Systematization of "the Thought"

How will be the “Systematization” Realized in Our Age?

It will be realized by a similar format.

First of all, the key Islamic concepts, and later their relationship with the secondary concepts are to be known competently, that is to say, we should have a good grasp of the hierarchical order between these concepts at first. This is the “sine qua non” of the process of systematization. The inadequacies or incompetence of any sort at this point effect the process in a negative way. Having a good knowledge of Qoran or being conscious of what Qoran reveals is very important here. All the knowledge produced through the process, including the ones existing in the inherited corpus of Prophetic traditons and biography must be submitted for, and receive Qoran’s approval.

Later, the entire corpus of Traditions, the science of Qoranic commentary and that of Prophetic biography, the schools of theology, jurisprudence, philosophy and sufism, the important events in Muslim history and also the autobiographies of those scholars who made significant contribution to the emergence of these schools or systems of thoughts are to be studied competently and a full fledged knowledge of them is to be acquired. After that, all this heritage is to be criticized and corrected in accordance with the central concepts, that is to say, some kind of a procedure of “separating the sheep from the goats” is to be required, and finally the authentic and credible thought that was proved as “correct” is to be presented to the public attention by using “the original Islamic language.” None of these fields tolerate lack of knowledge. For example, when “sufism” is handled, it requires not only having a good grasp of terminology of this sect but also getting full fledged knowledge about its epistemological formation process ranging from Hasan al-Basri to Ibn Arabi and knowing the very details of the organizational formation process of the religious orders. What is more, all the conclusions reached is to be checked and verified by Qoran (and by reason operating properly). And the same procedure is to be applied to other fields such as philosophy, theology, etc.

Having fulfilling our duty with regard to Muslim Thought, the same study is to be made for having a good knowledge of modernity. Here again a full fledged knowledge of the modernity (and postmodernity) is to be needed, that is to say, one will have to know not only the central concepts of modernity, their relationships with secondary ones and the hierarchical order between them, but also the important events in Western history, all the religious, ideological and political elements of Judeo-Christian culture, and all those thinkers, philosophers and theoreticians who made significant contribution to the formation of modernity. Moreover, a “classification” is to be made and both the “irreligious” arguments and the “neutral” ones respecting modernity (and of postmodernity) are to be determined fairly. Here again the main criteria is first to be Qoran, and then the other sources which received Qoran’s approval, i.e. the reason operating properly, correct traditions of the Prophet, demonstrative truths, syllogism, commonly recognized good, confidental historical informations, etc.

As is seen, this is a difficult process and requires an attentive, intensive and in-depth reading activity.