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What is "modern Islam"?
Old is the New New
The status of Islam in the modern world is a precarious one. With the saturation of fundamental
Islamic groups such as Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and Hezbollah in the media, as well as the persistence of
cemented archetypes of what those in the west view as “Muslims,” there is strong disconnect between
what being a Muslim in the modern world actually entails and how it is viewed. Indeed, due to the mass
of divisions between Muslim peoples, many Muslims themselves have difficulty actually describing what
it means to be a Muslim in general, let alone in the new, and somewhat unfamiliar, “modern world.”
However, what remains obvious in the case of these Modern Islamic thinkers and groups is a desire to
re-create the so-called “Golden Age of Islam”; going back to the time of the Rightly Guided Caliph’s and
the peak of the Muslim worlds political, scientific, and military importance. While they may disagree on
the methods of achieving this goal, one can discern that this reversion is what they strive for. However,
it is not enough to simply state that Modern Islam is the attempt to return to the Golden Age of Islam.
The development of new technology, forms of communication, as well as the rapid evolution of political
thought make this complete reversion nearly impossible. That being said, on must adjust the previous
statement, instead it should read more like this; Modern Islam is the attempt to return to the Golden
Age of Islam, i.e. the time of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, as closely as possible while adjusting to the
climate established by modernity. Yet, this again does not tell the entire story. One must also keep in
mind how difficult this attempt is, given that it necessitates a cohesion between modern values and
Shari ‘a, or Islamic, law, whose tenets are hazy at best.
Before one can analyze what exactly “Modern Islam” is, one must first have a general grasp of
what classical Islam was. Beginning in the seventh century C.E., Islam was started by the soon to be
Prophet Muhammad.(Denny) Living in a society dominated by paganism and what amounted to a tribal
caste system, Muhammad grew up as a member of the influential and powerful Quraysh tribe in Mecca.
After being raised as a Bedouin, or nomad, Muhammad eventually took to strong personal meditation.
Eventually, Muhammad, as the tool of Allah, was tasked with the creation of the Qur’an, or Muslim holy
text, through revelations sent directly to him from Allah. After the initial start of Islam, Muhammad and
his followers traveled from Mecca, where their fledgling religion did not have the strength to survive, to
the outskirts of Medina. During its time in Medina, the umma, or Muslim community, grew in number,
influence, and honed the practice of their faith. Eventually, Muhammad and his followers, now strong in
number, would take over Mecca and even succeeded in creating unity throughout the Arabian
Peninsula. (Denny)
However, it is not the time of the Prophet in which most of the modern Islamic thinkers wish to
hearken back to, although many are under the impression that to be successful that they must do so in
the same way as The Prophet, but the time after the ascendancy of the Islamic Empire and the Rightly
Guided Caliphs. The time of the Rightly Guided Caliphs was one of Islamic supremacy. In his book Islam
and the Muslim Community, Frederick Denny states, “The entire Fertile Crescent and the nearer reaches
of North Africa where also part of Dar al-Islam.” (Denny)As well, the time of the rightly guided Caliphs
was also a time of great scientific achievement. Among these achievements was great advancement in
medicine, spurred on the by the word of The Prophet, stating “For every disease, Allah has given a cure,”
as well as the development of a paper mill and its subsequent support for literacy and advanced
learning. (Mann) There were even great strides in the fields of Astronomy and Chemistry during this
time. However, the most important, and most revered, part of the “Golden Age” of Islam is a
combination of all of these factors. As stated before, the time of the Rightly Guided Caliphs was one of
Supremacy. This concept is one that is very important. This supremacy, in every aspect of social and
political life, ranging from the intellectual boost stated above to the unification of the Arabian Peninsula,
Muslim and non-Muslim lands, under the banner of Islam, the true faith, is what those in this modern
world are striving for.
In fact, it is not hard for one to imagine why. To understand this one must now begin to
comprehend what “modernity” truly is. To begin in a very weak sense, one can simply state that
Western political, economic, and scientific, thought has dominated the world since the 16th century.
However what does this mean? First one can examine the happenings of the 16th century. The 16th
century is the beginning of what one would deem as the “modern” world. While this idea seems absurd,
it can be explained very simply. The 16th century was the beginning of the Age of Imperialism. This
imperialism did one thing very well, it shrank the world. Instead of each individual nation or empire
inhabiting their own land, benefiting from their geologic locations, as the Ottoman Empire did through
trade, and only having conflict with their neighbors, countries soon found themselves on a global stage,
vulnerable to all other nations. The first example of this directly affecting the Islamic world can be seen
in the occupation of Egypt by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798. (Lewis) This occupation, which was only the
beginning of a long trend of European colonization of the Middle East, marked a turning point in history.
