The twentieth century is where Islam and Muslim societies overcame many obstacles that made this regionally fixed community finally become independent and branch out worldwide. This century is mainly dominated by a war in which Muslims demanded freedom from European powers and the tension created over religion and cultural identity. This event is how the question revolution or reform begins to raise since the term revolution would persist of the new found freedom and independence from European powers Muslims won, while the reformation consists of the conflict between Islamism and the state.
This leads to the claim into which England may have purposely granted freedom to Muslims and thus created a religious and cultural war intentionally. Therefore, the freedom that came with Muslims breaking away from European colonial powers would then allow for the challenge and conflict of the Islamic tide. Many Muslims were torn between the idea of fighting for the defense of Islam or to leave and find refuge somewhere else as Prophet Muhammad has done once before. Also, during the seventeenth and eighteenth century there had been corruption with the idea of true Islam, which led to the disegration of the community.
European powers would soon push their Christian beliefs on Muslims and this abandonment of Islam would only be undertaken by a few Muslims. Europeans were starting to colonize the Europe and Muslims as they began to modernize the education, law, and economy already established. This led to the state trying to regulate and administer religion, while this battle between Islamic modernists and conservative religious scholars was taking place. The Islamic modernists wanted to incorporate reason and science into their journey of rediscovery and ending with national independence. This change in Islam theology and law would be a major step into the progression of the revivalist movement since Islamic Modernists showed Muslim pride and unity.
This reaction would lead Muslims that to belief of European colonialism being invasive and a political and cultural threat. Many leaders like Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Muhammad Abduh, Sayyid Ahmad Khan, and Muhammad Iqbal all beliefed in the rebellion from European colonialism in their own distinct way. Jamal believed in reclaiming and approaching Islams strengths of science and technology to then show that Islam was not only a religion but a civilization. While, Muhammad would focus on religious reform and believed that social aspects like marraige, divorce, and inheritince could use some change. Ahmad Khan would then lead the belief that the original religion of Islam must be reclaimed and that Islam should be accepted by modern scienticfic western thought. Khan would also bring in the Quran and Sunna of the Prophet to light while Muslim domincance was very low.
Furthermore, Muhammad Iqdal would be able to combine both modern western philospohy with Islmaic tradition to finally bring a new perespective on Islam as a whole. This was a glorified moment since Islam could finally be expressed to westerners even if Iqdal changed some principles since they are up to an individuals interpretation. In the end, these Islam modernists influcned the developmetn and understanding of the Muslim community to the west that only wanted to colonize and change them before.