Towards an Islamic Theory of International Relations: New Directions for Methodology and Thought Recent events have demonstrated that one of the most important fields of study in this century is world order. The contribution of this book to this field is that it attempts to lay the intellectual foundations for a reconsideration of what constitutes a truly Islamic world order. Perhaps the words of the late Professor Ismail al-Faruqi, in his scholarly introduction to this work, best describes the landmarks of such an order; “The world order of Islam would confer upon every person by virtue of birth and humanity, the ultimate right and honor, namely, the capacity to think and make up one’s mind as to which millah one wishes to belong and hence, by which law one desires to order one’s life and that of one’s dependents.” In dealing with his subject, the author has had to return to the sources of Islam, the Qur’an and the Sunnah, and develop a methodology for dealing with them in a creative and practicable manner. In doing so, he examines the methodology developed by the early generations of Muslim scholars and finds it limited by its legalistic approach. Thus, much of the value of his work lies in its discussion of methodology and in the social sciences in general, by means of methodology developed from a purely Islamic perspective. Originally submitted as a doctoral dissertation, and then revised for its publication in 1987 as “The Islamic Theory of International Relations”, this edition, retitled “Towards an Islamic Theory of International Relations”, has undergone serious editorial revision, and may now be seen to convey the author’s pioneering ideas in a way that befits their importance.