It marked the beginning of an era of western supremacy.
While the shrinking of the world has only gotten more intense since the technology boom and
its developments in the fields of transportation and communication, one cannot deny that the early
stages of Imperialism began the flow. However, there is more to modernity than simply a shrinking of
the world. The next big step in the path of modernity occurred around 1830 with the French residing in
Algeria. Yet, it was not truly realized until the time following World War I. In the aftermath of the war,
the now defeated Ottoman Empire was divided among the European allied nations. Britain and France
went about dividing the Middle East in nation-states. This division is a major part of emerging
modernity. The concept of nationalism and singular nation-states is something which was not generally
seen before. It separated the over-arching Muslim community and essentially acted to pit them against
one another. This disunity of the Muslim community, as well as the abolition of the Caliphate in 1924,
sent the Islamic world into a place it had never been before. While it had maintained many divisions
over its lifespan, never before had there been so strong a disconnect among every member of the faith.
It decentralized the Muslim world.
Lastly, and most importantly, the modern world is marked by the influence of Western political
thought. Most notably, but no restricted to, the idea of secularism in the government. To begin, one can
examine the progression of this political, and by extension economic, world-wide policy shift. The
biggest aspect of this is not however the changes themselves, while they remain monumental, but the
ability of this political thought to travel so rapidly across national borders. Western ideology spread like
wildfire. Renaissance ideas such as democracy and capitalism seeped into the Islamic world. With these
ideas descended on the Islamic world like a plague. This attempt at transitioning can be seen throughout
the past two centuries in the Middle East. It began in the 19th century with the British mandate that
British citizens where not subject to Shari ‘a law, and further escalated to the point where western
political thought became the impetus for many Muslim countries. Examples of these include, but are not
limited to, Iran under the rule of the Shah, parts of the Nasserist rise in Egypt, as well as seen through
political action such as the laws regarding the forbidding of the Hijab, or veil worn by Muslim women to
show piety, enacted in countries such as Shah controlled Iran and even Turkey. (Mernissi) It is this last
example which is the most important, for it describes the most important aspect of western political
thought on modernism; secularization.
A large tenet of what can be generally regarded as “modernism” is that of separation of
government and religion. The laws enacted by governments, shown from the U.S. constitution’s ruling of
separation of Church and State to the law forbidding the wearing of any religious symbol in “public
elementary, middle, and high schools” passed in France, can be seen to very readily apply themselves to
the idea of secularization. (Mernissi) Indeed, the concept of secularization is so firmly entrenched as one
which promotes prosperity and peace, that those who oppose the idea are often viewed as backward
and politically inferior.
Now that one has a general grasp of what “The Golden Age” of Islam consisted of, as well as
what “modernity” itself entails, one can finally begin to acknowledge the question of what “Modern
Islam” is. Earlier, in the opening paragraph of this essay, it was described as; the attempt to return to
the Golden Age of Islam, i.e. the time of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, as closely as possible while adjusting
to the climate established by modernity. With accurate background knowledge, one can now begin to
understand how the conclusion was made.
Ranging from the early 1900’s to present day there have been any number of Islamic political
theorists and jurists. Ranging from militant jihadists to apologetic Muslim scholars, by no means has the
development and path of Islamic thought been cohesive. However, there is one factor which remains
evident in the majority of these works; the establishment of an Islamic state. This can be seen by
examining the works of some of the most influential Islamic scholars of the past century. Sayyid Qutb, a
member of The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic fundamentalist group centralized in Egypt, is one
example of an Islamic theorist who called for the re-establishment of an Islamic empire the likes of the
time of Rightly Guided Caliphs. Qutb called for “a genuine revolution, under the leadership of a
“vanguard of the umma” which must take as its example “The sole Koranic Generation” namely the
companions of the Prophet.” (Kepel) This statement dictates a need to return to the time in which the
companions of the Prophet, or the Rightly Guided Caliphs, ruled the Islamic world. As well, it is not
simply Sayyid Qutb who calls for this, those who did not necessarily agree with his tactics still came to
same general conclusion as to the ultimate goal of their Islamic reform. The budding sect of The Muslim
Brotherhood known as Al-Jihad, a young militant group, also followed the path to the establishment of
an Islamic state. They believed in rapid and violent action against any ruler who did not apply Shari ‘a
law. They used the Qur’anic verse “Whosoever does not rule by what God sent down, those, they are
the unbelievers” to support their cause. However, with their choice of militant action their ultimate aim
is still an Islamic state ruled according to Shari ‘a law, and by extension, Islamic dominance. Again, this
idea is reminiscent of the time of the Caliphs. A last example that will be used is that of the Ayatollah
Khomeini in Iran. In the aftermath of the Iranian revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini emerged as one of the
strongest and most influential political and spiritual figures of the 20th century. His proposition of
Wilayat al-Faqih was not only a strong base for the new Iranian Republic’s constitution, but when
examined, it too calls for a reversion to the time of the Caliphs, even though Shi’ Muslims only
acknowledge the legitimacy of the twelve following Uthman and starting with Ali, a direct descendent of
the Prophet. Khomeini’s writings call for the establishment of an Islamic state, under Shari ‘a law, and
watched over by a Faqih, or spiritual guide and community leader. (Fischer) When compared to the time
of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, it is not difficult for one to draw similarities. The three previous groups are
mere examples of the trend in “Modern Islam" to revert back to the Golden Age of Islam, they by no
means represent the entirety of Islamic thought, nor are they the only examples of this idea in practice.
