Understanding Al-Faruqi's Attempt to Root the Phenomenological Approach in Comparing Religions: the Problem of Objectivity and Religious

Abstract

The research deals with the attempt of Raji Al-Faruqi (1921-1986) in formulating the scientific methodology for the study of religion within the contemporary transformations in religious studies, and the role of religion in the life of contemporary man culturally, educationally, politically, economically, and socially. The research seeks to introduce the basic principles of Al-Faruqi's methodology in the study of religion and its phenomena in human civilization. It relied on the phenomenological approach, whose origins are traced back to Al-Beiruti (973-1048) in studying the Indian culture in his book “Achieving India’s Acceptable or Rejected Saying”. The research focuses on explaining the specificity of the Islamic methodology by which Al-Faruqi formulated the principles of phenomenology and its applied direction in the study of religious manifestations and their components. The researcher also relies on analyzing the exegetical texts of Al-Faruqi and making implicit comparisons between him and the perceptions of Western scholars of the same phenomenological approach. The research concluded that Al-Faruqi's exerted a distinguished effort in rooting the phenomenological approach in the study of religions.