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Sociology International Journal

Review Article Volume 6 Issue 3

Paradigm of Islamic sociology

Mohammadreza Shahidipak

Department of Humanity, Islamic azad University, Iran

Correspondence: Mohammadreza Shahidipak, Department of Humanity, Islamic azad University, Central Tehran branch, Iran

Received: June 08, 2022 | Published: June 24, 2022

Citation: Shahidipak M. Paradigm of Islamic sociology. Sociol Int J. 2022;6(3):154-156. DOI: 10.15406/sij.2022.06.00279

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Abstract

This research shows that the first school of sociology during several centuries of the evolution of social thought has finally been introduced to human society as a product of Islamic civilization. The root of Islamic sociology is the comprehensive and profound teachings of the Qur'an on social issues. The Qur'an has made man, society, and history sources of knowledge and has invited to the science of anthropology and the knowledge of human societies and history. A verse from the Qur'an is considered a universal sociological manifesto that refers only to the concept of change and its interconnected human-divine mechanism in the individual and human societies. Since the seventeenth century, the Qur'an has been considered in Europe and American Orientalist scientific circles as a useful work in sociology. After the Qur'an, Ali's first teachings are theoretical materials of social analysis that have analyzed and explained man in terms of behaviour and social relations. Farabi, the founder of Islamic sociology, Farabi's theory of urban and citizenship theory, presented the first classical analysis and explanation of the individual and society. He is the mine of sociology for all ages and all nations. His work Thoughts on the Case of the Good City is a secular work describing the individual and society and depicting the changes of the individual and society. Ibn Khaldun's work is a complete example of a specialized school and school of Islamic sociology. The initiative of this founder of humanities is to talk about the social phenomenon in the language of formula, which is mentioned in this article for the first time as Ibn Khaldun coefficient. Ibn khaldun founded the school of classical sociology at the end of the middle Ages by presenting a formula for depicting the changing societies. He is the result of the evolution of sociology in Islamic civilization. And shows that the Qur'an is the main source of Ibn Khaldun's social thought and the basic concepts of sociology can be clearly traced and scientifically categorized through the study of the Qur'an and is useful in the sociological analysis of the problems of contemporary societies.

Keywords: Ibn Khaldun coefficient, sociology, modern humanities

Introduction

The time process of the emergence of the school of Islamic sociology

Modern sociology is the result of a long and extensive spatial and temporal process. The same trend exists with the emergence of the School of Islamic Sociology. In general, scientific sociology is the result of Eastern and Western studies, because the study of reciprocal and corresponding changes of nations leads to social cognition of the individual and the nation. The turning point and common point of modern sociology and Islamic sociology is the transition from a different world to a completely different world. In these two world systems, changes are opposite.

The beginning and end of modern sociology

The development of the social sciences dates back to the 18th century European Industrial Revolution and the very clear transformation of societies and individuals on both sides of the nineteenth century. The texts were studied with an abstract view of economics, politics and society. In the nineteenth century, social studies were formed as a system, which is a kind of ruling system. The two tendencies to do so clashed. The tendency that he analyzed with faith in society and the power of society and the tendency that considered knowing society as empirical knowledge. Despite this modern background that Considers sociology as a modern humanities and traces its history to the late 19th However, some contemporary sociologists have traced roots of sociology to Ibn Khaldun (1406) as Arab Montesquieu and father of sociology.1

The emergence of Islamic sociology

The problem of present study is that horizons of sociology in Islamic civilization are very deep and its roots go back to the first Islamic teachings, including the original Qur'an and roots of Islamic civilization, and elements and issues of sociology have been discussed and practical and useful applications. The research hypothesis is that emergence of Ibn Khaldun's school of sociology has taken place during a historical and extensive process in the geographical area of Islamic world. Different points are presented. Ibn Khaldun belongs to human society and although he is a barbarian and a Muslim, his existence has general elements that can be understood and general laws are common. However, this phenomenon of human society is still considered by some to be a European discovery.2

