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Modern Islamic philosophy

Modern Islamic philosophy revives some of the trends of medieval Islamic philosophy, notably the tension between Mutazilite and Asharite view of ethics in science and law, and the duty of Muslims and role of Islam in the sociology of knowledge and in forming ethical codes and legal codes, especially the fiqh (or "jurisprudence") and rules of jihad (or "just war"). See list of Islamic terms in Arabic for a glossary of key terms used in Islam.

Key figures representing important trends include:

In general, the first two trends are more commonly understood in the Islamic World whereas the latter, later, trends, are more known in non-Muslim and Muslim-minority nations, or ones receiving substantial aid from developed nations. Some argue that this suggests that these trends are insincere and that alternations between fundamentalism and secular military dictators[?] are somehow inherently part of the politics of the Arab World in particular. One response is that such trends were likewise observed in other regions, e.g. Latin America, with Communism as a form of fundamentalism, and that those regions often democratize once outside interference is limited.

The predominant theological voices in Islam reported in the media and cited by Sunni religious leaders in the Arab world are radically puritanical strain of the Islamist movement; These follow Mawdudi's doctrine to some degree but are more influenced by the Wahabist[?] movement which was the primary doctrine of the founders of Saudi Arabia, and has little relation to any of the trends in modern Islam. It is more a holdover of tarika movements and resistance to colonialism, and a political tool of rich Arabs who donate money to radical movements. Shia radicals including Hizbollah, and nationalists including the Palestinian Al Aqsa[?] brigades, follow a different doctrine but largely employ the same tactics, a military form of jihad.

Some Northern writers, notably Olivier Roy[?], have suggested that the Arab resistance to North-backed regimes installed and protected by the U.S. and U.K. and France and Russia, is really resisting colonialism and is therefore not part of Islamic but of the anti-globalization movement, and anti-colonialism[?] and anti-racism[?] strains of resistance to Northern oil imperialism. If this is so, the Islamic doctrines are merely cover for a political movement. Roy further suggests that the United States and Israel are actually the religiously motivated states, and that various fundamentalist movements in Judaism and Christianity dominate the parties that support each country's military-industrial complex.

Moderate voices in Iran and Egypt, at a slight distance from the Arab-Israeli conflict, have worked to refine Islamist thought with some of the moderating influences listed above. They are usually not heard in Northern countries, although increasingly so, as focus on Iran's regime intensifies.



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