Jamal Ad-Din Afghani

Abstract

The increasingly menacing encroachments by Western powers against the peripheral Muslim states for a century and more, the feeling of Islamic solidarity was certainly in the air during the closing decades of nineteenth century.1 The person who accomplished and transformed into a dynamic force in the world of the Islam was Sayyid Jamal ad-Din Afghani. Afghani is considered to be the founding father and originator of Islamic Modernism. He was one of the first important leaders to try to reinterpret traditional Islamic ideas so as to meet the agonizing problems brought by the increasing incursions by the West into the Middle East. Rejecting either pure traditionalism or uncritical imitation of the West, he began what has become a continuing trend among Muslim modernists emphasizing pragmatic values needed for life in modern world. These included political activism, the freer use of reason, and efforts to build up the political and military power of Islamic states.2 He was one of the early Muslim political reformers during the latter half of the 19th century, and has undoubtedly been one of the most influential Muslim political thinkers.3 He was a religious leader, philosopher, reformist, writer, journalist and on top of all a politician and liberator of Muslim world and the East.