The Quest for Pan-Islamic Civilization: Crisis and Prospects for a Muslim Ummah Under a Rightly Guided and Ordained Caliphate

Abstract

The need for a unified Islamic identity was a product of the challenges posed by Western intervention in and domination of Muslim societies during the colonialist period. Leaders throughout the Muslim world appealed to the Islamic tradition to solidify public opposition to foreign occupation and thereby gain political independence. Pan-Islamism used cultural ideas to achieve nationalist political ends and emphasized the religious heritage and symbols that both united all Muslims and set them apart from their Western Christian colonialist occupiers.

Pan-Islamism is a political movement advocating the unity of Muslims under one Islamic governance or a Caliphate to be exact, which advocates the unity and independence of Muslims regardless of ethnicity, race, cultural orientations et al. This is actually the phenomenology used by al-Afghani in setting out his normative aspirations for a pan-Islamic civilization. By civilization, he meant the intellectual and moral achievements that contributed to the unity and greatness of a people. He strongly believed that the Muslim world could recover its lost glory and power if it would return to its fundamental teachings and, most importantly, would unite.

Keywords: Pan-Islam, Caliphate, Islam, Muslim Civilization

JEL Classification: A00