The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences W. 6, No. 2, 1989 227 

The Islamization Of Methodology 
Of Behavioral Sciences 

DK nhii Jiibir A1 -2ilwizni 

All praise and thanksgiving are for Allah (SWT) Lord of the universe, 
and peace and blessings be upon the Seal of the Prophets (eS), his kin 
and all his companions, and upon all who follow him and are guided by his 
Message, until the Day of Judgment. 

Brothers and sisters: it gives me great pleasure to welcome you all in 
the name of the International Institute of Islamic Thought at the beginning 
of this conference, the fourth in its series of international conferences. We 
are happy and appreciate that this conference is being hosted by the Sudan, 
and is being held in coopemtion with the University of Khartoum, to discuss 
a matter of great importance to this Ummah: l’he R&rm ofthe MethodoZogy 
of Zslamic lloughf, and Ubys of Zslamizing the Behavioml Sciences. Un- 
doubtedly, these sciences form the general basis for the social sciences and 
humanities. 

This is indeed the first time that the Institute has held one of its interna- 
tional conferences in an Arab country, under the auspices of a Muslim Arab 
president from an historical family whose deep concern for attempting to ef- 
fect reform in this Ummah is well-known. For the benefit of the good people 
of this c o w ,  and for the audience here, we should briefly but accurately out- 
line the aims and objectives of this Institute, its achievements so far, and its 
most important plans and projects, so that individuals are able to determine 
the part each can play as well as the extent of their possible participation in 
and contribution to this good work. 

Many years ago, and after numerous conkrences and exhaustive studies 
and consultations on the present situation of our Ummah, in addition to ex- 
tensive analysis of our past as well as our fu tm aspirations, an idea crystallized 
in the minds of a group of young committed Muslims. They were convinced 
that the crisis of this Ummah in both essence and reality is an intellectual 

DE ~ ~ k w i n i  is President ofthe ~nternatioml ~nstitute ~f~s lamic  Thaught, ~ e r a d ~ n ,  ~uginia. 
This is the English translation of the opening speech at the Fourth International Conference 
on Islamization of Knowledge organized by the IIlT in cooperation with the Department of 
Psychology, University of Khartoum, J d  al ~ l4U7/January 1987. 



228 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Vol. 6, No. 2, 1989 

crisis. This is so because everythmg else in the Ummah is sound except for 
thought. The Ummah still possesses in the present all the fundamentals which 
in the past made it “the best of Peoples evolved for mankind” (The Qur’an 
3:llO); it has definitely not lost any of them, except the soundness of its thought 
and the ability to develop, utilize and strengthen it. As far as the rest is con- 
cerned, the Ummah, if it is not better than it was, at least is no worse. 
Therefore, the various phenomena of corruption in the Ummah are, in our 
opinion, only a reflection and embodiment of the crisis of its thought. 

Thought is the fruit of all sources of knowledge, of education, experience, 
ability, and social concepts and trends. It is formulated as far as the Muslim 
is concerned by Revelation as well as by man’s inherent intellectual capacity, 
by all the cultural developments and the knowledge which man has managed 
to possess, and by the experiences he has gained, in addition to his ownj<ruh 
and potential which Allah (SWT) has bestowed upon him. Thought is like 
a tree which needs healthy and strong roots in order to survive. Hence, if 
the roots and sources of knowledge are sound, the methodology correct and 
the aims worthy, then both its situation and the situation of those behind it 
will improve. Hwever, if there are mistakes or delibemte altemtions and distor- 
tions in these sources, then thought will be corrupted and all aspects of life 
disrupted. Consequently, p p l e  will become short-sighted and narrow-minded. 
They will begin to neglect the basics and essentials, concentrating only on 
minor as well as irrelevant issues, to ignore the long-term aims and objec- 
tives, and to focus all attention on ritualistic details. They will also either 
ignore the relationship between effects and their causes or attribute effects 
to the wrong causes and, therefore, fall victim to superstitions. They will also 
fail to identify their priorities. When a society reaches such a stage, the social 
equilibrium crumbles and collapses, resulting in conflict between members 
of the group, or Ummah, which will dominate all political, intellectual, and 
social aspects of life. Security will disappear, and distrust and corruption will 
prevail, Odd ideas and principles will predominate creating serious divisions 
and schisms. People will be hesitant and afraid to participate in or contribute 
to collective and public work, endeavors, and activities. Lacking both in trust 
and confidence, they will tend to isolate themselves from society. Positive, 
disciplined, and fair attitudes will disappear only to be replaced with whim- 
sical, frivolous, and erratic ones. Objective thinking will be lost, only to give 
way to Machiavellian and precautionary ideas and thought and to the mixing 
up of &rent issues and means. The members of the Ummah will have nothmg 
in common. Killing, torturing, and repressive silencing of any form of op- 
position will become the only way of communication between the rulers and 
the people. Thus will the Ummah lose its ability to understand its own situa- 
tion and fail to plan for the future; its efforts and activities will be limited 
to combating non-issues which are the product of selfishness and greed. All 



