Editorial

Abstract

This special issue of the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences onIsmail al Faruqi is prepared to honor the memory and contribution of ProfessorIsmail al Faruqi to the academia, the history of Islamic thought,and the development of the Muslim community (Ummah). Providing aperspective twenty-five years after Professor al Faruqi’s death, it providesthought-provoking papers relating of the person, mission, and intellectualjihad initiated by Professor al Faruqi.Ismail Raji al Faruqi (1921–1986) was a great scholar of Islam in moderntimes. His scholarship covered a broad spectrum of Islamic studies: thestudy of religion, Islamic thought, approaches to knowledge, history, culture,education, interfaith dialogue, aesthetics, ethics, politics, economics,science, and gender issues. He had indeed an encyclopedic knowledge, arare person among contemporary Muslim scholars.Ismail al-Faruqi laid the foundation for a new interpretation and analysisof the quintessence of tawhid and its relevance in various dimensionsof human life and thought. He also made unique contributions to the studyof Islam and its relevance to the contemporary age. In fact, many of hisunique contributions to Islamic scholarship remain especially relevant todayand have been carried on and extended by many of his former.Professor al Faruqi was a founder of “the school of Islamization ofknowledge,” which has been incorporated at several international Islamicuniversities. His school of thought, academic approach, and practice is alsobeing applied by hundreds of his students who are teaching and doing researchat different universities in all continents.This special issue of the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences,revisits the intellectual legacy and continuing influence of Professor Ismailal Faruqi since his death ...