Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Michael R. Fischbach, Records of 

Dispossession: Palestinian Refugee Property and the Arab-

Israeli Conflict (New York: Columbia University Press, 

2003); Patricia A. Omidian, Aging and Family in an 

Afghan Refugee Community (New York: Garland Pub-

lications, 1996); United Nations High Commissioner 

for Refugees, The State of the World’s Refugees: Human 

Displacement in the New Millennium (Oxford: Oxford 

University Press, 2006); World Refugee Survey, 2007

(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Committee for Refugees and 

Immigrants, 2007).

renewal and reform movements

All the major movements that have defined i

slam

in the contemporary world have been based on 

Islamic concepts of renewal and reform. These 

concepts draw inspiration from the q

Uran

 and the 

foundational moments in Islam’s history—seventh-

century Medina under the leadership of m

Uham

-

mad

 and his Companions. However, the shape 

and content of the contemporary Islamic move-

ments are varied and they should be understood 

in relation to the historical experience of Muslim 

peoples since the 18th century. This experience 

includes the political and economic weakening of 

Muslim empires, European 

colonialism

 and colo-

nial warfare, Christian missionary activity in Mus-

lim lands, and the introduction of Euro-American 

secUlarism

, political ideologies, institutions, and 

laws. Other important factors include improved 

regional and global interconnectedness made pos-

sible by mechanized transportation, the develop-

ment of print cultures and the modern media, and 

the rise of nationalist movements and the modern 

nation-state. Islamic renewal and reform move-

ments, also known as revival movements, have 

been responsible for significant changes in the 

spheres of 

edUcation

, law, politics, and society. In 

some cases they have succeeded in winning con-

trol of the state, but more often they have adapted 

to different kinds of political systems, working to 

bring about gradual change from within. They have 

also given rise to radical i

slamism

 and 

Jihad

 

move

-

ments

 seeking to bring about rapid revolutionary 

change through violence.

IDEOlOGICAl FOuNDATIONS

The Quran depicts Islam not as something that 

originally appeared in the time of Muhammad, but 

as a way to salvation that God delivered in former 

times to Adam and other prophets such as a

bra

-

ham

 and m

oses

 and their communities. Islamic 

salvation history, however, like that of the Bible, 

narrates how people have strayed from the path, 

disobeying God and his prophets. The Quran’s 

revelation, therefore was a “reminder” (

dhikr

) 

or “guidance” (huda) for people of Muhammad’s 

time to heed; in other words, to change their 

ways, or reform their belief and conduct accord-

ingly. Moreover, the Quran holds people account-

able for correcting wrongs, as when it declares,