This paper concludes that the Usuli Shi’i reform movement was part of a larger Islamic reformation, which began in the eighteenth century. I employ a comparative approach to suggest that Shi‘i as well as Sunni and Sufi Muslim scholars reformed their traditions in direct response to the political destabilization of the Islamic world. The new Islamic movements (i.e. Usuli Shi’ism, Wahhabi Sunnism, and Idrisi Sufism) that emerged directly contributed to the establishment of new kingdoms in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Libya. Islamism as we see it today grew out of this process. Similar to the politically decentralization that occurred in the eighteenth century, I argue that Islamic institutions also became more decentralized. Therefore, it is useful to understand modern Islam in the context of competing Islamic movements as well as majority and minority sectarianism. The bulk of my paper presents the foundational ideologies of Usuli Shi’ism, Wahhabi Sunnism, and Idrisi Sufism. My research is primarily based on the writings of the founders of these movements (Vahid Bihbihani, Muhammad Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab, and Ahmad Ibn Idris al-Fasi), whom I consider to be the founding fathers of modern Islam. The tradition in which each of these three scholars operated largely accounts for the differences in their reformist ideology. The similarities of the three movements are primarily a result of the common concerns faced by Islamic civilization in the eighteenth century, such as political decentralization and a perceived socio-moral crisis. Each movement was incepted on the fringes of the falling Islamic gunpowder empires and filled a portion of the power vacuum created in wake of these empires. Partially because the movements emerged prior to the establishment of nation-states in the Islamic world, they continue today as powerful transnational organizations. Usulism became highly influential in Iran, even though the center of Usuli Shi‘i learning remained in Iraq until the twentieth century. The neo-Sufism associated with Ahmad Ibn Idris became active throughout northern Africa. Successor Sufi brotherhoods of the Idrisi movement have continued throughout the region. For example, the Sanusiyya brotherhood played a critical role in the establishment of modern Libya. The Wahhabi movement provided ideological support for the creation of Saudi Arabia, which has used its oil wealth to promote Wahhabism throughout much of the Islamic world. Although Usulis, Idrisis, and Wahhabis emerged in a similar eighteenth century milieu, they represent competing Islamic ideologies that highlight differences in Shi‘ism, Sunnism, and Sufism.