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American Economic & Social Review  

Vol. 1, No. 1; 2017 

Published by Centre for Research on Islamic Banking & Finance and Business 

 

50 
 

 

The Role of Contemporary Islamic Movement towards Social and 

Political Changes of Modernity 
 

Ibrahim Suleiman1 

 

1Department of Political Science, Bauchi State University, Gadau, Nigeria 

Correspondence: Ibrahim Suleiman, Department of Political Science, Bauchi State University, Gadau, Nigeria, 

Tel: +2348060287718, E-mail: isuleiman@basug.edu.ng 

 

 

Received: September 28, 2017       Accepted: September 30, 2017      Online Published: October 7, 2017   

 

 

Abstract 

This paper studies the role of contemporary Islamic movements towards social and political changes of the 21st 

century. Contemporary Islamic movements is a modern phenomenon; it is rooted in the historically and spatially 

recurring cyclical phenomena of "reform" (Islah) and "renewal" (Tajdid) which provide the models and symbols 

that link modernity to authentic elements of Islamic teachings. The study employs secondary source as a method 

of data collection. Based on these past rejuvenations, contemporary Islamic scholars are interacts with modern 

cultural, social, political and religious circumstances. While emphasizing the Unitarian and Universalistic 

character of Islam, it is also coloured by local variations. Some observers see Islamic movement as part of a 

trend in contemporary Islam toward a more orthodox and doctrinally homogeneous type of religion based on the 

sacred source-texts. This trend views local expressions of Islam as deviations from orthodoxy and seeks to 

suppress them. Modern means of communication have accelerated this process by opening up the periphery to 

the penetration of the centralizing forces. In this view, Islamic movement is more radical wing of the wider 

movement which also includes madrasah based traditional groups and Sufi type reform movements. 

 

Keywords: Islamic Movement, Social and Political Changes, Orthodox and Doctrinally Homogeneous.  

 

1. Introduction 

Contemporary Islamic Movements in the 19th and 20th century is part of a wider religious resurgence extensive 

across the Muslim world. Contemporary Islamic movements is a modern phenomenon; it is rooted in the 

historically and spatially recurring cyclical phenomena of "reform" (Islah) and "renewal" (Tajdid) which provide 

the models and symbols that link modernity to authentic elements of Islamic teachings. Based on these past 

renewals, contemporary Islamic movements are interacts with modern cultural, social, political and religious 

circumstances. While stressing the Unitarian and Universalistic character of Islam, it is also coloured by local 

variations. Some observers see Islamic movement as part of a trend in contemporary Islam toward a more 

orthodox and doctrinally homogeneous type of religion based on the sacred source-texts. This trend views local 

expressions of Islam as deviations from orthodoxy and seeks to suppress them. Modern means of 

communication have accelerated this process by opening up the periphery to the penetration of the centralizing 



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forces. In this view, Islamic movement is more radical wing of the wider movement which also includes 

madrasah based traditional groups and Sufi type reform movements (Tibi, 2000). 

Contemporary Islamic Movement is an umbrella term for a wide variety of movements and discourse committed 

to Islam as a comprehensive total way of life and as a viable alternative to Western secular ideologies. Most of 

them are united in their goal of the Islamization of the social and political system of their societies, states, and 

ultimately of the whole Muslim world, yet there is a great diversity among them arising from the variety of local 

circumstances in which they emerged and operates. The goal of Islamic movement can be summarized as the 

re-establishment of a revived and authentic "true" Islam and its implementation in all areas of life. The 

best-known ideologue of the revivalists Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Sayyid Qutb, defined the goal of 

revivalist as: 

“… The restoration of Islamic life in an Islamic society governed by the Islamic creed and the Islamic 

conception as well as by the Islamic Shari‟ah and the Islamic system (nizam)” (Tibi, 2000). 

The emergence of Islamic movement was due to the penetration of Western capitalist modernity into all aspects 

of Muslim societies from Arab world to Southeast Asia, a significant number of Muslim intellectuals began to 

write down the general outlines of a new intellectual project that is often referred to as “Islamic modernism.”  

