CHAPTER 9
Islamic Modernism
Muhammad Khalid Masud
Introduction
The experience of modernity in Muslim societies has varied from a sense of
total disruption of their life world to recognition of progress and improvement
in their political economies (Jamia 1984: 4). Muslims mostly perceive moder-
nity in terms of Western modernity and vary in their views on its relevance
and compatibility to Islam. Muslim modern trends range from reform to total
rejection of either tradition or modernity. Discourses on reform also differ
in their perception of modernity and tradition. This chapter studies Islamic
Modernism, one of these reform discourses. It is an interactive discourse that
revisited the notions of compatibility, modernity and tradition during its debate
with others.
Studying Islamic modernism is quite problematic; no Muslim thinker calls
him or herself an Islamic modernist. Also, it overlaps with at least three other
discourses on reform. The fi rst discourse, often described as revivalism and
reform (Voll 1982; Rahman 2000), continues from pre-modern times. It calls for
the revival (ihya) of the practice of the Ancestors (salaf), the fi rst three generations
of Muslims, and reform (islah) of religious practices such as visiting of graves
for intercession, fertility, health, and prosperity, celebrating birth and death
anniversaries of saints, and adherence (taqlid) to schools of law. The Wahhabi
movement in the Hijaz revived this discourse in the late eighteenth century, and
it survives today in various Salafi movements. This approach paved the way for
other reform discourses, as it promoted the ideas of self-criticism and individual
responsibility. Radicalised forms of this discourse in the twentieth century,
however, popularised opposition to modernity.
The second discourse regards adherence to tradition and religion as the main
cause of backwardness of Muslims. It is a non-religious approach, sometimes
also called ‘Western modernist’, or simply modernist discourse. Mustafa Kemal
Atatürk (d. 1938), who abolished the Ottoman caliphate, closed religious insti-
tutions and adopted European codes, is often mentioned as an example of this
discourse. This approach is not essentially anti-religious but does not derive its
justifi cation from Islamic tradition.
The third discourse, the focus of this chapter, is generally designated as
‘Islamic modernism’ (Aziz Ahmad 1967; Rahman 1970; Moaddel 2005), as