E d i t o r i a l  

Reason, Authority and the Text 
Modem thought rose out of a fierce and protracted struggle in Europe 
between the pre-modem religious tradition, which located ultimate truth in 
divine text, and a philosophical tradition which placed truth in human expe- 
rience and insisted that truth could be attained through the intellectual 
examination of human reality. Enlightenment scholars succeeded indeed 
not only in defending the autonomy of rationality and reason, but also in 
using human intellect to develop modem social sciences. 

Methodical and systematic approaches to understanding human experi- 
ence propelled modem scholarship forward in its attempts to provide a bet- 
ter understanding of human psyche and condition. This led to the develop- 
ment of elaborate theories and research methods in the areas of social stud- 
ies, economics, politics, psychology, administration, and others. While 
modem scholarship made impressive advances by using analytical reason- 
ing to shed light on social phenomena, it hit a solid wall in its efforts to base 
value systems on an empirically defined rationality. Many modem scholars 
were initially inclined to shrug off the importance of values to social knowl- 
edge and social understanding. Some even tried to deny the transcendental 
nature of values. Ultimately though, the dominant positivist school was 
forced to give up its attempt to build human knowledge on a purely empir- 
ical basis. 

The failure of modem thought to develop a purely rational scholarly tra- 
dition has emboldened postmodem writers, and encouraged them to deny 
the possibility of pursuing truth. Hence rationalism has been placed on an 
equal footing with irrationality, and morality has been equated with 
immorality. 

Power of Reason 
The intellectual impasse we all face today may be traced back to the 
Enlightenment scholars' efforts to sever human values from their transcen- 
dental base, and to marginalize the irqportance of religious beliefs, or the 
lack thereof, in shaping the scholar's attitude, and in providing the tran- 
scendental presuppositions essential for social research. However, modem 



vi The American Journal of lslamic Social Sciences 17:3 

scholars have been acutely aware of the importance of religious beliefs and 
transcendental values for social experience: from Descartes, who insisted 
that the notion of God was the most fundamental notion of human under- 
standing, to Rousseau, who underscored the desirability of a civic religion, 
to Kant, who thought that all moral acts presuppose a belief in human 
accountability before divine justice, to Hegel, who stressed that social 
experiences are rooted in ethical life. 

Yet, they all felt compelled to deny the relevance of religion and religious 
sources for human understanding and knowledge, and they were all deter- 
mined to establish the autonomy of human reason. We eventually came full 
circle to realize today, thanks to post-modem thinkers, that truth lies ulti- 
mately in meanings derived from authoritative texts. 

Authority of the Text 
The post-modem critique of modemism is, in many ways, a revolt against 
the latter’s efforts to elevate historically- and culturally-specific forms of 
reason to the level of universal truth. Rejecting the tyranny of modem 
rationality, post-modemism adopted the opposite extreme by diluting the 
very notion of reason and truth, and hence it threatens to replace modem 
order with post-modem chaos. 

Is there then any way out of the current impasse? 
Classical Islamic scholarship seems to suggest an alternative approach to 

knowledge and truth, whereby reason and received texts do not negate each 
other, and none can claim final authority. Classical Muslim scholars real- 
ized that all texts, including the revealed text, need interpretation. Since all 
normative systems are ultimately rooted in a religious text of sorts, reject- 
ing the relevance of religious sources to social knowledge is both arbitrary 
and deceptive. A more methodical approach requires the recognition of the 
necessity of rooting the transcendental presuppositions of scholarly knowl- 
edge in divine text, and the systematization of all knowledge in a rational 
discourse. 

That is, claims about what is socially desirable cannot be made by pro- 
voking the authority of the revealed text, but by illustrating the internal 
cohesiveness and external consistency of all normative systems that are 
embedded in authoritative sources. All claims to transcendental truth must 
be mediated by rational arguments. This allows a plurality of truth claims 
without doing away with the possibility of pursuing higher Truth, and with- 
out stifling meaningful exchange and dialogue among competing systems. 



Editorial vii 

manscendental Rationality 
To avoid lapsing into the realm of irrationality and intellectual tribalism, it 
is imperative that transcendental values and metaphysical suppositions be 
openly acknowledged and straightforwardly attributed to their religious 
sources. This would not only make a fresh beginning for an unapologetic 
intellectualism, but could potentially redirect intellectual progress away 
from the track of irrationality and moral chaos. As long as religiously dis- 
covered truth is defended through rational argumentation, the possibility of 
falling back into absolutism remains far removed. 

While the approach alluded to above may, understandably, create unease 
among those whose exposure to intellectual traditions is limited to those of 
western Europe, Muslim intellectuals in particular could take comfort in the 
long Muslim tradition in which science and rationality thrived by asserting, 
rather than denying, the centrality of divine revelation to human life and 
thought. Muslim intellectuals and scholars are particularly obligated to pro- 
vide the leadership needed to reconcile intellectual tradition with a modern 
human consciousness that is increasingly yearning for meaning and value. 

Louay M. Safi 
Editor