhammad Rashid Rida
Books
- Islam and Modernism by Taqi Usmani
- What Went Wrong?: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response by Bernard Lewis
- The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Thomas Friedman
- Jihad vs. McWorld, Benjamin Barber
- Islams and Modernities', Aziz al-Azmeh
- Tradition and Modernity Problem in Contemporary Arabic thought: محمَّدحسين الرفاعي إشكالية التراث والحداثة في الفكر العربي المعاصر by Mohammad Hossein Refaee
See also
- Islam and secularism
- Islam and democracy
- Cultural Muslims
- Tafazzul Husain Kashmiri
- Islamic Modernism
Reform movements within Islam:
- Tanzimat, Ottoman Empire
- Liberal movements within Islam
- Islamic feminism
Nation specific:
Other religions:
- Modernism (Roman Catholicism)
- Modern Orthodox Judaism
- Buddhist modernism
References
- ^ The Responsibilities of the Muslim Intellectual in the 21st Century, Abdolkarim Soroush
- ISBN 9781567312164.
- ^ Esposito, Jonh L. (2005). Islam: The Straight Path. Oxford University Press. pp. 115–116.
- ISBN 9781567312164.
- ISBN 9780465071005.
- ^ Albert, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1983: p.43
- ISBN 9780465071005.
- ^ Albert, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1983: p.75
- ^ Albert, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1983: pp.88
- ^ a b c Watson, The Modern Mind, 2001: p.970
- ISBN 9780465071005.
- ^ a b c d e Esposito, John L. "Contemporary Islam". In John L. Esposito (ed.). The Oxford History of Islam. Oxford Islamic Studies Online. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
- ^ a b c d Watson, The Modern Mind, 2001: p.971
- ^ a b c d Watson, The Modern Mind, 2001: p.973
- ^ a b c Watson, The Modern Mind, 2001: p.974
- ^ a b Watson, The Modern Mind, 2001: p.975
- ^ a b Watson, The Modern Mind, 2001: p.972
- ^ Albert, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1983: pp.103–129
- ^ Albert, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1983: p.136
- ^ Albert, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1983: p.140
- ^ Albert, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1983: p.156
- ^ "Muslim modernism and Jinnah". Dawn. 25 December 2012.
- ^ "Jinnah's vision of Pakistan". Pakistan Army. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
- ^ a b "Turkey in radical revision of Islamic texts" Robert Pigott, Religious affairs correspondent, BBC News, 26 February 2008
- ^ a b c Watson, The Modern Mind, 2001: p.1096
- ^ Esposito, John L. "Islamic Fundamentalism". Notre Dame de Sion. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
- ^ Lapidus, p.823
- ^ a b Kepel, Gilles, Jihad: on the Trail of Political Islam, Harvard University Press, 2002, p.75
- ^ Fawcett, L (2005) International Relations of the Middle East, UK: Oxford University Press, p 72
- ^ BBC News online, Islam and the West, Monday, 12 August 2002, 14:11 GMT 15:11 UK
- ^ Ayubi, N. N. M. (1994) Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Arab World, London: Routledge p. 48
- ^ Milton-Edwards, B(1999) Islamic Politics in Palestine, UK: I. B. Tauris & Co Ltd, p. 2
- ^ Ayubi, N. N. M. (1994) Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Arab World, London: Routledge p. 70
- ^ "Islam and Democracy" Archived 2011-02-20 at the Wayback Machine"Gallup Poll", February 15, 2008
- ^ "Most Embrace a Role for Islam in Politics, Muslim Publics Divided on Hamas and Hezbollah". Pew Research Center, December 2, 2010
Printed sources
- Hourani, Albert (1983). Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age: 1798–1939. LCCN 83-1788. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
- Hourani, Albert (2002) [1991]. A History of the Arab Peoples. ISBN 9780674010178. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-231-53192-4. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
- Pasha, Mustapha Kamal (April 2010). "In the Shadows of Globalization: Civilizational Crisis, the 'Global Modern', and 'Islamic Nihilism'". S2CID 144581998.
- Watson, Peter (2001). The Modern Mind: An Intellectual History of the 20th Century. ISBN 978-0-06-008438-7. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
External links
- The Responsibilities of the Muslim Intellectual in the 21st Century
- Islam and Modernity by Prof. Ahmed Afzaal
- Islam and Modernity by Professor Ibrahim Abu Rabi
- BBC NEWS: Analysis: Islam's modernity question
- Modernization article from Encyclopædia Britannica
- Article on Haq (Right) from Encyclopedia of Islam Online
- Westernization in Oxford Islamic Studies Online
- Studies in Contemporary Islam
- Digital Islam Archived 2020-08-06 at the Wayback Machine: A research project on the Middle East, Islam, and digital media.
Further reading
- JL Esposito and JO Voll, Makers of Contemporary Islam, Oxford University Press 2001.
- John Cooper, Ronald Nettler and Mohamad Mahmoud, Islam and Modernity: Muslim Intellectuals Respond, I. B. Tauris, 2000
- C Kurzman (ed), Liberal Islam: A Source Book, Oxford University Press 1998.
- Islam and Modernity, Journal Religion and the Arts, Brill Academic Publishers, Volume 5, Number 4, pp. 495–503