Islamic modernism

Islamic modernism is an intellectual movement that interprets Islamic sources in response to modern conditions, reconciling religious thought with selected institutions and ideas of modernity.

Jamal al-Din al-Afghani: A nineteenth-century Muslim political activist and thinker who advocated reform and resistance to European imperialism. His calls for Muslim renewal and political solidarity helped shape the movement's early agenda.
Ijtihad: Independent legal reasoning used by qualified Muslim jurists to derive judgments from Islamic sources. Modernists revived it as a means of addressing new circumstances without abandoning Islamic authority.
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan: An Indian Muslim educator and reformer who founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875. His advocacy of modern education and reinterpretation of scripture gave South Asian modernism a distinctive path.
Salafism: A movement seeking to restore Islamic belief and practice by emulating the earliest Muslim generations. Its appeal to early precedent differs from modernists' emphasis on reinterpretation for changing conditions.
Modern education in the Muslim world: Schooling systems in Muslim societies shaped by modern curricula, institutions, and forms of professional training. Modernists promoted new educational models as a way to strengthen Muslim societies and reinterpret religious learning.
Muhammad Abduh: An Egyptian Islamic scholar and reformer who served as grand mufti of Egypt from 1899 to 1905. His reinterpretation of Islamic learning and law became a defining model of modernist reform.
Tafsir: The interpretation and explanation of the Quran. Modernist Quranic interpretation connected scripture to contemporary social and scientific questions.
Qasim Amin: An Egyptian jurist and writer whose books argued for women's education and changes in social customs. His reform proposals brought gender and family life into debates associated with Islamic modernism.
Islamism: A range of political movements that seek to organize public life around Islamic principles. Modernism is an intellectual reform movement, while Islamism centers political projects and state power.
Islamic feminism: Approaches to gender equality that argue from Islamic texts, ethics, and histories. Modernist arguments for reinterpretation helped create space for renewed debate about women's rights.

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