Editorial Note

Abstract

When the first issue of the American Journal of Islamic Studies
(AJIS) came out last spring, we announced that it was an organ of the
Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS) and that it is intended to
serve as a forum for dialogue between Muslims in these United States
and those elsewhere in the global Muslim community. We hope the
number of articles published in the first and second issues of the journal
have served this purpose.
In this third and fourth numbers of the journal we wish to announce a
change of name. Why are we changing the name of the journal and what
is the new name? Well, the new name is the American Jouml of Islamic
Social Sciences (AISS). The decision to change the name of the journal
was made by the newly elected Executive Committee of the AMSS.
Under the new President, Dr. Abdulhamid AbuSulaymanm, the
Executive feels that the term “Islamic Studies” does not necessarily
convey the wider meaning and research objectives of the AMSS. It is
true that “Islamic Studies” encompasses a great deal in terms of studies
on and about the Muslim World and peoples, but to further the cause of
the AMSS and its members, the journal must begin to deal with the
social science issues that bear on the Muslim World. This journal, the
Executive believes, could serve as the intellectual vehicle through which
the Muslim identity and Muslim scholarship can not only benefit but also
develop along more authentic and less dependent lines. Of course some of
us in the Muslim World and within the ranks of the AMSS may argue
that the very name is presumptous. The point is well taken. Presently an
Islamic social science is yet to develop but there is room for aspirations.
The effort is certainly aspirational and the members of the AMSS and
others interested in Islamic affairs and in research about the Muslims
are called upon to give the idea a chance to develop.
But actually, what is Islamic social science? This is a body of
knowledge that interprets scientifically acquired data along Islamic
lines. It employs much of the tried and tested social science research
methods to explain, analyse and discuss the human condition in Muslim
societies; it formulates hypotheses and theories in the tradition of Ibn
Khaldun and Ibn Taymiyah and pursues knowledge to the farthest
limits set by the divinely created aql (human intellect). One
distinguishing characteristics of an Islamic social science is the set of
motives that propel the researcher. Rather than pursue knowledge
simply for the sake of knowledge, this approach to knowledge-acquiring
and knowledge-processing places much emphasis on man’s role as ...