Islamic revival
Islamic revival (Arabic: تجديد tajdīd, lit., "regeneration, renewal"; also الصحوة الإسلامية aṣ-Ṣaḥwah l-ʾIslāmiyyah, "Islamic awakening") refers to a revival of the Islamic religion, usually centered around enforcing sharia.[1] A leader of a revival is known in Islam as a mujaddid.
"Islamic renaissance" redirects here. For the Tunisian political party, see Islamic Renaissance Movement.
Within the Islamic tradition, tajdid is an important religious concept, called for periodically throughout Islamic history and according to a sahih hadith occurring every century.[2] They manifest in renewed commitment to the fundamentals of Islam, the teachings of the Quran and hadith (aka traditions) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the divine law of sharia, and reconstruction of society in accordance with them.[3]
In academic literature, "Islamic revival" is an umbrella term for revivalist movements, which may be "intolerant and exclusivist", or "pluralistic"; "favorable to science", or against it; "primarily devotional", or "primarily political"; democratic, or authoritarian; pacific, or violent.[4]
In the late 20th century, Islamic revival brought "re-Islamization", ranging from increased number of sharia-based legal statutes,[5] of attendance at Hajj,[6][3][7] use of hijab, influence of fundamentalist preachers,[5] and terrorist attacks by radical Islamist groups.[8] A feeling of a "growing universalistic Islamic identity" or transnational Islam among immigrants in non-Muslim countries[note 1][8] was also evident.
Explanations for the revival include the perceived failure of secularism, in the form of Westernized ruling elites that were increasingly seen as authoritarian, ineffective and lacking cultural authenticity;[4] the secular Arab nationalist movement whose governments were humiliatingly defeated in the Six-Day War with Israel; the fall of previously prosperous multi-confessional Lebanon into a destructive sectarian civil war; perceived successes of Islam included the surprising victory of Islamist forces against a well-armed and financed secular monarch in the 1979 Iranian Revolution; and hundreds of billions of dollars spent by Saudi Arabia and other gulf states around the Muslim world to encourage the following of stricter, more conservative strains of Islam.
Preachers and scholars who have been described as revivalists (mujaddids) or mujaddideen, by differing sects and groups, in the history of Islam include Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ibn Taymiyyah, Shah Waliullah Dehlawi, Ahmad Sirhindi, Ashraf Ali Thanwi, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, and Muhammad Ahmad. In the 20th century, figures such as Sayyid Rashid Rida, Hassan al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb, Abul A'la Maududi, and Ruhollah Khomeini, have been described as such. Academics often use the terms "Islamist" and "Islamic revivalist" interchangeably.[9][10] Contemporary revivalist currents include Jihadism; neo-Sufism, which cultivates Muslim spirituality; and classical fundamentalism, which stresses obedience to Sharia (Islamic law) and ritual observance.[4]