GOVT 345

11 Sep 2013
Weekly Response 2: What is the Islamic Revival?
Also considered a rebirth or a renewal of Islam, the Islamic Revival is a multi-dimensional and
multi-faceted phenomenon, which varies in its manifestation across the diverse Muslim world.
However, a few common reasons as to why it developed and its core attributes can be identified.
The problematic roots which arguably spurred the Islamic Revival can perhaps be traced back
to the period of dynastic caliphs. Under the Prophet and the rashidun caliphs, things are
perceived as having been done correctly (Mandaville 29), as it was the Prophet who was
considered to be the living embodiment of Islam and the rashidun caliphs who had direct
experience of, and were hence better able to represent [versus dynastic caliphs], Prophetic
tradition (37). As the dynastic caliphs of the Ummayad dynasty increasingly alienated themselves
from the idea of the pious sovereign (37), the Muslim uluma by and large responded by
increasing their role in social and religious affairs. While the role of the uluma varies throughout
Islamic history, it can be generally stated that in times of crises over authority, it was the religious
scholars whom were generally called upon for solutions.
However, while throughout Islamic history the uluma were turned to in times of crises,
ultimately there has been a failure of the elites of Islamic countries to establish legitimate public
order within viable political communities (Dekmejian 3). From the Ummayad dynasty to the
dissolution of the Ottoman Empire to the present state, there have been varieties of legitimization
attempting to respond to the challenges of modernization (6). What initially began as a response
to the alienation of the Ummayad rulers from the practice of prophetic tradition, has in the
modern age resulted as a response to Islams perceived decline and the rise of Europe
(Mandaville 43). The general spirit, thus, of Islamic Revivalism, can broadly be defined as seeking
to restore to the ummah the normativity of Islam as practiced by the Prophet.

It is here that Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab can be noted as the essential thinker of what
diversely embodies the Islamic Revival today. As a response to what he saw as the moral decline of
Muslims, he stressed the need to return to the monotheism that Islam had once introduced
(Denoeux 59). His form of Islamic Revivalism is reflected in Saudi Arabia, as he co-instituted in the
state a strict and literal interpretation of Islamic sources. However, it is wrong to reduce Islamic
Revivalism to what has now emerged as Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia. Rather, while the Islamic
Revival generally calls for a rebirth of Islamic values, it varies in its forms. This diversity is reflected
in the several attributes that the movement shares.
Two basic attributes of the Islamic Revival that Dekmejian identifies are thus relevant here:
pervasiveness and polycentrism. According to Dekmejian, pervasiveness is represented in the
multiple and diverse contexts in which Islamic Revivalism manifested (1). This phenomenon is not
limited to Muslim dominated or Muslims minority countries, rather it pervades a range of
countries regardless of the size or political, economic and cultural environment (2). The Islamic
revival is neither limited to a certain social or economic classes.
In light of this characteristic of pervasiveness, which reflects the multiplicity of contexts in
which the Islamic Revival has emerged, the movement lacks any central authority or method of
organization. This nativistic and localistic character of the movement is described by what
Dekmejian identifies as polycentrism (2). Each different context and country in which the Islamic
Revival has emerged has differing goals, authoritative structures, and organizational methods as
the movement has in part developed in response to particular conditions existing in different
national environments (2). However, as was implied before, while diversity is what all these share,
they also share a common universal Islamic identity: one that seeks to revive, in one way or
another, the original essence and practice of Islam.