ses can be expected to expand should conflict in
the region continue.
Other significant refugee populations in Mus-
lim-majority countries at the dawn of the 21st cen-
tury include over 4.5 million displaced Sudanese
(with at least 475,000 forced abroad in the past
decade). In recent years as many as one million of
these have come from the region of Darfur, where
an ethnic civil war erupted in 2003. They have
combined with internal refugees from conflict in
Chad to form an estimated refugee population in
that country of nearly one-half million. There is
also a large refugee population in Somalia, as a
result of civil war and foreign invasions. Approxi-
mately 150,000 Sahrawis from Spanish Sahara live
as refugees in the Algerian desert pending resolu-
tion of the status of Western Sahara, now claimed
by morocco. The Bosnian war of 1992–95 created
more than a million internal refugees, but with
the end of the war, many of the displaced have
returned to their homes.
See also arab-israeli conFlicts; armenians;
bosnia and herzegovina; gUlF Wars; hiJ ra;
hUman rights; israel; kashmir; sUdan; taliban.
Nancy L. StockdaleFurther reading: Michael R. Fischbach, Records of
Dispossession: Palestinian Refugee Property and the Arab-
Israeli Conflict (New York: Columbia University Press,
2003); Patricia A. Omidian, Aging and Family in an
Afghan Refugee Community (New York: Garland Pub-
lications, 1996); United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees, The State of the World’s Refugees: Human
Displacement in the New Millennium (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2006); World Refugee Survey, 2007
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Committee for Refugees and
Immigrants, 2007).
renewal and reform movements
All the major movements that have defined islam
in the contemporary world have been based on
Islamic concepts of renewal and reform. These
concepts draw inspiration from the qUran and the
foundational moments in Islam’s history—seventh-
century Medina under the leadership of mUham-
mad and his Companions. However, the shape
and content of the contemporary Islamic move-
ments are varied and they should be understood
in relation to the historical experience of Muslim
peoples since the 18th century. This experience
includes the political and economic weakening of
Muslim empires, European colonialism and colo-
nial warfare, Christian missionary activity in Mus-
lim lands, and the introduction of Euro-American
secUlarism, political ideologies, institutions, and
laws. Other important factors include improved
regional and global interconnectedness made pos-
sible by mechanized transportation, the develop-
ment of print cultures and the modern media, and
the rise of nationalist movements and the modern
nation-state. Islamic renewal and reform move-
ments, also known as revival movements, have
been responsible for significant changes in the
spheres of edUcation, law, politics, and society. In
some cases they have succeeded in winning con-
trol of the state, but more often they have adapted
to different kinds of political systems, working to
bring about gradual change from within. They have
also given rise to radical islamism and Jihad move-
ments seeking to bring about rapid revolutionary
change through violence.IDEOlOGICAl FOuNDATIONS
The Quran depicts Islam not as something that
originally appeared in the time of Muhammad, but
as a way to salvation that God delivered in former
times to Adam and other prophets such as abra-
ham and moses and their communities. Islamic
salvation history, however, like that of the Bible,
narrates how people have strayed from the path,
disobeying God and his prophets. The Quran’s
revelation, therefore was a “reminder” (dhikr)
or “guidance” (huda) for people of Muhammad’s
time to heed; in other words, to change their
ways, or reform their belief and conduct accord-
ingly. Moreover, the Quran holds people account-
able for correcting wrongs, as when it declares,renewal and reform movements 585 J