The Ame rican Journal of Is lamic Social Science:, Vol. 6, No. I. 1989 V 

Editorial 

The first decade of the 15th century Hijrah is over. It saw the establish-
ment of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (illT) and was marked 
by the development of cooperation and collaboration between various Islamic 
organizations and institutions around the world. The results have been most 
encouraging. This collaboration has contributed toward the initiation of an 
era of discussions and debates on the Islamization of knowledge and the 
development of a methodology for the reconstruction of Islamic thought. 
Among the consequences has been the unfolding of various intellectual forums. 

One such intellectual forum for the last five years has been the American 
Journal of Islamic Social Sciences (AJISS) published jointly by the IlIT and 
the Association for Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS). We are greatly en-
couraged by its steadily increasing circulation and by the enhanced participa-
tion of social scientists as well as lay scholars. 

'Abdul}:Iamid AbiiSulayman, now Rector of the International Islamic 
University (IIU). Malaysia, continues to send us his inspiring selection and 
commentary of Qur'anic verses as the "Guiding Light:' 

In this issue, for the first time, we are induding a paper by Taha Jabir 
al 'Alwani, the President of the IDT and author of several scholarly titles 
in Arabic. This paper is the English rendering of his lecture delivered in 
Rabat , Morocco at a conference held under the aegis of the Islamic Educa-
tional , Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO). He sketches a brief 
argument for establishing an Islamic alternative in thought and knowledge, 
not only for the benefit of Muslims, but for the common good of humanity. 

Another first is the paper by Eric Winkel, a multi-lingual political scien-
tist of the faculty of IIU Malaysia, who provjdes us with an analysis of Haber-
mas and Foucault. This paper entitled "Remembering Islam . . . " brings 
these postwar leaders of the Frankfurt school of anarchist and radical criti-
que into the discussion of the Islamic paradigm. Winkel explains the 
characterization of Habermas and Foucault of existing epistemologies as "per-
nicious, pervasive and truth distorting," and shows how their own vision of 
the possible future world is extremely restricted and inadequate. He suggests 
that we remember that Islam, as the divine guidance of Allah, provides the 
basis for a truly emancipatory meta critique. 

Moving from philosophical issues to the more concrete, Ausaf Ali's paper 
on " . . . Islamization of Social and Behavioral Sciences" argues for a moral 



VI The American Journal of lslarn1c Social Science~ Vol. 6. No. I. 1989 

explanation of human behavior and social phenomenon. He proposes a com-
prehensive and distinctive Islamic theory of social sciences. In his concep-
tualization of a possible paradigm, he concludes that to accomplish Islamiza-
tion of social sciences, active cooperation between ulema and social scien-
tists is crucial . This will allow them to interpret or reinterpret Islamic teachings 
and incorporate them into the social, political and economic institutions of 
Islamic society. 

Mohammad Hashim Kamali explores specific concepts and instances 
where Islamic law can be imaginatively applied . He discusses the technical 
term Siyasah Shar' iyah , which means the decisions and policies made by 
rulers on matters for which no specific law could be found in the Shariah . 
His research suggests that Siyasah Shar'iyah rules out arbitrary and abusive 
exercise of power and encourages the kind of diligence and initiative on the 
part of the ruler which contribute to ideal government under the rule of law. 

Abdul Haq Ansari argues the case for the need to develop a new discipline 
of Islamic Ethics in his paper of the same title. He has defined the concept 
and issues of Islamic ethics identifying contributions made by Muslim 
philosophers, sufis, theologians. jurists, and politi.cal and economic theorists. 
He believes Islamic Ethics will take less time to develop than Islamic 
Economics. This paper was presented as a keynote speech at an Islamic Ethics 
seminar held in India. A report on this appears in our section on "Conferences 
and Seminars." 

In a different vein , Zawwar H . Zaidi surveys the main theories of "Con-
version to Islam in South Asia" which have been propounded by Asian and 
Western scholars. His analysis of these theories should prompt further research . 
Zaidi discounts the use of force or political reward as major factors in con-
version. Muslim rulers he says, were unenthusiastic about converts and sufis 
played only a minor role. He contends that it is the conversions carried out 
by the ulema that seem to be the most significant. The call to Islam, itself, 
was very inviting because it assured converts of a better and more mean-
ingful role in life than they had previously enjoyed. 

Under "Research Notes .. we are including three items. Mona Abu-Fadl's 
"Convocation" represents a summary of her three part paper on "Paradigms 
in Political Science." The complete paper is being published separately as 
a supplement to this issue of AJISS, which is a comprehensive treatment 
of the subject. We hope this will generate productive debate. This "Convoca-
tion" prepares the way for the upcoming AMSS/IIIT Political Science Seminar 
chaired by her. 

In a paper designed to question basic concepts, Rasha Disiiqi discusses 
the "Islamization of the Non-Visual Arts" presenting the Islamic basis for 
artistic practices. We hope to receive more papers on this issue in the future. 

Kathleen Moore draws our attention to her research on legal issues con-



The American Journal of lslam1c Social Sciences Vol. 6. No. I, 1989 vii 

ceming Muslims in the U.S. and Canada as "New CJaimants to Religious 
Tolerance." We hope her work will yield valuable insights and information, 
aside from contributing to the growing literature on Muslim life in North 
America. 

Earlier we had a brief review of Akbar S. Ahmad's book Toward Islamic 
Anthropology. In this issue, however, the review article by Professor A. R. 
Momin entitled "lslamization of Anthropological Knowledge" serves to pro-
vide an in-depth critique of Ahmad's book and aJso reviews the process of 
lslamization of anthropology. He strongly argues against the possibility of 
developing Islamic anthropology within the ethnocentric and positivistic 
framework of Western anthropology. 

There are seven items in the Book Review section and an equal number 
of conference and seminar reports have been included. For listings of con-
ferences and seminars please refer to issues of the /IIT!AMSS Newsbulletin. 

With this issue we are introducing a new feature of AJISS. We wiJI be 
publishing abstracts of dissertations done in North America and the U.K. 
which are related to Islamic sociaJ sciences. We offer our thanks to Universi-
ty Microfilms InternationaJ (UMI) for extending this facility to us. This in-
formation will inform our readers about availablc research. Copies may be 
obtained directly from the authors or UMI. 

We welcome views and comments from our readers. In this issue we 
are publishing Aliyu Usman Tilde's critique of Ja'afar Sheikh Idris' paper 
on "Islami:zation of the Sciences, its Philosophy and Methodology" (AJ/SS 
Vol. 4 No. 2). We would like this debate to continue. 

We are lookjng forward to greater cooperation and participation from 
individual scholars and institutions in widening the readership of AJJSS and 
further raising its academic standards. 

Sayyid Muhammad Syeed