The Boundaries of Legitimate Knowledge in Islamic Thought: Authority, Pluralism, and the Politics of Interpretation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23917/qist.v5i2.17051Keywords:
Islamic epistemology, authority, pluralism, interpretation, legitimate knowledge, ISTACAbstract
Purpose - This article examines how Islamic intellectual tradition distinguishes legitimate knowledge from mere opinion and how this distinction regulates interpretive authority, intellectual pluralism, and the boundaries of interpretation. It addresses the contemporary tension between unrestricted interpretive plurality and monopolistic claims to religious authority.
Design/methodology/approach - The study employs conceptual-historical textual analysis of classical Sunni legal and theological sources alongside contemporary scholarship on knowledge, authority, and tradition. Particular attention is given to intellectual contributions associated with the Malaysian and ISTAC traditions, especially Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud, Osman Bakar, and Imtiyaz Yusuf.
Findings - The study demonstrates that the Islamic intellectual tradition neither endorses unrestricted interpretive pluralism nor permits the absolute closure of meaning. Instead, it accommodates principled plurality grounded in revelation, methodological discipline, scholarly validation, and ethical accountability. Contemporary interpretive disputes become particularly difficult when interpretive freedom is detached from epistemic discipline or when epistemic authority is conflated with political power. To address this tension, the study develops a four-layer model of legitimate knowledge that integrates revelation, methodological competence, scholarly validation, and ethical responsibility.
Research implications/limitations - The proposed framework provides a conceptual basis for distinguishing legitimate intellectual diversity from epistemic relativism and interpretive dissolution. However, its conceptual and text-based design requires further testing through empirical studies of contemporary Muslim scholarly and educational institutions.
Originality/value - The article contributes a systematic model of legitimate knowledge that preserves juristic and intellectual plurality while maintaining the truth claims, methodological discipline, and ethical accountability central to Islamic reasoning. It offers an alternative to both anti-pluralist rigidity and unrestricted relativism.
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