A Note On Some Recent Western Writing On Islamic Resurgence

Chapter 2 : First Study

In Radical Islam, Sivan proposes following two notions: First, to better understand the thinking of modern Islamic resurgence, especially that of the Egyptian Sayyid Qutb, [^6] one has to study the influence both of Ibn Taymiyyah of the 14th century and the Pakistani Abu al-`Ala' Mawdudi of the 20th century on Qutb's language and thought. Second, Islamic revival is basically defensive and anti-modern. In addition, the modernity/jahiliyyah polarity (read as modernity/tradition polarity) provides the most adequate approach to study the dynamics of modern Islam. [^7]

Sivan's takes a political-theological approach to discuss the history of Arab societies in the past three decades. In other words, his objective is to analyze the connection between "political Islam" and society in selected Arab countries, especially Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. To my mind, the book is highly reductionist and selective and does not adequately portray the historical dynamics between religious institutions, ideas, and personalities, on the one hand, and Arab society, on the other. Sivan uses a multitude of terms to refer to the phenomenon of Islamism, such as radical Islam (p. 1); Islamic revival (p. 3); Islamic militancy (p. 11), and fundamentalism (p. 67).

Sivan asserts in the first chapter, "The Mood: Doom and Gloom," that Muslim "fundamentalists" are a pessimistic group of people because they abhor current social and political realities. This aversion to reality has translated itself into a radical political movement which aims at restructuring the status quo.

Thus Sivan reduces Islamism to mere politics: "Islamic revival-while activist and militant-is thus essentially defensive; a sort of holding operation against modernity. And though it has no doubt a sharp political edge, it is primarily a cultural phenomenon. Its very strength proceeds from this alliance of political and cultural protest." [^8]

As is common in a lot of Western writings on Islam, the term modernity is used often. Sivan contends that Western modernity, [^9] in its economic and intellectual dimensions, presents a special challenge to Muslims: "Western investment means the integration of the Islamic world into the system of the multinationals, which is totally alien to Muslim concepts of interests, insurance, taxation, and so on."

[^10] Then he reaches the following major conclusion without providing enough historical evidence and introduction: "Islam thus comes out badly bruised from the encounter with modernity."

[^11]

To my mind, the author fails to provide an adequate historical analysis that takes into account the problematic nature of colonization in the Muslim world and its different manifestations, military, economic, cultural, political, religious, and conceptual. [^12] Sivan does not consider colonization to be problematic at all; rather, he considers the Muslim rejection of modernity to be the crux of the matter: "The picture that emerges is not one which scholars studying Islamic society would tend to refute. Modernity has indeed made important gains, especially in recent decades. Islam, although more resilient than other traditional cultures, has seen its position greatly eroded." [^13]

Notes:

[^6]. See the author's recent article on Sayyid Qutb, Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi`, "Discourse, Power, and Ideology in Modern Islamic Revivalism," The Muslim World, Vol. LXXXI (3-4), July-October 1991, pp. 283-298.

[^7]. Many scholars follow this approach in the course of their investigation of Islamic resurgence. See the following: Issa Boullata, Trends and Issues in Modern Arab Thought (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990); Gilles Kepel, The Revenge of God: The Resurgence of Islam, Christianity and Judaism in the Modern World (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994), and Abdallah Labdaoui, Les nouveaus intellectuals arabes (Paris: L'Harmattan,1993).

[^8]. Sivan, p. 3.

[^9]. On modernity, consult the following: Marshall Berman, All That Solid Melts Into Air: The Experience of Modernity (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982), and Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990).

[^10]. Sivan, p.10.

[^11]. Ibid., p.14.

[^12]. Khurshid Ahmad, a contemporary Islamic thinker, insists that colonialism has been the most single important factor in the metamorphosis of modern Muslim societies. See Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi`, ed., Islamic Resurgence: Challenges, Directions and Future Perspectives, a Round Table with Khurshid Ahmad (Tampa: The World and Islam Studies Enterprise, 1994), especially chapter three.

[^13]. Sivan, p.15.