Islamization of Methodology 229 

these systems serve as clear indicators of nothing more or less than a crip- 
pling intellectual crisis. 

If a nation’s thought is distorted and suffers such a crisis, then it should 
be reformed before the Ummah is able to rectify and improve its situation 
and develop. Attempts to reform any aspect without first resolving the crisis 
of thought will always be doomed to failure and lead to more confusion and 
corruption. Undoubtedly, all means of reform will be rendered ineffective 
if influenced to any extent by corrupted and distorted thought. Positive ef- 
fects, if any, of such attempts will always be short-lived and may even be turned 
into and used as a means of repression and destruction. Indeed, there are 
many striking examples of this in our own history. 

Allah (SWT) has ordered us to believe in qudur; i.e., His assignment 
of ends to all processes of life and existence on earth. Belief in qadar is con- 
sidered to be one of the most important pillars of iimin; i.e., the conviction 
that Allah (SWT) is indeed the One and only God and that Mulpmmad (SAAS) 
is His last Prophet. Anybody who does not believe in qudur is not considered 
to be a mu’min; his imiin is invalid. The effect of belief in qudur is to en- 
courage the Muslim to endeavor to make great achievements. Moreover, belief 
in qudur releases mankind from all kinds of desires and fears and frees them 
from all sorts of pressures and evil influences. It gives them self-respect and 
enables them in accordance with the will of Allah (SWT), to explore the 
universe and utilize it for their own benefit and to study its natural laws and 
the interrelationships between them, so that they can build civilizations and 
establish truth, goodness, and beauty. 

When the first generation of this Ummah, the Su&buh and the tiibi‘iin, 
combined this driving force with enlightened thought and were able to under- 
stand it within this framework, they were neither hampered by obstacles nor 
did they allow difficulties to prevent them from achieving their aims and goals. 
But when this pillar of imiin is combined with disturbed and distorted thought, 
it leads to laziness, indifference, and apathy. 

If we study the relationship between causality and divine power, we will 
find that this relationship was fully understood by the first generation of the 
Ummah. Their understanding was comprehensive and clear. Everyone of them 
would take all the means at their disposal and, if they were successful in their 
endeavour and task, then they would thank and praise Allah (SWT), who had 
created and made available such means and brought about the desired result. 
However, if they failed, then they would go back and carefully examine the 
means again to find out where they had gone wrong in order to rectify the 
mistake; then they would do their best again, within the God-given sunan 
(“laws”), to achieve the desired results. At the same time, they believed that 
Allah (SWT) has complete power to do whatever He wills, and that He “hath 
power over all things” (The Qur’an 2:20). 



230 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Vol. 6, No. 2, 1989 

The first generation of Muslims were also aware that complete divine 
power does not prevent the believer from using available and appropriate means 
to bring about the requred result. The believer, they rightly felt, must do 
everything possible, proficiently, accurately, and sincerely, and then leave it 
to Allah (SWT) to bring about a result in accordance with His s w n  and 
with qadar. Allah (SWT) has the right to test His servants, but they do not 
have the right to test Him by neglecting the necessary means and causes in 
order to see whether or not the same result wuld come about. The first genem- 
tion never failed to seek the appropriate means in any matter they pursued. 
None of them felt that by doing so they would detract from the sincerity of 
their imiin or from the reality of tawakkul; i.e., reliance on Allah (SWT). 
The Prophet (&US)  summed up this matter in one single sentence. When 
an upset and surprised Bedouin, who had left his camel untied outside the 
mosque only to frnd later that it had run away, complained to the Prophet 
(SAAS) that he had relied on Allah (SWT) to take care of his camel, the Pro- 
phet (SAAS) said, "Tie the camel up (%@?, then rely on Allah (SWT) (%u 
tawakkal'3." 

