This is the second book in the series on the Islamic Civilizational Project. We discussed the first book in the previous article titled: "The Governing Values of the Islamic Civilizational Project." Our book in this presentation is titled: "The Foundations of the Islamic Project." This book was published by Dar Al-Usul Al-Ilmiyya in Istanbul, first edition, 2025, and consists of 203 pages.

The necessity for the nation to define the starting points.

The author decides in his introduction that we are in urgent need of defining the major principles from which we can launch our efforts to support our nation, honor our religion, empower Islam, alleviate the suffering of Muslims, and prevent strife among people, so that the way to their guidance towards the Creator may be paved. This also includes other goals and objectives that our grand Islamic project aims for. How desperately we need to eliminate and free ourselves from the foreign and mixed principles that have confused our steps with every major event that our nation has gone through! It is high time, after all these real lessons, to return to our original principles.

It emphasizes that the most dangerous threats facing the nation today are not represented by the massacres and horrors afflicting Muslims, but rather by the processes of erosion and drying up, along with attempts at distortion and falsification. The erosion and drying up are being carried out by the regimes using their tools of brutal coercion, while the attempts at distortion and falsification are undertaken by pens and loudspeakers, some of which belong to open secularism, while others falsely claim affiliation with the Islamic movement. Erosion targets established symbols through killing, imprisonment, and displacement, while drying up targets pure sources through obliteration, concealment, and substitution. Distortion and falsification aim at solid legal foundations and doctrinal and methodological constants through interpretation, alteration, diverting the course, and misleading the compass. All of this undoubtedly has a direct impact on the principles from which the nation's journey in its grand Islamic project should commence.

The Importance of Starting Points.

The critical and dangerous truth is that unless the foundations are correct, we will never achieve anything no matter how much effort we exert or how much money and lives we spend. This great religion we believe in is a coherent unity, with each part interconnected. Therefore, the project of empowering this religion is a singular, cohesive endeavor from beginning to end. Its distinctive legitimate purposes and goals can only be achieved through a set of distinguished legitimate means. These legitimate means, in turn, cannot exist or function properly unless the foundations are correct and secure. Thus, the correct foundations facilitate the journey, accelerate the steps, and bring us closer to our goals. These foundations can be material, or they can be intellectual, doctrinal, legal, realistic, or dynamic in nature.

The starting points are of a significant seriousness that should not be underestimated. If we do not begin with them, the fate of our project will be one of two things: either stumbling and subsequently failing or reaching a goal that is not the intended one. The paths of da'wah (inviting to Islam), politics, and jihad have experienced setbacks, deviations, and failures. Upon examining the reasons, it was found that the corruption of some of these starting points is the primary and largest cause. Therefore, they are essential for our Islamic project, which we strive to unite the words of Muslims upon.

Book Questions.

In the introduction to his book, Dr. Atiyah Adlan posed a number of questions that prompted him to write about the foundations related to the Islamic project, including: What are the major foundations of the Islamic project? What are the fixed doctrinal, intellectual, legal, practical, mobilizational, and realistic principles that those responsible for the Islamic project should rely on in order to launch and implement the project? There is no doubt that the Islamic nation has foundations for establishing religion and governing the world according to it that differ entirely from the foundations of ancient and modern pagan nations. Modernity, with its ideas, secularism, with the ideologies and laws it encompasses, and contemporary civilization, with what it inherited from the Romans and Greeks in systems and ideas, as well as the atheistic trends and behavioral deviations it has invented—all of this cannot provide us with foundations to rely on in our Islamic civilizational project. None of these sources should be approached to derive launching points or motivating forces that we can use to achieve the goals of our project; so, what are our foundations?

The meaning of the premises and the difference between them and the governing values.

If the first book in this important series talked about values and defined them there, it is appropriate to define the foundations and distinguish them from values. According to the author, the foundations of the Islamic project are the principles, constants, and definitive doctrinal, legal, methodological, scientific, dynamic, and realistic guidelines from which the Islamic project originates, which it carries along in every phase, remaining guiding and instructive from beginning to end, and which are meant to regulate the course and facilitate reaching the project's objectives.

He differentiated between premises and values, stating: "The premises are not the same as values, even though they share the characteristic of being fundamental, universal matters; the difference between them is akin to the difference between foundational rules and jurisprudential rules. Foundational rules are what the jurist uses to reach legal rulings, some of which may be universal 'jurisprudential principles and standards' and some of which may be specific 'individual legal rulings'. They represent the foundational bases of jurisprudence upon which its pillars are established. On the other hand, jurisprudential rules are universal rulings under which specific rulings fall and revolve, and they function in the legal system like endocrine glands in the human body. For example: 'the integration of the jurisprudence of the law and the understanding of reality' is a fundamental principle of the Islamic project, and 'stewardship' is also a fundamental principle of the Islamic project. However, the former is a premise, and the latter is a supreme governing value. Both have a dominant and sustained influence, but the former is a foundational base and a root starting point, while the latter is a normative and superior ruler. There may be some overlap in certain concepts in both sides, which could be due to the shared nature of these exceptional terms in both. For instance, the principle of presumption of continuity may sometimes serve as a foundational principle that prevents transitioning from the established precedent until a legal proof for a legal ruling is presented, and at other times it serves as a regulatory principle that prevents transitioning from the established precedent until a material proof for a judicial ruling is presented.

