إسلامية المعرفة وبناء نظرية إسلامية في العلاقات الدولية
The Islamization of Knowledge and the Construction of an Islamic Theory of International Relations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21111/injas.v4i1.67Keywords:
إسلامية المعرفة, النظرية الحضارية, العلاقات الدولية, الإبستمولوجيا, المركزية الغربية, المنهجية, Islamization of Knowledge, International Relations, Civilizational Theory, Western Centrism, MethodologyAbstract
شهد حقل العلاقات الدولية خلال العقود الأخيرة تزايدًا ملحوظًا في الدعوات إلى تجاوز المركزية الغربية وبناء أطر معرفية أكثر تعددية في تفسير الظواهر الدولية، الأمر الذي أعاد الاهتمام بمشروع إسلامية المعرفة بوصفه أحد المشاريع الداعية إلى تأسيس نموذج حضاري بديل يستند إلى المرجعية الإسلامية. غير أن معظم الدراسات انصرفت إلى عرض المشروع والدفاع عنه، بينما لم تحظَ إشكاليته الإبستمولوجية والمنهجية بالقدر الكافي من التحليل النقدي، خاصة فيما يتعلق بطبيعة المعرفة، والعلاقة بين الوحي والعقل، وإشكالية الغيب والشهادة، وحدود الكونية الإسلامية، وإمكان تحويل المرجعية الإسلامية إلى إطار نظري يمتلك قدرة تفسيرية في العلاقات الدولية. تنطلق هذه الدراسة من فرضية مفادها أن نجاح مشروع إسلامية المعرفة في الإسهام بتطوير نظرية حضارية للعلاقات الدولية لا يتوقف على تميزه المرجعي فحسب، وإنما يعتمد أساسًا على مدى تماسك بنيته الإبستمولوجية، وقدرته على بناء مفاهيم علمية قابلة للتعميم، ومنهج قادر على استيعاب تعقيد الظواهر الدولية دون الوقوع في الاختزال أو الانغلاق الحضاري. وتعتمد الدراسة المنهج التحليلي النقدي، من خلال تحليل الأسس الفلسفية والمعرفية للمشروع، ومناقشة أبرز التحديات التي تواجهه، وفي مقدمتها العلاقة بين الوحي والعقل، والثابت والمتغير، والغيب والشهادة، وموقع التراث، وحدود نقد المركزية الغربية، ومدى إمكانية بناء نموذج معرفي يجمع بين الأصالة الإسلامية ومتطلبات البحث العلمي المعاصر. وتخلص الدراسة إلى أن التحدي الحقيقي الذي يواجه مشروع إسلامية المعرفة لا يتمثل في إثبات خصوصيته الحضارية، وإنما في بناء إطار إبستمولوجي ومنهجي متماسك قادر على إنتاج مفاهيم تفسيرية قابلة للتطبيق في دراسة العلاقات الدولية. وترى الدراسة أن تطوير نظرية حضارية إسلامية... (النص مبتور في الأصل)
English Abstract
This paper examines the epistemological and methodological challenges facing the Islamization of Knowledge project, especially when employed as a reference framework for building a civilizational theory in International Relations. The study begins from the premise that the success of any knowledge project does not depend solely on the soundness of its doctrinal or philosophical foundations, but also requires methodological clarity, the capacity to engage human plurality, and the ability to reconcile revelation and reason, permanence and change, the unseen and the seen, as well as the development of interpretive tools capable of analyzing the contemporary international system. The paper argues that the Islamization of Knowledge remains an important attempt to overcome Western centrism in knowledge production; however, it continues to face theoretical and methodological difficulties that limit its ability to evolve into a fully developed explanatory model in International Relations. The study concludes that constructing an Islamic civilizational theory requires moving beyond broad normative theorization toward precise methodological formulation, in order to produce a more coherent and effective framework for understanding contemporary international phenomena.
Keywords: Islamization of Knowledge, International Relations, Civilizational Theory, Western Centrism, Methodology.
References
Abou Samra, Amira. "Arab and Muslim Studies in IR Theory: A Mapping from the Perspective of the Cairo School of an Islamic Civilizational Paradigm." In The Cairo School of an Islamic Civilizational Paradigm in International Relations: The Building Process, edited by Nadia Mahmoud Mostafa and Amira Abou Samra, 45–68. London: Routledge, 2026. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003749202-4.
