LusoHijabi
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- Religion
- Islam
To answer my own question, I believe so.
The last two generations of Muslims (especially since 1960s/70s) have been increasingly religious and increasingly intellectual. Whereas previously, becoming more educated was associated with being less religious, the opposite is now the case. Along with that, we've seen influential thinkers arise in the recent past. Names like Muhammad Iqbal, Hasan al-Banna (and before him Jamal ad-Din Afghani, Rashid Rida, Muhammad Abduh), Al-Albani, to name a few. In addition, we have seen the growth of revivalist movements such as Muslim Brotherhood, Jamaat e-Islami, Taglibi Jamaat, Salafist groups etc
Globalization and the shrinking of distances between Muslims has been a death blow for cultural practices that have long been passed off as religion. From the banning of women in mosques to worshiping at graves to bowing to "sheikhs", all of those are increasingly being seen for the fraud they are. This is true in even the most distant of places. I was in India three years ago and a guy at a hotel we were staying in was telling us about how a lot of dargahs (Sufi shrines around graves) are really hurting for money because people don't take them seriously anymore. The children of many of these shrine owners are shutting them down because they know it's all a fraud. He was telling us about how one of these shrines in a small village supposedly had a hair of the Prophet . People started asking the owner for a sample of the hair that they could DNA test and compare with other hairs supposedly belonging to the Prophet . For someone to challenge such a deeply held cultural belief even 75 years ago would have been unthinkable.
We're seeing an end to "Indian Islam" and "Arabian Islam" and "NigerianIslam" and seeing a rise in a global Islamic identity. The most important languages of which are Arabic and English. English speaking imams are far and away the most listened to and respected speakers in the world. Trust me, Hamza Yusuf, Yasir Qadhi, Nouman Ali Khan and their likes are more listened to around the world than one may think.
The increased integration of world societies as a result of enhanced communications, media, travel, and migration makes meaningful the concept of a single Islam practiced everywhere in similar ways, and an Islam which transcends national and ethnic customs.
We're also seeing a rediscovery of our intellectual heritage. For a long time, the Muslim world, with a few exceptions, had seen a stagnation in Islamic intellectual thought. Now though, we're seeing an era of intense revival. From Muhammad ash-Shawkani in fiqh (law) to Nasir al-Din Al-Albani in hadith (traditions) to Hamiduddin Farahi in tafsir (exegesis), the Muslim intellectual world is doing extremely well recently and Inshallah will continue to do so.
Politically, Muslims are not doing so well. but really, in the big scheme of things, it makes little difference for the Muslim community as a whole. Spiritual and intellectual revival do not require politics.
Global Muslim identity does not necessarily or even usually imply organised group action. Even though Muslims recognise a global affiliation, the real heart of Muslim religious life remains outside politics - in local associations for worship, discussion, mutual aid, education, charity, and other communal activities.
Another aspect of this is the increase in muslim women globally wearing the hijab. 50 years ago people would've said hijab was on the decrease and would be put into the dustbins of history. Everyone knows of that Nasser speech on Youtube where he tells the conference of how the Muslim Brotherhood's leader asked him to implement a hijab law and everyone in the room laughed. Well how wrong was Nasser. Ever since the 1970s hijab has increased by so much it is now a universal symbol of Islam and muslim sisterhood. Everywhere you go where there are muslims you will see hijab. that wasn't always the case in the past. In some places hijab was in a minority or virtually non-existent for a variety of reasons like Maldives, Central Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maritius, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Albania, Bangladesh, Kosovo etc. In muslim communities in say Vietnam and Cambodia hijab was non existent because they were quite isolated from the rest of the Islamic world but now with globalisation they can have better contact with the Islamic world and have access to Islamic knowledge and education. As a result the women in the villages and isolated communities are obnserving hijab alot better than they used to.
I'm quietly optimistic of the future of the Islamic world, at least from an intellectual and spiritual viewpoint. Politics and violence, that knows no religion. Disenfranchised and disenchanted people who believe they have no other way to express themselves will turn to violence no matter what religion they are. Obviously things are not perfect and improvements need to be made. But the fact this amount of progress (not small thing) happened in such a short amount of time is worth noting
This is in its early stages but Inshallah this can eventually lead to an Islamic Renaissance and Islamic Enligtenement where Islamic civilisation is at the forefront of science, art, literature, technology etc and muslims can make this world a better place with less oppression, hatred and violence and with more peace, compassion and justice.
