1
Lebanon University Professor and Contemporary Islamic Thought Researcher
2
M.A. in Political Science Bagher al-Olum
Abstract
Briefly referring to the convergent and peaceful approaches in the early 20th century in the Islamic world, the paper elaborates on the grounds of the formation and continuation of the divergent and antagonistic trends. The writer concludes that the resultant crisis in the Islamic world arises from the crisis in the Islamic awareness, not from the Islamic culture and texts. Consequently, Islam cannot be considered as an anti-peace religion. The problem of divergence and seclusion is, on the one hand, the problem of Muslim elites, who distance from the surrounding realities, with a negative mind, and approach sacred texts and symbols, and, on the other hand, the problem of dominating regimes which do permit Muslims to cooperate in the world order. Muslims themselves probably do not actively participate in the world order and even see themselves as the target of the world order.
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