The Modern Muslim World
Examine the encounter with European power, the end of the caliphate, the reform movements that responded, and the institutions of the contemporary period.
Start LearningBegins with Modern Islamic History (1800-2024)
Learning Sequence
Articles are ordered so each builds on the one before. You can also read them in any order that suits you.
- Modern Islamic History (1800-2024)periodModern EraIslamic history from 1800 to the present: the weakening of the Ottoman and other Muslim empires, the period of European colonial rule, the independence movements that fol…
- Muhammad Ali Pasha - Founder of Modern EgyptpersonModern EraMuhammad Ali Pasha (1769-1849 CE) transformed Egypt into a regional power through military, economic, and administrative reforms. Founder of modern Egypt, he established …
- Abdulmecid I: The Sultan of the TanzimatpersonOttoman EmpireAbdulmecid I (1823-1861) became Ottoman sultan at sixteen and presided over the Tanzimat, the empire's most sweeping programme of legal and administrative reform. He issu…
- Sir Syed Ahmed Khan: Reformer, Educator, and Architect of Muslim Modernity in IndiapersonModern EraSir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817-1898) was an Indian Muslim reformer and educator who founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh in 1875, which became Aligarh Musl…
- Jamal al-Din al-Afghani: The Revolutionary Pan-IslamistpersonModern EraJamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838-1897 CE) was a revolutionary Islamic thinker and Pan-Islamist who advocated for Islamic unity, anti-colonialism, and reform. His ideas profo…
- Muhammad Abduh: Pioneer of Islamic ModernismpersonModern EraMuhammad Abduh (1849-1905 CE) was an Egyptian Islamic scholar and reformer who pioneered Islamic modernism. As Grand Mufti of Egypt, he reconciled Islamic teachings with …
- Rashid Rida: The Editor of al-ManarpersonModern EraSayyid Muhammad Rashid Rida (1865-1935) was an Islamic scholar of Ottoman Syria who settled in Egypt and founded the journal al-Manar in 1898, editing it until his death.…
- Abdulhamid II: The Last Sultan to RulepersonOttoman EmpireAbdulhamid II (1842-1918) ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1876 to 1909, the last sultan to exercise real power. He promulgated the empire's first constitution, suspended pa…
- Nyai Ahmad Dahlan: Founder of Aisyiyah and Pioneer of Indonesian Women's EducationpersonModern EraNyai Ahmad Dahlan (born Siti Walidah, 1872-1946) was an Indonesian Islamic reformer who founded Aisyiyah, the women's wing of Muhammadiyah, pioneering girls' education an…
- Allama Iqbal: The Poet-Philosopher of the EastpersonSouth Asian IslamAllama Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938 CE) was a poet-philosopher and political leader considered the spiritual father of Pakistan. His poetry, philosophical works, and vision …
- Mehmed VI Vahideddin: The Last Ottoman SultanpersonOttoman EmpireMehmed VI Vahideddin (1861-1926) was the thirty-sixth and last Ottoman sultan, reigning from 1918 to 1922. He governed under Allied occupation, his government signed the …
- Fall of the Ottoman EmpireeventOttoman EmpireComprehensive history of the decline and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire from the 19th century through World War I to the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923
- Abdülmecid II: The Last CaliphpersonOttoman EmpireAbdülmecid II (1868-1944) was elected caliph by the Turkish Grand National Assembly in November 1922, after it separated the caliphate from the sultanate. He held an offi…
- Omar al-Mukhtar: The Lion of the DesertpersonModern EraOmar al-Mukhtar (1858-1931) was a Libyan resistance leader who fought Italian colonization for over twenty years. Known as the 'Lion of the Desert,' he became a symbol of…
- Amin al-Husseini: Grand Mufti of JerusalempersonModern EraMohammed Amin al-Husseini (born c. 1895-97, died 1974) was appointed grand mufti of Jerusalem and president of the Supreme Muslim Council in 1921. This article treats his…
- Yasser Arafat: Chairman of the Palestine Liberation OrganizationpersonModern EraYasser Arafat (1929-2004) co-founded Fatah in the late 1950s, chaired the Palestine Liberation Organization from 1969 until his death, and was president of the Palestinia…
- Islam in North America - Historical and Contemporary OverviewplaceModern EraIslam has been present in North America for more than four centuries, beginning with enslaved West African Muslims. Some 3.45 million Muslims now live in the United State…
- Islamic Banking and Financial Systems: Evolution and PrinciplesconceptAll ErasIslamic banking represents a comprehensive approach to finance based on Sharia principles, emphasizing ethical finance, risk-sharing, and asset-backed transactions while …
- Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)organizationModern EraAn intergovernmental body of 57 member states across four continents, second in size only to the United Nations. Founded in 1969 after the arson attack on the Al-Aqsa Mos…
- Growth of Islamic FinanceconceptModern EraBanking and financial services conducted according to Islamic law, which forbids interest and requires risk to be shared. From institutional beginnings in the 1960s the s…
- Abul A'la MaududipersonSouth Asian IslamA journalist, Qur'anic commentator and political thinker who founded the Jamaat-e-Islami at Lahore in 1941. His six-volume Urdu commentary Tafhim al-Qur'an and his writin…
- The Jamaat-e-IslamiorganizationSouth Asian IslamAn organisation founded by Abul A'la Maududi at Lahore in August 1941 to form a disciplined body of Muslims who would remake society according to Islamic norms. After the…
- Shah Ahmad ShafipersonSouth Asian IslamA Bangladeshi scholar of hadith who led the seminary at Hathazari in Chittagong for more than three decades and chaired the country's Qawmi madrasa education board. Train…
- Muhammad Rafi UsmanipersonSouth Asian IslamA Pakistani Hanafi jurist who led Darul Uloom Karachi as its president from 1986 until his death in 2022. Titled Grand Mufti, he served on Pakistan's Council of Islamic I…
- Ali KhameneipersonModern EraAn Iranian Shia cleric who was the second Supreme Leader of Iran, holding the office from 1989 until his death in 2026. He had earlier served as Tehran's Friday prayer le…
- Muhammad Taqi UsmanipersonSouth Asian IslamA Pakistani Hanafi jurist and writer on Islamic law, trained at Darul Uloom Karachi and in economics and law at Karachi and Punjab. He served on Pakistan's higher courts,…
- Shaykh Ahmed Deedat: Preacher and Writer on Comparative ReligionpersonModern EraAhmad Husein Deedat (1918-2005) was a South African preacher and writer on comparative religion who founded the Islamic Propagation Centre International at Durban, held p…