by
Ted Daniels, Ph.D.
Electronic version copyright © Ted Daniels 1997. All rights reserved
Originally published in Millennialism: An International Bibliography
by Garland Publishing New York, 1992. Reproduced here by permission.
URL for this article is http://www.
24. Arjomand, Said Amir. "Social Change and Movements of Revitalization in Contemporary Islam." In New Religious Movements and Rapid Social Change edited by James A. Beckford. Paris and Beverly Hills, CA: UNESCO and Sage Publishers, 1986: 87-112.
There are five conditions leading to Islamic renewals: acculturation, development of transportation and communication, urbanization, increased literacy and education, and politicization of the masses. Religion flourishes in these conditions, which Arjomand sees as crucial to Islam's resurgence and politicization.
Arjomand then demonstrates these processes at work in the Deobandi, Salafiyya, Wahabiyyah, and Sufi movements (the last of which has undergone decline, being an unorthodox rural movement) and in Islamic fundamentalism generally.
These movements are particularly strong in Western countries, and are generally militant. Their leaders are the best educated, and are ideologically bound to an Islamic state. These educated groups are "the backbone of fundamentalist Islam." They tend to be of rural or small-town lower or lower middle class backgrounds. Islam is an authentic political panacea, where socialism, parliamentary democracy, nationalism and communism have all failed.
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