The Islamization of Knowledge

Abstract

IntroductionWithin the Islamization of Knowledge school, the idea of the Islamizationof Knowledge has always been understood as an intellectual andmethodological outlook rather than as an academic field, a specialization,an ideology, or a new sect. Thus, the school has sought to view issues ofknowledge and methodology from the perspectives of reform, inquiry, andself-discovery without any preconceptions, doctrinal or temporal constraints,or limitations on its intellectual horizons. The school is keenlyaware of the workings of time on ideas as they pass from stage to stage andmature and is therefore the first to say that the Islamization of Knowledgeis not to be understood as a set of axioms, a rigid ideology, or a religiousmovement. Rather, in order to comprehend the full meaning of the term, itmust be viewed as designating a methodology for dealing with knowledgeand its sources or as an intellectual outlook in its beginning stages.An ongoing critique and the attempt to derive particulars from the generalare essential to the process of development. The initial articulation ofthe Islamization of Knowledge undertaking and the workplan was thereforeproduced in general terms. At that early stage, the focus was on presentinga criticism of both traditional Muslim and western methodologies and thenintroducing the Islamization of Knowledge and explaining its significance.The first edition of the Islamization of Knowledge pointed out the principlesessential to any attempt to fashion an Islamic paradigm of knowledgebased on the. Islamic worldview and its unique constitutive concepts andfactors. It also addressed, briefly, the intellectual aspect of the Islamizationof Knowledge. The main focus, however, was on the practical aspects ofproducing textbooks for use in teaching the social sciences, as this was consideredthe first priority at a time when the Muslim world was losing its bestminds to the West and the western cultural and intellectual invasion.Accordingly, twelve steps were identified as the basis from which thepreparation of introductory social science texts might proceed ...