In the Arab world, Iran and the late Ottoman period was represented by such personalities as Jamaluddeen 

Al-Afghani, Muhammad Abdu, Muhammad Rashid Rida, Bediuzzaman, and Said Nursi, in the early phase and 

a host of other religious scholars and thinkers who were intent on finding a reconciliation between their grand 

Islamic tradition and the scientific and philosophical achievements of capitalist modernity. In South Asia, the 

project of Islamic modernism was represented by such thinkers and activists as Sayyid Ahmad Khan, Amir Ali, 

Mawlana Abu al-Kalam Azad, and others. In Southeast Asia, most notably in Indonesia, the project of Islamic 

modernism was represented by the Muhammadiyyah organization and its founder, Muhammad Dahlan 

(Abu-Rabi, 2006).  

The major features of contemporary Islamic movement were as follows: (i) the revival of rational elements in 

the Islamic tradition, (ii) finding Islamic solutions to the challenges of the Western domination, (iii) embracing 

the philosophical and scientific features of modernity, (iv) constructing new academic and religious institutions 

to meet the challenges of modernity, (v) the revival of Kalam science, and (vi) the revival of Islamic languages 

and focus on foreign languages. Islamic modernism can be said to be composed of two major features at the 

beginning of the twentieth century:  (i) In the first place it was deeply concerned with the foreign occupation 

and its intellectual and educational design aimed at eradicating foreign control. This was the case with the 

Muhammadiyyah; (ii) on the other hand; it saw the salvation of Muslims as being united with the foreign 

presence, as can be seen in the movement represented by Khan in India at the end of the nineteenth century. 

However, the logical outcome of both sides Islamic modernism was to lay down the blueprint for an 

independent homeland for Muslims in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and South Asia (Ibid). 

Moreover, the rise of nationalism in different parts of the Muslim world in the latter part of the nineteenth and 

early twentieth centuries, Islamic modernism paved the way for the foundation of the nation-state in the modern 

Muslim world. In Indonesia, for example, Islamic modernism combined with nationalism and the rise of other 

Islamist parties to power led directly to the creation of modern Indonesia. The same combination of factors can 

be seen in the case of Pakistan. Independence, national struggle, and the creation of modern institutions has been 

the landmark of contemporary Islamic thought. In the case of the Muslims of South Asia, the Partition of India 

and Pakistan has been a watershed in both contemporary Islamic intellectual and Indian intellectual histories. It 



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is quite impossible to understand the huge issues hampering contemporary Islamic thought in South Asia 

without understanding this pivotal historical event and its intellectual, religious, social, political, and economic 

consequences and realities (Ibid). 

2. Contextual Historical Facts of Contemporary Islamic Movements 

Many people recognize the complexity and multiplicity of the causes that gave rise to contemporary Islamic 

movement; some are of the opinion that colonialism and modernization are the major causes of the resurgence. 

While others thinks about many factors which are as follows:- 

2.1 Reaction to Colonialism and Western Domination 

Colonialism brings about the Western cultural dominance which imposed secularization, dependence, and a 

division of life into separate secular and religious spheres. The famous Indian Islamic thinker Muhammad Iqbal 

(1877-1938) vividly expressed the commonly held view of the "insensitive multi-layered Western civilization" 

in its varied manifestations of capitalism, communism, secularism, and liberalism, challenging Islam of its 

inherent vitality. In sharp contrast to the miserable present, he recreated the memories of Islam‟s past glorious 

golden age. These two themes of anti-Westernism and reminiscence for the glorious past are characteristic of 

most contemporary Islamic movements. 

Moreover, the movement provide "cultural authenticity, spiritual guidance, and practical help to those 

experiencing extreme frustration in their societies, and argues that these movements are not a passing 

phenomenon they are deeply rooted in Islamic history and culture and nurtured by the deep crisis in 

contemporary Muslim states. Also during the colonial period Islam as a political ideology was back staged as 

Western ideologies penetrated society. The failure of these Western ideologies to deliver following 

independence strengthened the Islamic movements with their call for a return to Islam as an authentic alternative 

political ideology. 

President Khatami of Iran sounds a less hostile note while admitting that Muslims have lost their once dominant 

position in world history because of the political, intellectual, and technological ascendancy of the West. He 

states that "It is a fact that the West has given humankind many achievements, and also brought it many 

problems and difficulties". The problems faced by Muslims are common to Third World societies, and have 

been aggravated because while their private and social lives have been strongly influenced by the West, their 

culture belongs to another era. The crisis in non-Western peoples and countries is due to the fact that the culture 

which rules our lives or part of it is inconsistent with the civilization which more or less forms the basis of our 

everyday lives. This contradiction, which the West suffers from less, is the source of the serious crisis in the 

lives of most of us non-westerners (Enayat, 1982). 

