ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the origin and development of the concept of “organization” in the discourse of Islamic activists, along with the workings of the organizational model that has been become the hallmark of Islamic revivalism in Pakistan. There is little doubt that Islamic revivalist movements have been an important influence on politics and social change in Pakistan. Islamic activism has pushed for greater rationalization of thought, procedures, and institutional structures in the Weberian sense; incorporating ideas, norms, and mechanisms from the West into Islamic thought and institutions. The idea of an Islamic organization, as a modern sociopolitical organization, associated with Islamic revivalism in Pakistan, is a relatively development in South Asia. The Muslim state was permissive to Islamic activism, luring the Jamaat into the political arena. The Islamic organization model, as it was developed by the Jamaat, has also been influential in other contexts.