Understanding Qur’an as source of sociology

The sacred religious texts and the Qur'an are several verses that are studied as sociological texts in Europe and America. One of the common points of study of sociologists in the use of sociological science from the religious text is the relationship between religious rites and changes in societies, which exists in the divine religions based on rituals. Some, Zutso and William Montgomery Watt have portrayed the Qur'an in the language and context of a sociological text.3

Quranic definition of sociology

Orientalist scholars have mentioned many sociologies of the Qur'an Because the Qur'an's sociological analysis of social issues is consistent with specific modern definitions of sociology. The common definition of modern sociological perspectives is: Sociology is the science of knowing society as well as its structures, its relationships, its institutions, and its social realities. In some Qur'anic teachings, this definition is mentioned and the words God, prophet, man, city are depicted in social relations. Some orientalists have conducted studies with similar titles on societies from the Qur'anic point of view in order to emphasize the sociological tendencies in the Qur'an.4

Examining societies in terms of stability and change, sociology in Qur'an

Sociology is part of the social sciences and the science of studying society (social phenomena). This discipline examines human societies, their interactions, and the processes that keep societies in their current state or change them.4 The relationship between rituals and social change became the subject of sociology in the modern period. So that a direct relationship can be established between the religious text and sociology and the solution and origin of sociology can be considered as religion. The Verses eleven of Surah Ra'd raise the issue of change, which is the central point of sociological research.2 And the Qur'an has the ontological analyze of change. This verse is not about the types of change but about the nature and essence of change in societies and change itself is issues for understanding of societies. The greatest turn of power in the history of the world is the change of political, social and economic power in the Iberian Peninsula, which occurred from about 715 to 1456, during which time the island of Goth, Roman, Arab and Persian races, pagan religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Experienced the faces and names of cities, customs, food and clothing of these tribes. Now is still used in many Arabic words in the words of Spain and Portugal. These changes were made by the governments that came and went during this period. Twenty-four Gothic, Roman, and Arab-Islamic governments shaped these changes. And they have changed according to the special law and tradition that governs history. There is a special dynamic in these changes that the change in the condition of a nation depends on changes in their soul and there is a direct and reciprocal relationship between political, socio-economic and cultural change and change in the human soul. One of the verses of the Qur'an states this fixed law governing the movement of history, which is verse 11 of Surah Ra'd. This verse can be considered a symbol of sociology in the Qur'an because it deals with the main issue of sociological science and provides a discourse for the concept of change in societies. (verse 11 of Surah Ra'd is” Indeed Allah does not change a people’s lot, unless they change what is in their souls”).5 The laboratory of history in this theory is the Iberian Peninsula from 715 to 1456, in which dozens of social changes have taken place. Today, this hypothesis is a common discourse between scholars of Islam and Christianity and Judaism who have experienced life in Iberia. And at the same time it is the historical sociology and hermeneutic interpretation of the history of Spain and Portugal in medieval.

Systematic picture of various sociological issues and social good and evil in Qur'an

Providing a systematic comprehensive picture of the components of society is a feature of the text of the Qur'an. The Qur'an contains a wide and complete range of all issues related to human beings and their relationship with each other. The family, the individual and the components of society in the Qur'an, norms and individual and social anomalies such as theft, murder, forms of corruption and perversion of the individual and society, migration and its effects, war, groups and how they interact with each other, Judicial socio-economic organizations and institutions, and the interesting thing about governing institutions is that the Qur'an, like contemporary sociological knowledge, examines the ways in which social organs affect human behaviour, the interaction of different social organs with each other, their formation, erosion and destruction. This wide range of social identifiers is not found in any religious text other than the Qur'an. The Qur'an categorizes human behavior into social structures that control human behaviour. In the Qur'an, social issues are described in detail, and the names of some of the surahs are specific terms of sociology. The word "people" is the name of an independent Surah and has been mentioned many times in the Qur'an and indicates that address of Qur'an is people. This comprehensive and systematic dimension of Qur'an in social issue of family, especially in laws of marriage and divorce, forced Voltaire,6 who according to Cassirer7 changed the mind of humanity, According to Voltaire, Qur'an social law special law of Marriage and divorce is a progressive, and Qur'an is future book of humanity.8 However, Qur'an puts a kind of social paradigm in front of human studies and is an abstract category for understanding social problem.

