Decolonizing the Muslim Mind: Producing Knowledge Beyond Colonial and Western Epistemic Frameworks

Abstract

Contemporary debates on decolonizing knowledge have increasingly highlighted the enduring influence of colonial epistemic structures within global academia. Yet within Muslim intellectual contexts, decolonization is often reduced either to cultural critique or to selective adaptation of Western disciplinary frameworks. This article argues that such approaches remain insufficient, as they fail to address the deeper epistemic conditions through which knowledge is produced, validated, and institutionalized. Decolonizing the Muslim mind, this study contends, requires not merely rethinking inherited paradigms but actively producing knowledge beyond colonial and Western epistemic frameworks. Drawing on Islamic epistemology and the Islamization of Knowledge discourse, the article conceptualizes decolonization as a process of epistemic reconstruction grounded in normative coherence, moral purpose, and metaphysical orientation. It critically examines the secular assumptions underlying liberal social sciences, particularly the claims of value-neutrality and ontological reductionism, and demonstrates how these assumptions shape Muslim intellectual dependency even in post-colonial settings. By articulating the principles of Islamic knowledge production—integrating revelation, reason, and experience—the article proposes an alternative framework that enables epistemic agency without intellectual isolation. The study concludes that Islamic epistemology offers a viable and constructive path toward global knowledge pluralism, positioning Muslim scholarship not as reactive or derivative, but as an active participant in shaping the future of social sciences beyond epistemic hegemony.

Keywords: Decolonization of Knowledge; Muslim Mind; Islamic Epistemology; Knowledge Production; Epistemic Hegemony; Islamization of Knowledge; Social Sciences