Role of Modernity in the Spread of Fundamentalism in the Muslim World

Studying important definitions and conceptions of Islamic fundamentalism in the contemporary literature of the sociology of religion, the present article deals with the essential role of social changes arising from the confrontation of the Muslim society with the phenomenon of modernity and modernization taking a sociologicalapproach a descriptive analytical method. The consequences of modernity in Muslim societies have been one of the most significant factors of the emergence of fundamentalism based on the hypothesis of this article. Some minor factors have also been involved in this process the most important of which are as follows: ethnic and Arabic attachment, lack of democracy, lack of education in classic religiousstudies, and certain events leading to restoration of religion in different Muslim countries. Referring to the present backgrounds of fundamentalism in the Muslim world, the article predicts continuation of such attitudes and inclinations based on historical data.