Founding Figures of Islamic Modernism

Islamic Modernism

The first Muslim ideological response

To reconcile Islamic faith with modern Western values

New approach to Islamic theology

It embraces contemporary European institutions

Sayyid Jamal al-Din Afghani

Rashid Rida

Muhammad Abduh

Sayyid Jamal al-Din Afghani

Muhammad Abduh

Rashid Rida

That European imperialism, having conquered India, now threatened the Middle East

That Asia, including the Middle East, could prevent the onslaught of Western powers only by immediately adopting the modern technology of the West

And that Islam, despite its traditionalism, was an effective creed for mobilizing the public against the imperialists

Afghani’s 3 principal conclusions

Muhammad Abduh’s Views

Muhammad Abduh’s Views

• Muslims could not simply rely on the interpretations of texts provided by medieval clerics, they needed to use reason to keep up with changing times.

• In Islam man was not created to be led by a bridle, man was given intelligence so that he could be guided by knowledge.

Rashid Rida’s Ideas

• Muslims are not obliged to believe in origin of life from Adam

• Usury may be permitted in certain cases

• Building statues is permissible in Islam

• Supported the British against the Ottomans

Rashid Rida’s funny one

The minute living bodies which today have been made known by the microscope and

are called microbes, may possibly be a species of Jinn

Joint Ventures

1884, al-Urwah al-Wuthqa "The

Indissoluble Link“

1897, Al-Manar

Thank You