The Critique of the Arab Mind

Mohammad 'Abid al-Jabiri, a prominent Muslim thinker proposes a theory in which he criticize the idea of the Arab mind in response to the question of tradition and modernity. In the first phase of formulating this project, he investigates the historical dimension of mind in the Arab culture of the Arab and considers that, when contracted with the Greek mind and European mind, the Arab mind is effected by ethics and lacks the capacity of investigating the reasons behind phenomena. According to him, the foundation of the culture of the Arab depends on the expressive, mystic, and argumentative epistemological systems between which there has been continuous debate throughout the Arab history over the domination of independent mind with Hermetic origin. This question is the cause of the backwardness of the Arab world. Finally, he suggests that this crisis can be overcome by referring to Ibn Rushd’s rationalism. Among the weaknesses of his theory is ethnocentrism, his unfamiliarity with Shiite scientific works, leveling groundless accusation at the Shiite, and marginalization of revelation and transmitted traditions.