“Pre-modern vs. Modern Revivalists”
Globalization, among other factors, introduced turbulence in the Muslim world. As such, there have been cases in Muslim countries where political and social movements began to arise in a form of revival to strengthen or bring back Islamic philosophy in such countries. In his book Global Political Islam, Peter Mandaville discusses case studies of early revivalist movements and their continuing legacy in the modern world. Mandaville explains that the term ‘political Islam’ is a political movement that is fundamentally “a state whose governmental principles, institutions and legal system derive directly from the shari’ah” (Mandaville pg.57). Thus all these movements are essentially linked by a goal to revive and retrieve a fundamentalist political ideology and practice. This paper will explore the revivalist movements in the case studies presented in Mandaville’s book. The movements will be divided in time periods covering pre-modern and modern revivalists. Lastly, this paper will conclude that pre-modern and modern political movements in Islam mainly differ in their responses to revivalism. In the case of pre-modern revivalists, the response was an internal solution where as the modern revivalists sought to abolish external factors that they saw as a threat.
The revivalist philosophy seeks to implement a poltitcal movement or practice that is a form of recovery from Westernization and secularism. Subsequently, revivalist thinkers and the major founding fathers sought to return to the pure form if Islam in which Muslim societies would be rid of these ill trends. This political reform that offers a solution for the threat of colonization by returning to practices as referenced in the Quran and a ...
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... message, each of these developments is formed by neighborhood and/or national state.
There is no immediate connection between Islam in the seventh century and the prevalent Islamist movements in the last some piece of the twentieth century. A partition occurred in Islam between the religious and political circles that reinforce renouncement of political dominance. Furthermore, conventions of secularism and modernization were overwhelming for no less than two centuries in different Muslim states, starting with modernizing changes established by different Muslim rulers, then emulated by further changes executed by common nationalist authorities after anti-colonial battles. Political Islam, along these lines, is better seen in light of late political and economic improvements—advancements, also, that have offered ascent to religious revival in different social orders.
Ansary, Mir Tamim. Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Islamic Eyes. New York: PublicAffairs, 2009. Print.
Political order is about las in the Muslim religion. The leader of the Muslim community was Muhammad, a spiritual leader that leads the community. After their leader passed there was a rule that there will be a new leader in the next three centuries. This tells that Islam spreaded so quickly for that their religious leader up-holded powers for them to practice faithfully and fairly.
...taken the form of universalization of those same structures across the world through reforming measures or through discourses in the Muslim world, thus creating conflicts as noted by Majid. The main weapon of this power relationship is observing and differentiating between good and bad, thus ingraining binary oppositions with the western values at the superior end. Thus, the western hegemony is like a beauty myth which is an unattainable western standard which is not only undesirable but harmful for the non-west. Still, they are coerced to adopt this standard due to a constant gaze and pressure from the West. Therefore, there is a need to revert this gaze and dismantle the western hegemony and power structures through the proliferation of ideas; ideas that take root not merely from the power elite or existing structures but stem from individual and provincial needs.
Islam has been a dominant force throughout Turkish history. During the Ottoman Empire, Islam ruled every part of the theocratic state, but after the demise of the empire, Turkey's rulers led the country away from political Islam. The modern Turkish state has a strictly secular government, and Islam has been relegated to the personal sphere. Although Turkey has experienced a rise in fundamentalism in the past twenty years, the separation of church and state has remained relatively intact. Even with this increase of fundamentalist Islam, the wide majority of Muslims in Turkey are moderate and tolerant. They have adapted to modern life and value Islam for its moral and spiritual messages. Islam is a guide for right living and ethical conduct rather than a political system. Turkey constantly struggles to balance Islamic life with a secular government. Although the government wants to maintain a strict separation between religion and politics, it cannot ignore the power and influence that Islam has in the lives of the Turkish people.
The formation of states and political legitimacy has most of the time been intertwined with the religious authority that resided in the state. In Christian Europe, the church was the initial source of legitimacy post-Roman Empire. The rise and fall (and rise again) of the Catholic church and the Protestant Reformation help shaped state structures and ultimately, the rise of the secular state. In contrast, in Dar-al-Islam, there was a unique and changing relationship between the state and the ulamas because politics and religion was more or less in the same realm. In some instances, the state and ulamas remained relatively separate but in other cases, the ulamas became the
Hilāl, ʻAlī Al-Dīn. Islamic Resurgence in the Arab World. New York, NY: Praeger, 1982. Print.
