Social Justice in Islam (Academic Dissertations, 8)

"Western theoretical approaches of modernization, development, social progress and interaction, have failed to understand the dynamics of the Islamic revival. This seminal work argues that questions of social justice are indelibly tied to the phenomenon of contemporary Islamic resurgence as the quest for social justice is in fact motivated by the Shari'ah - hence an integral part of Islamic life. Using the two sources of maqasid and maslahah, and through examination of the dialectical link between Fiqh and reality, the author shows their indispensability as important methodological tools for the study of the social sciences and indeed, of social phenomena. Several theoretical approaches have been used to explain Islamic activism as a social phenomenon. The modernization/economic development approach to Islamic activism focuses on the effect of modernization and the possibilities of development in Muslim societies. The popular discontent approach focuses on the sources and degree of mobilization of Islamic activism. Cultural studies emphasize the customs and traditions of Islamic activism. Whether studies use the modernization/economic development, the mass mobilization, or the cultural and historical approach to explain Islamic activism, each approach includes elements of the others. They differ in the degree of focus and weight given to certain variables. The research in this book emphasizes the importance of the cultural and historical backgrounds of Muslim peoples as sources of the current Islamic activist movements. That is, I look at Islamic activism through an understanding of Muslim societies' expectations of political systems and deduce the implications for development. Therefore, it is necessary to review the literature on ""revival,"" as it is popularly termed, before further conjecture. Current literature on Islam and Islamic revival can be divided by two normative positions.