Reddit reply in r/AcademicQuran: deleted by user — February 5, 2025 | Ali Shukri Amin

The "assumption stack" of any field are the direct tools you use to operate in a particular science or area of research so they affect everything that's done in the field. Like mustalah al-hadith or sanad or ilm al-rijal in hadith. It will take some elaboration to demonstrate this however and specific examples from books in the field.

It wouldn't be enough just to prove what the unacknowledged assumption stack of HCM is and then critique each layer. It would also have to be demonstrated across many texts that this stack really is operant with specific examples and leading to unjustifiable conclusions. That part takes even longer.

First HCM has to be defined, then you have to assert what you think is the assumption stack, then you have to prove that it exists and is in use, then you have to criticise it on theoretical grounds, then you have to demonstrate an applied criticism where the assumption stack - in the wild - leads to unjustified conclusions or analysis.

Why I suggest this should be reframed as orientalism once proven is: it requires a large degree of cultural/civilizational chauvanism to critically deconstruct someone else's tools without applying that same critical lens to your own tools first recursively. It could initially come from a place of genuine inquiry and unawareness, but once demonstrated clearly: "this is what you took for granted, these are the flaws, this is how your own toolset leads you to erroneous conclusion" if something like that is ignored then that has some kind of baked in chauvanism.

I don't think the field is currently intentionally like that. I think the researchers have good intentions and are trying to discover truth to the best of their ability. However, as you & I have discussed before, I think this is the core issue that no one is addressing.

Just like I don't think something like HCM could natively come out of Islamicate civilization I don't think a critique like this could natively come out of the academy. It's extremely hard to notice your own assumption stack and deconstructing it is a multi-disciplinary feat. You tend to need to have another assumption stack to rely on otherwise you'll just end up stuck at radical skepticism or nihilism and never get to an applied analysis.