The Recuperate Muslims' Understanding of Islam to Face the Contemporary Challenges: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Reform is an important movement the aim of which is to revive Muslims' understanding of Islam so as to achieve vigor with which to defend all challenges posed to them and problems they encounter such as globalization, information technology, liberation and individualism. To accomplish this aim, several Qur'anic verses and Prophet Sayings call the attention of Muslims to reform. In response to this call, scholars have immensely worked to ensure that Muslims are salvaged from difficult challenges facing them. This article attempted to explore the concept of reform in Islamic perspectives as well as the contributions of three West-based modern Islamic scholars on reform: Tariq Ramadan, Ismaʽīl Rājī al-FarÅ«qī, and Tāhā Jābir al-Alwānī. The findings showed that even though these scholars differ in their ways and dimensions, they have contributed greatly in their attempts to reform this Ummah through the so-called, ‘radical reform' and "Islamization of knowledge'.