Editor's Choice

What were the goals of Islamic revitalization movements like Wahhabism and dan Fodio’s movement? How did the new world order affect them and what alternatives did they propose?

Expert Answers

An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

Both Unman dan Fodio and Muhammad bin Abd al-Wahhab led conservative, revivalist Islamic movements in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Dan Fodio in Nigeria and al-Wahhab in modern Saudi Arabia decried what they saw as a lapse in, or corruption of, pure Islamic principles. Their movements were reactionary, or at least conservative, and they appealed to an idealized past in which people practiced a purer faith. Both men assembled considerable followings in their own time, but their beliefs gained a new relevance in the late twentieth century.

Wahhabism is the official state faith of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and its tenets appeal to many Muslims around the world who decry the influence of Western culture, which many see as sinful and decadent. Wahhabism, or Salafism (the broader fundamentalist movement that it fits into), have influenced many who have called for jihad (holy war) against the West and Muslims who do not agree with its tenets. In Nigeria, fundamentalist groups such as Boko Haram specifically cite dan Fodio as a model for the kind of society they wish to create. They, like Wahhabists, are offended by Western mores and culture and wish to purge it from their society, which they hope to set up as an Islamic caliphate. In this, they hope to emulate dan Fodio. Both Wahhabists and modern admirers of dan Fodio view violence and warfare as legitimate ways to spread and impose their faiths on others.

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

The goal of Sunni Islamic revitalization movements like Uthman dan Fodio's and Muhammed ibn Abd al-Wahhab's is to reform Islam from religious innovations and abuses. Dan Fodio criticized Africa's Muslim leaders for deviation from Sharia law, excessive taxation, greed, and paganism and organized his followers to undertake jihad against them in order to overthrow them and establish the Sokoto caliphate.

Al-Wahhab was concerned with religious innovation or heresy and, in particular, the visitation and veneration of Muslim saints which practice he considered to be heretical or even idolatrous. He formed an alliance with Muhammed bin Saud to form the first Saudi state: the Emirate of Diriyah. With the consolidation of Saudi power in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the descendants of al-Wahhab are the guardians of Saudi Arabia's state Salafi religion.

If by the New World Order we mean the globalization of Western political and cultural norms including the secular state (separation of religion and state) it has provoked a backlash among Islamic fundamentalists desiring Muslim theocratic states under Sharia law. The New World Order culture package was also perceived in the Islamic world as advocating moral decline and the denigration of traditional moral standards, especially from the 1960s to the present. This trend of perceived cultural decadence radicalized many young Muslims who had previously idealized the West and had been assimilating to Western cultural norms.

Sunni Islamic revitalization proposed the establishment of Islamic states governed by a strict interpretation of Sharia law.

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

What were the goals of Islamic revitalization movements like Wahhabism and dan Fodio's movement, and their effects on these regions?

There are a broad number of movements that could be classified as Islamic revitalization. Let's start chronologically.

Usman dan Fodio's movement in Africa was one of the key Islamic revolutions in northern Africa during the 1700s and 1800s. Dan Fodio's goal of creating the Sokoto Caliphate, an entirely new state, was primarily based upon how he viewed the ruling Islamic elite in Africa as corrupt, out-of-touch, and not following the standards of Islamic law. He was one of several Islamic leaders who preached reform and even jihad, holy war, against the ruling authorities.

As European imperialism began to take Africa and the Middle East in a stronger and stronger grip by the late 1800s, many Islamic revitalization movements pushed back with the goal of independence. The pan-Arab movement, also known simply as the Arab movement, began to take shape by 1900 with the explicit goal of removing foreign powers from the Middle East and establishing a single Arabic and Islamic government throughout the entire Middle East— replacing both European power as well as the decaying Ottoman Empire. While the pan-Arab movement peaked during the 1960s, failing to unite Arabic nations under one banner, remnants of its ideologies remain, such as the Ba'ath Party in Syria and pre-war Iraq.

During the Cold War, both the capitalist west and the communist east sought to win over the Islamic world. Neither truly succeeded, although the United States' alliance with Israel made many Islamic governments more sympathetic to the Soviet Union (despite the fact that atheism is a major tenant of Soviet communism). Some Islamic movements formed as a result of "hot" conflicts during the Cold War, most notably the mujahadeen who fought the USSR in Afghanistan. The mujahadeen leaders like Osama bin Laden wanted to forge an Islamic world based on their own strict views in accordance with religious dogma like sharia law.

The Arab Spring of 2011 was believed to be a major Islamic revitalization movement at the time, since it was a series of mass protests across many different nations, demanding everything from an end to corruption to democratic government to more jobs for younger people. However, the Arab Spring failed to achieve many of its goals, and in some cases resulted in harsh crackdowns: the Arab Spring movement in Syria directly led to the (still ongoing) civil war.

Today, Islamic revitalization stands at a sort of crossroads. Many Islamic nations are liberalizing their policies; Saudi Arabia recently allowed women to get driver's licenses, which may sound minor but represents progress in a nation that permits very few women's rights. At the same time, fundamentalist groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS seek "revitalization" in the form of return to Quranic principles, believing it crucial to reject western influences like democracy or rights for homosexuals. It remains to be seen whether Islamic countries from Morocco to Indonesia will follow the winds of change in the wider world, or whether they will turn inwards and decide that their own history and culture should be sacrosanct.

Last Updated on
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

What were the goals of Islamic revitalization movements like Wahhabism and dan Fodio's movement, and their effects on these regions?

Islamic "reform" or "revitalization" movements such as those led by Usman dan Fodio in current-day northern Nigeria and by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the 18th century cleric whose followers successfully embedded themselves into the government and culture of modern-day Saudi Arabia, are invariably born out of resentments among non-establishment clerics and their followers over non-Islamic (read: Western) influences and corruption among ruling elites who don the veneer of Islam but not the commitments to Islamic principles. Usman dan Fodio led such a movement in the Hausa region of what is now Nigeria in an effort, led militarily by his brother, Abdullahi, in rejection to the corruption and perversions of Islam he witnessed among rulers throughout northern Nigeria. Dan Fodio's movement could be seen as a precursor to today's Islamic State (or ISIS, or ISIL, or Daesh), as well as to Afghanistan's Taliban movement, both of which exercise extreme brutality to enforce their dictates regarding Islamic law, or Sharia

The Wahhabi movement of modern-day Saudi Arabia is a more interesting case, as it exercises its influence in consort with that nation's ruling monarch, the House of Saud. A delicate, precarious balancing act exists within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with endemic corruption among some members of the royal family and the late-King Abdullah's efforts at liberalizing Saudi society counter-balanced by the continued influence of the fundamentalist Wahhabis. The House of Saud would fall very quickly if it ran afoul of the Wahhabi clerics who issue fatwas that are zealously enforced by the Wahhabi-directed Committees for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the groups of quasi-official fanatics who publicly and sometimes violently punish Saudi women for failing to adhere to strict codes of decency, such as the wearing of hijab and appearing in public with males to whom they are not related. 

Movements like the Taliban and the Islamic State, as with such earlier movements like that of dan Fodio and the Wahhabis, exist to replace corrupt secular or flawed Islamic regimes with ones that pass their litmus test for religious/ideological purity. Dan Fodio, interestingly, would probably fail today's test by the likes of the Islamic State because of the influence of Sufism, a mystical version of Islam, within his thinking. They would, however, applaud his efforts at replacing corrupt regimes with ones more committed to strict interpretations of Islamic law.

Get Ahead with eNotes

Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.

Get 48 Hours Free Access
Last Updated on