‘That which we have forgotten’: The Emergence of ‘Traditional Islam’ as a New Movement in Global Muslim Religious Contestation

Abstract

This article explores the global emergence of new forms of Sufism that are successfully engaging with Salafi and Wahhabi discourses under the label of Traditional Islam or TI, and assesses the impact of this current movement in Sufism and the continued resilience of the Sufi tradition in the modern era. This article compares and contrasts two case studies: first, that of the diaspora presence of Muslims in Britain and second, the embattled Muslim struggle for survival in Jerusalem, showing how Traditional Islam has developed ‘third way’ strategies in both places, discursively linked to a global revival of Sufism and drawing upon Islamicisation as a fund for promoting their version of authentic Islam. The article concludes that the TI network demonstrates both continuity with history and change in relation to the impact of modernity.