Rahman, Fazlur. Islam & Modernity: Transformation of an Intellectual Tradition. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1982. Print.
The failure of defensive development in Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, and Persia had a large and long-lasting effect on the Muslim world. The original goal of the reforms was to end European intervention, revive the weakening empires, and to be on equal standing with Europe. Yet, all three empires over-utilized the wealth and knowledge of Europe, leading to their ultimate demise. The empires wished to impose reforms in the military, economics, education, and law which the region had not experienced previously. This resulted in backlash, violence, and division within the empires eventually leading to bankruptcy, ironically, to those which they wished to separate themselves.
Lafraie, Najibullah (2009). Revolutionary Ideology and Islamic Militancy : The Iranian Revolution and Interpretations of the Quran. Tauris Academic Studies. Retrieved March 23, 2012, from Ebook Library.
Khashan, Hilal. “The New World Order and the Tempo of Militant Islam.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. Volume 24, Issue 1 (1997. 5), 5-24.
The Islamic tradition, as reflected in Naguib Mahfouz’s Zaabalawi, has over the course of history had an incredible impact on Arab culture. In Mahfouz’s time, Islamic practices combined with their political relevance proved a source of both great power and woe in Middle Eastern countries. As alluded to in Zaabalawi, Mahfouz asserts the fact that not all Muslims attain religious fulfillment through this common tradition, and other methods outside the scope of Islam may be necessary in true spiritual understanding.
Through day-to-day knowledge of what is happening in the world there is observable evidence that Islamic followers have employed different techniques to proclaim ‘power’. The techniques being employed are basically inflicting pain in the opponent by methods of kidnapping, hijackings, and recruiting members (such as Al-Qaeda in the Middle East) in order to make them a more powerful and a more appealing group in their societies. According to Mandaville, Islam is directly linked to politics (they cannot be separated); Muslims wanted to challenge new technological innovations as well as new institutions without forgetting about their religious values. Mandaville proclaims an important aspect of the Islamic religion. During the Ottoman Empire many Muslims gained important power and began to interact with Europeans in order to move into a more modern system; but times have changed.
Throughout history it is evident that many religions have been tried, tested, and, for some, radically changed. Many religions have gone through periods of time in which the way they were run or enforced underwent changes in practice and leadership. In many cases disagreements and differing outlooks among members of certain religions were to blame for these changes. Christianity and Islam are two examples of religions that have experienced changes over the course of their existence. While these religions seem to have little in common at first glance, both have strikingly similar pasts that consist of radical splits due to disagreements among members of the Christian and Islamic churches, resulting in new branches within each religion.
Religious Fundamentalism is not a modern phenomenon, although, it has received a rise in the late twentieth century. It occurs differently in different parts of the world but arises in societies that are deeply troubled or going through a crisis (Heywood, 2012, p. 282). The rise in Religious Fundamentalism can be linked to the secularization thesis, which implies that victory of reason over religion follows modernization. Also, the moral protest of faiths such as Islam and Christianity can be linked to the rise of Religious Fundamentalism, as they protest the influence of corruption and pretence that infiltrate their beliefs from the spread of secularization (Heywood, 2012, p. 283). Religious Fundamentalists have followed a traditional political thought process, yet, have embraced a militant style of activity which often can turn violent (Heywood, 2012, p. 291).
“Are political Islam and democracy compatible?” This question has been troubling both Muslims and non-Muslims living in East and West for a long time now. Contemporary Islamic political thought has become deeply influenced by attempts at reconciling Islam and democracy. Muslim thinkers who deal with political debates cannot disregard the significance of the democratic system, as it is the prevailing theme of modern western political thought. Hence, it is necessary for any alternative political system, whether it is religious or secular, to explore its position with regards to democratic government. In fact, a large literature and media publications have developed over the last century on this heated discourse of democracy versus Islam. While many argue that Islam has all the ingredients of modern state and democratic society, many other reject the phenomena “modernism” and “democracy” as a whole because of their “foreign nature”—alien to “Islamic values”. For Islamists and modernists, the motivation for such effort to either embrace or reject democracy often is to remove suspicion about the nature and goals of Islamic movements and Islamic revivalism or resurgence. But before diving into this discourse, one needs to understand the definition and origins of “democracy.” Although purely a Western ideology in its origin, there is no consensus on the definition of “democracy” as a political system. The Oxford English Dictionary describes democracy as: “A system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives” (“democracy, n.”). In my paper, I will examine whether or not democracy and Sunni political Islam are compatible through the eyes of three revolutionary Sun...