2.2 Response to Devastating Change of Modernity 

Islamic movement emerged as a response to Western induced modern social and cultural changes that "threaten 

to dilute Islamic identity through the propagation of un-Islamic elements". Esposito, (1990) claims that the 

positive benefits of modernization benefited only a few, while the majority felt mainly its negative fallout rural 

migration and rapid urbanization, the breakdown of traditional family values, and a general climate of 

disillusionment and misery. Deukmejian, (1985) also stresses the negative social and economic effects of 

modernization which included the population explosion, the breakdown of traditional religious and social values, 

high unemployment, and the sharp inequalities in wealth distribution. These overwhelmingly rapid economic, 

social and cultural changes resulted in an acute sense of dislocation, identity loss, alienation and anomie (Ibid).  

 



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2.3 Reaction to Failed Islamic Liberalism 

Contemporary Islamic movement also came as a reaction to the failures of Islamic liberalism in the 19th and 20th 

centuries, as well as to the failures of nationalism and socialism after independence. Islamists compete both with 

the modernists, who accept a broad interpretation of Scripture and adopt some Western values, and with the 

secularist-liberals who argue for a democratic, pluralist state on the Western model. Islamists reject these 

worldviews and seek a return to the original sources of Islam, whilst claiming the right to re-interpret them 

(ijtihad) and reapply them to contemporary contexts (Ibid). 

2.4 Crisis of Legitimacy in Secular Nation-States and Regimes 

Another cause is the persistent crisis expressed by the weak legitimacy of the very idea of the nation-state as 

well as of the existing secular regimes. This crisis is evident in the pervasiveness of autocratic regimes and in 

the continuing segmentation of society along tribal, ethnic, and religious lines. The political, social, and 

economic failures of the secular state is seen as an important contributor to the rise of Islamic movement as a 

mass-based response demanding radical change. Islamists tend to blame the modern secular nation-state and its 

Westernized elites for the entire problem faced by the society (Ibid). 

2.5 Direct Political Catalysts 

The Arab defeat in the 1967 war against Israel, the secession of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971, the 

Lebanese civil war in the mid-1970s, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 were catalysts in the 

spread of Islamic movement especially in the 20th century. They added to the sense of backwardness, 

humiliation, impotence, and loss of self-esteem, with the resulting hostility aimed against local regimes that had 

failed to respond to the need of their societies, as well as against the superpowers and the West in general. 

Muslims of all classes and ages turned to fundamentalist Islam for a solution (Ibid).  

2.6 Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Contemporary Islamic Thinkers  

The reformers searched for a solution to the political and religious crisis caused by Western imperialism, and for 

an answer to the question of what had gone wrong with Muslim society. Against the secularists who blamed 

traditional Islam for the decline, and advocated the separation of religion from the state on the Western model; 

and the conservatives who advocated a rejection of the West, non-co-operation with the new rulers, and an 

isolationist withdrawal into traditional religion; the reformers offered an alternative both to Westernized secular 

adaptation and to conservative rejectionist. They initiated a process of internal self-criticism, of redefining Islam, 

and proving its relevance to the new context by a synthesis of Islamic and modern concepts. They instilled in 

Muslims a pride in their past glory, reviving their shattered sense of identity and their confidence. They also 

emphasized the progressive and rational character of Islam that enabled it to integrate modern culture and 

accommodate change. The reformers rejected common law, popular sufipractices, as well as the classical 

innovations of the ulamaand the four legal schools madhahib((Zeenath, 2005). 

2.6.1 Jamal al-Din Al-Afghani (1839-1897) was a political activist who aroused Muslims to resist imperialism, 

revive their lost glory, and liberate their states from colonial rule by uniting the Ummah (pan-Islamism), 

reforming a decadent and superstitious Islam that had capitulated to Western influences, and by utilizing 

Western science and philosophy. He tried to bridge the gap between modern secularists and religious 

traditionalists, stressing that reason had been integral to early and classical Islam and that Islamic essentials are 

compatible with science. Islam is a comprehensive way of life encompassing the societal and political as well as 

the personal spheres. It is a dynamic and progressive religion of reason and science capable of responding to 

modern contexts. Islam is the real source of the Ummah‟s strength and Islamic identity and solidarity must be 



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vigorously restated. The stagnation of Islam must be rejected, and the gates of ijtihad reopened so as to break the 

ulama‟s monopoly on religion and to formulate new responses to changing circumstances based on the original 

source (Harris, 1964). 

