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Religion, Modernization and the Islamic Ummah: Difference between revisions

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(Created page with "This is a paper by Riaz Hassan which explores the impact of modernization and social change on the Islamic ummah (community of believers) and how they are shaping the emergi...")
 
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                       Table 1: Ummah Consciousness and Modernity in  Muslim Countries
                       Table 1: Ummah Consciousness and Modernity in  Muslim Countries


Country Ummah Consciousness1 Modernity2
 
  (Human Development Index)
Indonesia 92 .682
Malaysia 90 .790
Pakistan 91 .499
Egypt 94 .648
Iran 76 .719
Turkey 71 .734
Kazakhstan 22 .765




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Muslim countries differ in their level of modernity. I would like to argue that the level of modernity would have a significant impact on the institutional development, differentiation and institutional specialization that may lead to a decline in public influence of religious institutions in society while at the same time leading to a greater  emphasis on  personal religiosity.  Such developments  would  obviously have  consequences for the development of religious and political pluralism or at least their greater acceptance as a social and political norm.  
Muslim countries differ in their level of modernity. I would like to argue that the level of modernity would have a significant impact on the institutional development, differentiation and institutional specialization that may lead to a decline in public influence of religious institutions in society while at the same time leading to a greater  emphasis on  personal religiosity.  Such developments  would  obviously have  consequences for the development of religious and political pluralism or at least their greater acceptance as a social and political norm.  
My argument is that in Muslim countries, political culture, as elsewhere, will evolve in response to national aspirations and not in response to the ummah’s aspirations. If this argument has any validity then the future of Islamic ummah would not be a unitary social reality but a differentiated one. And one consequence of that may be the ‘decentring’ of the Islamic ummah. Let me explore this proposition in some details.
My argument is that in Muslim countries, political culture, as elsewhere, will evolve in response to national aspirations and not in response to the ummah’s aspirations. If this argument has any validity then the future of Islamic ummah would not be a unitary social reality but a differentiated one. And one consequence of that may be the ‘decentring’ of the Islamic ummah. Let me explore this proposition in some details.


==Modernization and the Ummah==
==Modernization and the Ummah==
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