Political and social explanations for the contemporary Islamic resurgenceabound. Most of these, however, are reductionist in that they do notpay attention to the religious component of a clearly religious phenomenon.Without rejecting its social and political locations, I believe theIslamic resurgence represents a paradigm shift involving a major reinterpretationof Islamic sources in the modem world.In the modem world, Muslims draw on a treasure of significantinsights into the dilemmas and options facing them. The sources of theseinsights, from Shariati to Bennabi to Khomeini, may vary in many respectsand often differ in fundamental fonnulations. In Islamic organizations andmovements, however, Muslims draw on this diversity to construct meaningin uniquely modem ways. At the level of practice, in contrast to thatof the thinkers, a measure of affinity is clearly noticeable in terms of modemIslamic thought and practice. I believe that the idea of a paradigm, proposedby Kuhn, is a useful and fertile way of coming to understand thiscommon meaning-making exercise.A new paradigm of understanding and living Islam, under the impactof the West, has taken shape over the past two centuries. The West as villain,the implementation of the Shari'ah, the search for Islamic solutions,and the Islamization of the sciences are some of the most important featuresof this new paradigm. In this paper, I will explore the basic idea andstructure of the modem Islamic paradigm.Knowledge, Power, and ParadigmsIn his analysis of modem medical, human, and social sciences, MichelFoucault has unmasked the power relations inherent in the formation of ...
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