The Islamic awakening

In the first chapter of his book, Shakib Arslan presents the state of the Islamic world in the eighteenth century, which he describes as having reached the lowest degrees of weakness. ¹

Arslan then mentions movements in which he saw the beginnings of revival: the religious movement in Najd, whose influence reached many lands through the pilgrimage; the movement of free reform in India; reformers such as Muhammad Abduh in Egypt; and the current of the young in Turkey after the revolution of 1908. ¹

Arslan distinguishes between free reformers who want reform gradually on the basis of religion, and extreme nationalists who stir religious zeal against everything Western. This division is the author's view alone, not an accepted classification. ¹

The description of the weakness of the eighteenth century is Arslan's description and needs to be compared with academic history. The Najdi and Indian movements need primary and academic sources. It needs a further source.