Epistemological Mechanisms in al-Jabri's Critique of Contemporary Arab Discourse: A Critical Analytical Study

Abstract

This study addresses the project of the Moroccan thinker Mohammed Abed al-Jabri in critiquing contemporary Arab discourse, proceeding from a fundamental question: why did the Arabs fall behind and why did their renaissance falter? Al-Jabri sought to answer this question by dissecting the epistemic structure of Arab reason, drawing on tools of Western epistemology such as the concepts of Foucault, Bachelard, and Althusser. Al-Jabri identified three epistemic systems governing Arab-Islamic culture: the Bayani (demonstrative/rhetorical), which dominates religious and linguistic discourse; the Irfani (gnostic), which represents esoteric irrationalism; and the Burhani (demonstrative/apodictic), which is based on logic and methodical rational inference. Al-Jabri holds that the dominance of the Bayani system at the expense of the Burhani led to an emotive discourse lacking critical rationality. He also directed criticism at the three major Arab discourses: Salafi discourse suffers from a rupture between thought and reality; existentialist discourse was borrowed from the West without genuine authenticity; and political discourse, in al-Jabri's view, remained captive to three unconscious determinants: tribe, creed, and spoils.

The study concludes that al-Jabri's project remains an indispensable critical contribution to contemporary Arab thought, despite a methodological shortcoming represented by his employment of Western tools to critique Arab heritage — a point raised against him by critics such as Abu Zayd, Arkoun, and Tarabishi. His project was not spared criticism: Tarabishi accused him of Moroccan (Maghribi) bias, Abu Zayd pointed to a methodological contradiction in using Western tools to critique Arab heritage, while Arkoun criticized him for neglecting the religious-anthropological dimension.

The nature of the study requires dividing it into three sections and a conclusion: the first section clarifies the concepts and terminology; the second section presents al-Jabri's conception of reason and Arab discourse; while the third section discusses al-Jabri's critique of Arab discourse and a summary of the aspirations of his critical project. The conclusion reviews the study's most important findings and conclusions.