AbouSamra, Amira. "International Relations Conceptual Framework Revisited: The Experience of the Egyptian School of an Islamic Civilizational Paradigm." Global Studies Quarterly 6, no. 1 (2026): ksag064. https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksag064.
Ali, Muhammed Mumtaz. "Reconstruction of Islamic Thought and Civilization: An Analytical Study of the Movement for the Islamization of Knowledge." Islamic Quarterly 43, no. 1 (1999): 21–38.
Armutlu, Zeynep. "Murājaʿat kitāb maqālāt fī islāmiyyat al-maʿrifa al-taʾlīf: Fatḥī Malkāwī" [Book review of Essays in the Islamization of Knowledge by Fathi Malkawi]. Kastamonu Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 8, no. 1 (2024): 97–113. https://izlik.org/JA25AE26NC.
Bakir, Ali. "Islam and International Relations (IR): Why Is There No Islamic IR Theory?" Third World Quarterly 44, no. 1 (2023): 22–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2022.2121695.
Bettiza, Gregorio, and Filippo Dionigi. "How Do Religious Norms Diffuse? Institutional Translation and International Change in a Post-Secular World Society." European Journal of International Relations 21, no. 3 (2015): 620–647. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066114542663.
Bozbaş, Gökhan, and Fatiha Bozbaş. "From the Periphery to the Center: Sufi Dynamics and Islamic Localization in Sudan." Religions 16, no. 8 (2025): 960. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16080960.
Campanini, Massimo. "Qur’anic Hermeneutics and Political Hegemony: Reformation of Islamic Thought." The Muslim World 99, no. 1 (2009): 124–133. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-1913.2009.01259.x.
Editorial Board [al-Taḥrīr]. "Al-Maʿrifa fī 'islāmiyyat al-maʿrifa'" [Knowledge in "Islamization of Knowledge"]. Al-Fikr al-Islāmī al-Muʿāṣir 6, no. 23 (2000): 18–19. https://doi.org/10.35632/citj.v6i23.2873.
Elmarsafy, Ziad, and Mustapha Bentaïbi. "Translation and the World of the Text: On the Translation of the Word Ḥijāb in the Qur’an." The Translator 21, no. 2 (2015): 210–222. https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2015.1073465.
Habash, Lourdes. "Decentring Western IR Theories Unveiling Efforts from the Arab World." All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace 15, no. 1 (2026): 139–160. https://doi.org/10.20991/allazimuth.1700780.
Ibrahim, Abu Bakr Ahmad [Abū Bakr Aḥmad Ibrāhīm]. "Mafhūm takāmul al-maʿrifa wa-ʿalāqatuhu bi-ḥarakat islāmiyyat al-maʿrifa" [The concept of integration of knowledge and its relation to the Islamization of knowledge movement]. Al-Fikr al-Islāmī al-Muʿāṣir 11, no. 42–43 (2005): 11–52. https://doi.org/10.35632/citj.v11i42-43.1347.
Laabdi, Mourad, and Aziz Elbittioui. "From Aslamat al-Maʿrifa to al-Takāmul al-Maʿrifī: A Study of the Shift from Islamization to Integration of Knowledge." Religions 15, no. 3 (2024): 342. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15030342.
Makarychev, Andrey, and Viatcheslav Morozov. "Is 'Non-Western Theory' Possible? The Idea of Multipolarity and the Trap of Epistemological Relativism in Russian IR." International Studies Review 15, no. 3 (2013): 328–350. https://doi.org/10.1111/misr.12067.
Maram, Ahmad Nabilul, Husein Aziz, and M. Ridlwan Nasir. "Hasan al-Turabi's Pragmatic Approach to Establishing an Islamic State in Sudan." Pharos Journal of Theology 105, no. 3 (2024). https://doi.org/10.46222/pharosjot.105.317.
Medjahed, Belaribi. "The Image of Islam and Muslims in Western Culture." Revue de Recherches et Etudes Scientifiques 20, no. 1 (2026): 992–1007.
