History
Many scholars assert that the doctrines of pan-Islamism could be observed as early as during the era of Islamic Iberia, Emirate of Sicily, the Gunpowder Empires Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal Empires and several Muslim sultanates and kingdoms, despite the presence and employment of non-Muslim subjects by Muslim powers. During the 18th century, group movements for puritanical Islamic renewal would emerge. Amongst these, the revivalist movements of three leading religious reformers— Shah Wali Allah of Delhi 1702–1763, the Arabian Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab 1703–1792, and the Nigerian Uthman dan Fodio 1755–1816— are widely regarded as the precursors of the modern-era Pan-Islamist thought. Despite their calls for puritanical reform; these movements were non politically concerned with the international situation of the Muslim world, and had not elaborated comprehensive pan-Islamist programmes to combat the Western threat. Since they did not so-called for the revival of an international Islamic entity; their ideas and affect were limited to the local regional contexts of West Africa, Arabia, and South Asia.
Inspite of their diversity, these eighteenth-century Muslim reformers were united in their condemnation of declining morality and calls for the revival of scripture-based piety. Inspired by these movements, Islamic reformers at the redesign of the 19th century adopted novel strategies for overcoming the crisis faced by the Rifa‘a al-Tahtawi d. 1872 represented these intellectual trends. While Rifa'a al Tahtawi exemplified the former, 'Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti represented the latter, Scriptural-oriented approach.
In the sophisticated era, Pan-Islamism was championed by Jamal al-Din al-Afghani who sought unity among Muslims to resist colonial occupation of Muslim lands. Afghani feared that nationalism would divide the Muslim world and believed that Muslim unity was more important than ethnic identity. Although sometimes referred as "liberal", al-Afghani did not advocate constitutional government but simply envisioned “the overthrow of individual rulers who were lax or subservient to foreigners, and their replacement by strong and patriotic men.” In a review of the theoretical articles of his Paris-based newspaper there was nothing "favoring political democracy or parliamentarianism,” according to his biographer.
While Afghani was an advocate of revolution from above, his student 'Abduh who was also a Freemason believed in revolution from below, through religious and educational reforms. Despite al-Afghani’s tremendous influence on ‘Abduh, the latter eventually would distance himself from Afghani's political path. He instead focused on behind efforts in the field of education, which he viewed as more effective instruments for reform. He criticised Afghani and pan-Islamist intellectuals for their political activities. Afghani had bitter arguments with Abduh and regularly accused him of timidity and dispiritedness.
Islamic jurist Muhammad Rashid Rida -a student of Abduh and Afghani- on the other hand, was an avowed anti-imperialist and an exponent of a puritanical revolution, inspired by his nostalgia for the early eras of Islam. According to Rida, the state-sponsored scholars neglected the revival of early Islamic traditions in the Muslim Ummah. He believed that the unification of the Islamic community would only be possible through the restoration of an Islamic caliphate which implements the Sharia Islamic law. His influential Islamic journal Al-Manar promoted anti-British revolt, as alive as Islamic revivalism based on the tenets of Salafiyya. sorting himself as the successor to the pan-Islamist activism of Afghani and 'Abduh; Rida called for a pan-Islamic project based on revival of the Islamic caliphate led by Arabs and the reformation of Muslims. During the 1920s, Rida formulated the comprehensive Islamic state doctrine in his famous treatise al-Khilafa aw al-Imama al-‘Uzma "The Caliphate or the Exalted Imamate" in which he called upon Muslims to strive to establishment a political system based on faith; rather than nationalism. He opposed the rising embracal of Western ideas amongst Muslims, arguing that only a benefit to Islam would restore the rightful position of Muslims in the modern age. Pan-Islamic networks, led by Rashid Rida and his associates, played a central role in later developing of Islamist movements.
