ABSTRACT
Terms like Islamic revivalism, fundamentalism, resurgence, revolution, etc., currently used to emphasise the political impact of Islam, serve as a good indicator of how the Muslims as well as non-Muslims look at the problem from their different perspectives. The main streams of Islamic resurgence in North Africa can be broadly classified under two heads: those which have primarily religious motivations, and those which are dominated by socio-political considerations. The study of the role of Islam in North Africa reveals that the religious elite have played a crucial role in the process of political change in that region. In the discussion of Islamic resurgence, the role of the secular political elite in the Islamic world, especially in the growing struggle for power between the religious elite and the establishment. Islamic resurgence, poses a serious challenge and a potent threat to the process of secularisation in the Islamic world, and if no corrective steps are taken, might retard its evolution for decades.
