Oxford Handbook of Islamic Reform

This Handbook provides a comprehensive examination of Islamic reform movements and reformist thought across different regions and time periods. It brings together leading scholars to analyze the conceptual underpinnings of reform and renewal in Islam, and it explores key issues at the forefront of modern Islamic reform debates, from reinterpreting scripture, jurisprudence, and the complexities of contemporary ijtihad to the roles of education, modernity, violence, colonialism, democracy, human rights, the status of women and minorities, and cyber-Islam. This volume profiles influential reformers and reform-minded thinkers who have shaped Islamic discourses over the centuries; traditionally, progressively, and everything in between. It traces the origins, ideologies, and impacts of major reform movements like Wahhabism, Salafism, the Muslim Brotherhood, Deobandism, Barelwis, Jama'at-e-Islami, the Gülen Movement, Nizari Ismailis, Traditionalism, feminism, and Qur'anists, and also considers smaller offshoots such as the Ahmadiyya and "Reform of Islam" movements. Regional movements across Africa, North America, Europe, Central, South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the Indian Subcontinent are also covered, shedding light on how reform has manifested in diverse cultural andpolitical contexts. The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Reform maps the complex landscape of Islamic reform, core debates, methodologies employed by reformers, intersections with modernity and colonialism, and the continually evolving efforts to redefine and reinterpret Islamic teachings and practices. This work is an authoritative reference work on this critical subject for scholars and students across fields like Islamic studies, religious studies, law, and Middle Eastern studies.

Emad Hamdeh is an Associate Professor of Arabic Studies at Embry-Riddle University. His research focuses on Islamic intellectual history, with a particular emphasis on debates surrounding Islamic law and scripture in the modern Muslim world. He has published extensively on topics such as Salafism, hadith, Islamic pedagogy, and the Islamic legal schools. Hamdeh is also the author of Salafism and Traditionalism: Scholarly Authority in Modern Islam (Cambridge University Press, 2021), which examines the tensions between Salafis and Traditionalists in the 20th century. Natana J. DeLong-Bas is Professor of the Practice in Theology and Islamic Civilization and Societies at Boston College. She is the author of Shariah: What Everyone Needs to Know (with John Esposito, OUP 2018), Islam: A Living Faith (Anselm Academic, 2018), and Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad (rev. ed. OUP 2008), which is translated into Arabic, Russian, and French and named 1 of the top 5 books for understanding Islam by the Wall Street Journal. She is also the editor of Islam, Revival & Reform: Redefining Tradition for the Twenty-First Century (Syracuse University Press, 2022) and Editor-in-Chief of Oxford Bibliographies Online - Islamic Studies and The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Women (2 vols, 2013)