A Critique of Theories and Theorizing in Social Sciences Special Reference to Islamic Political Experience

Abstract

This paper seeks to present a critique of and an alternative to theories
and theorizing employed by social scientists to explain the relationship
between religion and politics in general and Islamic Political
Experience in particular. Within the context of the paper we argued that
politcal theory can be conveniently understood in terms of the
co-existence of two distinct and rival styles of though Positivism and
historicism. For the lack of better terms we take positivism and
historicism to be conventional and radical paradigms respectively. The
paradigms are found wanting in that they do not have the capacity to
provide a satisfactory framework of ideas and common vocabularly
with which to conduct discourse on Islamic Political Experience. In any
case, for a paradigm to do that, it must become fully subsumed in an
Islamic worldview. A paradigm presented as a critique and alternative
to these paradigms is based on conceptual analysis, with pure Qur’anic
and Shariah concepts providing both the framework and methdological
tools of analysis. It is an axiomatic approach as it involves systematic
analysis of a number of axioms, the starting point of which is the idea
of the totality of Islam as an ideal which Muslims endeaovur to
concretize.