The Modern Muslim World
Reform, colonialism and the contemporary period
The nineteenth and twentieth centuries confronted Muslim societies with European imperial power, the collapse of the Ottoman caliphate, and the task of building nation-states from its remnants. Responses ranged from state-led modernisation to intellectual reform movements seeking to recover what reformers regarded as an authentic and rational Islam, and to armed resistance against occupation.
This collection gathers the encyclopaedia's modern coverage: general accounts of modern Islamic history and the fall of the Ottoman Empire; reformist thinkers including Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Muhammad Abduh, and Allama Iqbal; the modernising statesman Muhammad Ali Pasha and the resistance leader Omar al-Mukhtar; contemporary institutional developments in Islamic banking, finance, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation; Muslim communities in Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia; and regional articles on Egypt, Iran, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In This Collection
Modern Islamic History (1800-2024)
Islamic history from 1800 to the present: the weakening of the Ottoman and other Muslim empires, the period of European colonial rule, the independence movement…
Muhammad Ali Pasha - Founder of Modern Egypt
Muhammad Ali Pasha (1769-1849 CE) transformed Egypt into a regional power through military, economic, and administrative reforms. Founder of modern Egypt, he es…
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan: Reformer, Educator, and Architect of Muslim Modernity in India
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817-1898) was an Indian Muslim reformer and educator who founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh in 1875, which became Al…
Abdulmecid I: The Sultan of the Tanzimat
Abdulmecid I (1823-1861) became Ottoman sultan at sixteen and presided over the Tanzimat, the empire's most sweeping programme of legal and administrative refor…
Jamal al-Din al-Afghani: The Revolutionary Pan-Islamist
Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838-1897 CE) was a revolutionary Islamic thinker and Pan-Islamist who advocated for Islamic unity, anti-colonialism, and reform. His i…
Abdulhamid II: The Last Sultan to Rule
Abdulhamid II (1842-1918) ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1876 to 1909, the last sultan to exercise real power. He promulgated the empire's first constitution, su…
Mehmed V Resad: The Constitutional Sultan
Mehmed V (1844-1918) reigned as Ottoman sultan from 1909 to 1918 as a constitutional figurehead while the Committee of Union and Progress governed. His reign sa…
Muhammad Abduh: Pioneer of Islamic Modernism
Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905 CE) was an Egyptian Islamic scholar and reformer who pioneered Islamic modernism. As Grand Mufti of Egypt, he reconciled Islamic teach…
Rashid Rida: The Editor of al-Manar
Sayyid Muhammad Rashid Rida (1865-1935) was an Islamic scholar of Ottoman Syria who settled in Egypt and founded the journal al-Manar in 1898, editing it until …
Omar al-Mukhtar: The Lion of the Desert
Omar al-Mukhtar (1858-1931) was a Libyan resistance leader who fought Italian colonization for over twenty years. Known as the 'Lion of the Desert,' he became a…
Amin al-Husseini: Grand Mufti of Jerusalem
Mohammed Amin al-Husseini (born c. 1895-97, died 1974) was appointed grand mufti of Jerusalem and president of the Supreme Muslim Council in 1921. This article …
Yasser Arafat: Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization
Yasser Arafat (1929-2004) co-founded Fatah in the late 1950s, chaired the Palestine Liberation Organization from 1969 until his death, and was president of the …
Ali Musliyar: Religious Leader of the Malabar Rebellion
Ali Musliyar (1861-1922), a scholar trained at Ponnani and Mecca, served as chief musaliar of the Tirurangadi mosque in south Malabar from 1907 and became the c…
Mehmed VI Vahideddin: The Last Ottoman Sultan
Mehmed VI Vahideddin (1861-1926) was the thirty-sixth and last Ottoman sultan, reigning from 1918 to 1922. He governed under Allied occupation, his government s…
Abdülmecid II: The Last Caliph
Abdülmecid II (1868-1944) was elected caliph by the Turkish Grand National Assembly in November 1922, after it separated the caliphate from the sultanate. He he…
Nyai Ahmad Dahlan: Founder of Aisyiyah and Pioneer of Indonesian Women's Education
Nyai Ahmad Dahlan (born Siti Walidah, 1872-1946) was an Indonesian Islamic reformer who founded Aisyiyah, the women's wing of Muhammadiyah, pioneering girls' ed…
Variyankunnath Kunjahammad Haji: Military Leader of the Malabar Rebellion
Variyankunnath Kunjahammad Haji (c. 1875-1922) directed the Malabar Rebellion of 1921-22 in eastern Ernad after Ali Musliyar's capture, organising a parallel ad…
Allama Iqbal: The Poet-Philosopher of the East
