Abstract The Egyptian School of an Islamic Civilizational Paradigm (ICP), developed over four decades, intersects with International Relations’ (IR) critical turn, though emerging from a distinct intellectual trajectory. Deliberately non-secular, the ICP seeks to reconstruct an Islamic academic discourse—largely absent from modern social sciences yet firmly rooted in Islamic sources of knowledge—one that addresses contemporary Muslim realities, reorients IR scholarship toward more dialogical and inclusive knowledge exchange, and decenters the discipline by prioritizing humanity over West-centrism. This paper argues that the ontological, epistemological, and methodological distinctiveness of the ICP in IR shapes the conceptual framework it employs, its interpretation of key concepts, and the very process of concept-building. It contends that knowledge is inherently tied to identity and that preserving the meanings embedded in concepts is crucial to safeguarding identities. Moreover, by reflecting on the ICP’s attempt to broaden and deepen IR’s conceptual framework, the paper argues that efforts to globalize the discipline remain superficial unless they engage with deeper philosophical differences across conceptual and theoretical frameworks. The paper proceeds in three parts: first, tracing the ICP’s origins; second, outlining its metatheoretical and theoretical premises; and third, analyzing how these inform concept-building in IR and contribute to a more pluralistic, humanity-centered discipline.
Amira AbouSamra (Tue,) studied this question.