Patrones de diseño

After the Western occupation of the Muslim lands and subsequent decolonisation processes, Muslims and Islamic ideology faced setbacks. DeVeries (1980, p. 9) describes that many thought Islam or all other ideologies will disappear, and the world will bow down to the Western ideologies, such as, socialism or capitalism.

Ahmad (1973) and Ushama & Osmani (2006) describing the situation outlined above, contend that, it was a flood of new ideas which defeated the Islamic world on all fronts, some people just tried to save themselves and went out of the way of the flood, and only concentrated to save their faith, and this example is of the darul-uloom Deoband in the subcontinent.

The second policy was apologetic like the Muslim modernists of Sir Sayyid Ahmad and Abduh, both tried to “prepare a non-religious edition of the religion” (Ahmad, 1973, p.18).

Ushama & Osmani (2006, p. 96) conclude it was “of total subservience to the Western thought” of Mustafa Kamal in Turkey, furthermore, Ahmad (1973) contends that this

110 imperialistic wave forced Muslims to think about Islam as a “complete code of life” and devise revivalist movements.

DeVeries (1980), Haghighat (2000), Dekmejian (1988) and Ahmad (2009) argue that against the ideological power of socialism and capitalism Islamic revivalist or revolutionary ideology surprised the world in 1978 when Khomeini's Islamic inspired revolution captured Iran and declared it Islamic republic. DeVeries (1980, p.9) characterised this as “Another segment of the humanity had opened a third real and viable alternation”. This revolutionary success opened new chapters in the study of Islamic political and social thought, seriously in the fields of political and revolutionary studies in the West, which Robinson describes as, a tide which began to turn towards the scholarship of the Muslim leadership and thought (Robinson, 2000, p.254).

However, in the Muslim world preaching and spreading of revival and reform ideology was part of its normal routine: Dhaoudi (2014) and Esposito (1991) believe that Islam poses a long tradition of revival and reform. These studies reflect religion possessing the power to bring about political change on a large scale. Haghighat (2000, p.256) notes that “religion as a political ideology” has shown much proficiency in the Iranian context due to a religious inclination of the people towards it. In this respect, AJK shows similarities, however, revolution appears out of question there, because revolutions are most likely to occur in repressive and weaker states rather in open and strong ones (Hwang, 2009, p.5).

Discussing contemporary revivalism, Lapidus (1997) argues that in the 1920s and 1930s Islamic revival movements created a wave of resurgence in Egypt and in the Indian subcontinent. The prominent Islamic revolutionary activist, Mawlana Mawdudi (1903-1979), also set the scheme for the establishment of an Islamic state which was taken seriously in the intellectual circles in the West and the Islamic world (Ushama & Osmani, 2006).

111 Muhammad Iqbal (d.1938) was first to propose a separate Islamic state for the Muslims of India, which was achieved later, based on his ‘Two-Nation Theory’ Naser (1994, p.5).

However, regarding Mawdudi, Nasr (1994) states that Mawdudi viewed Islam as a holistic ideology with similarities to Western ideologies - while using an organisational weapon and mobilising resources (p.3-9).

During this period, outlined above, the dominant ideologies were Socialism and Communism, thus Mawdudi included all aspects of an individual and communal life, such as, politics, society, law, philosophy, economy and so forth, under the agendas of his revival ambitions, which Lupidos (1997, p. 448) terms a: “new Islam of commitment to an abstract concept of community and moral authority”. Mawdudi did not only present the scheme or theory of Islamic revivalism but established a movement to implement his revival agenda - a language of motivation and mobilisation for political and socio-economic objectives imbedded into religious ideas, which was explored more deeply in chapter three. Lapidus’ (1997, p.457) argument that, contemporary Islamic movements are a “response to and an expression of Muslim modernity”, needs to be explored, however, his argument that Sufis are anti-education is not accurately reflective of sentiments in a contemporary AJK context.

Ali (2012, p.67) describes two very interesting aspects of the contemporary Islamic revival:

“crisis perspective” and “success perspective.” The first term is framed in response to the failure of modernist or secularist ideologies to solve the social and political problems of Muslim societies, while the second terms refers to a historical process prescribed in Islamic traditions. He contends that a study of Islamic revivalist ideas has not been explored using any theoretical approach. Islamic movements were elaborated upon, using social movement theory approaches. Despite the absence of a theoretical basis, contemporary Islamic revivalism is an “important sociological phenomenon” (Ibid, pp. 68-69). This study touches upon aspects of these two perspectives, adding those mentioned above, and including the

112

‘cultural-identity’ and ‘political economy model’ which are more dominant and useful for the movements and their leaders to articulate their message of an Islamic revival in the AJK context.

Dhaoudi (2014, p.27) introduces an interesting approach to study Islamic revivalism, as he believes that Islamic revivalism is a social phenomenon. He contends that by neglecting the social analysis one cannot conclude its true nature. His “Homo Cultures” approach against the Homo Islamicus (Ibid, pp.25-27) approach can bring some interesting findings, for instance Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) described that “Bedouins can acquire royal authority only by making use of some religious colouring, such as prophet-hood or sainthood or some great religious events in general” (Ibid, p.30). He concludes that Arab society is based on two common cultural traits: religion and language. This solidarity combines these two factors together for collective action.

The Arab Spring provided inspiration, or provided space for the imitation of other Arabs based on ʻasabiyah, but notice of other Muslim changes in non-Arab countries, were not apparent. Within the natural community a force existed which Ibn Khaldun called asabiyah”commonly translated as “group feeling”. But it is more than that; it is a kind of loyalty based on blood which may be extended to include those not on the same blood but with common interests. (Sattar, 1980, p.16) Khaldun’s analysis is based on the decisive role of culture in the success of an Islamic revival, although confined to only one aspect of a revival. Furthermore, Arab culture is religious, which shares a common language of Islam, whereas, in AJK, culture and language differ from religion. In light of such observations, Movements might need to develop different strategies than those offered through Arab Islamic social movements, furthermore, in this case, the concept proposed by Ibn Khaldun of

‘Bediuns or nomadic and religious colouring’ also ‘asabiyah and “gaining group superiority through group feelings” (Khaldun, 1967, p.35) are very much relevant to an AJK perspective,

113 warranting further exploration. These studies offer several models of Islamic revivalism but these or some of them are needed to be brought, as Hunter (1988) prescribes, into the local contexts of the Muslim societies and explore their social, political, economic and cultural concerns.