The Paradigm of Knowledge of the Modern Islamic Resurgence

Abstract

Political and social explanations for the contemporary Islamic resurgence
abound. Most of these, however, are reductionist in that they do not
pay attention to the religious component of a clearly religious phenomenon.
Without rejecting its social and political locations, I believe the
Islamic resurgence represents a paradigm shift involving a major reinterpretation
of Islamic sources in the modem world.
In the modem world, Muslims draw on a treasure of significant
insights into the dilemmas and options facing them. The sources of these
insights, from Shariati to Bennabi to Khomeini, may vary in many respects
and often differ in fundamental fonnulations. In Islamic organizations and
movements, however, Muslims draw on this diversity to construct meaning
in uniquely modem ways. At the level of practice, in contrast to that
of the thinkers, a measure of affinity is clearly noticeable in terms of modem
Islamic thought and practice. I believe that the idea of a paradigm, proposed
by Kuhn, is a useful and fertile way of coming to understand this
common meaning-making exercise.
A new paradigm of understanding and living Islam, under the impact
of the West, has taken shape over the past two centuries. The West as villain,
the implementation of the Shari'ah, the search for Islamic solutions,
and the Islamization of the sciences are some of the most important features
of this new paradigm. In this paper, I will explore the basic idea and
structure of the modem Islamic paradigm.
Knowledge, Power, and Paradigms
In his analysis of modem medical, human, and social sciences, Michel
Foucault has unmasked the power relations inherent in the formation of ...