Machine summary:
The Islamic reform movement is, in many respects, the greatest intel- lectual endeavor of the Muslim mind over the past two centuries.
Its emergence came against a backdrop of western encroachment and the inability of the Sufi-dominated Muslim world to respond adequately to such foreign challenges.
” Today, Muslims and Islamic intellectualism are in greater need of comprehending and analyzing the context of the reform movement, the Islamic response to the weserrn challenge, and the sweeping moderniza- tion process that was to ensue.
The main reason behind such urgency is that although the reformist model succeeded in upholding Islamic tenets and achieved a limited reconstruction of Islamic self-confidence, it can no longer provide a basis for renewal (tajdid) or answer the major questions confronting the contemporary Muslim world.
Finally, in a lengthy discussion of “The Islamic Impact on Western Civilization Reconsidered,” Koshul reopens the protracted debate on this favorable issue to Muslim scholars.