ISLAM AND THE ARTICULATION OF MUSLIM IDENTITIES

The last 25 years have shown a marked increase in the meanings which Muslims attach to the concept of Islam. The first part of this paper discusses some of these new meanings of Islam: new socio-political meanings in a national and in an international context as well as new moral meanings. The second part discusses aspects of the relations between Islam and national consciousness which have changed considerably in the course of the 20th century. Attention is also paid to relations between Muslim countries and the West and the meaning of Islam in this changing context. At the end of the paper four theses are formulated, dealing with secular and Islamic models of the Muslim state; with relations between Muslim states; with the links existing between Muslim and other (ethnic or national) identities; and with the competition between alternative versions of Islam, considered here as articulations of Muslim identity. The way in which an individual views Islam reflects a particular articulation of his or her identity. Muslim societies, consequently, can usefully be studied according to the meanings which different groups and persons give to life and reality and which use Islam as a referent.