Encyclopedia of Islam

Rashid Rida, Muhammad

  

581  J

---

in order to resist 

colonialism

 and Western domi-

nation. They encouraged Muslims to base their 

actions on the Quran and 

sUnna

 and to abandon 

any traditional religious practices not supported 

by these texts. Together with their call to reopen 

the door to 

ijtihad

, or reinterpretation of Islamic 

law in light of reason, these assertions under-

mined the leadership role of the traditional 

Ulama

.

Upon the death of al-Afghani, Rida moved to 

Cairo to work with Muhammad Abduh, where 

he expanded access to Salafi thought through his 

magazine.

Rida was especially concerned about the 

backwardness he perceived in Muslim societies, 

which permitted them to be dominated by the 

European powers. In response to the challenges 

of World War I, and the breakup of the Ottoman 

Empire, Rida promoted a program of religious, 

political, and social reform that differed some-

what from that of his predecessors. Modern 

edUcation

, in Rida’s view, was sorely needed to 

enable the a

rab

 peoples to adopt positive ele-

ments of European civilization, including adop-

tion of modern technical advances. He argued for 

the restoration of the 

caliphate

 as a remedy for 

corrupt regimes who cooperated with the colo-

nial powers. Rida later moved away from 

pan

-

i

slamism

 toward pan-Arabism and is considered 

by some an early proponent of Arab nationalism. 

Rida reinterpreted the ideas of the early reform-

ists and passed them on to succeeding Muslim 

intellectuals. Different aspects of his ideas have 

appealed to both secular modernists in Arab 

countries and Islamist activists.

See also i

slamism

; 

reneWal

 

and

 

reForm

 

move

-

ments

; s

alaFism

; 

secUlarism

.

Shauna Huffaker