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 arab 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-
islamism 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 islamism; reneWal and reForm move-
ments; salaFism; secUlarism.
Shauna HuffakerFurther reading: Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in
the Liberal Age: 1798–1939 (1962. Reprint, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1983), 222–244; Malcom
H. Kerr, Islamic Reform: The Political and Legal Theories
of Muhammad Abduh and Rashid Rida (Berkeley: Uni-
versity of California Press, 1966); Muhammad Rashid
Rida, The Muhammadan Revelation. Translated by Yusuf
DeLorenzo (Alexandria, Va.: Al-Saadawi Publications,
1996); Emad Eldin Shahin, Through Muslim Eyes: M.
Rashid Rida and the West (Herndon, Va.: International
Institute of Islamic Thought, 1993).Rashidun See abu bakr; ali ibn abi talib;
caliph; umar ibn al-khattab; uthman ibn affan.rasul See prophets and prophethood.
rawza khavani See ashura.
ray See ijtihad.
Refah Partisi (Turkish: Welfare Party)
The Refah Partisi (RP) is the name of an Islamist
political party that operated in tUrkey from
1983 to 1998. Soon after the Republic of Turkey
was founded in 1923, its first president mUs taFa
kemal atatUrk (d. 1938) pushed through a series
of reforms aimed at breaking the hold of Islam
over the state and society. Historically, Turkey’s
strong military has been a staunch defender of
these secularist policies, and successive efforts to
ease restrictions on Islamic education and wor-
ship starting in the 1950s have been met with
military coups and the disbanding of political par-
ties oriented toward Islam. When single-party rule
ended in 1950, the new Democrat Party began
easing restrictions that had been imposed on
Islamic edUcation and worship, but it was closed
following the military coup of 1960.
The first explicitly Islamic parties (the National
Order Party in 1971 and the National Salvation
Party in 1980) were formed under the leadership
of Necmettin Erbakan (b. 1926), but they were
closed in the succeeding military coups.
Erbakan was himself banned from politics
following a 1980 coup, but in 1983 IslamistsK 582 Rashidun