The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences/Vol. 4, No. 1 , 1987 V Editoral This issue of the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences completes the Symposium on Political Governance, begun by Muhammad Salahuddin’s ijtihiid in the last issue. The lead article in this issue is a summary of Islamic political principles by Hasan Turabi, long-time head of the Muslim Brotherhood in The Sudan. Following this is an article by Sister Mona Abul Fadl, a Research Associate at the International Institute of Islamic Thought, taken from her new book, Alternative Perspective: Zntroducing Zslam From Within, to be published by the World Muslim League in Makkah. She explores the core Islamic concepts of community, justice, and jihad, and concludes that the climax of Islamization is Istish had or martyrdom in submission to Allah. In the third article of the symposium, Fade1 Abdallah uses‘ijtihd to ex- plore the textual and historical evidence showing both the absolute condemna- tion of slavery in Islam and Islam’s use of an indirect strategy to abolish it without unduly risking the destruction of the Muslim Ummah. This may highlight the symposium’s introductory suggestion by Muhammad Salahud- din that, within limits, even in extreme cases, balance and patience can be vir- tues. The second section of this issue presents two papers comparing the Islamization of knowledge with the process of building a new paradigm of thought and reality, which process many historians now believe is the precur- sor of all great advances in human knowledge and culture. The concept of paradigms is simply explained in the second article by Hasan Langgulung as applied to revolutionary change in the discipline of psychology. In the first ar- ticle, Muhammad ‘Arif discusses the scholarly battle of the past two decades on the nature of paradigms. He concludes that, whatever criteria one uses, the Islamization of Knowledge as proposed by Shaheed Isma’il Fafiqiintmduces a true paradigmatic revolution in human history, compamble to the revolution that destroyed the decadent world of 1400 years ago when the original paradigm of Tawhid was revealed in Qur’an a1 lcarim. The Research Notes contain a scholarly piece by Professor Theodore P. Wright, Jr., identifying ten ways in which Jews as a group have influenced the development of thought and action in America and ten characteristics that ex- plain why Jews have been able to exert this influence and Muslims have not. The concluding research note, The Shari‘ah and its Implications for Islamic Financial Analysis: An Opportunity to Study Interactions Among vi The American Journal of Islamic Social SciencedVol. 4, No. 1,1987 Society, Organizations, and Accounting, by Cyril Tompkins and Rifaat Ahmed Abdul Karim, explores the issue of financial accounting in the contexts of both Western and Islamic societies. Noting that an increasing portion of the world’s wealth now lies in the Middle East, they postulate that the demand for economic accounting in an Islamic context is certain to increase. The Review Section highlights a critique by Rasha al-DisUqi of Herman Melville’s classic, Moby Dick, demonstrating that it was based on Orientalist distortion of Islam and then became a base for further distortion by Orien- talists today. This is followed by a review article on Literature About Islam in America: A Survey ofSource oflnfonnation, by Muhammad Tahir and Siddiq ‘Ali which, takes up the difficult task of sorting out major and minor sources of literature on Islam in America. Their survey revealed a conspiratorial-like drough of infor- mation in standard literature searches. Together these authors make a commen- dable attempt to examine reference sources on Islam and suggest the need for greater attention to this subject, including updating of such materials and im- proving existing practices of indexing. Muhammad Anwar, a IIIT Research Associate, concludes this section with an article on Islamic Justice in a Monetary System: A Modest Proposal. He reviews Toward a Just Monetary System, by Dr. M. Umer Chapra, which he describes as “a complete and comprehensive study of a monetary system from an Islamic perspective.” Occassionally differing with the author, he concludes with a proposal which would divide monetary institutions into private and social banks, where the former would solicit only investment deposits and the latter would solicit demand deposits and manage zakat and other public funds. A book review by Muhammad ‘Arif welcomes the refreshing, professional objectivity of Dr. Moorhead Kennedy, the son of one of America’s most wealthy families and the second-ranking American diplomat taken hostage in Iran. His imprisonment gave him time to conclude that his own role as an obe- dient American official inevitably would make him part of America’s problem in the world rather than potentially part of the solution. He finds in some Christian leaders in America the same faults they ascribe to Muslim leaders abroad. Hence the title of his book: The Ayatollah in the Cathedral. The Journal concludes with conference and workshop reports and a response note on the “Maitasine” issue by Abdul Rahman I. Doi. We hope that the articles presented in this issue will serve to encourage our readers to continue their support and m o m v e r active involvement in the task of providing an Islamic prespective to the philosophical and critical issues of our time. AJISS will continue to provide a major platform for scholars evincing the Islamic perspective, and we welcome your participation as authors, reviewers and agents in our efforts to reach a wider audience. Editoral Note - vii It has been a great pleasure and a great experience to serve as the Chief Editor of the American J o u m l of Islamic Social Sciences. My new assign- ment as the Chairman of the Department of Political Science at the Howard ' University in addition to several other engagements have made it difficult for me to devote the same amount of time to AJZSS as I have done in the past. At the behest of the Editorial Board and the Executive Committee of the AMSS, Dr. Mushtaqur Rahman has been requested to function as the Chief Editor. Dr. Mushtaq has served as the Vice President of the AMSS and has supervis- ed the publications of the AMSS. I have always had great appreciation for Dr. Mushtaq's talents as a scholar and I believe he will be able to serve the J o u m l well and lead it in continued excellence. I will continue to be associated with the MISS and offer my cooperation and help for the betterment of the journal, In Sha Allah. t Sulayman S . Nyang Editor-in- Chief