ABSTRACT
Muḥammad ‘Imāa's (b. 1931) project can be best described by himself, in two extracts from the book Hal al-Islām huwa al-ḥall? Li-mādhā wa-kayf? (Is Islam the solution? Why and how?) (‘Imāra 1995): https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203841778/21c184a4-f6bd-4e5e-a97c-bbda7daf9bc7/content/ch6_page106-01_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
The ultimate intention and widest horizon of the current call to Islam is to revive and renew all aspects of Islam in all fields of human life. This is to be achieved by replacing corruption with Islamic reform.
(p. 198) https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203841778/21c184a4-f6bd-4e5e-a97c-bbda7daf9bc7/content/ch6_page106-02_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>If our nation complains about civilizational backwardness, then its lifebelt is civilizational revival and renewal. The fiercest enemy of this renewal is imitation [taqlīd]. For imitating imported Western civilizational models hinders the disposition towards innovation and creativity. The nation will not rise except by renewal, and there will be no renewal if the nation does not feel that it needs it, that it is necessary. And none of this will come about except if it feels that, in the renaissance [nahḍa], it possesses a plan that is distinct from other plans belonging to other civilizations. At that point, need propels it towards revival and renewal, and the inclination towards innovation and creativity grows, an inclination that would fade away and die in the shadow of resemblance and imitation of others.
(p. 188)