is not offered by the Quran and Sunna. Although
conservative ulama have regarded this method of
legal reasoning cautiously, preferring the conven-
tions of legal tradition, it has been accepted as one
of the methods of fiqh, to greater or lesser degree,
since the ninth century. Islamic studies scholars
have also asserted that renewers and reformers do
not really wish to simply return to the Golden Age
of the past, but that they actually seek to invoke
the past in order to bring about a better present
and future. This claim has validity, but it over-
looks movements that idealize “pristine” Islam
to such an extent that it leads to religio-political
extremism, oppressive laws, armed violence, and
human rights violations that actually undermine
the prospects for improved conditions in the pres-
ent and future.
Two main types of renewal and reform move-
ments have arisen in Islamicate lands since the
18th century. One of these, sometimes called the
“modernist movement,” has sought to initiate
change by interpreting the Quran and the sunna
in ways that help Islamicate societies more readily
adapt modern European learning and political lib-
eralism. This trend is visible among Egyptian and
Ottoman ulama who had become familiar with
European
science
and society during the colonial
era, including Rifaa Rafi al-Tahtawi (d. 1873),
J
amal
al
-d
in
al
-a
Fghani
(d. 1897), and m
Uham
-
mad
a
bdUh
(d. 1905). Islamic modernism was
spearheaded in i
ndia
by s
ayyid
a
hmad
k
han
(d.
1898) in the wake of the successful British sup-
pression the 1857 Sepoy revolt. However, whereas
al-Afghani’s modernism assumed an overtly anti-
colonial coloring, Ahmad Khan was attempting to
bridge the gap between Muslims and the British
in order to win a more favorable place for them
in the colonial administration. Abduh, initially
sympathetic to al-Afghani’s views, later took a
more gradualist approach to reform, which won
him the support of the British authorities who
governed e
gypt
in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. Ahmad Khan’s modernism paved the
way for the Muslim leadership that emerged in
the Indian independence movement in the 20th
century. It went in two directions, however. One
group of modernists joined to promote the cre-
ation of an independent p
akistan
, while another
supported the cause of the Indian National Con-
gress, which wanted to create a united Indian
nation. Said Nursi (d. 1960) was one of the most
important leaders of Islamic reformism in t
Urkey
,
but he eventually clashed with a
tatUrk
(d. 1938),
who promoted a strong secular brand of Turkish
nationalism, and he was exiled from the country.
Other important modernist reform movements
arose in North Africa, i
ran
, and i
ndonesia
.
Muslim modernists assert that many of the
core principles of Western science and moral-
ity originated in Islamicate civilization. Reform,
therefore, was a matter of reviving what they
defined as the original Islamic heritage that had
become corrupted by popular ignorance and
backward-thinking ulama. They thought that this
was the best way to protect their cultures from
colonial domination by European powers. Their
efforts were aimed at educated Muslims who
were tempted to abandon their Islamic heritage
to follow the European secular path promoted by
Muslim rulers seeking to rapidly modernize their
armies and governments with the help of foreign
advisers and legal codes. Many of the modernists
turned their attention to educational reform and
took advantage of print culture to disseminate
their ideas.
The second type of renewal and reform move-
ment in Islam is that which directly attacks beliefs
and practices in Muslim societies that are believed to
be un-Islamic; it opposes or resists Euro-American
influence and reasserts core Islamic values. This
kind of movement, sometimes called “revivalist,”
seeks to achieve its ends partly through doctrinal
education (
daawa
) in the Quran and sunna, and
partly through overt political action aimed at
Islamizing secular governments and pressing them
to uphold the sharia. This brand of renewal also
employs armed
Jihad
to achieve its aims. One of
the earliest and best known of these movements
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