The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Vol. 8, No. 2, 1991 EDITORIAL This issue, like all the previous ones, opens with ‘AbdulHamid AbQ- Sulaymsn’s “Guiding Light.” But this time we have given it a subtitle and would like to invite our readers’ attention to the important issue addressed here. AbiiSulaymSin quotes the Qur’an and the hadith to show that the con- stitutional process of political authority and government in Islam is shiirii -decision making through consultation. The individual is required to participate seriously in the shuratic process and enjoin what is good and oppose what is evil through peaceful means. The Qur’an, AbQSulaymh asserts, requires patience and peaceful struggle in the face of internal oppression and dissension, but authorizes the oppressed to fight and use force against out- side aggression and occupation. Internally, force and violence have no place in solving political issues within the ummah. We hope that the author’s con- clusion will initiate a discussion, and we encourage our readers to respond. This is followed by Louay M. Safi‘s article on the purpose of an Islamic state, its source of political legitimacy, and the scope of state power. He argues that a clear distinction should be made between the role and purpose of the state and those of the ummah. Only through such a separation of objectives, writes Safi, we can properly observe the injunctions of the Shari‘ah and the principles of revelation. An Islamic state, according to Safi, should be identified with the system of rules determining the quality of life in the political organs necessary for the realization of Islamic ideals. Such an entity naturally presupposes a society committed to Islamic principles and norms. Eric A. Winkel deals with the paradigm shifts in political science in the postmodern debate. Beginning with Kuhn’s belief that paradigm shifts are mainly passive and the natural result of people realizing that the present prevalent paradigm contains some anomalies, a belief which he does not share, Winkel goes on to show how that paradigm supports the ruling elite. This line is continued in his analysis of the views of Ashley and Gilpin, who are representatives of opposing viewpoints. Taking the modern Western paradigm, which is built on a scientific worldview and self-interest, he shows how this construct has been used to propagate the idea that the West has reached the pinnacle of civilization due to its scientific superiority vis-‘a-vis the rest of the world. He then looks at what the West has done with its advancement: genetic engineering (in effect changing reality to suit its desires), relegating vi The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Vol. 8, No. 2, 1991 the Third World to an already-lost game of industrial catch-up while it con- tinues its former exploitative policies, and its replacing of Allah with Man, the new Grand Referent. All of these manipulations of reality have affected humanity. Where we see its most potent results is in the West, an area which has made its own reality so hyperreal that it has become essentially unreal and obscene. In his opinion, Muslims seem to be heading in the same direc- tion. In closing, he asks us if we really want to follow the West in this respect. Masudul A. Choudhury shows how the decision-making character of shiirii defines the determination of both state and policy variables as well as the simulative interaction between them. He then proceeds to illustrate how these variables configure the consumption and the means of distribution in an Islamic political economy. In this way, he demonshates haw these clearly defined variables help to formulate the social choices, the social welfare func- tion, and the institutional decision-making problems in an Islamic politicoeconomic order. In her article, Ola Abdel-Kawi calls for empirical research with Islamic implications, an undertaking which will lay to rest such mistaken and spurious conclusions that there is a separation between Islam and science and that knowledge is an approach which cannot be scientifically investigated. The lack of theory to guide empirical investigation in areas like incorporating Islamic beliefs in a stress inoculation program €or Muslims has inhibited the systematic development of an applied research agenda. Abdel-Kawi is aware of the methodological difficulties in observing and measuring the extent to which a Muslim integrates the Islamic belief system into hidher life. But, she remains optimistic that with the adoption of a stress cognition approach, further investigation could supply the available behavioral measurements with the necessary adaptations. We hope that these measures will expand our knowledge about the Islamic personality and the causes and behavioral consequences of stress affecting Muslims. The proposed theoretical framework could add to the conceptual base needed to develop a research agenda for future investigations and the development of potential stress manage- ment programs for Muslims. Fazal R. Khan, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and currently serving as chairman of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Gomal University, Pakistan, has used his year-long sab- batical in the United States to produce two papers dealing with the Islamiza- tion of his specialization. We are publishing the first one in this issue. His paper, entitled "Entertainment Video and the Process of Islamization in Pakistan: Theoretical Perspectives on a Policy Imperative," is a pioneering attempt to develop a theoretical perspective in his field. He informs us that a program of Islamization begun at the top levels The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Vol. 8, No. 2, 1991 vii of government and implemented through legal pronouncements, informational implosion and/or explosion is unlikely to succeed unless it becomes a self- propulsive force located in the cultural industry of the society. Its success can only be guaranteed by a simultaneous expression through politicoeconomic and sociocultural institutions in order to reach the grass-roots level of the society. Khan also discusses how “mainstreaming” and “resonance” are the ob- jectives of the Islamic enculturation of a Muslim society. Mainstreaming refers to television’s power to cultivate a relative homogeneity or