Editorial Note

Abstract

The members of the editorial staff of the AJISS were very encouraged by
the response from readers after the release of Volume 2, Number 1 of the
journal. Apparently many readers were impressed by the new name and the
new format. Some readers see the new name of the journal as a challenge
to Muslim social scientists to take a stand on important human issues and
to conduct their research and analyses within an Islamic framework. One reader
reminded me of an article written by James M. Gustafson on “Man In Light
of Social Science and the Christian Faith.” Apparently this Christian author
was concerned about some of the same philosophical and epistemological issues
that stir us in this journal. This is to say, as a Christian thinker, Gustafson
claims the right “to interpret man from the Christian perspective as well,
and. . .sees things in this light that the lights from the social science do not
expose.” Regardless of how some of the social scientists in the academic community
view statements like that of Gustafson’s, the fact remains that those
who believe in a sublunar world (Dunya) and a transcendenA world (al-Akhira)
will always adopt critically the methods and research findings of the secular
social science.
In this volume we have a number of interesting and infromative articles
that raise a host of issues about the Islamic experience. The lead article is
written by Roger Garaudy, a French Muslim who takes a critical look at the
Western philosophical tradition from the perspective of a Muslim student of
human knowledge. His analysis is a part of the beginning of Western Muslim
attempts to probe deeply into their own intellectual tradition in light of their
understanding of their Muslim intellectual heritage. Following Garaudy’s paper
are several other papers dealing with Ibn Hazem, Amir Ali, Ibn Khaldun and
Mawlana Mawdudi. The Ibn Hem’s piece treats us to a careful analysis
thinker’s thought on Qiyas in Islamic law; Amir Ali’s article addresses the
Muslim thinkers views of Islam early in this century; the Ibn Khaldun essay
gives us an alaysis of the North African Muslim’s under.,tanding of perception
theories of his time; the Mawdudi piece treats us to a careful analysis
of the Pakistani Muslim writer’s tafsir of the Holy Qur’an. The article of Z.I.
Ansari provides an analysis of the life and activities of Imam Mrith Deen
Muhammad, the successor of the late Honorable Elijah Muhammad and one
of the leading MusIim figures in America today ...