Since the great Iranian revolution of 1978-79, there has been a significant increase in Islamic consciousness and activity in Muslim communities across the globe. As a phenomenon it has become known as ???Islamic revivalism???. Its hallmark is a return to Islamic origins, the fundamentals of the faith embodied in the Qur???an and the sunnah (sayings and practices of Prophet Muhammad). Contemporary Islamic revivalism has its roots in Muslim responses to European colonialism and imperialism at the turn of the twentieth century, when the darker sides of modernity began to reveal themselves in what was perceived as less than desirable social, cultural, economic, and political conditions of many Muslim communities and societies. Islamic revivalism has constantly featured in Islamic history and is by no means a new phenomenon. What distinguishes contemporary Islamic revivalism from earlier revivalisms is its complex multifacetedness as a defensive reaction to a new epoch of modernity described in revivalist circles as jahiliyah (ignorance). This thesis argues there is a central relationship between modernity and Islamic revivalism. Using in-depth interviews and participant observation techniques this study is an ethnography of the Tablighi Jamaat (Preaching Party), a transnational Islamic revivalist movement active in Sydney. It also seeks to locate the Tablighi Jamaat in the spectrum of Australian Islam. The principal argument of the thesis is that contemporary Islamic revivalism is a defensive reaction to modernity. Contrary to popular belief it neither constitutes an antimodernity nor does it seek to destroy modernity. Rather, it highlights that Muslims as adherents to a revealed tradition - Islam - are in a serious state of crisis. They are confronted with both material crisis and the threat of losing their faith and identity in modernity. Through a study of the Tablighi Jamaat the thesis argues that contemporary Islamic revivalism is, therefore, an attempt to rescue Muslims from their modern malaise through selective use of modern ideological and technical means.

Since the great Iranian revolution of 1978-79, there has been a significant increase in Islamic consciousness and activity in Muslim communities across the globe. As a phenomenon it has become known as ???Islamic revivalism???. Its hallmark is a return to Islamic origins, the fundamentals of the faith embodied in the Qur???an and the sunnah (sayings and practices of Prophet Muhammad). Contemporary Islamic revivalism has its roots in Muslim responses to European colonialism and imperialism at the turn of the twentieth century, when the darker sides of modernity began to reveal themselves in what was perceived as less than desirable social, cultural, economic, and political conditions of many Muslim communities and societies. Islamic revivalism has constantly featured in Islamic history and is by no means a new phenomenon. What distinguishes contemporary Islamic revivalism from earlier revivalisms is its complex multifacetedness as a defensive reaction to a new epoch of modernity described in revivalist circles as jahiliyah (ignorance). This thesis argues there is a central relationship between modernity and Islamic revivalism. Using in-depth interviews and participant observation techniques this study is an ethnography of the Tablighi Jamaat (Preaching Party), a transnational Islamic revivalist movement active in Sydney. It also seeks to locate the Tablighi Jamaat in the spectrum of Australian Islam. The principal argument of the thesis is that contemporary Islamic revivalism is a defensive reaction to modernity. Contrary to popular belief it neither constitutes an antimodernity nor does it seek to destroy modernity. Rather, it highlights that Muslims as adherents to a revealed tradition - Islam - are in a serious state of crisis. They are confronted with both material crisis and the threat of losing their faith and identity in modernity. Through a study of the Tablighi Jamaat the thesis argues that contemporary Islamic revivalism is, therefore, an attempt to rescue Muslims from their modern malaise through selective use of modern ideological and technical means.