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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> .