Editorial 

The question of modernity in its societal, historical, and literary unfold- 
ings is the underlying theme of several articles presented in this issue of 
AJISS. Following in the hadition of Marshall G. S. Hodgson, John Obert 
Voll ventures into the history of Islam as an integral part of world history. 
In his numerous studies, Voll has always viewed the Muslim world from a 
global perspective, a trait that is even more evident ih his “The Mistaken 
IdenMication of ‘The West’ with ‘Modernity.”’ Voll’s article is based on a 
profound understanding of the West in t m s  of the fundamental changes 
that have swept human life and society during the past two or three cen- 
turies. Modemity cannot be identified with the West, Voll argues, for the 
West, as a repertoire of traditions, was a concept related to the existence of 
civilizations. But “civilization,” as conceived in most of the studies and 
analyses of world history, is now a societal lifestyle of the past. It therefore 
follows that the transfomtion of societies and lifestyles has transcended 
the classical West and created a new world situation in which relations 
between Islam and the West are predicated on different bases. While it is 
true that Islam’s repertoire of concepts and principles is more clearly 
focused than that of the West, it is also true that, in the context of the glob- 
al cosmopolitanism of our times, Islam and the West share a similar cul- 
tural, political, and social experience: 

Islam and the West are no longer simply two rival and clashing 
civilizations or even two different modes of modernity. They are 
now interactive partners, sometimes fighting and sometimes co- 
operating, involved in the co-constructed reality of the contemp 
rary world. 

Volls’ view of a modem shared experience is supported by Surmsh 
Irfani’s “New Discourses and Modernity in Postrevolutionary Iran.” For a 
society that has been portrayed in the most denigrating t m s  by the west- 
ern media, Irfani presents a powerfd human and creative image of con- 
temporary Iran that touches upon a wide range of cultural revival: print 
media, film industry, literatute, and music. A common denominator of the 
works cited in his article, which is based on extensive field research, is the 
“aftempt to go beyond the fite!rary level o f k f e q r e m  ‘on and extant mean- 



ing by enlarging, where possible, the scope of each entry by means of a 
juxtaposition of cultural and spiritual dimensions.” Here we encounter a 
great religious and nationalist cultural tradition that is reinterpreted, recon- 
structed, and universalized by means of modem disocurses, concepts, and 
methods. Irfani concludes that if, the Iranian Revolution of 1978-79 
reflected an ethics of resistance, Iran may yet initiate a mutually healing 
dialogue between the Muslim world and the West. 

Abdelwahab M. Elmessiri’s “Parables of Freedom and Necessity: A 
Study of the Rising Levels of Secularization as Manifested in Two Liter- 
ary Works,” is an immensely revealing study of Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The 
Frankeleyns Tale” and Bertold Brecht’s The Exception and the Rule. His 
approach is rather different from the customary approaches of literary crit- 
icism, for he focuses on the expressions of secularism--tRe most cherished 
prophecy of modernity-in literature. It is in the historical distance between 
Chaucer’s medieval narrative and Brecht’s modem nightmarish work that 
Elmessiri’s thoughthl analysis demonstrates its implications. Chaucer’s 
world was one in which the necessitarianism of our secular modem times 
was just beginning to emerge. In Brecht’s world, “all human relations are 
frozen and all humanity is objectified into classes and functionalized into 
means of production without any possibility of regeneration.” 

This issue of MISS offers two other important contributions. The first 
is Chandra M M a r ’ s  “Accommodation and Acceptance of Non-Muslim 
Communities within the Malaysian Political System: The Role of Islam,” 
in which essential questions related to the accommodation of non-Malay 
non-Muslim communities in the Malaysian polity are addressed with great 
insight. The other is Abdul Majid Al Najjar’s “Classification of Sciences 
in Islamic Thought: Between Imitation and Originality,” where the author 
discusses the framing of classical Islamic sources in light of the epistemo- 
logical basis of the early Islamic worldview rather than its descriptive con- 
cems. 

Finally, it would be inappropriate to conclude this editorial without 
paying tribute to the memory of Dr. Kamil Jamil al Asali, who passed 
away during November of 1995. Asali’s numerous works on the medieval 
and Ottoman history of Jerusalem represent a significant addition to the 
field of Islamic and Middle East history. He was a teacher whose manners 
and dedication earned him the love and loyalty of his students and many 
of his colleagues. His scholarly research in the history of Palestine and 
Jerusalem, which combined a deep knowledge of primary sources with 
modem techniques of historical investigation, makes his death an even 
greater loss. We salute his memory and pray for his soul. 

Basheer Nafi