However, the thought of the contemporary, crisis-stricken, generations 
has dramatically changed this simple, clear matter into an insoluble problem. 
The kaliirniyiin have spoken and written a great deal on the reality and the 
nature of the cause and the relationship between causes and effects. They have 
raised such questions as these: Is the effect necessarily brought about by the 
cause? When is it necessary to mention and explain causes and when is it 
not necessary? Such questions and consequent arguments confounded, 
bewildered, and confused the Muslim mind. Sometimes the Muslim was told 
that resorting to means is a sign of the weakness of his imiin as well as of 
his w i n ,  i.e. apodlctic certainty of the truth of Islam and its claim. The Muslim 
was sometimes told that to adopt and resort to means is a requirement of faith. 
In all cases, this had a tremendous shattering effect on the Muslim mind and 
conscience. The'Ummah now needs to make great educational and intellec- 
tual efforts in order to rid itself of these debilitating and paralyzing effects. 
The deviation of thought caused by the principle of causality is responsible 
to a great extent for the spread of superstition, indifference, lack of objectivi- 
ty, and apathy. These bad effects have been exacerbated by the exponents of 
superlativefiqh and cryptic issues. An example would be those who would 
affect the application of punishment in the case of a woman who, pregnant 
through adultery, claimed that ajinn had impregnated her, by rendering her 
guilt "doubtful." 

For the first generation of the Ummah, the relationship between the in- 
tellectual capacity of hql (?emon? and mql ("revelation," "transmitted 
knowledge") was complementary. Nothing has been narrated which might in- 
dicate that any one of that generation felt that there was a dichotomy between 



Islamization of Methodology 231 

the two. Whenever there was a revelation concerning ghuyb (“hidden,” ”in- 
visible,” ”unseen,” “that which is beyond perception”), they all used to accept 
it in all submission, with no Ttirckj (objection), nojid2lZ (argumentj, no mIiZ 
(delay), no tmhbih (doubt), and no tu’u-Z (interpretation), with no arguments 
or objections, and without trying to find explanation for it. In other words, 
they pnxeded without tavZ, mhbih, or tub2 because their intellectual capaci- 
ty had W y  played its role in determining whether or not the Prophet ($US) 
was speaking the truth, and they had already pondered, argued, discussed, 
and asked for evidence (the miracle), and then had embraced Islam. As long 
as they believed that the Prophet (SAAS) was the Messenger of Allah (SWT) 
and was telling the truth in everything that was revealed to him, and that the 
Qur’an was the Book of Allah (SWT), which “no falsehood can approach it 
from before or behind it” (The Qur’an 41:42), then in matters of ghayb they 
were easily able to accept whatever the Prophet (&US) told them. They were 
genuinely convinced that these are matters which can only be known by means 
of revelation, and that the revelation had been proven correct and authentic 
by miracles. Therefore, there is no need to waste precious intellectual energy 
as well as time on matters of ghuyb. It is far better to devote ourselves to 
the study of the tangible universe and to use it as creatively as possible. 

The relationship between the intellectual capacity of reason and Revela- 
tion was severely affected by that time of thought crisis which had a damag- 
ing influence on scholastic theology and philosophy. This led to much distor- 
tion, confusion, and sterile arguments about fate, free-will, cause and effect, 
people’s deeds, the role of man, and the value and importance of life and its 
goal. All of this affected the Muslim’s way of thinking, outlook, education, 
behavior, attitudes, and reactions; all have transformed Muslims into negative, 
indifferent, and fatalistic beings, weak-willed and shortsighted, who blindly 
imitate others and are totally occupied and exhausted by trivialities. Such 
Muslims are like worthless flotsam, as no harmony whatsoever exists bet- 
ween them and their surroundings. 

