Makers of Contemporary Islam

John Esposito, John Voll

Paperback, 268 pages

9780195141283

This book examines the development of contemporary Islamic movements and thought through the biographies of nine major activist intellectuals whose work povides the core of what the Islamic resurgence became in the 1990s, and is an important foundation for what it can become in the 21st century. By profiling nine such internationally recognised figures this volume provides a new understanding of the intellectual foundations of contemporary Islamic awareness andpolitics. The nine figures covered are: Ismail al-Faruqi, Khurshid Ahmad, Maryam Jameelah, Hasan Hanafi, Rashid Ghannoushi, Hasan al-Turabi, Abdol Karim Soroush, Anwar Ibrahim, and Abdurrahman Wahid.

These nine have contributed to some of the most significant intellectual and activist developments in theMuslim world during the 1980s and 1990s - the period during which Islamic movements became a major force in Muslim societies and international affairs. They represent a distinctive phase in the evolution of Islamic thinking: the ongoing effort to create an effective synthesis of modernity and Islamic tradition.