Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī: the founder of Muslim modern reformist thought

This article discusses the pan-Islamic reformist thought of Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī. The article’s approach is three-thronged, focusing on the meaning of Islamic unity and its relationship with pan-Islamism as a Western rendition of the former; how al-Afghānī tried to take on Western challenges methodically and scientifically, and sometimes even in the West’s own backyard; and how al-Afghānī’s ground-breaking ideological responses to the West necessitated a modernisation of the vocabulary of Islamic religious scholarship. The article concludes that al-Afghānī was an eminent political activist and scholar, and was a trailblazing modernist reformer. His influence was enormous. He was one of the pioneers of modernist movements in Islam that proliferated after his death. His tactic was neither reckless imitation nor irresponsible denigration, with regard to anything within the sphere of either Western civilisation or Islamic tradition.