Allama Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938 CE) was a poet-philosopher and political leader considered the spiritual father of Pakistan. His poetry, philosophical works, a…
Fall of the Ottoman Empire
Comprehensive history of the decline and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire from the 19th century through World War I to the establishment of the Turkish Republi…
Abul A'la Maududi
A journalist, Qur'anic commentator and political thinker who founded the Jamaat-e-Islami at Lahore in 1941. His six-volume Urdu commentary Tafhim al-Qur'an and …
Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghudda
A Syrian Hanafi scholar and editor whose critical editions of works of law and hadith brought many neglected texts into print. He introduced modern South Asian …
The Tablighi Jamaat
A movement of lay religious preaching founded by Muhammad Ilyas Kandhlawi in the Mewat region of northern India in the 1920s. Built on short preaching tours und…
Shah Ahmad Shafi
A Bangladeshi scholar of hadith who led the seminary at Hathazari in Chittagong for more than three decades and chaired the country's Qawmi madrasa education bo…
Muhammad Rafi Usmani
A Pakistani Hanafi jurist who led Darul Uloom Karachi as its president from 1986 until his death in 2022. Titled Grand Mufti, he served on Pakistan's Council of…
Ali Khamenei
An Iranian Shia cleric who was the second Supreme Leader of Iran, holding the office from 1989 until his death in 2026. He had earlier served as Tehran's Friday…
The Jamaat-e-Islami
An organisation founded by Abul A'la Maududi at Lahore in August 1941 to form a disciplined body of Muslims who would remake society according to Islamic norms.…
Muhammad Taqi Usmani
A Pakistani Hanafi jurist and writer on Islamic law, trained at Darul Uloom Karachi and in economics and law at Karachi and Punjab. He served on Pakistan's high…
Islamic Education in the Modern Era
Islamic learning from the nineteenth century to the present. The classical pattern of mosque school, madrasa and scholarly circle met colonial and state educati…
Islamic Banking and Financial Systems: Evolution and Principles
Islamic banking represents a comprehensive approach to finance based on Sharia principles, emphasizing ethical finance, risk-sharing, and asset-backed transacti…
Growth of Islamic Finance
Banking and financial services conducted according to Islamic law, which forbids interest and requires risk to be shared. From institutional beginnings in the 1…
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
An intergovernmental body of 57 member states across four continents, second in size only to the United Nations. Founded in 1969 after the arson attack on the A…
Islam in Europe
Islam has been part of European history since the eighth century through three main pathways: the civilization of Al-Andalus in Iberia, the Arab and Norman peri…
Islam in Southeast Asia
Islam reached Southeast Asia through Indian Ocean trade from the thirteenth century, spreading via Muslim merchants, Sufi teachers, and converting rulers. Today…
Islam in North America - Historical and Contemporary Overview
Islam has been present in North America for more than four centuries, beginning with enslaved West African Muslims. Some 3.45 million Muslims now live in the Un…
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Islamic Heritage in the Balkans
The westernmost region of sustained Muslim presence in Europe. Ottoman rule from 1463 until the Austro-Hungarian occupation of 1878 produced a distinctive Bosni…
Egypt: From Pharaonic Civilization to Modern Islamic State
Egypt's transformation from Pharaonic civilization through Islamic conquest to become a center of Islamic learning and modern Arab leadership, with Al-Azhar's e…
Iran (Persia): From Ancient Empire to Islamic Republic
Historically Persia, the one major region taken by the early Muslim armies that kept its own language and culture while reshaping Islamic civilisation. Its Shi'…
Shaykh Ahmed Deedat: Preacher and Writer on Comparative Religion
Ahmad Husein Deedat (1918-2005) was a South African preacher and writer on comparative religion who founded the Islamic Propagation Centre International at Durb…
Abadi Bano Begum (Bi Amma): Mother of the Khilafat Movement
Abadi Bano Begum (1852-1924), known affectionately as Bi Amma, was the mother of the Ali Brothers and one of the first Muslim women to enter Indian nationalist …
Abdul Ghaffar Khan: The Frontier Gandhi and Apostle of Non-Violence
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890–1988), known as Badshah Khan and the Frontier Gandhi, was a Pashtun independence leader and apostle of non-violence who founded th…
Company Quartermaster Havildar Abdul Hamid: Param Vir Chakra
Company Quartermaster Havildar Abdul Hamid (1933-1965) of 4 Grenadiers destroyed several Pakistani Patton tanks with a jeep-mounted recoilless gun at the Battle…
Aligarh Muslim University: From the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College to a Central University
