The Global Islamic Revival

The Global Islamic Revival is one of the most significant socio-political transformations of the 20th century. Yet the existing literature offers country-specific explanations which fail to account for the Revival’s timing and its global nature. I present a new theory which explains how modernization paradoxically strengthened Islamic orthodoxy. First, I conceptualize the Islamic Revival as a dual phenomenon: the global homogenization of Islamic beliefs and practices; and the intensification of a trans-national Muslim identity. Second, this review assesses three categories of existing explanations for the Islamic Revival: deep historical roots; geopolitical conflicts; and modernization. Third, I propose a unified theory, the Prestige-Piety Feedback Loop. As mass education and communications swept away Islam's local syncretisms, globalized standards of orthodoxy became culturally prestigious. Muslims then consciously emulated ‘correct’ practices, deferred to credentialled authorities, and competed to display piety and compliance with Sharia. Gender implications include segregation of women; low female labor-force participation, and delegitimization of feminism.