
Islamic fundamentalism
A disputed term, widely used in the US and to a lesser extent in Britain to denote any movement to favour strict observance of the teachings of the Qur'an and the Shari'a (Islamic Law). On the ...

Islamism
Term used to describe an Islamic political or social activist. Coined in preference to the more common term “Islamic fundamentalist.” Islamists (al-Islamiyyun) are committed to implementation of ...

Akbar Ahmed
Twentieth-century Pakistani Islamic scholar. Understands fundamentalism through the context of postmodernity, globalization, failure of modernist ideologies, revival of ethnic conflicts, and conflict ...

Jaafar al- Nimieri
(b. 1930?).President of Sudan 1971–85 He graduated from Khartoum Military College in 1952, and became a commanding officer of the Sudanese army. He led the 1969 coup against Azhari and became ...

Muhammad al- Ghazali
(d. 1996)Egyptian religious scholar and former leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Served as director of the Mosques Department, director general of Islamic Call, and undersecretary of the ...

Partai Islam Se-Malaysia
Islamic Party of Malaysia. Formed in 1951 by members of three political parties (Malay Nationalist Party, Hizbul Muslimin, and United Malays National Organization) and registered as a political party ...

Benjadid Chadli
(b. 14 Apr. 1929).President of Algeria 1979–92 Born into a peasant family in Bouteldja, he joined the movement for Algerian independence in 1955. As a protégé of Boumédienne, he quickly advanced ...

Mohammad Natsir
(d. 1993)Indonesian intellectual, writer, nationalist, journalist, and politician. Held that a return to the intellectual and scriptural tradition of classical Islam was essential for the ...

Islamic Salvation Front
Algerian Islamist party (Front Islamique du Salut, FIS). Founded in 1989 by Abbasi Madani, Ali Bel Hadj, and al-Hashimi Sahnuni, the FIS eschewed democratic structures; Bel Hajj and Sahnuni in ...

fundamentalism
A form of Protestant Christianity which upholds belief in the strict and literal interpretation of the Bible, including its narratives, doctrines, prophecies, and moral laws. Also, strict maintenance ...

Sarekat Islam
An Indonesian Islamic political organization. Formed in 1911 as an association of Javanese batik traders to protect themselves against Chinese competition, it had developed, by the time of its first ...

Islah
Reform. Typically used to describe reform movements from the eighteenth century through the present. Based on the belief that historical misunderstandings and misinterpretations have distorted the ...

al- Jamaah al-Islamiyyah
Islamic Society. Major Sunni organization founded in the early 1960s in Tripoli, Lebanon, as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, although it quickly spread to other cities. Led by laypeople. ...

Ideology and Islam
Most Muslims claim that “Islam is one” and offers a blueprint for all aspects of life. Islam increasingly occupies a special place in school curricula, and states seek to control what is said in ...

Abdurrahman Wahid
(1940–2009)Also known as Gus Dur. Indonesian Islamic thinker, writer, and politician. Elected president of Indonesia in 1998 and replaced by parliamentary vote in 2000. Chair of the Executive Council ...

Ḥizb-i Islāmī Afghānistān
Afghan political movement created and led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Maulavi Yunus Khales. Active in the Afghan war, 1978–92. Broken into factions. Ideology combines scriptural fundamentalism with ...

United Malays National Organization
Ethnic Malay party founded in 1946. Has been a dominant political force in Malaysia. Seeks to protect and promote Malay political, sociocultural, religious, and economic interests. Under the ...

Chadli Benjedid
1929– Third president of Algeria.Chadli Benjedid grew up in the Annaba region of colonial Algeria, then joined the military wing of the national liberation group, the Front de Libération ...

Reza Shah Pahlavi
(d. 1944)Iranian monarch and founder of the Pahlavi dynasty. Initiated numerous reforms, particularly in education and the legal system, encroaching on privileges of the clergy. Outlawed the veil in ...

Revival and Renewal
The Arabic terms ihya (revival) and tajdid (renewal) are typically used in the context of modern Islamic movements, although they have premodern roots. Premodern renewal was usually associated with a ...