Muslim Response to the West: A Comparative Study of Muhammad ‘Abduh and Said Nursi
Journal Title: Journal of Islamic Thought and Civilization (JITC) - Year 2014, Vol 4, Issue 0
Abstract
During the 19th and 20th centuries, the entire world witnessed dynamic changes. Dramatic alterations such as the decline of the Ottoman Empire, colonization of Muslim lands, two world wars, divisions in the Muslim world and quest for unity, emergence of major ideologies like Communism, Capitalism, Materialism, and other political changes like the French Revolution affected the globe in general and the Muslim world in particular. These ideologies and philosophies earmarked the development of the Western world, which created imbalance and resulted in the socio-political and economic hegemony of the West on the rest of the world. With the intellectual and military domination of the West over the Muslim world, a process of taking over Western institutions for the benefit of the Muslim world commenced. Islam became a rallying point against these philosophies and hegemony. Many Muslim reformers and intellectuals worked to counter Western influence on Muslim institutions and ideas, which resulted in the emergence of various reform movements that arose from different parts of the Muslim world. While some reformers rejected the West at the outset, others advocated the West and still other reformers maintained a balance between the two. Notable among such Muslim thinkers and reformers were the Egyptian Muhammad ‘Abduh (1849-1905) and the Turk Said Nursi (1876-1960), who left such an indelible imprint on Muslims minds that their ideas and thoughts are still reverberating in both the academic and public discourses. Since these two contemporary scholars witnessed the whole milieu of the changing Muslim world, this paper aims to analyze and compare their response to the West.
Authors and Affiliations
Zubair Hamid
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP489212
- DOI 10.32350/jitc.42.01
- Views 155
- Downloads 0
Wasatiyyah (Islamic Moderation): A Conceptual Analysis from Islamic Knowledge Management Perspective
In an environment created by globalization and information affluence, the issue of moderation represents the primary concern of parents, educators, scholars, and leaders. The concept is somehow complicated and is regarde...
Hizbullah’s Post-Islamist Resistance Art
In post-Islamist phase, Hizbullah reformulated some of its central ideas and strategies. Its former top-down strategy of forcibly imposing an Islamic state against the will of significant parts of the Lebanese society ha...
Emergence of Islamic State in the Middle East
Islamic state emerged in Iraq and Syria in the previous decade initiating a new waveof terrorism in the world. ISIS’s emergence was a result of major events in the Middle Eastern history that provided a vacuum for such m...
Crisis of Muslim civilization in modern times: Some insights from Ibn-e-Khaldun’s thoughts and ideas
No one would, probably, doubt that Muslim civilization is facing a serious crisis since the 18th century. It first resulted in political chaos and ultimately colonization of Muslim lands by Western powers. Later, Muslim...
The Concept of the ‘Evil’ and the ‘Evil Eye’ in Islam and Islamic Faith-Healing Traditions
Evil is a power that may possess a human to commit sins. Evil is all negative, conflicting and opposing to the all positive ‘good’. Religious descriptions of evil and good often relate it to the opposing forces led by th...