Page 138 - The Vision of Islam

Modern Possibilities

the preserved divine religion acceptable to today’s man. But our
reformers were blind to this opportunity, and foolishly engaged
themselves, on the contrary, in launching themselves on a collision
course with the communities whom they should rather have
invited to acept Islam.
When the colonisation of Muslim countries by European
nations began in modern times, the whole Muslim world had to
consider how to grapple with this problem. The need of the hour
was to make positive plans in the light of the Quran and precepts
of the Prophet, and then to strive to implement them. But, far
from doing so, the caravan of our crusaders set off on the obverse
path of negative reaction.
There were two mainstreams of this reaction, one of which came
into existence more or less as a defence mechanism. The leaders
of this group engaged themselves in enthusing Muslims with the
spirit of religión according to traditional ways, for instance, in the
establishment of schools for religious education, the foundation
of religious assemblies for teaching the Islamic creed and forms
of worship, and the preservation of special privileges for Muslims,
etc. The second group was more revolutionary and planned to
launch an offensive. A large number of ulema (religious scholars)
and thinkers of the Muslim world of the 18th and 19th centuries
made unremitting efforts to enthuse Muslims with religious zeal in
order to bring about a new revolution. Some of the most prominent
of them were :
Muhammad bin Ismael al-Amir (Yemen) 1688-1768
Shah Waliullah Dehlavi (India) 1703-1762
Muhammed bin Abdul Wahhab Najadi
(Saudi Arabia) 1703-1791
Shah Ismail Shahid (India) 1779-1831
Mohammed bin Ali As-Sanusi (Morocco) 1787-1860
Syed Ahmed Shahid Bareilavi (India) 1786-1831
Amir Abdul Qadir, (Algeria) 1807-1883
Jamaluddin Afghaani (Iran-Afghanistan) 1838-1897
Abdur Rehman Kwakabi 1849-1902
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