Islamic Revival as Development: Discourses on Islam, Modernity, and Democracy since the 1950s

The article argues that Islamic Revival can be read as the Muslim thinkers' and activists' critique of, and engagement with modernity. It further makes a case for multiple modernities and multiple Islamic discourses which have marked the last six decades of Muslim activism. Islamic Revival has gone through three distinct periods during this time. In each of these periods, the Revivalists have engaged in conversation with modernity, which manifests the co-constitutive nature of both Islamic Revival and modernity. During these conversations, both of these phenomena have been re-constituted and re-shaped by each other. In the first period, the conversation put Islamic Revival amidst the debates on capitalism, communism, and political development in general, within the contexts of post-colonial liberation and the Cold War struggles. In the second, the emphasis was on democracy, economic development, and human rights. Finally, in the third period, which we are still witnessing, the focus of Islamic Revival's conversation with modernity is on civic engagement and citizenship rights. Through these three periods, the paper traces the evolution of Islamic Revival from its often reactive past to the more proactive present.