A Comparative Analysis of Modernist Islamic Thought on the Decline and Revival of the Muslim World: Rashid Rida, Malik Binnabi, Amir Shakib Arslan, and Abul Hasan Al-Nadwi

Abstract

This article analyzes and compares the thinking of four prominent modern Islamic intellectuals on the causes of Muslim decline and the pathways to revival: Muhammad Rashid Rida through Majallah Al-Manar, Amir Shakib Arslan in Limadza Ta'akhkhara al-Muslimun, Malik Binnabi in Shurut al-Nahdha, and Abul Hasan Ali al-Nadwi in Madha Khasira al-'Alam bi Inhitat al-Muslimin. Employing a comparative-analytical method, this study finds that all four thinkers converge on the necessity of fundamental reform and a return to authentic Islamic values, yet diverge in their emphases: Rida stresses theological reform and ijtihad; Arslan foregrounds practical political action; Binnabi develops a sociological analysis of civilizational pathology; and al-Nadwi highlights the losses suffered by humanity at large as a consequence of Muslim decline and the abdication of Islam's role as moral leadership for mankind. The convergences and divergences among these four thinkers constitute a rich and uniquely complementary intellectual map of modern Islam.