Recognition and Efficiency of Historicism Method in Islamic Studies

Islamic studies, as one of the branches of religious studies, has always been exposed to the changes that have occurred in this field. The historicism method, as the most important development in the religious studies of the 18th and 19th centuries, was no exception to this rule and had a significant impact on Islamic studies. This method of study claimed that if its principles are followed, it can provide a more accurate and scientific understanding of religion and put an end to the prejudices and biases of the past periods of religious studies. In this article, an attempt has been made to first study historicism and its basic principles, and then to examine the results of its application in Islamic studies, in the works of Orientalists such as Abraham Geiger, Goldziher, and Patricia Krone, so that the claim made about this method can be verified in a case study of Islamic studies. The main subject of this article is scientific Islamic studies and its problem is to examine the relationship between modern religious studies and Islamic studies. The main question here is, “Has the new religious studies, which is formed on the basis of objectivity and historical perspective, helped to improve Islamic studies, especially in the last two centuries?” This article has examined the answer to this question from the three standpoints of some thinkers’ perspective, the religious tradition, and the general perspective of Islamic societies, and has altogether come to the conclusion that the historical method, although it was formed with the aim of solving the problems of religious studies in previous periods, but it failed to achieve its goals and despite the subtleties and precisions it used in studying the various components of religion, in practice, it did not contribute to a better understanding of Islam. Therefore, it could not contribute significantly to the better understanding of Muslims.