Global Islamic Revival

When I was in college, more than thirty years ago, a leading theory was that the rise of literacy made Islamic texts directly accessible to ordinary people, while it had previously only been mediated through Islamic scholars and clergy who wrapped it in doctrines and interpretations that smoothed out its rough edges and more harsh readings, and allowed less intelligent people to lead Islamic religious movements. This review seems to borrow at least threads of these ideas.

When I've read the 21 page paper (followed by 11 pages of references) at greater length, I'll summarize its conclusions, if I have time to do so. The abstract, FWIW, is useless because it doesn't convey the trust of the paper's conclusions.

The Global Islamic Revival represents one of the most significant religious-political movements of the past half-century, transforming societies across multiple continents. What were its causes?

Existing scholarship tends to focus on local idiosyncrasies – Egypt’s economic stagnation, Iran’s religious authoritarianism, state weakness in the Sahel, Pakistani return migration from the Gulf, repression in Uzbekistan, resistance to secular schooling in Indonesia, and Saudi-funded Wahhabism.

While these country-level analyses are hugely valuable, they fail to explain why the revival occurred worldwide, even in prosperous countries like Qatar, Malaysia, and Britain. This review synthesizes the global literature on the Islamic Revival and its profound impacts on gender relations, presenting a novel theoretical framework to explain why modernization has strengthened rather than weakened religious authority and homogenisation across the Muslim world.

Alice Evans, "Global Islamic Revival" (2025).

The conclusion states:

The Global Islamic Revival represents one of the most significant religious-political transformations of the past half-century. Previous explanations have tended to focus on country-specific idiosyncrasies: economic frustration in Egypt, political legitimacy in Bangladesh, religious backlash in Central Asia, or Saudi funding in Indonesia. These are all valuable, but fail to explain global homogenisation. 

Once we recognise that the Islamic Revival occurred worldwide, we move to consider interactions with transnational factors - including the cultural evolution of Islamic theology, secular modernisation, rising prosperity, mass schooling, technological advances, Saudi funding and prestige. 

Contributing to this literature, my ‘Prestige-Piety Feedback Loop’ helps explain how modernization paradoxically amplified religious authority across diverse Muslim societies. 

Important questions remain unresolved. While Saudi Arabia successfully exported Salafism, will its recent shift towards secularisation cause similar emulation, or are religious movements now independently entrenched by the Prestige-Piety feedback loop? Further, why did printing press catalyse the Protestant Reformation, but online connectivity has not created similar effects in the Muslim world? Quite simply, why are conservatives winning?

From the body:

A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: THE PRESTIGE-PIETY FEEDBACK LOOP

Contributing to the rich literature on the Islamic Revival, I propose a complementary mechanism that resolves a central paradox: why modernization has strengthened rather than weakened religious authority across the Muslim world.

Any analysis of the Islamic revival must begin with Muslims' foundational belief that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Messenger. The Quran is the word of God, while the Sunnah records the teachings and practices of Muhammad, whom all Muslim men should emulate. Any person who seeks status and social inclusion within the Islamic community thus becomes vulnerable to charges of ‘takfir’, justified by scripture. Modernization (rising prosperity, state capacity, mass education, technological advances, and increased freedom to practice religion) then enabled Muslims to deeply engage with the most prestigious knowledge: fiqh (jurisprudence) and akhlaq (ethics of conduct).

These structural changes enabled a self-reinforcing process I call the ‘Prestige-Piety Feedback Loop’.

Mass education and communication technologies facilitated unprecedented connectivity, radically improving understanding of jurisprudential Islam. Islamic preachers and believers embraced their religious duty to ‘command right and forbid wrong. Piety and gender segregation became primary markers of prestige, also rewarded in the afterlife. Politicians then sought legitimacy by expanding state funding for religious organizations, religious instruction, and sharia implementation, further institutionalizing religious authority.