If the wonderful harmony between intellectual capacity and Revelation 
had continued, and the Muslims had continued with studying the universe 
and its laws and ways to harness it for the benefit of humanity in order to 
establish truth and justice, we would not find ourselves in this situation. It 
would not be possible for the reins of civilization to be in alien hands, nor 
for the Muslims to be worthless flotsam. If the Muslim had remained in- 
dustrious, worshipping Allah (SWT) with his mind, intellect and meditation 
as well as with his actions and deeds, would this present intellectual lethargy, 
laziness, and inertia be arresting and paralyzing his intellectual capacity? 

Moreover, if Islamic thought had continued to ascribe appropriate im- 
portance to the s u m  of cause and effect, and to establish the relationships 
between results and their causes, could superstition in all its manifestations 



232 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Vol. 6, No. 2, 1989 

dominate the Muslim mind? If it were not for the blind imitation of others 
which has made Muslims behave like a lost herd, would we now find our 
Ummah b e i i  driven headlong into destruction and ruin as millions of Muslims 
are killed (the majority of them by Muslim hands, not by the hands of our 
enemies)? The situation is so chaotic that the killer does not know why he 
kills, nor does the slain know why he died. If it were not for the widespread 
confusion caused by the intellectual crisis, would it be possible for thousands 
of Muslims to die of diseases caused by overeating and by other features of 
imported alien cultures while millions of others die of starvation and lack 
of shelter? 

This Ummah has been in existence for a rather long time. Although it 
is difficult to determine exactly when its crisis actually began, the split bet- 
ween the political leadership and the ‘Ulama andfuqahii: which appeared 
after the era of the rightly guided khulufi: can be considered a starting point. 
This split continued to grow and develop, leading eventually to the formula- 
tion of policies which, unlike those of the rightly guided khulafi: bore no 
relationship to the aims of Islam. These policies have had the worst effect 
on the Ummah and its thought, heralding as they did the spread of wrong 
ideas and concepts which brought about intellectual corruption. 

Undoubtedly, the field of knowledge, with its sources and methodologies, 
and the field of education, which is based on such knowledge, have been most 
seriously affected and damaged by the intellectual crisis of our time. The human 
personality is formed from an intellect and a psyche, two features which 
distinguish man from animals, enabling him to think, analyze, and make deci- 
sions. Human intellect is formed by education and knowledge, plus the ex- 
periences and experiments of life. The psyche is formed by arts, literature, 
and attitudes. So any distortion in education will of necessity be reflected 
in the intellect, and any disturbance or change in the arts and literature will 
likewise be reflected in the psyche. 

The social sciences and humanities in the disciplines of psychology, 
sociology, education, economics, politics, media, and others, form the in- 
tellect of contemporary man (whatever his religion) in accordance with their 
orientation and educational influence. All of these subject areas without ex- 
ception are the product of the Western mind, which formed them in accor- 
dance with its own philosophy and complicated outlook on the universe, life, 
and man, and molded them to suit its own needs, with no regard for the needs 
of other peoples. The Soviets often describe the standards and methods of 
these sciences as being Capitalist sciences and methods. I wonder what term 
the Muslims would ascribe to them after their thought is reformed and their 
will freed from their shackles and fetters. 

The methodologies of these sciences, their subject matter, results, aims, 
explanations of human behavior, and outlook on life and the universe, are 



Islamization of Methodology 233 

all in sharp conflict with our beliefs, concepts, and aims in life. They have 
succeeded in dividing the educated Muslims into several groups, each adher- 
ing to one of their various philosophies and schools of thought. Some of them 
are described as “logical and positivist,” others as “existentialist: and still others 
as “materialist.” 

Shortly after its formation, Israel established a commitke for the social 
sciences and entrusted it with conducting research in those fields and calculating 
the extent of the threat which they posed to Jewish and Zionist thought. The 
committee was required to plan to rid these fields of any negative effects on 
the Jewish mentality, because the leaders and thinkers of the Jewish state were 
well aware of the negative and destructive effects these sciences could have 
on life. The fact that many of the main exponents of these philosophies and 
schools of thought were Jews has not prevented Israel from seelung to neutralize 
their effect on the Jewish people, inside and outside of Israel. 

