Abstract
The understanding of contemporary Islamic activism has become one of the most important challenges for international academia since the 1980s. Late 1970s and early 1980s, witnessed a chain of unexpected but significant happenings in the heart of the Muslim world, - which brought Islamic activism at the centre of academia world over. Islamic revolution of Iran, the assassination of Egyptian President Sadat of Egypt, initiation of the the process of Islamization in Pakistan, Islamist resistance to USSR‟s invasion of Afghanistan, and occupation of the Holy Mosque of Mecca by Muslim extremists were among some of those unprecedented incidents. the end of Cold War, the appearance of Al-Qaeda at the world stage, the unfortunate occurrence 9/11 and the consequent initiation of of the war of terror to eliminate terrorism exacerbated this situation. The invasion of Afghanistan but no end in sight to wind up. This invasion despite tremendous efforts to explain and understand the causes, goals, effects and future direction of this rupture, furthure intensified the gravity of the situation .Many questions remain unanswered and much work is needed to develop theory which can be generalized to make satisfactory predictions about this particular scenario. The purpose of this paper is to look into the theoretical approaches adopted for the study of this phenomenon, the trajectories of these approaches, their current status and future prospects.
Highlights
During cold war (1950-1980), the world was divided into two poles of influence, one led by USA and the other by USSR
Adopted by western scholars to study Islamic revivalism in the Muslim world can be mainly categorized as essentialist and materialist. Essentialists considered this phenomenon as an expression of civilizational/ cultural essence or reaction of tradition against modernity, while materialists interpreted it as a mediated response to the supposedly more fundamental processes
Essentialists rule out partnership of Islamists in search for a democratic peace in 21st century, considering Islamism as totalitarian ideology, using Islam as a political ideology creating deep civilizational rivalry between Muslims and non-Muslims
Summary
During cold war (1950-1980), the world was divided into two poles of influence, one led by USA and the other by USSR. In all these countries, there were protest movements (Nationalist, Communist and Islamic), demanding change in the system of governance since their independence from the colonial powers in the 5th and 6th decade of the 20th century, ruling elites were seemed to be in full control It seemed that the synthesis of modernization and secularization had got hold of this part of the world and all Muslim countries were in transition toward their ultimate goal of modernization. NSP, on the basis of its electoral performance, became a ruling partner of all the three Turkish governments during 1970s which increased Islamists‟ influence in Turkish establishment as well as society at large These unexpected setbacks to the project of secularization in both “Modernization Models” forced the political scientists and sociologists to revisit their understandings of Muslim societies. Future trends of Islamic movements, predicted on the basis of certain theoretical underpinnings and detailed analysis of the prevailing situation, have been found deficit when reviewed later in the light of changed realities. Following is an overview of change witnessed during last few decades in this field
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