Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Student of Jurisprudence and Principles, Level 4, Khorasan Seminary, Mashhad, Iran
2
Assistant Professor of Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Razavi University of Islamic Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
3
Associate Professor of Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Razavi University of Islamic Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
4
Assistant Professor of Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Razavi University of Islamic Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Abstract
Excessive literalism (naql-garāʾī) constitutes a profound challenge to the project of contemporary Islamic civilization-building. By emphasizing a strictly transcendent conception of monotheism (tawḥīd tanzīhī) and rejecting intellectual renewal (naw-andīshī), Neo-Salafism contests the vision of a modern Islamic civilization, prioritizing instead individual religiosity and moral reform. This orientation stands in stark contrast to the civilizational vision of the Islamic Revolution, which, anchored in Shīʿī rationality, seeks to construct a new Islamic civilization. Within this latter framework, Tawḥīd serves as the ultimate foundation for governance and political authority, and its concrete sociopolitical realization is viewed as the overarching civilizational objective.
The central question addressed in this study is: How does the Neo-Salafi conception of Tawḥīd obstruct the civilizational trajectory of the Islamic Revolution? Employing a documentary and library-based methodology, this research critically examines this issue. The findings indicate that Neo-Salafism, through its insistence on a transcendent interpretation of Tawḥīd and its rejection of Islamic intellectual renewal, hinders collective civilization-building by narrowing its focus to individualistic and ethical reform. Specifically, this approach engenders several critical challenges: characterizing contemporary Muslim societies as living in a state of pre-Islamic ignorance (jāhiliyyah), issuing edicts of excommunication and apostasy (takfīr and irtidād) against fellow Muslims, opposing the advancement of Islamic sciences, and, ultimately, disrupting sound sociopolitical governance. The study concludes that a profound understanding of Tawḥīd and the cultivation of a rational, monotheism-centered discourse can significantly advance the civilizational objectives of the ijtihād-based intellectual tradition.
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