Tragically, however, Muslim youth are being greatly influenced and af- 
fected by all of these alien ideas and concepts. They accept and propagate 
the positive and negative elements without thinking; they become absorbed 
in daydreams. The excuse they give themselves for accepting such cultural 
and intellectual colonialism is that the West took the foundation of its culture 
and civilization from our Islamic legacy. In the whole of the Islamic world, 
there is not one single center for the critical study of these sciences from an 
Islamic view point, let alone centen which could provide an Islamic alternative. 

The time has come for our universities in the Islamic world to turn away 
from their role of producing clerks and officials and to begin to produce 
educated scholars: not merely graduates with general knowledge but educated 
Muslims who are aware of their duties, who are well-versed in their fields, 
and who understand and are committed to the Islamic concepts of the universe, 
life, and man. This cannot be achieved unless the educated Muslim resumes 
his proper role in lik. That role is conveying the message of Islam and refor- 
mulating his own legacy as well as the cultural and scientific heritage of 
mankind by giving an Islamic character to its methodologies, principles, mults, 
and aims. Thus, all fields and methods of knowledge, both in the arts and 
the sciences, will begin and end with Islamic concepts. However, this cannot 
be achieved without the Islamization of knowledge. 

Shari‘ah Sciences 

Our knowledge suffered a split very early on. The origins of this split 
may be traced to the age of translation, classification, compilation, and recor- 
ding. As a result of this split, knowledge has been divided into turo separate 



234 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Vol. 6, No. 2, 1989 

areas: Shari‘ah knowledge and “other” knowledge. This division still prevails 
When the West colonized the Islamic world, it reinforced this division and 
gave it new impetus. Western strategists took advantage of the dual system 
of education to completely isolate Islam from life, and to confine it to mere 
theoretical issues which served little practical purpose and had no great ef- 
fect on everyday life. In every Islamic country which they colonized, they 
established a secular system of education that enforced the Westernization 
of the Muslim mind. Consequently and tragically, Muslims began to believe 
in Western values and adhere to Western methodologies in all aspects of life 
and knowledge. The colonialists gave this secular educational system the capaci- 
ty to influence society and provided it with all the means to achieve this. In 
order to kill any serious opposition, they deviously allowed some religious 
schools to remain. In most countries, these schools were attached to the mos- 
ques and, in others, they were kept independent. They taught the legacy of 
fiqh, kalam and ’hqiil, as well as Arabic sciences, using books written and 
ideas formulated after the gates of ijtihad had been closed. This dual system 
of education helped to split the educated members of the Ummah into two 
groups: the Westernized group, which tries to establish all kinds of connec- 
tions and rapport with the West, thinking that this will bring about an im- 
provement in the Ummah‘s situation, and an opposing group that strongly 
resists this, not through sound thought but through a thought and a mentality 
formulated during the period of decline when the basis of studies and educa- 
tion were formed. This conflict is still going on, wasting the Ummah‘s energy 
and destroying its unity, and is a major factor of its backwardness. 

Here we can clearly realize the urgent necessity for what we call the 
Islamization of knowledge, which, in addition to the goals mentioned above, 
also aims to abolish the dual system of education in order to rid the Muslim 
mind of this dichotow of knowledge. This would produce a united educa- 
tional system and a methodological syllabus capable of providing the Um- 
mah with Muslim specialists in every practical area as well as in the social 
sciences and humanities. These specialists wuld understand the general t$zkiim 
of the Sharihh in addition to the rules of their field, so that they can know 
what to accept and what to reject. This would enable them to bring their own 
activities in line with the general aims of Islam and its conception of the 
universe, life, and man. 

The studies known as “Shari‘ah Studies” need to be completely revised 
with regard to the books used, the tutors involved, the subject matter studied 
and researched, and the teaching methods followed. A great deal needs to 
be added and the syllabus needs to be changed. The humanities and social 
sciences, and the study of human nature and natural laws should be added 
to the syllabus in order to enable thefuqih to understand human nature and 
instinct, both individual and social, and also to understand the various aspects 



T& Jibir Al ‘Alwh- Islamization of Methodology 235 

of life, thereby enabling him to interact with them. In this way, he can play 
an active part in society after becoming aware of its problems and values. 