Considering the statement of what “Modern Islam” has been defined to be in this paper, one
must notice that the previous paragraph only answered the first part of the question. To answer the
second part of the question one must realize that the change in political and social climate of the
modern age makes certain aspects of the above mentioned reversion impossible. The most glaring
example of this concept resides in the situation dictated by the relatively new conception of Universal
Human Rights. There are some aspects of Shari ‘a law which do not fall in compliance with Universal
Human Rights Standards. For example, there is the concept of slavery. According to Shari ‘a law, as was
set down in the Golden Age of Islam, slavery was an acceptable, if rather unscrupulous, act. Yet, in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights established by the United Nations, it says “No one shall be held in
slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.” (U.N) This type of
discrepancy between Shari ‘a law and Human Rights Standards are unfortunately not altogether
uncommon. Another way in which to the two differ is regarding the treatment of women. According to
Shari ‘a law women are put under certain restrictions, such as the covering of their bodies, which men
are not. Yet that same Declaration of Human Rights uses the term “everyone” in each of its sections so
as to eliminate this gender gap, which is only furthered by the implementation of Shari ‘a law, at least in
the minds of the west.
In the end, now that one understands where the definition of what “Modern Islam” is has
stemmed from, the only question remaining is why. Ironically enough, the answer is quite simple;
supremacy. As dictated earlier, the main goal of Islam is ultimately supremacy. This idea comes from
many facets of the faith. However the main source of this infatuation with supremacy is the fact that
Islam is believed by its followers to be the “one true faith.” It is the ultimate, and literal, word of God.
Therefore it has no equal. With this in mind, one can begin to understand why the re-creation of the
Golden Age of Islam, or the greatest age of Islamic supremacy, is the driving factor of what determines
the identity of “Modern Islam” This new age of technology and Western ideas sent shockwaves down
the Islamic world. Those who saw the decline of their Islamic society were in shock. They could not
comprehend the fact that they continued to slip farther and farther behind the western world. Islamic
scholars then came to the conclusion that the source of this decline was the straying of the umma from
the true faith. So, to be more precise, “Modern Islam” is the attempt of these Jurists, Scholars, and even
Fundamentalists to re-align the Islamic world on the path of Islam, with the ultimate goal being a new
Golden Age.
Works Cited
D e nny, Fre de ri ck. I slam and the Muslim Co mmunit y . Ware l and Pre ss, 1987. 18 - 39.
Pri nt.
Fi sche r, Mi chael . I mam Khome i ni: Four Le ve ls of Unde rstanding . New York: O xford
Uni ve rsi ty Pre ss, 1985. 166 - 171. Pri nt.
K e pel , Gi lle s. Muslim Extre mism in Egypt . Los Ange le s: Uni ve rsi ty of Cal i fornia pre ss,
2003. 53. Pri nt.
Le wi s, . The Arabs in Histo ry . 180- 208. Pri nt.
Mann, Horace . "Scie nce & Mathe mati cs i n Me die val Isl ami c Cul ture s." N.p., n.d. We b.
15 Apr 2010. < http: / /w ww.sfusd.k12.ca.us/ schww w/ sch618/ sci e nce math/ Sc
Me rnissi , Fati ma. The Hijab, The Ve il . 83 - 101. Pri nt.
"The Uni ve rsal De cl arati on of Human Ri ghts." UN.org. Uni te d Nati ons, n.d. We b. 5 Apr
2010. < http: // www .un.org/ e n/ docume nts/ udhr/# atop> .