Some of these principles arise from doctrinal components, some from major legal rulings, some from methodological foundations and methods of inference, and some have emerged from the accumulation of practical experiences across generations of Muslims. However, a unifying characteristic of all these principles is that they are Islamic and adhere to the methodology of Ahl al-Sunnah. It is essential not to ignore this significant condition; neglecting or disregarding it leads to the pollution of the source. If the source becomes tainted by mixtures of deviant sects, modernist ideologies, or contemporary sources of civilization, the principles will not remain pure, the path will not be correct, and we will not achieve any of the objectives of our project. In fact, our project itself will not stand firm. Therefore, we face an early challenge among the challenges of the Islamic project.

The starting points addressed in the book.

As for the foundations that the author deemed necessary for the Islamic project, he enumerated (31) foundational principles that should be considered, defined, understood, acted upon, and referred back to, making them a criterion for thought and action. These foundations are:

• Identity: 'There is no deviation from the general comprehensive Islamic identity'.
• The reference: "The two revelations (the Quran and the Sunnah) are the permanent constitution of the nation."
• Methodology: "The methodology of the Ahl al-Sunnah in receiving knowledge and in the foundations of belief is the ground from which change begins."
• Unity is a duty, and it is not necessary for it to be realized in the initial stages for everyone to merge into one entity.
• Brothers: 'The bonds of brotherhood in faith are unbreakable.
• The universality of Islam and the inclusiveness of its message is a fundamental principle that remains unchanged.
• The differentiation in dealing with expatriates between what is based on principles and what is based on tools is a sound and wise approach.
• The complete severance from secular modernist thought is at the core of the Islamic methodology.
• The incoming terms are a trap that requires caution and vigilance.
• The establishment of life on the basis of rejecting the authority of God and the sovereignty of His law is the essence of ignorance.
• The prophetic era and the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs represent the reference point for the Islamic civilizational project.
• The divine laws are rules and principles that govern life and should be observed
• The rulings and the objectives are two intertwined entities that do not separate or contradict each other.
• Phased progress and gradual steps are a necessary movement, provided that they do not lead to procrastination.
• The necessity of confrontation in general does not rule out peaceful solutions.
• The survey of the path of criminals and understanding the reality of conflict is a fundamental pillar of Islamic work.
• Building perceptions on the combination of the jurisprudence of Sharia and understanding reality is the sound approach.
• Knowledge, worship, and action are parallel lines from the beginning to the end.
• Organized teamwork is a necessity that does not negate the importance of individual platforms.
• The peoples are a card that should not be neglected, just as it is not right to completely rely on them.
• Pluralism is acceptable and beneficial if it does not threaten unity and cohesion, and if it does not violate the methodology and adherence.
• Alliances, if needed, and if the ally is trustworthy and there is no harm in them, are permissible and beneficial.
• Expanding commonalities and benefiting from them to strengthen alliances is good, as long as it is not at the expense of justice.
• The crystallization of the established principles and adopting them as a general charter, along with the art of managing differences, achieves the minimum level of unity.
• If the obligation of jihad is necessary for any reason deemed valid by Sharia, then the obligation to prepare remains.
• The preparation is a cumulative process that begins with advocacy and education and ends with military strength.
• The people of authority and resolution in the nation are the true leaders, and the rulers are their deputies in governance.
• The current Arab regime is an illegitimate system based on opposition to Sharia and allegiance to the enemies of Islam.
• The means of change are a matter of ijtihad (independent reasoning) and not something that is fixed; it is not necessary for them to be prescribed by religious law, but it is required that they do not contradict it.
• The absorption of the Islamic project includes all segments of the Sunnis, excluding others among the innovators, such as the Rafidah (Shee'ah).
• The inclusiveness and universality of the civilizational project stem from the inclusiveness and universality of Islam.

The author, may Allah grant him success, was able to classify these starting points, organize them into periods, and place each group under a comprehensive title. He may focus on the pivotal starting points, highlighting them and including the other starting points under them. All of this is subject to scholarly interpretation.

In each of these premises, its meaning and reality are clarified, its legal foundation is mentioned, its conditions and controls are outlined, and what falls under each of these premises in terms of constants and decisive matters is explained. Additionally, the successes that result from adhering to them and the failures that arise from deviating from them are discussed, along with the outcomes compared to corrupt premises and their results.

The author does not claim to have exhaustively covered all the points of departure, but he emphasizes that this overview is neither comprehensive nor definitive. Whoever can introduce something that has not been mentioned here needs only to succeed in providing compelling evidence that leads to knowledge or a strong presumption. Similarly, anyone who can remove something they find to be alien from this overview only needs to invalidate the reasoning behind the point they wish to exclude and undermine its justifications and rationales. All of this is acceptable. However, what is not acceptable is empty argumentation, baseless stubbornness, and following capricious desires. We ask Allah for steadfastness in following the truth.

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