Muslim Response to the West: A Comparative Study of Muhammad ‘Abduh and Said Nursi

Abstract

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During the 19th and 20th centuries, the entire world witnessed dynamic changes. Dramatic alterations such as the decline of the Ottoman Empire, colonization of Muslim lands, two world wars, divisions in the Muslim world and quest for unity, emergence of major ideologies like Communism, Capitalism, Materialism, and other political changes like the French Revolution affected the globe in general and the Muslim world in particular. These ideologies and philosophies earmarked the development of the Western world, which created imbalance and resulted in the socio-political and economic hegemony of the West on the rest of the world. With the intellectual and military domination of the West over the Muslim world, a process of taking over Western institutions for the benefit of the Muslim world commenced. Islam became a rallying point against these philosophies and hegemony. Many Muslim reformers and intellectuals worked to counter Western influence on Muslim institutions and ideas, which resulted in the emergence of various reform movements that arose from different parts of the Muslim world. While some reformers rejected the West at the outset, others advocated the West and still other reformers maintained a balance between the two. Notable among such Muslim thinkers and reformers were the Egyptian Muhammad ‘Abduh (1849-1905) and the Turk Said Nursi (1876-1960), who left such an indelible imprint on Muslims minds that their ideas and thoughts are still reverberating in both the academic and public discourses. Since these two contemporary scholars witnessed the whole milieu of the changing Muslim world, this paper aims to analyze and compare their response to the West.