Minyawi, Mohammed bin Sami bin Ismail [Muḥammad ibn Sāmī ibn Ismāʿīl Minyāwī]. "Tārīkh aslamat al-maʿārif wa-l-ʿulūm" [History of the Islamization of knowledge and sciences]. Lark 14, no. 1 (2022): 436–460. https://doi.org/10.31185/lark.Vol2.Iss45.2327.
Mirzaei, Mohammad Ali, and Sayed Reza Hossaini. "A Critical Review of Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd's View on the Challenge of Tradition and Modernity." Interdisciplinary Studies of Quran & Hadith 2, no. 3 (2025): 433–460. https://doi.org/10.30497/isqh.2025.248997.1064.
Mohammed, Samih Salah. "Islamic View towards International Relations." Indonesian Journal of Islamization Studies (INJAS) 1, no. 2 (2024). https://doi.org/10.21111/injas.v1i2.26.
Momen, Abdul, and Muhammad Ahsan Ullah. "The Theory of Islamization of Knowledge: A Comprehensive Review of Historical Progress, Objectives, and Implementation Process." Jagannath University Journal of Arts 15, no. 1 (2025): 160–175. https://doi.org/10.3329/jnujarts.v15i1.87827.
Nur, Bakheit Mohammed. "Politics of Epistemology in Postcolonial Africa: The Islamisation of Knowledge in the Sudan." Politics, Religion & Ideology 23, no. 4 (2022): 475–496. https://doi.org/10.1080/21567689.2022.2139688.
Nur, Bakheit Mohammed. "(Re)Building Epistemology or (Re)Shaping Societal Outlook: A Critique of the Sudan's Islamisation of Knowledge Paradigm." In Decolonising the Future Academy in Africa and Beyond, edited by Michaela Pelican, Karim Zafer, and Michael Bollig, 135–160. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2025. https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839475966-008.
Paya, Ali. "A Critical Assessment of the Programmes of Producing 'Islamic Science' and 'Islamisation of Science/Knowledge.'" International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 29, no. 3 (2015): 311–335. https://doi.org/10.1080/02698595.2015.1179043.
Paya, Ali. "'Islamization of Knowledge': A Utopian Dream or a Viable Project? A Critique of the Views of Two Prominent Iranian Proponents of the 'Islamization Project.'" British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 50, no. 4 (2023): 962–982. https://doi.org/10.1080/13530194.2022.2048462.
Sadig, Haydar Badawi, and Hala Asmina Guta. "Peace Communication in Sudan: Toward Infusing a New Islamic Perspective." In The Handbook of Global Communication and Media Ethics, edited by Robert S. Fortner and P. Mark Fackler, 1:602–625. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444390629.ch32.
Stenberg, Leif. "Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Ziauddin Sardar on Islam and Science: Marginalization or Modernization of a Religious Tradition." Social Epistemology 10, no. 3–4 (1996): 273–287. https://doi.org/10.1080/02691729608578819.
Vural, Mehmet. "Between Authenticity and Modernity: Rationalist and Historicist Currents in Maghrebi Islamic Thought." RUDN Journal of Philosophy 30, no. 2 (2026): 415–429. https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-2302-2026-30-2-415-429.
Waardenburg, Jacques. "The Contemporary Period: 1950–1995." In Muslim Perceptions of Other Religions: A Historical Survey, edited by Jacques Waardenburg, 85–101. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Young, Alden. "The Intellectual Origins of Sudan’s 'Decades of Solitude,' 1989–2019." Capitalism: A Journal of History and Economics 2, no. 1 (2021): 196–226. https://doi.org/10.1353/cap.2021.0007.
Young, Alden. "A Path Forward: The African Precedents for Today's International Order." Transition, no. 138 (2025): 228–238. https://doi.org/10.2979/tra.00086.
Zacky, Mohamed Fouz Mohamed, and Md Moniruzzaman. "'Islamic Epistemology' in a Modern Context: Anatomy of an Evolving Debate." Social Epistemology 38, no. 4 (2024): 511–525. https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2023.2227945.
Zhang, Chenchen. "Race, Gender, and Occidentalism in Global Reactionary Discourses." Review of International Studies 52, no. 3 (2026): 469–491. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210524000299.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Samih Salah Mo (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All articles published in INJAS are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
