Islamic Revivalist Movements in the Modern World

An Analysis of Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun, Tabligh Jama’at, and Hizb ut-Tahrir

Authors

  • Jan Ashik Ali Western Sydney University
  • Elisa Orofino Western Sydney University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.35051

Keywords:

Revivalism, Orthodoxy, Ummah (Community), Reform, Movement

Abstract

Since the demise of the last great Muslim Empire, the Ottoman Empire, a plethora of Islamic revivalist movements has emerged in response to the gradual decline of numerous Islamic institutions, the threat to the Muslim identity, and the disintegration of the Muslim world through the damaging processes of colonialism and imperialism. Muslim revivalist movements have consequently emerged to inculcate Islamic orthodoxy in the masses in the Muslim world as well as in diaspora communities through institutional developments, socio-political activities, missionary preaching, and propagation. Movements such as Hasan Al-Banna's Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun, Ilyas's Tabligh Jama'at, and Taquiddin an-Nabhani's Hizb ut-Tahrir share a common core commitment and objective to revive Islam and restore a lasting Islamic glory. In this article we propose to compare and contrast these movements and argue that they act as agents of change and reform, seeking a reconstruction of Muslim ummah (community).

Author Biographies

  • Jan Ashik Ali, Western Sydney University

    Jan A. Ali (PhD) is a Religious Sociologist specialising in Islam. He is a Senior Lecturer in Islam and Modernity in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at the Western Sydney University. His main sociological focus is the study of existential Islam. Jan is the founder and convenor of Postgraduate Islamic Studies Network in the Graduate School at Western Sydney University. Recently, Jan with Professor Abe Ata has edited a volume entitled Islam in the West: Perceptions and Reactions (Oxford University Press). Currently, Jan is working on a collaborative project entitled Global City Formations and Transformations: The Case of the Global City of Sydney.

  • Elisa Orofino, Western Sydney University

    Elisa Orofino is a PhD candidate in the Asia Institute at the University of Melbourne. Her project focuses on the radicalization of young Muslims in the West, taking the Hizb ut-Tahrir movement as a case study. She is undertaking a comparative study of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain and in Australia in an attempt to develop a better insight into the question why Muslims are attracted to radical movements in the West. In 2012, Elisa finished her Master's degree in Global Politics and Euro-Mediterranean Relations, graduating cum laude. Her dissertation entitled 'Fourth Wave of Democratization in the MENA Region' focused on the Egyptian case. Prior to this, Elisa completed her Bachelor's degree in International Relations at the University of Catania in the Faculty of Political Science. Her thesis was on international terrorism, focusing on the US and the EU and exploring their approach to the global threat.

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Published

2018-11-21

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Ali, J. A., & Orofino, E. (2018). Islamic Revivalist Movements in the Modern World: An Analysis of Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun, Tabligh Jama’at, and Hizb ut-Tahrir. Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, 31(1), 27-54. https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.35051