The paradox here is that the open-minded reformism they espoused helped stir conservative trends among Islamic thinkers, who seized on the reformists' revival of Islamic norms to urge a return to the "purity" of the first Islamic societies. This conservative trend did not follow-up on the reformists' engagement with the modern ideas of the European Enlightenment, arguing instead that these represented a further estrangement from authentic Islamic values.
而矛盾的是他们所倡导的这种开明的改革主义却激发了后辈伊斯兰思想家们的保守倾向。他们抓住改革主义者复兴伊斯兰教规范这一点，力主向最初的伊斯兰社会的"纯洁性"回归。这种保守倾向不是遵循改革主义者们对欧洲启蒙的现代理念的接纳，而是认为这些理念代表着对真正的伊斯兰教价值观的进一步背离。