The aim of the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Islam is to report on and analyze the intellectual and political transformations of the Muslim world in the past two centuries.

 

ECI’s approach is not to deal with the details of facts and events, but rather its focus is on the major contemporary political transformations, particularly thoughts and movements in the modern Islamic world.

 

Three major trends have played a critical role in the Muslim world in contemporary times: Islamization, Nationalism and Modernization. Thus, when writing articles for ECI’s entries one must, to the extent possible and relevant, explain how the entry relates to and interacts with these important trends.

 

Each of these trends has taken on different forms over the past two centuries and has undergone certain internal transformations. Moreover, in addition to the internal transformations, each trend has adopted different approaches towards the other two. ECI’s main objective is analyzing the interactions between and complexities within these trends, and explaining the relevant reasons and factors in a comparative and historical manner.

 

Thus, each writer should keep in mind this key question: “What role does each phenomenon, individual or institution play with respect to the three trends of Islamization, Nationalism and Modernization?” This way, we hope ECI achieves its objective of providing a superior and useful source of knowledge to those seeking to understand the new developments of the contemporary Islamic world.

 

The following “Entry Writing Guides” set out ECI’s standard format for each entry type. Writers are required to follow these guides when preparing their articles.