ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes of the nature of the classical Islamic epistemology and its 'epistemic schemes', a phrase borrowed from Dahlen, and, for reasons made clear below, discusses the concept of Salafism in traditional Islamic Sunni thought. This is necessary in order to gain an accurate understanding of the progressives Muslims' positioning within and critique of traditional Islamic epistemological schemes. According to Dahlen, the 'historical-empirical' epistemic scheme is strongly transmitted sciences (ulum al-naqliyya)-oriented epistemology that bestows to these sciences epistemological priority over those of the rational ones. The final epistemic scheme in traditional Islamic epistemology as identified by Dahlen is the 'juristic-rational' epistemic scheme. In the context of describing the historical-empirical and juristic-rational traditional Islamic epistemic schemes, Dahlen referred to their past-oriented, heavily textualist epistemological rationalizations and justifications of normative views and legal determinations. Islamic traditionalism as a modern contemporary phenomenon grounds its epistemological basis decidedly and primarily on a critique of modernity.