Aligarh Muslim University grew out of the school founded by Syed Ahmad Khan in 1875, which became the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in 1877 and a university…
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam: The People's President and Missile Man of India
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam served as India's eleventh President (2002–2007) and was a principal architect of the country's missile programme and a coor…
Aruna Asaf Ali: The Grand Old Lady of the Indian Independence Movement
Aruna Asaf Ali (1909-1996), born Aruna Ganguly, hoisted the Indian flag at Gowalia Tank Maidan on 9 August 1942, marking the start of the Quit India Movement. S…
Asaf Ali: Barrister, Freedom Fighter, and India's First Ambassador to America
Asaf Ali (1888-1953) was an Indian barrister and Congress leader who defended Bhagat Singh and the INA officers at the Red Fort trial. He served in the Interim …
Ashfaqulla Khan: Poet and Revolutionary of the Kakori Conspiracy
Ashfaqulla Khan (1900-1927) was an Indian Muslim revolutionary and poet who co-organized the 1925 Kakori train robbery with Ram Prasad Bismil to fund the anti-c…
Begum Hazrat Mahal: Regent of Awadh in the Revolt of 1857
Begum Hazrat Mahal (c. 1820-1879) was a consort of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh who, after the British annexation of 1856, became regent for her son Birjis Qad…
Brigadier Mohammad Usman: The Hero of Naushera
Brigadier Mohammad Usman (1912–1949) was a distinguished Indian Army officer who chose to serve India after the 1947 Partition. He commanded the 50th Parachute …
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed: Lawyer, Freedom Fighter, and Fifth President of India
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (1905–1977) was an Indian lawyer, freedom fighter, and statesman who served as the fifth President of India from 1974 until his death in of…
Hakim Ajmal Khan: Physician, Nationalist, and Champion of Indigenous Medicine
Hakim Ajmal Khan (1863-1927) was an Indian physician and nationalist who founded the Ayurvedic and Unani Tibbia College in Delhi, was the first Chancellor of Ja…
Hamdard Laboratories (India): From Unani Clinic to National Institution
Hamdard Laboratories (India) is a Unani pharmaceutical company and welfare institution founded in Old Delhi in 1906 by Hakeem Hafiz Abdul Majeed. Converted into…
Hasrat Mohani: The Revolutionary Poet of Indian Independence
Hasrat Mohani (1875-1951) was an Indian Muslim poet, journalist, and freedom fighter who coined the slogan 'Inquilab Zindabad' and was the first to demand compl…
Jamia Millia Islamia: The National Muslim University
Jamia Millia Islamia was founded at Aligarh on 29 October 1920 by nationalist Muslim leaders and students who left the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College during …
Major Mosques Built in the 20th Century
Mosque building in the twentieth century, when newly independent states raised great congregational mosques and migrant communities built for themselves. The re…
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad: Scholar, Theologian, and Architect of Indian Education
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1888–1958) was a leading Islamic scholar and independence leader of the twentieth century. A theologian, journalist, and statesman, he …
Mohammad Ali Jauhar: The Voice of the Khilafat Movement
Mohammad Ali Jauhar (1878-1931) was an Indian Muslim leader, journalist, and orator who co-led the Khilafat Movement with his brother Shaukat Ali, forged a Hind…
Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari: Physician, Nationalist, and Builder of Institutions
Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari (1880-1936) was an Indian physician and nationalist who presided over both the All India Muslim League and the Indian National Congress. Tr…
Major General Shah Nawaz Khan: From the Indian National Army to the Indian Republic
Major General Shah Nawaz Khan (1914-1983) joined the Indian National Army after his capture at Singapore in 1942 and led its forces into north-eastern India. Tr…
Shaukat Ali: The Organizer of the Khilafat Movement
Shaukat Ali (1873-1938) was an Indian Muslim leader who co-led the Khilafat Movement with his brother Mohammad Ali Jauhar. Known as the organizational force beh…
Surayya Tyabji: The Artist Behind India's National Flag
Surayya Tyabji (1919-1978) was an Indian artist from Hyderabad who, with her husband Badruddin Tyabji, worked on the final design of the Indian national flag in…
Syed Mahmud: Nationalist, Legislator, and Founder of Jamia Millia Islamia
Syed Mahmud (1889-1971) was an Indian barrister and Congress leader from Bihar, a member of the Foundation Committee of Jamia Millia Islamia in 1920, General Se…
Zakir Husain Khan: Educationist, Philosopher, and President of India
Dr. Zakir Husain Khan (1897–1969) was an educationist, philosopher, and statesman of independent India. A founder and Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, V…