Mamadiou Dia, and Amina Wadud. These indi-
viduals come from many different backgrounds
and they address a wide range of issues, includ-
ing religious tolerance and pluralism, democracy,
hUman rights, social justice, gender equality, and
the problem of religious violence. However, this
dimension of reformism in Islam remains highly
individualistic, lacking organization, financing,
and mass appeal in most cases. It is at a disadvan-
tage with respect to the power and influence of
ulama, radical Islamic groups, and authoritarian
governments. Indeed, many (but not all) of these
thinkers live in Europe and North America, where
a number have held academic appointments in
universities and research institutes.
See also aligarh; daa wa; ethics and morality;
pan-islamism; politics and islam; rashid rida,
mUhammad; salaFism; shariati, ali; Wahhabism.
Further reading: Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in
the Liberal Age: 1798–1939 (1962. Reprint, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1983); Farouq Jahan-
bakhsh, Islam, Democracy and Religious Modernism in
Iran, 1953–2000: From Bazargan to Soroush (Boston:
E.J. Brill, 2001); Charles Kurzman, Liberal Islam: A
Sourcebook (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998);
Fazlur Rahman, “Revival and Reform in Islam.” In The
Cambridge History of Islam, edited by P. M. Holt, Ann K.
S. Lambton, and Bernard Lewis, Vol. 1, 632–642 (Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970); Ali Rah-
nema, ed., Pioneers of Islamic Revival (1994. Reprint,
London: Zed Books, 2005); John O. Voll, “Renewal and
Reform in Islamic History: Tajdid and Islah.” In Voices
of Resurgent Islam, edited by John L. Esposito, 32–47
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983).
resurrection See afterlife; death; eschatology;
judgment day.
revelation
Communication of knowledge by words, visions,
and inspiration from sacred, supramundane
beings to humans is known as revelation. It usu-
ally involves disclosure of a truth, or set of truths,
that has been previously hidden or unknown.
Revelation is a phenomenon recognized by many
if not all religious systems.
In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam revelation
is most commonly associated with prophets—
individuals chosen by God to deliver his word
to humans. Jewish rabbinic tradition regards the
written and oral torah as a revelation “given” by
God to moses and accepted by the community
of Israel above all nations. Moreover, the written
Torah bears witness to God’s actions in the his-
tory of the Hebrews, from the covenant times of
the patriarchs and the events in egypt and Sinai
to the building of the temple in Jerusalem and its
destruction by the Babylonians. Christian tradi-
tion holds the Old Testament (the Hebrew Bible
or written Torah) to be a preliminary revelation,
but it considers Christ (JesUs), the son of God,
the most perfect and complete revelation of God
to humanity. The New Testament bears witness to
this and is itself considered to be the product of
divine inspiration. Also, the last book of the New
Testament, known as The Revelation to John (or
The Apocalypse of John), contains visions about
the future revealed to John by Christ.
In Islamic belief the qUran is the final, most
perfect revelation from God. It was preceded by
revelations delivered to former prophets in the
course of human history, but in its final form it
embodies the speech of God revealed (literally
“sent down”) to mUhammad on different occasions
between 610 and 632 while he was living in both
mecca and medina. The terms used for this rev-
elation are based on the Arabic root n-z-l (tanzil
and nuzul), which connotes downward move-
ment. Muslim scholars developed a genre of exe-
getical literature called asbab al-nuzul that sought
to identify the different historical “occasions”
when revelation came to Muhammad, often situ-
ations involving interactions with human, rather
than divine, interlocutors. Although there are
tensions between the divine and human elementsrevelation 589 J