The Emerging Islamic Order: The Case of Egypt’s Contemporary Islamic Movement

Controversy between nationalists and Islamists was represented by distinguished leaders of theory whose proponents kept the debate alive long after its inception. The new ideological polarity–Arabist socialism versus Islamism– then became the framework and focus of debate by intellectuals and ideologists. Islamic movements are rooted in Islamic history and more directly in Egyptian Islam. To achieve adequate understanding of the Islamic Movement as a unified phenomenon, two levels–formal and informal–must be explored. The general topic of Islamic movements is timely and there is an explosion of speculative and scholarly work about it confusing super-ficially similar phenomena. The general topic of the nature of change, and how the Islamic Movement functions to overcome the resulting tension between tradition and progress, needs some clarification. As non-elitist elements of society increasingly share in the definition and interpretation of Islamic rules and traditions, Islamic doctrine is gradually converted into Muslim ethic.