EDITORIAL Ftom the papets presented at the twenty-first annual conference of the AMSS in 1992, we have chosen here Sirajul Hussain's short article on "Islamic Science: Making of a Formal Intellectual Discipline." The other papets presented at the conference are being published sepamtely in the form of conference proceedings and should be available in one volume at the twenty-second m u a l conference. This will be held at the head- quarters of the IIIT on 15-17 October 1993. In this paper, Sirajul Hussain discusses some epistemological issues related to the foundation of "Islamic science" as a formal intellectual dis- cipline. He stresses the need for establishing an ontological necessity for the uniquely monotheistic concept of tawbiii in Islam in terms of recent developments in neuropsychology. This would show that the tuwltidi episteme proceeds essentially in a purely non-Euclidean space. In this way, we can show that the tuwh7liepisteme is amenable to scientific corroboration. He also emphasizes the need to structure Islamic science as a formal academic course to be taught at the undergraduate and gtadu- ate levels. Dilnawaz Siddiqui discusses selected major issues in instrUCti0~1- communication technology from an Islamic perspective. He tries to lay the groundwork by identifying major issues from a broad Islamic view. In addition, he outlines theoretical assumptions behind the identification and analysis of instructional technology and develops six sets of relevant issues classified under the categories of humanity, message, medium, methods, milieu, and m-ment. Mumtaz Jafari examines critically the objectives, the evolutionary context, and the value system in which counseling flourishes. Right at the outset, he makes it clear that he is not providing an alternative framework based on Islamic teachings. Rather, he is making a modest attempt to examine critically the parameters of western counseling in order to illus- trate the contrast between fundamental premises of Islamic ideology and practice. The framework used is the Islamic outlook on life and the asso- ciated objectives and values that Islam regards as determinants of human vi The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 103 behavior. The expectation is that this comparative approach to the under- lying perspectives, objectives, and values will explain the congruence and incongmence between the existing models of counseling and any alter- native Islamic ’models. M. Hashim Kamali inquires into the definition of b q q and looks into some of its aspects that have become the subject of controvemy, especially in the works of western commentaton on Islamic law. He tries to develop a perspective over haqq by delving into some of its allied con- cepts, namely, h u h sharYand ‘udZ. His discussion also raises the ques- tion of the recognition, or otherwise, of fundamental rights in Islamic law. The analysis that Kamali has presented advances our understanding of this basic and yet complex juridical issue and relates it, in many ways, to the ongoing debate on the general subject of human rights. Peter O’Brien is concerned about the rise of xenophobia in Europe and of the plight of the ten million Muslims living there, who are often the targets of this negative attitude. He contends that the fear and anxiety Westerners exhibit towards Muslims stem, ultimately, from a fear and anxiety regarding themselves and their own beliefs. O’Bnen argues that the perceived standoff with Muslims should cause the western intellectual to doubt the sincerity and superiority of his or her own convictions. He admits that the critique and rejection of European liberalism by Muslims leads western thinkers to question their own most revered beliefs. Their subsequent response is based upon trying to persuade or compel Muslims to embrace western liberal principles. When Muslims resist this under- taking, Westerners see no recowse but to exercise arbitrary power on them. But this is an act for which western liberal tenets offer no con- vincing justification. This marks the limits of liberalism. Our late scholar, Mahmoud Abu-Saud, whose obituary was published in our Summer 1993 issue, reflects on the methodology of the Islamic be- havioral sciences. This was presented as a paper in Arabic at the Fourth International Seminar on Islamic Thought at Khartoum, Sudan. It was translated by Hashim Atallah and revised slightly by Yusuf T.DeLorenzo. Also presented are two research notes. The fitst one, by Frank E. Vogel, is on the closing the door of ijtihad and the application of the law. He advocates more research on the application of Islamic law in order to discover the continued role of ijtihad in practice through the centuries with all of its limitations. We also have a note on a recently conducted poll, which is, in fact, the first of its kind, conducted by the John Zoghby Group on American attitudes towards Islam. Its methodology is discussed, the results are analyzed, and the final conclusion is that, despite the nega- tive images and ignorance of Islam in the United States, the door is wide open for significant image enhance-ment efforts. Editorial V i i In our book review section, we have three selections. Fouad Basha re- views a controversial book on Islam and science, religious orthodoxy, and the battle for rationality. Ilyas Ba-Yunus has chosen Karen Armstrong's biography of the Prophet, while Mazen Hashem has a detailed critique of a recent book on Muslim families in Notth America. We have reports of a conference dealing with the topic of Islam in Europe as well as that of the annual confenmce of the American W e n - talist Society. In addition, the keynote a d d m d e l i v e d by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Muhammad, on the Islamic Vision for the twenty-filst century, given at the inaugmtion cetemony of the recently established Institute for Islamic Undemtanding, is reproduced. The fall issue of AJZSS is coming out at a time when the Parliament of the World's Religions is being held in Chicago. In the first Parliament, held during 1893, Muslims were repmerited by an Amencan-born con- vert to Islam: Muhammad Alexander Russell Webb. Webb, the American Consul in Manila, the Philippines, was intro- duced to Islam by some Indian Muslim businessmen. He studied on his own and, within one year, embraced Islam. He resigned from his post and returned to introduce Islam to the United States. On his way back, he l e c W in several cities in India. Introducing one of Webb's mono- graphs, an Indian Muslim scholar w r o k "Mr. Webb came as an ambas- sador of a great nation to the East and is going back as the ambassador of a great religion to the West" Webb, who had bigger plans, shrugged aside his admirels' suggestions that he live in the Muslim world, returned to the United States, and declared that Islam is "so thoroughly applicable to all the needs of humanity that it seems that it is exactly the system that we need in our country, and that is why I am here, that is why I am in the United States." Addressing the Chicago Parliament, Webb declared: "I have faith in the American intellect, in the American intelligence, and in the American love of fair play, and will defy any intelligent man to understand Islam and not like it." It was in 1893 that Webb initiated the publication of The Moslem World, which he described as "the only Mohammedan journal published in America" and as being comprised of "the discussion and elucidation of Islamic doctrines and social laws, and news for all parts of the Mo- hammedan world." How long this joumal continued to appear and when and why it stopped needs further m a t c h . We hope that some of our young researches will devote their energies to this early experiment. Sayyid M. Syeed