Contemporary Islamic Political Idea: The Clash of Reformist Spirit and Extremist-Radical Mentality

The main task of the present study is to reveal the nature of the intellectual and methodological transformation of contemporary Islamic political ideas and also to link them to the issues of globalization. The author discloses the nature of the interdependence between globalization and the phenomenon of modern Islamism. Moreover, he puts into the spotlight the continuing conflict between two main movements, namely the reformist and the conservative ones. The present article unveils the nature of the situation when the conservative and traditional tendencies with their various extremist and primitive forms are exposed. This, in turn, indicates the future of Islamic political thought and raises many fundamental questions related to the perspective of rational alternatives instead of the future of ‘political Islam.’ The dramatic reversal in the course of unfolding of the Islamic idea and its transition from the state of the reformist idea to the most primitive forms indicates the nature of the historic crisis of Islamic political idea. It also reflects the tragedy of the reformist idea. In this case, we find an intellectual and ideological reflection of the nature of the Islamic world's historical and cultural path. We also pinpoint the attempts to break out of the dominance of the major paradigms of the religious-political stage towards modernity. In all the experi-ences of the nations, the fate of religious reform was not easy. Furthermore, it usually goes through violent and bloody stages. However, it denies the religious idea itself, which necessarily leads to its replacement by rational philosophical alternatives. Here lies the problematic future for the Islamic world. thought and of the evolution of its significant schools shows that it reflects the essence of significant shifts in the history of state and culture. A researcher may trace major trends and conceptual paradigms, key ‘founding stages’ of the formation of a state, Weltanschauung, and political system, the essential binary aspects such as religion and politics, that were explicitly reflected in religion, power, and society ( i.e ., the political system), and many other phenomena.