It has now become essential for this Ummah to establish academic in- 
stitutions for research and study to deal with and specialize in the areas men- 
tioned above in order to utilize its potential to hold meetings, invite scholars 
to research and write, to adopt the most intelligent young people and prepare 
them to take to the Muslim world the methodologies, program, steps, plans, 
and conditions for reforming thought and Islamizing knowledge. Moreover, 
such institutions would work had  to make the issue of the Islamization of 
knowledge the main concern of the educated Muslims, thus establishing a 
trend which will lead the Ummah to a real, solid renaissance, carrying the 
message of Islam from a comprehensive, civilized viewpoint and perspective 
and putting its basic issues into action. This will lead the Ummah toward a 
life of goodness in this world and a great reward in the hereafter. 

The First Intemational Conference on the Islamization of Knowledge was 
held in Europe in July 1977. It decided on the establishment of an institute 
to work toward reviving Islamic thought and its methodology. Thus the Inter- 
national Institute of Islamic Thought was established in Washington in 1981 
by some brothers who have volunteered to shoulder this responsibility and 
duty and to devote themselves to fulfil the Institute’s objectives and secure 
its independence. The Second International Conference on Islamization was 
held in Islamabad, Pakistan, in 1982 in cooperation between the Institute and 
the Islamic University there. As a result of the research and discussions of 
the participants, a plan for the Islamization of Knowledge was crystallized 
and published as Ihe Islamization of Krwwkdge, Geneml Principles and Rbrk 
Plan. One result of that conference was that the Islamic trend in Pakistan was 
not confined to knowledge. The Pakistani President himself participated in 
the conference, and instructed his advisers and the lea- figures in Pakistan 
to take part in the research and discussions. Since then, Pakistan has taken 
wide-ranging steps towards Islamization in many fields. Civil and criminal 
laws have been reviewed and have been replaced with Islamic alternatives. 
A system of zakah was announced and is being put into action. The study 
of Islamic civilization and Islamic thought has been included in the syllabi 
of all universities, and specialist research centers have been established in 
many branches of knowledge in the universities to study the Islamization of 
those subjects. Many Pakistani brothers and sisters see a direct connection 
between that conference and the Islamic changes which followed it. 

The Third Intemational Conference on the Islamization of knowledge was 
held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in cooperation with the Islamic University 
there. The Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Muhammad, government officials, 
party members, and many prominent Mdaysian scientists and scholars took 
part in the conference. This had far-reachmg effects on the wide-wing steps 



236 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Vol. 6, No. 2, 1989 

which Malqsia has taken towarti the Islamization of many fields. Useful altera- 
tions have been made to most syllabi, and an International Islamic Universi- 
ty and an Islamic Bankhave been established in Kuala Lumpur. One is delighted 
to hear that the non-Muslim majority in Malaysia has been very good and 
encouraging to the call for Islamization and the moves in that direction. This 
proves beyond any doubt that if Islam is presented to people in a correct and 
positive way, and as a solution b their problems, a cure for their ills, an answer 
to their questions, and a just and practical way of dealing with matters, then 
they will rush, not to reject but, to embrace it. But if Islam is presented in 
a negative way, merely in empty words and slogans and in strict actions, then 
it will only be met with rejection and resistance. 

Tbday, the Institute is holding its Fourth International Conference in 
cooperation with the University of Khartoum. The hope is that this conkrence 
will produce a comprehensive view of Islamic methodology and a practical 
conception necessary for the Islamization of the behavioral sciences that form 
the basis of the social sciences. These should be presented to the teachers 
of those sciences so as to enable them to give examples and evidence of the 
Muslim mind's ability to structure and develop knowledge, and to reintroduce 
these sciences to their students from an Islamic angle by adopting from the 
Qur'an and the Sunnah their ideas of man's soul and human nature, the rules 
of individual and socialJitmh, the purpose of creation, and the divine laws 
governing the universe, man, and life. At the same time, they should seek 
to make use of all sound means and methods of scientific research which AUah 
(SWT) has bestowed upon His servants, so that these sciences will then become 
means for producing a new strong Muslim and will enable him/her to fulfill 
hidher role as Allah (SWT)'s vicegerent on earth. Therefore, mankind's mison 
d b e ,  which is the service of Allah (SWT), involves building civilizations 
and utilmng all the energies and potentials-both apparent and hidden-which 
Allah (SWT) has provided to enable mankind to fulfdl its role. 

