This article explores the analytical value of Islamic reformation as a conceptual framework for the analysis of the current situation in the Islamic world. Different attitudes toward this concept are compared, resulting in the conclusion that any valid assessment requires a definition of reformation as a religious and social process that can exist outside the specific period of the Protestant Reformation. Delineation of the general characteristics of reformation makes it possible to demonstrate that current tendencies in the Islamic world are similar to those occurring during the Reformation and that Islamic fundamentalists are the driving force of this new reformation. This means that it is incorrect to assess their values and their influence as archaic, reactionary, or fascist. The worldview of Islamic fundamentalists contains both modernizing and anti-modernizing features, and some elements of their influence on society are of a modernizing nature. Keywords: reformation, Islamic fundamentalism, protestant ethic, modernization, individualism, generation conflict. The article is based on the research project 2016 "Transformation of values in the context of modernization in the North Caucasus" of the Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy. Starodubrovskaya I. [Islamic Reformation: Heuristic value of the approach]. Gosudarstvo, religiya, tserkva v Rossii i za rubezhom [State, Religion, Church in Russia and abroad]. 2017. N 3. pp. 11-50. Starodubrovskaya, Irina (2017) "Islamic Reformation: The Heuristic Value of the Approach", Gosudarstuo, religiia, tserkov' v Rossii i za rubezhom 35(3): 11-50. page 11Islamic Reformation-legitimation of the concept WHAT is happening in the modern world community is largely determined by the dramatic changes that are characteristic of the Islamic world: religious revival, increased conflict, a sharp increase in the political role of aggressive fundamentalist views calling for a return to the roots and the revival of the Islamic caliphate ... Read more