6. Muhammad ‘Abduh 1323H/1905CE

o Mufti of Al-Azhar o Had a major role in pushing for the methodology of following Fiqh, and for the acceptance of changes in the bylaws according to the new format in Egypt which was the heart of the Arab world at that time. o His students started the liberation movement in the Arab world. They were calling for the liberation of women, removal of hijab etc until it became like we see it now. Faqeeh says… Although al-Afghani and his student Muhammad ‘Abduh played a major role in the reformation of Fiqh and other aspects of life at the end of this period, they became very controversial figures because of their extreme views on reformation and due to their suspicious involvement in the Masonic movement and the liberal of their society in the Middle East Qabeelat Tayybah TCE Notes Revolution 117

Stage Seven Reformation Era Islamic Fiqh Wakefulness (1342H-Today/1924CE-Today) After the first and second world wars, Muslims lost great pieces of land in places such as India, China, central Asia and even Europe. In Africa, many countries were lost following the European expeditions and the Second World War. Pakistan and Bangladesh were split from the main Indian subcontinent. Countries such as the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia became non-Muslim countries after they were ruled by Muslims for many generations. Distribution of Muslim Populations Today, the main concentration of Muslims is in the heart of the Middle East. The highest population of Muslims resides mainly in Africa, Saudia Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and all the way down to Malaysia. Then there are between 50-90% of Muslims in other countries. And there are also some Muslims in places like Russia and Central Asia. There is no accurate calculation of Muslims in these countries but in every piece of land, there are some Muslimseven in the small towns in the US; Muslims can be found almost everywhere. The Sunni and Shi’a in the World About 90% of the Muslim population is considered Sunni. The Shi’a are concentrated in few geographical regions such as Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and now in some countries in Africa such as Nigeria due to conversion. Recently, specifically after the events in Iraq, the Shi’a have been trying to spread their ideology almost everywhere in the Muslim world. There are forums between Ahlul Sunnah and Shi’a in some Muslim countries to try to resolve the situation in Iraq. Even Yusuf Qaradawi, an advocate for bringing reconciliation between Sunnah and Shi’a, spoke against the Shi’a for the first time by saying that they (the Shi’a) will only create fitna by trying to convert Muslims; this type of reconciliation is not about conversion but about understanding. His statement was taken as a good sign for the reconciliation process. Geographical and Political Preview: The Muslim World Today • Declaration of Independence After the first and second world wars, the countries that were divided and were European colonies gradually and slowly started to gain their own political independence and build their own states. Even tiny states like Bahrain, which is a tiny island in the middle of the sea, and Kuwait declared to be independent states. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the same Qabeelat Tayybah TCE Notes Revolution 118

thing; small regions and states all came together to form one. These countries are rich; they have oil, so if one state had been created out of these states, they would have had the power to control the economy of the world thus, they would have become the most influential country of the world. They would have had more than 70-80% of the oil that is on earth and that would make it very difficult for people to negotiate with them. Therefore, the Europeans split them into the smaller countries and they are now in order to deal with these countries independently. Now, these countries are trying to reconcile and create unity but it is not really working very well for each of them has border wars with their neighbors. • Formation of Organization of Islamic Conference Since the Muslims lost the Khilaafah they wanted to bring all the Muslims together using an alternative. If they just call for one khalifah, no one will listen to them because the supposedly Muslim countries are following the path of democracy/capitalism. After these countries declared their political independence, they affiliated themselves with the two major parties of the world, the two powers at that time: communism or democracy/capitalism. After the collapse of communist empire, all these countries started to follow democracy. The OIC was formed in an attempt to reconcile these problems that the Muslim countries were facing and unite the Muslims. • Formation of the League of Arab States This was also formed to try to bring the Muslims together, in a hope that one day they will unite under one khalifa. However, it does not seem to be working right now. People would not shake hands with each other when they go to the conferences, for example Ghadhafi would go to the conference and would not shake hands with the people and would ridicule the presidents and kings of the Arab world. At the end he chose to dissociate himself from the Arab League and declared Libya to be an African state and he even changed his dress to the traditional African dress. • The establishment of the Shi’a state in Iran Characteristics of this Stage