The last two generations of Muslims (especially since 1960s/70s) have been increasingly religious and increasingly intellectual. Whereas previously, becoming more educated was associated with being less religious, the opposite is now the case. Along with that, we've seen influential thinkers arise in the recent past. Names like Muhammad Iqbal, Hasan al-Banna (and before him Jamal ad-Din Afghani, Rashid Rida, Muhammad Abduh), Al-Albani, to name a few. In addition, we have seen the growth of revivalist movements such as Muslim Brotherhood, Jamaat e-Islami, Taglibi Jamaat, Salafist groups etc
Globalization and the shrinking of distances between Muslims has been a death blow for cultural practices that have long been passed off as religion. From the banning of women in mosques to worshiping at graves to bowing to "sheikhs", all of those are increasingly being seen for the fraud they are. This is true in even the most distant of places. I was in India three years ago and a guy at a hotel we were staying in was telling us about how a lot of dargahs (Sufi shrines around graves) are really hurting for money because people don't take them seriously anymore. The children of many of these shrine owners are shutting them down because they know it's all a fraud. He was telling us about how one of these shrines in a small village supposedly had a hair of the Prophet . People started asking the owner for a sample of the hair that they could DNA test and compare with other hairs supposedly belonging to the Prophet . For someone to challenge such a deeply held cultural belief even 75 years ago would have been unthinkable.
We're seeing an end to "Indian Islam" and "Arabian Islam" and "NigerianIslam" and seeing a rise in a global Islamic identity. The most important languages of which are Arabic and English. English speaking imams are far and away the most listened to and respected speakers in the world. Trust me, Hamza Yusuf, Yasir Qadhi, Nouman Ali Khan and their likes are more listened to around the world than one may think.
The increased integration of world societies as a result of enhanced communications, media, travel, and migration makes meaningful the concept of a single Islam practiced everywhere in similar ways, and an Islam which transcends national and ethnic customs.
We're also seeing a rediscovery of our intellectual heritage. For a long time, the Muslim world, with a few exceptions, had seen a stagnation in Islamic intellectual thought. Now though, we're seeing an era of intense revival. From Muhammad ash-Shawkani in fiqh (law) to Nasir al-Din Al-Albani in hadith (traditions) to Hamiduddin Farahi in tafsir (exegesis), the Muslim intellectual world is doing extremely well recently and Inshallah will continue to do so.
Politically, Muslims are not doing so well. but really, in the big scheme of things, it makes little difference for the Muslim community as a whole. Spiritual and intellectual revival do not require politics.
Global Muslim identity does not necessarily or even usually imply organised group action. Even though Muslims recognise a global affiliation, the real heart of Muslim religious life remains outside politics - in local associations for worship, discussion, mutual aid, education, charity, and other communal activities.
Another aspect of this is the increase in muslim women globally wearing the hijab. 50 years ago people would've said hijab was on the decrease and would be put into the dustbins of history. Everyone knows of that Nasser speech on Youtube where he tells the conference of how the Muslim Brotherhood's leader asked him to implement a hijab law and everyone in the room laughed. Well how wrong was Nasser. Ever since the 1970s hijab has increased by so much it is now a universal symbol of Islam and muslim sisterhood. Everywhere you go where there are muslims you will see hijab. that wasn't always the case in the past. In some places hijab was in a minority or virtually non-existent for a variety of reasons like Maldives, Central Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maritius, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Albania, Bangladesh, Kosovo etc. In muslim communities in say Vietnam and Cambodia hijab was non existent because they were quite isolated from the rest of the Islamic world but now with globalisation they can have better contact with the Islamic world and have access to Islamic knowledge and education. As a result the women in the villages and isolated communities are obnserving hijab alot better than they used to.
I'm quietly optimistic of the future of the Islamic world, at least from an intellectual and spiritual viewpoint. Politics and violence, that knows no religion. Disenfranchised and disenchanted people who believe they have no other way to express themselves will turn to violence no matter what religion they are. Obviously things are not perfect and improvements need to be made. But the fact this amount of progress (not small thing) happened in such a short amount of time is worth noting
This is in its early stages but Inshallah this can eventually lead to an Islamic Renaissance and Islamic Enligtenement where Islamic civilisation is at the forefront of science, art, literature, technology etc and muslims can make this world a better place with less oppression, hatred and violence and with more peace, compassion and justice.
eace:
