Works include: - Jihad in Islam - Understanding the Qur'an - The Religion of Truth - Islam and Ignorance - On Education - Towards Understanding Islam - The Process of Islamic Revolution - Biography of the Last Prophet

Nasr examines the life and thought of Mawlana Mawdudi, one of the first and most important Islamic ideological thinkers. Mawdudi was the first to develop a modern political Islamic ideology, and a plan for social action to realize his vision. The prolific writings and indefatigable efforts of Mawdudi's party, the Jamaat-i-Islami, first in India and later in Pakistan, have disseminated his ideas far and wide. His views have informed revivalism from Morocco to Malaysia. Nasr discerns the events that led Mawdudi to a revivalist perspective, and probes the structure of his thought, in order to gain fresh insights into the origins of Islamic revivalism. He argues that Islamic revivalism did not simply develop as a cultural rejection of the West, rather it was closely tied to questions of communal politics and its impact on identity formation, discourse of power in plural societies, and nationalism. Mawdudi's discourse, though aimed at the West, was motivated by Muslim-Hindu competition for power in British India. His aim, according to Nasr, was to put forth a view of Islam whose invigorated, pristine, and uncompromising outlook would galvanize Muslims into an ideologically uniform and hence politically indivisible community. In time, this view developed a life of its own and evolved into an all-encompassing perspective on society and politics, and has been a notable force in South Asia and Muslim life and thought across the Muslim world.

"This is a study of a people in the turmoil of the modern world. The Muslim community in our day, like the rest of mankind, is in serious transition. What distinguishes it is that its members face the perplexities and opportunities of modernity as heirs of a unique tradition. Their society is characterized by a faith, Islam, and a great past. What is happening to the community and to the faith is the attempted subject of this book." [Preface].

Contemporary Islamic revivalism is a multi-dimensional and multi-faceted phenomenon. This book explores this phenomenon through an ethnographic study of the world’s largest Islamic revivalist movement, the Tabligh Jama‘at (‘Convey [message of Islam]’ Group). The basic contention of the book is that contemporary Islamic revivalism is a defensive reaction to the crisis of modernity, yet it is neither anti-modernity nor does it seek modernity’s destruction. Rather, it highlights that Muslims are in a crisis. They face the threat of losing their faith and identity in modernity, because according to the revivalist Muslims, the “true” Islamic practice no longer constitutes the foundation of everyday Muslim living. To preclude this from reaching a point of no return, Islamic revivalist movements like the Tabligh Jama‘at are engaged in encouraging Muslims to return to the “true” teachings of Islam, and restoring the Islamic glory that once was the envy of the world. This volume highlights the veritable ‘sectarian’ intensity with which Tablighis undertake this restorative work.

Rooted in the world historical methodology of John O. Voll, this collection brings together a diverse group of scholars to investigate the ongoing impact of revival and reform movements beginning in the eighteenth century and continuing through to the present. Ranging from the MENA region to Africa, India, and China, and covering a variety of religious interpretations, from scripturalist to Sufism, these essays offer new perspectives on movements including the Wahhabis of Arabia, the Sokoto Caliphate, the neo-Sufism of Shah Wali Allah of Delhi, Sufi scholars and networks on the African continent, and the Muslim Brotherhood. Contributors explore encounters between Islamic revival and reform and modernity with a focus on the ways in which Islamic reforms influence the political sphere. Concluding with contemporary reinterpretations of Islam in the digital arena, this volume examines, but also moves beyond, texts to include embodiments of religious practice, the development of religious culture and education, and attention to women’s contributions to education, cultural production, and community building.