Vision of AJISS

Abstract

When the International Institute of Islamic Thought and the Associationof Muslim Social Scientists decided to launch AJ/SS sixteen years ago, theyhad a shared vision of the condition of the Ummah, the crises facing it, andthe resolution of those crises. These were the three challenges that inspiredthe work of HIT and AMSS the last two decades. As we write the editorialfor the first issue of the seventeenth volume of AJ/SS, we recall those challengesand that vision of Islam and discover that they are still deeply relevanttoday.The first challenge was to understand Islam and then interpret that understanding.Today, more than ever before, Islam is considered a great religion,an egalitarian faith, and a holistic way of life by Muslims and others.More and more people are realizing the extent to which Islamic valuesand the Shari'ah, which are just and universal in character, may contributeto solving the problems of contemporary civilization. They also recognizethat Islamic guidance, which integrates revelation and reason, answers eternalquestions about living righteously on earth and establishing a just andrational 'umriin (civilization).Both HIT and AMSS believe that Muslim scholars and intellectuals willserve Islam and humanity if they articulate a comprehensive worldviewpremised on Islamic ontology, epistemology, and methodology. Thisworldview will enable Muslims to institutionalize and observe Islamicideals and central principles such as tawhid, 'umriin and tazkiyah, enablenon-Muslims to interpret life, nature, and human phenomena, and have sufficientelements shared between them to facilitate a universal discourse thatcan bring the fruits of Islam to all humanity.The second challenge concerned diagnosing the contemporary conditionof the Muslim Ummah. Despite the Islamic values and principles that itpossesses and the human and natural resources it enjoys, the Ummah hasbeen in decline for several centuries. Muslims have been subjected toincomparable defeats and humiliation. In today's global media they are ...