Abstract
In our comparative framework, the first phase of Islamic modernism in the form of liberal-reformism developped at first independent of the orthodox 'Ulama in colonial India on the background of the earliest growth of the modern colonial Muslim elite, later developed in Egypt as a compromise between the traditional orthodox and the modern elite, or a relative dependence of the latter on the former. In Iran, however, the liberal-reformist trend comparable to the above two did not fully developed ideologically because of the lack of the modern middle class.
Following these first phases of Islamic modernism, I have treated the two new trends-the romantic-Islamic and the neo-Islamic-in relation to the development of the new middle class and the lower middle class in each land. The auther pointed out the ideological similarity between the ideal Islamic 'millat' of Iqbal and 'qawmiyah' of the modern 'Arabs. Further he noticed the neo-Islamic trends in Pakistan and Egypt. It is noteworthy that Iran has had no parallel trend. Does this suggest the specifically Iranian way of modernization? Then it seems that the modernization in Iran could, and will be able to, proceed piecemeal without any ideological formulation, preserving intact religious role of the 'Ulama.
