In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century poor colonial conditions led Muslims to theorize their own decline and subsequently, antidotes to this perceived decline, including notions of pan-Islamic solidarity and the invocation of an imagined Muslim world, a world beyond the borders and dictates of nation-states. Islamic revival movements flourished in this period, as Muslims used Islam to articulate resistance to systems of domination, from British colonial rule in India, to Jim Crow in the United States. Together these papers present a complex portrait of Islamic twentieth century revival movements, which were both intensely local in their stakes and articulation, but also connected to larger global networks and trends. The twentieth century was a time of vast diversity in Islamic theological expression. At the same time as these distinct movements proliferated, appeals to an imagined, unified Muslim world and an idealized, all-encompassing Muslim identity increased.
This paper examines conceptions of sacred geography invoked by two Muslim groups in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, and the Moorish Science Temple of America (MSTA). Geographic touchstones for both groups included Chicago, the American South, India, Asia, and Africa. This seemingly eclectic mix of locations, ranging from cities to regions to continents, were consecrated and stitched together through repeated invocations in community newspapers and periodicals. The idea of a Muslim world provided the Ahmadiyya and MSTA with a vision in which their small burgeoning groups in the United States could be understood as integral components of much larger global forces. Categorization is a means of establishing mastery of knowledge, and in mapping out these geographic assemblages, the Ahmadiyya and MSTA groups presented different visions of racialized understandings of Muslim identity that would eliminate racial inequality.
Over the last fifty years, Islamic fundamentalism, marked by scripturalism and an emphasis on purification of Islamic customs, has emerged in sub-Saharan Africa. Motivated by this seismic transformation, this chapter examines how and why Islamic fundamentalism emerged in African countries. I trace the role of educational exchange with Islamic institutions in Arab countries in serving as a key channel for the diffusion of conservative ideas from the Arab world into African countries. I particularly focus on al-Azhar University in Egypt and the Islamic University of Medina in Saudi Arabia as two prominent educational institutions where reformist ideas were dominant during the mid- and late-twentieth century. Through case studies from East and West Africa, I show that beneficiaries of educational exchange played a key role in founding reformist Islamic organizations that facilitate the diffusion of conservative ideas in African countries.
From 1928-1930, three Muslim movements emerged that would garner mass followings: the Muslim Brothers in Egypt; the Tijani Fayḍah in Senegal; and the Nation of Islam in the U.S. Each led large-scale social mobilization efforts and attempted participation in local politics. All three challenged the societies in which they functioned, as well as the twin pillars of the emerging postwar world order: secularization and political liberalism. These movements are often differentiated from one another through their respective classifications as Islamist and Arab, Sufi and African, and Black Nationalist and American. However, these designations can obscure more than they reveal. In a mid-century setting when alliances among global powers were being torn apart and reassembled toward variant grand visions of how the world ought to be arranged, I argue that these groups’ attempts to fashion assemblies and visions of their own can help us broaden our understandings of these movements and the mid-20th century.
The Darul Islam Movement (1962 to 1983) was arguably the most successful Islamic revivalist movement in U.S. At its height, it consisted of a network of about 40 affiliated mosques throughout the country, as well as its own magazine, printing press, businesses, and schools. Formed during the 1960s, the Dar shared many concerns in common with contemporary groups like the Nation of Islam and the Black Panther Party. Yet the Dar also deeply engaged the ideas of Islamic reformists like Abul A'la al-Maududi, Hassan Al-Banna, and Sayyid Qutb. This paper considers the diverse ideological influences that characterized the Dar and the impact of the movement on subsequent Muslim communities in the US. I argue that the Dar crafted a version of Islamic Internationalism that appropriated global Islamist discourses, while simultaneously contending with the ideals of Black self-determination, Black nationalism, and working-class consciousness that animated radical organizing in the urban U.S.