The Methodology of the Islamic Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

Methodology is the means of fotmdating the principles that detetmine
the guidelines for various sciences. Or, in other words, it is the system
of practices and procedures that, when applied to a specific branch
of knowledge, will result in furthering the particulars of that knowledge.
The concept of studying methodology is not new. In fact, some trace it
back to Plato and Anstotle, who gave it special consideration. Its study
has developed to such an extent that it has now become a science in and
of itself under the fotmal title of "methodology." Its content has also be
come intertwined with the philosophy of the sciences themselves.
Methodology in the West
We can say with certainty that the ideological and civilizational development
that affected the West throughout history left profound traces
on the essence of methodology. The domination of the Catholic chutch
and its teptesentatives over the methods of scientific reseaTch placed
limits on rational thinking and confined it within the strictures of church
doctrine on the concepts and principles that explained natute and human
behavior.
In those centuries, man was not the master of the univeme. Furthermote,
human thought not only depended upon religious teachings but was
actually subject to it. Knowledge was in no way dependent on the soundness
of methodology. On the contrary; it was measured by God's pleasure
and acceptance, since He was understood to provide knowledge and reason
with legitimacy. Of course it was the church which, throughout this
period, actually expressed divine pleasure and acceptance on behalf of
God. In this manner, the church became the only source for the discovery
of natm's sectets, and Christian dogma became the only criteria for
distinguishing between scientific fact and fiction ...