20th Century Muslim Evangelist Scholasticism in Asia and its Impact on Peacebuilding Developments

Abstract

From the United States to North Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, the Muslim activist intellectuals serve in important ways as the makers of contemporary Islam. Their ideas provide the foundations for many of the programs of Islamic movements throughout the world. Even for those who disagree with them and dispute their claims, these activist thinkers have shaped the conceptual world and set the terms of most de­bates in the Muslim world. These people, their organizations, and their modes of thinking have been part of the heart of what has come to be called the Islamic resurgence of the end of the 20^th century. These Muslim intellectuals have been focus point for the western discourse to study the Islamic movements striving for the resurgence locally and globally. Peacebuilding efforts have been the focal concern of Muslim states in Asia, yet thoughts of 20^th century ideologues have been the impediment for the peacebuilding inventiveness. This paper gives a brief reflection of impacts of 20^th Century scholasticism on the peacebuilding developments.