Origins of the Muslim Revival From al-Afghani to Hassan al-Banna, a Century of Islamic Reformism by Tariq Ramadan. Bayard, 1998.479 pp

Abstract

This is a timely publication, as a book written from an “Islamist” standpoint is a
rarity in the French language. Tariq Ramadan has delved into the dynamics of
reformism as a contextual and creative reassertion of the Islamic quest to civibtional
empowerment - an empowerment that is based on spiritual uplifting,
Islamic commitment and activism, rajdid, political reformism, and societal transformation
in line with the foundational precepts of Islamic organization. This publication
has already generated ample debate on the value of Islamic reformist
thought, as well as the doctrinal inclinations and political strategies of the Muslim
Brotherhood (Al Ikhwan al-Muslimin). Although the book is more descriptive than
analytical, it has the merit of being well-researched and documented, and the variety
of writing styles used by the author makes it all the more enjoyable to read
The book is divided into three parts and is written following a logic that is meant
to demonstrate that al-Banna’s thought and practical contributions were anchored
in reformist thought and that most of al-Banna’s intellectual and political positions
were not necessarily his or the movement’s.
The first part, “Aux Sources de la Pensee Reformiste Contemporaine’’ (Origins
of Contemporary Reformist Thought), deals with the Islamic intellectuals who
opposed the status quo and the state of intellectual lethargy that reigned in the
Muslim world. The author relates the intellectual content of reformist thinkers
(Muhammad Abd al-Wahhab, al-Afghani, Tahtawi, Abduh, Rida, Ben Badis.
Nursi, and Iqbal) to the complex sociopolitical, cultural, and intellectual context
within which their thought emerged. He considers the various tendencies of
reformist thought (spiritual, educational, political, and economic) as complementing
each other. Reformist thought has three foundational tenets: the necessity of a
return to the authoritative sources of Islam and their contextual interpretation by
using a tajdidi prism (a creative and productive intellectual approach) rather than
taqlid (a re-intepetative and reproductive approach to thought) in dealing with the
Qur‘an and Sunnah; the necessity of resisting Western economic, political, and cultural
domination through the reassertion of a dynamic and authentic Islamic personality;
and the necessity of preserving and consolidating the unity of the Ummah.
Their intellectual contributions focus on two main points: the theoretical reformation
of the basic themes of Islamic jurisprudence, especially those relating to
the law of transactions (fiqh al-mu'amallat); and analytical responses to the local ...