ABSTRACT
The chapter begins by defining and delineating the meaning, context, connotation, and changing trends of Revival and Reform. It also contextualizes the meaning/context of Tradition and Modernity on the subcontinent from the 18th through the 21st centuries. It is followed by a discussion of the use and practice of Revival and Reform, with an emphasis on ijtihad – a dynamic concept/legal tool – from Shah Waliullah to Sir Sayyid, Iqbal and Rahman in the 19th and 20th centuries, and to Siddiqi and Masud as 21st century Reformist intellectuals of the subcontinent. Thus, it is apt to conclude that Tradition and Modernity need not be looked upon as two “polar opposites.” Islam and Modernity do not clash and conflict with each other, but merge and reconcile; because neither Islam nor its law and history, are opposed to dynamism, development, advancement, and progress. ‘Tradition’, as many instances of Islamic history reveal, has accommodated many modern elements and ‘modernity’, in turn, has absorbed some of the principles that are dear to Muslims. Thus, ‘tradition’ is in the process of transformation and modernity is not opposite to accommodating tradition. Evidently, one sees Modernity in tradition and vice versa; interacting and affecting each other. This becomes evident from the above discussion on Tradition and Modernity in general, and from the views and visions of Shah Waliullah, Sir Sayyid, Iqbal, Rahman, Siddiqi, and Masud – the prominent voices of Islamic Modernist/Reformist thought on the subcontinent – from the 18th through the 21st centuries. The preceding account also reveals that the emergence of Islamic Reformist thought, and the legacy it produced, influenced the development of the Muslim community and its attitude toward the West and Western ideologies/thought. Their vision inspired Muslim intellectuals and activists across the Muslim world to emphasize educational reforms, legitimatized legal and social change, and contributed to the formation of anti-colonial independence movements. It also reveals that the Islamic Modernist/Reformist discourse, beginning in the 19th and early 20th centuries, emerged in Muslim societies in response to the twin challenges of modernity and the domination of Muslim lands and peoples by the European powers (colonialism/imperialism). To this movement much was contributed by the Muslim thinkers of the subcontinent, in past and present, for they have made a remarkable contribution to various facets of this discourse