commonality of outlook across subgroups in a given social structure. Resonance, on the other hand, refers to the congruence that exists between the reality contained in entertainment television and the perceived social reality of the viewers. His conclusions are bolstered by empirical evidence. The author also proposes adding an inbuilt Islamic Socialization Potential (ISP) component to Pakistan’s entertainment video industry and then begins to provide its conceptual boun- daries. In his opinion, two major requirements of such an index are that it should be multilayered and that it should identify sets of values general enough to encompass many specific classes of value enactments (i.e., various behaviors and verbal and nonverbal statements and contexts). Our final article consists of a proposal for a comparative study of Muslim minorities, particularly Indian Muslims, which we have received from R. Hrair Dekmejian. MISS has in the past provided a forum for scholarly pro- posals with the hope that some interested individuals and institutions might be persuaded to mobilize the quired resources for such undemkmgs. Dekme- jian demonstrates the need for serious research on Muslim minorities within a comparative framework. He also discusses two powerful trends which have been sweeping various parts of the world: ethnicity and Islamic revival. Both have had a healthy impact on the Indian Muslim community, despite the fact that Muslims have been the major victims of the simultaneous emergence of militant revivalist Hindu fundamentalism. Dekmejian recommends that Carlton Coon’s “mosaic model” of society be supplemented by two additional constructs: the plural society model and the pluralistic society model. He argues that the pluralistic model is the one suitable for India, because the plural model can only function in small na- tions which can run their affairs in a consociational manner. History has shown that India is much too large and complex a country for the application of a plural model to be successful. The author then discusses the Islamic concept of millah promulgated by the Qur‘an and institutionalized by the Shari’ah, a concept which was successful throughout Islamic history in en- suring a harmonious communal coexistence. He closes his article by pro- viding a methodological framework for research on Muslim minorities to identify specific problems which require indepth investigation and analysis. viii The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Vol. 4 No. 2, 1991 Dekmejian believes that this will clarify the basic communal needs of those Muslims who are often too inarticulate in their “demand bearing.” We are also publishing in this issue’s “Reflections” the second install- ment of TGhi J. al ‘Alwh-’s book on the subject of taqlid and ijtihad. In the previous selection, he discussed the source methodology of thefuqih and the methodology of ijtihad for those contemporary social scientists in- terested in applying them to the Islamization of Knowledge in general and to hidher own specialty in particular. In this installment, al A l w h - traces the stagnation in fiqh brought on by the rigidity and narrowness of taqlid. In seeking to resolve the mystery of the supposedly closed door of ijtihad, he discusses at length who closed this door and when it was closed as well as the subsequent impact of taqlid on Islamic civilization. According to him, ijtihad was first prohibited and then, during the fifth and sixth hijri centuries, scholars were restricted to tuqih (giving preference to the opinion of one imam over another). Gradual- ly, this was also discouraged, and scholars were restricted to choosing among the rulings within a single madhhab if there was more than one opinion on the same issue recorded from the madhhab’s founder or followers. It was this chain of events which “closed” the door of ijtihad. While it is true that in matters of belief there is no room for ijtihad, al ‘Alwini maintains that it is important that we identify areas in which ijtihad may be practiced if we are to deal successfully with the modern world. The books which we have selected for review reflect some of the major concerns facing the Muslim ummah. In order, these issues are how Islam deals with social change, the transformation of a non-Islamic economic system into an Islamic one, the role of Islam in the Middle East, and Muslim women and social justice. All of these topics have generated a great deal of publica- tions and controversy over the years and continue to fire debates throughout the ummah. Our seminar and conference reports also reflect several on-going discussions among Muslims, such as whether or not Islam permits political pluralism, the Islamization of Knowledge and how it affects historical and political analysis, and how Islam deals with ethnicity in Africa and the Mid- dle East. Under our “Views and Comments” section, we present a letter from the late eminent Egyptian writer Ahmad Amin. This letter originally appeared in the reader’s views and comments section in the first volume of al Risiiluh (The Message) published in Cairo by Alpmi Zayyiit in January 1933. *mad Amin served as the director of the Cultural Bureau of the Arab League from 1947-54. He was a member of the Syrian Academy of Sciences (Damascus), the Egyptian Academy of Letters (Cairo), and the Iraqi Academy of Sciences (Baghdad). Some of his famous books are Fajr al Zsliim, Du&i a1 ZsZiirn, G h r ul Zsliirn, and Yam ul Z s l h . The letter which we have reproduced The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Vol. 8, No. 2, 1991 ix here without comment shows the intense awareness in Egypt during the early 1930s of the existence of a missing link between the Islamic scholarly tradi- tion and Western thought-a need for the Islamization of sciences. Immediately after this comes Muhammad Haron’s account and appraisal of Arabic and Islamic studies in South Africa. We have included this report to inform our readers about the current situation of Arabic and Islamic studies among the Muslim community of South Africa. We will welcome such situa- tion reports for other countries as well. We have included at the end quite a few abstracts of dissertations done in recent months on Islam and Muslims. It is heartening to note that the number of such dissertations is constantly increasing. Sayyid M. Syeed