2.6.2 Muhammad Abduh,(1849-1905) who became rector of al-Azhar and chief sharia judge (mufti) of Egypt, 

advocated reform by a return to the pure sources. He saw the causes of stagnation in Muslim society as lying in 

un-Islamic practices and superstitions, fatalism, and rigid scholasticism (taqlid); the corruption of the „Ulama‟ 

and their subservience to the political leadership, as well as their inability to distinguish between the unchanging 

core of Islam and its external layer which was open to change. He stressed the unity of God(tawhid) as the 

foundation of Islam‟s integrated worldview, saw no conflict between Islam and modernity, and stressed that 

religion and reason were not contradictory, but complemented each other as the two sources of Islam. Indeed, 

Islam had early on bestowed rationality to the West but had then neglected it. Abduh wanted to reform society 

through discovering the real intent of Islam‟s unchanging fundamental principles and then implementing them 

in educational and social reforms, as well as through selectively appropriating aspects of the West not contrary 

to Islam (Ibid).  

2.6.3 Muhammad Rashid Rida, (1865-1935) continued with Afghani‟s and Abduh‟s call for a reinterpretation 

of Islam and the development of a modern Islamic legal system. However he gradually became more critical of 

the West and its growing cultural impact on Egypt, and more sympathetic to Wahhabism. He too rejected the 

blind acceptance of medieval formulations of law, and wanted to regenerate Islam by going back to the model of 

the pious ancestors (salaf)  Muhammad, his Companions, and the (Khulafa-urrashidun) Caliphs which included 

the practice of a pure and rational Islam free from superstition, as well as a just and prosperous Islamic society 

and state. Islam was self-sufficient and comprehensive and had no need to imitate the West, but must return to 

its original sources. He stressed that full implementation of Islamic law required the existence of a truly Islamic 

government which could only be a restored Caliphate. This government would function through compulsory 

consultation (Shura) between the ruler and the representatives of the community, the "people who lose and bind" 

(ahl al-hall wal-„aqd)(Ibid). 

2.6.4 Hassan al-Banna (1906-1949) Banna combined a drive to reform Islam along salafilines with efforts to 

practically upgrade the condition of the deprived masses by mutual-aid and self-help. He demanded Muslims go 

back to the practice of the early normative period of Islam, and claimed that only the Quran and the best attested 

hadith should be the sources of Shari‟ah. Hassan Al-Banna saw Islam as an integrated, self-sufficient, and 

comprehensive social and political system based on tawhid the Onness of Allah which must be implemented in 

an Islamic state there could be no separation between state and religion. It was the implementation of Shari‟ah 

that made a government truly Islamic, so this implementation was a primary goal of the movement. The 

constitution of the Islamic state was the Qur‟an, and its government was to operate through consultation 

(Shura)(Adam, 1933). 

2.6.5 Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966):- Egyptian thinker an activist, a renowned Islamic scholar was born in Asyut 

Upper Egypt on 9th October 1906. His family live in the village of Mosha in the province of Asyut, his sixth 

grandfather was originated from India Alfaqir Abdullah. Sayyid father, Qutb Ibrahim was a kind of generous and 

benevolent person. He was a religious pious and politically conscious man. Sayyid mother held from respectable 

family in the village. She had great love for Islam, the Qur‟an and Sunna of the Prophet (SAW). She instilled 

these attributes in the minds of Sayyid. Her devotion to Qur‟anic recitation and charity was remarkable. His 

education, Sayyid Qutb began his education with his parents. When he reached the aged of 6 joined primary 



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school where he memorised the Qur‟an in 3 years. Sayyid loved reading books. The principle of the school used 

to lend him two books in a week which he finished it and make his own copy before he return the books. In 

1920 he travelled to Cairo for further education and he joined Darul-Ulum and he became a prolific writer he 

wrote many books during his life time such as mile stone, social justice in Islam, in the shade of the Qur‟an, his 

prominent (Tafsir Fi zilal al-Qur‟an). 

After finishing school started his career as a class room teacher, in the year 1940, he was asked to joined 

ministry of education and later he was made inspector of primary school in 1944. In November 1948, he was 

sent to America to study educational system of American Universities, Institutions, and Colleges. After two 

years he returned back in 1950, and made a proposal to the government seeking for the reformation of 

educational system in Egypt. However, the government did not response to his request due to this he felt 

frustrated and resigned his post. And one year after his resignation the government implemented his reform. In 

July, 1952, there was a military coup led by Jamal Abdel-Nasir in Egypt where by the Monarch was overthrown. 

