Khayr al-Din al-Tunisi and Islamic Reformism as a Synthesis between the West and the Islamic Tradition

Abstract

Muslim countries have experienced great change and transformation during the 19th and 20th centuries as a result of their encounters with the West. Islamic reformism might be considered as a discourse developed to face the diverse challenges posed by Western modernity. Khayr al-Din al-Tunisi (1810–1890) was a statesman and intellectual of the 19th century who elaborated an original approach to the question of Islamic reformism. His major work, The Surest Path to Knowledge Concerning the Conditions of Countries (Aqwam al-Masalik fi Ma’rifat Ahwal al-Mamalik), represents an important contribution to debates on Islam, modernism and the West. This study is based on this work of al-Tunisi and other primary and secondary sources (books and articles) regarding his approach. Using qualitative methods of analysis (contextualization and descriptive discourse analysis), this study aimed to scrutinize how Khayr al-Din offered a balanced reformist vision as a synthesis between Westernism and the Islamic tradition. Rather than purely imitating the West, Khayr al-Din emphasized the need for a better understanding of Western methods and institutions on the basis of Islam.