A Theory of “Islamic Modernities:” Religion and Modernisation in Muslim History

Abstract

This article takes its point of departure from the observation that references to Islamic religious traditions became the dominant signifier in defining the authenticity of Muslim modernities. How should we understand this observation of a relative hegemony of ideas of specifically Islamic modernities in the Muslim world? The article wants to answer this question in developing a theoretical argument concerning the role of religion in modernity in four steps. The first section presents a critical discussion of Eisenstadt’s concept of multiple modernities. Then, I develop a conceptual dichotomy between modernity as a social macro structure and modernity as a multiplicity of cultural projects. In the third step, the article briefly discusses notions of secularisation and their remaining relevance for theories of multiple modernity. Finally, I suggest understanding the observable dominance of specifically Islamic constructions of modernity in the Muslim world through the lenses of the concept of cultural hegemony. The article concludes with four short suggestions to answer the question as to how my argumentation relates to some core tenets of classical modernisation theory.