The Muslim Brotherhood supported that coup; Sayyid Qutb played a significant role in supporting that coup 

with the intension to established Shariah in accordance with Qur‟an and Sunna. In the early stage of the 

revolution he was regarded as the mentor and guider of the revolution. In many occasion he was invited to 

deliver a talks on national issues and aspects of Islam, but he was vocal and transparent he never compromised 

his ideas and principles. 

Moreover, He was totally rejected the idea of socialist and nationalist movement which he felt that they are 

against Islamic Shariah in Egypt. This is the genesis of disagreement between him and the President Jamal 

Abdel Nasir.  He continues with his writing books and in 1952, started writing his important book in the shade 

of Qur‟an which he completed when he was in prison. Sayyid Qutb was jailed 3 times for different allegations. 

In a nutshell, in 1965, the court pronounced a verdict on Sayyid Qutb and other members of Muslim 

Brotherhood and he was sentenced to death together with the two members, while the rest of 25 life 

imprisonment. In reaction to the verdict Sayyid Qutb said that “Praise be to Allah! I have worked 15 years to 

gain this Shahada.” And on 29th August 1966 Sayyid Qutb and two others were hanged (Harris, 1964). 

2.6.5.1 His Political Thought 

Sayyid Qutb consider both capitalism and communism as the worst ideologies and enemy of mankind. He never 

supported man made ideologies in his life. He is against the idea of nationalism because he felt that it the 

process of weakening Muslims to accept defeat and sometime fought each other. According to him all ideologies 

and movement that are originated from the so-called western philosophy of eighteen century had lost their 

vitality. He contended that the ideology of capitalism is one of the enemies of mankind, because gradually 

exploited the people through various stages and means. Also he criticised communism due to its treatment of the 

people as robots. He condemned communism for not providing freedom and liberty to the people to exercise 

their free will of choosing any way of life or religion. Sayyid Qutb divided the word into three. The western bloc, 

the eastern bloc, and the Neutral, he viewed that both western and eastern blocs competed with each other to 

dominate the whole world, while the third bloc was forced to remain valueless and insignificant in all aspects. 

He is totally against the Idea of non-alignment because he argued that is the idea that represents artificiality 

(Ibid). 

 Islamic Shariah 

After the coup of 1952, he insisted for the implementation of Islamic Shariah with justice and accountability, but 

Jamal Abdel-Nasir refused and instead advocated for socialism and nationalism hence Sayyid Qutb withdraw his 



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support and failed to compromised with the government. Sayyid Qutb asserted that the only means that can 

brings about sanity and progress to the Ummah must be through the implementation of Islamic law based on 

Qur‟an and Sunna and not man-made ideologies. 

 The Muslim bloc 

Sayyid Qutb call on the Muslim nation to unite themselves as a third force namely Muslim bloc under the 

banner of Islam. He believed that Muslim bloc would provide all necessities and needs which are essential for 

mankind with rational approach that give good shape of life. This bloc would believe in real social justice, 

freedom and all kinds of benefits and facilities for every individual. He says that it will maintain the balance 

between the two opposing structures capitalism and communism. 

 Concept of society 

Sayyid Qutb divided the concept of society into two compartments, the Islamic society and Jahiliyya society, 

which he means civilised society and backward society. According to him an Islamic society is the civilised 

society that recognised the laws of Allah, the Shariah as the laws of the land. Islamic society asserts the unity of 

Allah and its sincere observance both in words and deeds. It did not accept any sovereignty of man and only 

accept absolute sovereignty of Allah. On the other hand, the Jahiliyya society is the backward society that is 

antithetical to Islam as a complete ways of life.  Islam neither goes along with it nor those it agree with its 

doctrines and character. The Jahiliyya society encourages the worship of man by man domination of one power 

over the other for the sake of power, ideologies, or material ends. 

 Sayyid Qutb on education 

Sayyid Qutb was totally against the system of education which is given under the patronage or supervision of 

the Jews, Christians, and communists which brain wash young Muslims. He maintained that Muslim children 

should not obtained education on Islam from Jews, Christians, and orientalists. He asserted that the so-called 

modern education as advocated by missionaries in missionary schools was part of the conspiracy to divorce 

Islam from the Muslims; He quoted the word of Samuel Zwemer “Our mission is to have Muslim leave Islam 

and make them subservient to our teachings, our influence, and our ideas…….Everyone who graduates from 

these schools abandon Islam in actuality if not in name.” Therefore, these are some of the brief ideas of Sayyid 

Qutb to the contemporary Islamic movement (Ibid). 

