Major trends in Islamic thought today

The modern period has witnessed the emergence of several trends in Islamic thought. Given the diversity of Islamic thought today, it is difficult to adopt a typology that would cover such a wide range of trends and thinkers. However, I have tried to encapsulate, at least at a fairly broad level, the key trends that exist today. In previous chapters, specific aspects of Islamic thought in the modern period, ranging from theology and philosophy to politics and Qur’anic interpretation, have been covered and therefore, in this chapter, I will not address those issues in detail. Instead, I will simply outline broad trends of Islamic thought today. In almost all of these, both Sunnis and Shi‘a are represented. There is, therefore, no need to label these trends as either Sunni or Shi‘i, since both traditions share them. The Ibadis are also likely to be represented in some trends.