The Institute hopes that Sudan will, in shti'AZlah, carry out this trust, 
especially since its government is led by an important Muslim thinker who 
has contributed a great deal to many Islamic causes and issues. Wk also hope 
that the Prime Minister will include this message in his suggestions to the 
Islamic Summit Conkrence, and ask Muslim leaders to give due and ap- 
propriate attention to the reform of the methodology and the Islamization of 
knowledge. 

As we have pointed out earlier, the three Western behavioral sciences- 
psychology, sociology, and anthropology- are today considered the basis and 
the starting point for all Mstern humanities and social sciences. Their assump- 
tions, rules, and theories define the understanding of man and his name, aims, 



Islamization of Methodology 237 

motives, and mctions, the significance of his various activities, his relation- 
ships, and his interaction with others. One could almost say that the other 
social sciences are merely the application of the assumptions and rules of 
these sciences to the fields of education, politics, econOmics, administration, 
media, law, and so forth. However, Western thought in these sciences has 
many negative f-tum and serious shortcomings. The most important ofthese 
are: 

1. Limitation of the Sources of Knowledge 

As the West has confined the sources of its knowledge to human intellect 
done, it has thus deprived itself of the most important source of knowledge, 
namely divine revelation, which can provide comprehensive and detail- 
ed knowledge. 

2. Limitation ofthe Means of Examining the Knowledge Pmduced 
by Human Intellect 

As they have limited these means to experiments alone, they have made 
this the only proof of soundness in any branch of knowledge. Hence they 
t h i n k t h a t e x p e r i m e n t s a r e t h e a a l y m e a n s o f ~ ~ ~ a n d a r e , ~ ~ ,  
suitable for every field of howledge. But this is not the case, as we all 
know. 

3. Application of Deduction Regardless of Wide Meremes 



238 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Vol. 6, No. 2, 1989 

which had been scattered between many causes. Suddenly he became devoted 
to this one cause: The Islamization of knowledge. It dominated his life and 
activities as he pondered, discussed, and planned with his brothers how to 
realize it and how to mobilize people and msources for it. 

He (may Allah (swT)’s mercy fall upon him) always expressed himself 
sincerely and clearly, and used to present his arguments well. He was aware 
of all the faults of Christianity and Judaism, having studied and masted both 
well, in addition to being well versed in the history of religions. As an expert 
in Western philosophy, he had identified its faults and was cognizant of the 
advantages of the Shari‘ah. He enjoyed an international reputation, and there 
was hardly a conference in any field of the humanities and social sciences 
where he was not one of the main speakers or did not captivate the minds 
of his audience. 

Always by his side was his wife, the shahiM Lois Iamya’. She had been 
his partner in life since his arrival in the United States. A distinguished scholar 
in the field of arts and civilization, she managed to combine her energies with 
his. For many years, she devoted her efforts to trace the mts of and establish 
a theory for ‘‘Islamic Arts.” She took it upon herself to Islamize the arts and 
succeeded in doing - with the utmost humility and modesty - that which hun- 
dreds of Muslim women, raised in Muslim homes, have indeed failed to do. 
The whole family was the enemy’s target, so Lamya’ was killed by the same 
Rambo knife with which her husband was slaughted. She died minutes before 
him. The killer tried to finish off their pregnant daughter, whom he repeatedly 
stabbed with his M e ,  stopping only when he thought she was dead. 

This is the first conference held by the Institute since the martyrdom of 
the al-Fiiriiqis. We want to ensure that the flag will be kept flying, in shii’ 
Allah, that the Institute will continue spreading its message, and that the 
brothers and sisers of al-Firiiqis will carry on their mission regardless of 
challenges, obstacles, and hindrances. 

In conclusion, we ask Allah (SWT) to enable us to complete our task 
and achieve our aims; to grant us all resolution and sincerity; to bless this 
conference from which we shall be able, in shii’AZlah, to take on that which 
will benefit our Ummah and help to spread progress; and to make our efforts 
and those of all sincere Muslims successful. He is indeed the only One we 
can ask for success and the only One who is able to grant it.