ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the reformation of Islamic thought during the 20th century and the introduction of the concept of a modern national state, particularly in Egypt and Turkey. The issue of reformation needed redefinition to create room for the adoption and integration of modern Western concepts and institutions such as ’freedom’, ‘reason’ and ‘democracy’. The issue of politics emerged after the dramatic collapse of the Ottoman Empire following the end of the First World War and the decision in 1924 by the new national Turkish movement to abolish the Caliphate. These events raised the question of whether the Caliphate had represented an Islamic institution or merely a form of political system which could be replaced without losing the identity of Islam. The Egyptian Ali Abd al- Raziq (1888–1966) defended its abolition by demonstrating that there is no such thing as a political system with the specific label Islamic. Muhammad Rashid Rida (1865–1935) responded in another vein, defending it as an authentic Islamic system that should be re-established to prevent Muslims from lapsing back into paganism (jahiliyya). The political response came in the form of the Muslim Brotherhood, established in Egypt in 1928. The Brotherhood aimed to re-establish Islamic society in Egypt as an ideal example to be copied everywhere, prior to the re-establishment of the Caliphate. Hence, re-islamization became the antonym of modernization, which was presented as Westernization.
