ABSTRACT
This section will be devoted to the reformation of Islamic thought in the 19th century, when the political and cultural interaction between the Western and the Islamic Worlds raised many basic issues. The first was that of reformation (islah). The crucial question was: Why was it that they were able to make progress while we became so backward? Why is it that we, who were the masters of the world for centuries, became so weak and vulnerable as to fall under the rule and control of Western power? Basically, the usual answer to these questions was that the necessary reformation required going back to the essential ethics and values of Islam, which had converted the pagan Arabs of the 7th century into masters of the world. Hence, reformation meant revivalism (ihya); and alongside the previous revivalist attitude of the 18th century, this meant revisiting tradition within the new light of modernity.