2.6.6 Abu A’la Al-Mawdudi a great Islamic thinker, philosopher, reformer, an activist founder of Jama‟at 

Islami in India he was born in India on 25th September, 1903. He was born from a very famous and religious 

family. He was a strong believer with Qur‟an and Sunnah. Mawdudi was totally against western democracy in 

the early stage. He started his early education from his parent same like Qutb he developed interest in languages, 

especially Arabic, he mastered Qur‟an and Hadith also learned mathematics and science subjects. His started his 

career as a journalist, and joined many Islamic movements before forming his organization. In 1941 Mawdudi 

formed Islamic movement Jama‟at Islami in Lahore Indian sub-continent and after the petition of India, 

Mawdudi migrated to Pakistan and developed in writing books, journals, and pamphlets. In the early stage the 

movement was based on Tajdid (Reform) not politics. However, when times goes on Jama‟at Islami turned to 

political party and participated fully in political arena (Ahmad, 1967). 

2.6.6.1 Allama Mawdudi’s Political Thought 

Mawdudi‟s political system was constituted based on four basic principles; The first principle of Mawdudi‟s 

thought, was a concrete comprehensive presentation of Islam as a complete way of life, which encompasses all 

aspects of life, individuals, groups, and it also deals with political, economic, and social aspects. The second 



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principle is that the purpose of the meaning of life is nothing but to serve or worship Allah (S.W.T). In the third 

principle Mawdudi never perceived Islam as the static religion, to him Islam is a complete and dynamic 

whenever there is problem which were not found in Qur‟an and Sunna he use Ijtihad to find the solution of the 

problem. The fourth principle argued that all the injustice, chaos and problems are due to the domination of man 

by man. 

 The Concept of Islamic State and Shariah 

According to him by Islamic state he never means that the state should comprised only Muslims, but rather the 

Islamic state should be based on Islamic principles of Shariah, and non-Muslim should be given their rights and 

privileges. He profound the principle of Islamic state, according to him the principles of Islamic state was based 

on three creeds Tawheed, Risalah, and khilafah. The second principle was the purpose of an Islamic state and its 

characteristic which he argued should be based on sovereignty, khilafah, and Shariah. The third principle was 

the directive principles of state policy (Islamic manifesto) (Ibid). 

 Mawdudi’s Organs of Government 

According to him the organs of government should be divided into three as follows:- 

Shura/Parliament had the responsibility of making laws based on Qur‟an and Sunna it must consist people who 

are knowledgeable Ahl al-Hall wal „Aqad.  Another organ is Amara/Executive had the responsibility of 

execution or implementation of law based on Islamic principles and they should secure directives from Allah 

(S.W.T) and rules according to Qur‟an and Sunna. The last organ of government in Mawdudi‟s thought was 

Qada/Judiciary that had the responsibility of interpreting the law, this consist of judges which they must exercise 

their function in line with Qur‟an and Sunna. They have to follow what was revealed by Allah (S.W.T). 

Mawdudi accepted the clear separation of power between these three organs; each organ must be independent 

and answerable to the chief of the executive who is the head of state and he too is answerable to Allah. 

 Citizenship in an Islamic State 

Mawdudi identified two types of citizenship in an Islamic state; the Muslims and the non-Muslims (Ahlul 

dhimmis). He argued that the Muslim citizens must perform all the socio-political directives of the state. They 

are vested with many obligations and sacrifices in order to defence the state. They enjoy the rights of choosing 

the head of state, membership of law making bodies, and appointment of the key position in an Islamic state. 

Whereas, the non-Muslims enjoy civil liberties and protection with the condition of paying the tax (Jizya) and 

within the non-Muslim women, children, elderly and disable people were exempted for paying the tax (Ibid).  

3. Conclusion 

At the end of the 19th and 20th century Islamic movements have become very popular within the Muslim society all 

over the world, led by these Islamic educated elites. The main aimed of these movements was the implementation 

of Islamic oriented society. However, the establishment of an Islamic system does necessitate the creation of an 

Islamic state, and the mainstreams of Islamic movements have become major actors within the system, while the 

violent radicals continue to confront the state. The moderates demand participation as equals in the democratic 

process, while the extremists threaten violence and revolution. 

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