the crisis of modernisation and islamicisation 319success in challenging the Anglo-Egyptian armies and establishing an
indigenous Islamic state has been inspirational to Muslims every-
where in proving that Islamic revival is a viable alternative to
Westernisation.
Second: Reconciling Reform Movements
When the Islamic world came under the full occupation of the
English, French and Italian forces beginning from the mid nineteenth
century, it discovered how lagging it was behind the Western world
in science and technology, socio-political science, and educational
systems. On the one hand, Muslim reformers, without exception,
resented and resisted the occupation of their land by Western Christian
forces, while, on the other, realized that these forces had a more
advanced scientific, technological, and political culture than their own.
The dilemma was to find a way to lessen the gap between their
standards and Western standards and to bring their countries to the
stage of modernism. Two main streams of reforms came from two
different parts of the Islamic land: one from Egypt and the second
from the Indian Subcontinent. The teachings of the two streams
were interwoven in one another.
Reformers from Egypt
Until Napoleon Bonaparte landed with his naval army in Alexandria
in 1798, the Ottomans, and the world at large, did not realize the
strategic importance of a country that played a major part in history
a few centuries before when defeating the Mongols. On conquering
the Mamlùks of Egypt, the Ottomans paid little attention to the
country leaving its administration to her ex-masters, the Mamlùks,
contented with appointing a viceroy, pasha, from the High Porte and
leaving the country under the occupation of an army from the
Turkish Janissaries. The country was divided into twelve provinces
with each province headed by a Mamlùk given the title bey. With
the payment of annual tribute to the Porte, the Mamlùk beys had
a free hand in administering the land, imposing taxes and building
up their own armies. With a policy of not leaving a viceroy in office
for more than two to three years, lest they should break away from
the central government in Istanbùl, the viceroys focused on their