Revival and Reform in Islam

This intellectual biography of Muhammad al-Shawkani one of the founding fathers of modern Islamic reformism is also a study of an important transitional period in Yemeni history which saw the shift from traditional Shi''ism to Sunni reformism. The transition propelled political religious and social change. While Shawkani espoused a socio-religious order which echoed aspects of Western thinking the book demonstrates that it was indigenous to Islamic thought. Shawkani''s ideas remain vital to the intellectual debates happening in Islam today.