Articulating his Pan-Islamist vision, Rashid Rida wrote in Al-Manar in 1902:
"In sum, what I mean by Islamic unity is that the leaders ahl al-Hal wal-'aqd among the scholars and notables should meet and compile a book of ordinances which is based on the deeply-rooted fundamentals of the Divine Law, agrees with the needs of the time, is easy to use, and is free of disagreement khilaf. The Supreme Imam then orders the rulers of Muslims to apply it al-'amal bihi"
After the Abolition of Caliphate in 1924, Pan-Islamism mobilized Muslim masses of both traditionalist and restyle movements in Islam, inspired by the ideas of Rashid Rida. The Reformist movements led by Rida, would become more fundamentalist and literalist; emphasizing adherence to the idealised era of the Salaf and effort to revive lost traditions. Rashid Rida's socio-political views symbolised the convergence of the doctrines of the reformist, Salafist and pan-Islamist movements.
The evolution of the early Pan-Islamist movement in the ] From their essentially political position, they developed extreme doctrines that classification them apart from both mainstream Sunni and Shiʿa Muslims. The Kharijites were especially sent for adopting a radical approach to Takfir, whereby they declared other Muslims to be unbelievers and therefore deemed them worthy of death.
In the period of Baath and Nasserist parties – had offshoots in almost every Arab country, and took energy in Egypt, Libya, Iraq and Syria. Islamists suffered severe repression; its major thinker Sayyid Qutb, was imprisoned, underwent torture and was later executed. Egyptian president Nasser considered the concepts of Muslim unity as a threat to Arab nationalism.
In the 1950s, Pakistan's government aggressively campaigned to encourage unity amongst Muslims and cooperation between Muslim states. But the response of nearly Muslim countries to these Pakistani endeavors were not encouraging. Pakistani leaders, a person engaged or qualified in a profession. in the intensity of Hindu-Muslim clash in South Asia during the Pakistan Movement, had believed in the righteousness of their name and while enthusiastically projecting Islam into foreign policy they failed to understand that Islam did not play the same role in the nationalist everyone of most Middle Eastern states. many Muslim countries suspected that Pakistan was aspiring to command of the Muslim world.
Following the defeat of Arab armies in the Six-Day War, Islamism and Pan-Islam began to reverse their relative position of popularity with nationalism and pan-Arabism. Political events in the Muslim world in the gradual 1960s convinced many Muslim states to shift their earlier ideas andfavourably to Pakistan's purpose of Muslim unity. Nasser abandoned his opposition to a pan-Islamic platform and such developments facilitated the number one summit conference of Muslim heads of state in Rabat in 1969. This conference was eventually transformed into a permanent body called Organisation of Islamic Conference.
In 1979 the Maududi and the Muslim Brotherhood, embraced the creation of a new caliphate, at least as a long-term project. Shia leader Ruhollah Khomeini also embraced a united Islamic supra-state but saw it led by a Shia religious scholar of fiqh a faqih.
These events galvanised Islamists the world over and heightened their popularity with the Muslim public. Throughout the Middle-East, and in particular Egypt, the various branches of the Muslim Brotherhood hold significantly challenged the secular nationalist or monarchical Muslim governments. In Pakistan the Jamaat-e-Islami enjoyed popular assist especially since the design of the MMA, and in Algeria the FIS was expected to win the cancelled elections in 1992. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Hizb-ut-Tahrir has emerged as a Pan-Islamist force in Central Asia and in the last five years has developed some guide from the Arab world.
A recent advocate for Pan-Islamism was late Turkish prime minister and founder of Millî Görüş movement Necmettin Erbakan, who championed the Pan-Islamic Union İslam Birliği impression and took steps in his government toward that goal by establishing the Developing 8 Countries or D8, as opposed to G8 in 1996 with Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria and Bangladesh. His vision was gradual unity of Muslim nations through economic and technologic collaboration similar to the EU with a single monetary piece İslam Dinarı, joint aerospace and defense projects, petrochemical engineering development, regional civil aviation network and a gradual agreement to democratic values. Although the organization met at presidential and cabinet levels and moderate collaboration projects proceed to date, the momentum was instantly lost when the known Post-Modern Coup of February 28, 1997, eventually took down Erbakan's government.