Quran Source of khaldun school of sociology, founder of sociology, montesquieu arab

Qur'an is source of Ibn Khaldun's sociological view and theory. He has stated this by quoting verses from the Qur'an and has presented his theory in analyzing the changes of societies in the context of social understanding of the Qur'an. He has even used the words of the Qur'an to express his social theory.9

Ali's teachings about society and its components, universal extent of social theology

 A huge collection of social knowledge was produced by Ali ibn Abi Talib (661). In this collection, he has presented theoretical face of superior and good type of man and society against bad and low type of man and society, and during four years, by criticizing behaviour of politicians, social leaders and government officials, main elements of political sociology. He is pioneer in fight against corruption and government rent-seeking, which is central to social cohesion in governments. Ali's socio-political letter to governor of Egypt about how to treat individual and society is the measure of social theology. In this letter, he considered culture as a social, secular and independent category of religion. And emphasizes mutual respect for cultures.10

 Farabi manifestation, entry, classical source and innovator of sociological thought of nations, Farabi urban theory

Today, AL-Farabi's book, as first written sociological text in which Farabi's urban theory has been explained, has been translated and studied in most of the living languages of the world. The book categorizes human societies into good and bad in a wide range of values. Some contemporary Arab historians have considered Ibn Khaldun's social theory as another form of Farabi's sociological text. His book is a collection and extract of all the ancient ideas and teachings and religious and Islamic teachings about human societies.7

 The final evolution of Islamic sociology from Farabi (960) to Ibn Khaldun(1406)

Alpharabius (AL-Farabi) created a paradigm that influenced scholars and researchers after him, and analyzed history to discover the socio-political causes of events. Al-Mas'udi historian, geographer(956), Abu Ali Muskawiyyah historian philosopher(1030) in the east of the Islamic world and Abdelwahid al-Marrakushi (1185) Moroccan historian who lived during the Almohad period and Averroes(1198) and Ibn Khaldun in west of the Islamic world are influenced by Farabi paradigm and created sociological works. The importance of Averroes in social anthropology is position of women in social mobility and immobility, which was addressed several hundred years before modern sociology.7

 Ibn Khaldun coefficient final product of Islamic sociology, establishment of school of Islamic sociology Sociology is a human science and does not belong to the race or religion and spcial person and is related to the social mentality of mankind. But this mentality was formed to study the issues of the individual and society in Islamic civilization, and its first school was established, Ibn Khaldun (1332 –1406) was the first in the history of sociology to present a fixed coefficient for study of societies, which can be considered as a sociological coefficient for all school of sociology.

Results

Theoretical and practical result

Sociology of the product of Qur'an and Islamic civilization, Change is at the centre of sociological science and the basic concept of sociology, the true expression of which is found in the Qur'an. The Qur'an has provided eternal parameters for analyzing social issues appropriate to any time, and for this reason it is a book of knowledge of societies and individuals for all ages. And based on that, the science of sociology can be considered as one of the achievements of Islamic civilization. The large volume of social teachings of Islamic civilization shows that Islamic civilization has provided a mental category for social thinking that can still be used alive and dynamically.

Acknowledgments

None.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicting interests declared by the authors.

Fundingts

Ibn Khaldun has an independent style in sociology with a Qur'anic source. But the statement of some contemporary orientalists that Ibn Khaldun is a European discovery is a sign of the gradual approach of the human mind to the concepts of Qur'anic dynamics.

References

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  3. Eiclclman Dalef, Weber Max. Social science in Quran, Encyclopadia of the Quran, Brill. sociology of religion. 1975.
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  5. Shahidi Pak Mohammad Reza. Analytic history of Andalusia, South Korea. International proceeding of Economic development and research. 2010;42.
  6. Javad Hadidi. Islam from Voltaire's point of view, Tehran: University Publishing Center. 1996.
  7. Cassirer Ernest. Philosophy of Enlightenment, translated by Yadollah Moghan, Niloufar Publications, Tehran; 2003.
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  9. Ibn-Khaldun. AL –Moqademah, Dar Al kotob –Al Mwsri. 1999.
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