From Re-grounding the Act to Modeling Its Conditions
This comparison does not proceed from a competition between Taha Abderrahmane and the MANHAJ, nor from any diminution of the value of his philosophical project. Rather, it seeks to determine the level at which methodological work operates in each project and to reveal points of convergence and difference in the way thought is constructed and reference and meaning are addressed.
Taha Abderrahmane’s project is distinguished by a conscious attempt to re-ground the philosophical act within the Islamic reference framework, working on language, concept, logic, and ethics in a way that makes possible an intellectual horizon that does not treat the Western model as a final reference. MANHAJ, by contrast, moves to another level of questioning: it is methodologically prior to any particular doctrinal model and does not begin from a particular doctrinal model in order to reconstruct thought from within it. Instead, it makes the coordinate origin, the conceptual domain, the meaning coordinate, and the relations derived from them explicit objects of examination and modeling. Thus, Taha’s project works to re-found thought within a specific Islamic reference framework, while MANHAJ operates at the level that precedes this, namely the conditions under which the doctrinal model itself is formed, and how domains, meanings, and cognitive acts derive from it.
The comparison, therefore, is not between an “ethical” project and an “engineering” project, nor between “spirit” and “machine,” but between two levels of work on the foundation of thought: rebuilding the philosophical act from within the reference framework, and modeling the conditions in which meaning and the cognitive act arise.
Methodological Framework
Three Questions That Determine Taha Abderrahmane’s Place in the Comparison
01
Where Does Re-grounding Begin?
Is restoring the Islamic reference framework and rebuilding concepts from within it sufficient, or should the coordinate origin of the epistemic field itself become an object of examination?
02
How Is Meaning Determined?
Does freeing the concept and re-grounding it determine its meaning sufficiently, or does meaning change according to its coordinate within the conceptual domain and the relations in which it is organized?
03
What Is the Level of the Cognitive Act?
Is the aim to rebuild thought and the philosophical act, or to move toward modeling the structure that makes this act possible and determines its conditions and trajectory?
Detailed Comparison
Four Axes of Comparison — MANHAJ
1. Reference and Coordinate Origin
Taha Abderrahmane
He seeks to restore the Islamic reference framework in the construction of the philosophical act and does not treat Western modernity as the final reference around which Islamic thought should be organized.
MANHAJ
It does not merely ask about the reference framework declared by the thinker; it asks about the coordinate origin from which the epistemic domain unfolds, and about the centrality around which its concepts, meanings, and cognitive acts are organized.
2. Concept and Meaning Coordinate
Taha Abderrahmane
He gives language and concept a central place, working to free concepts and re-ground them within Arabic usage, and to overcome terminological dependence through conceptual creativity.
MANHAJ
It does not treat the concept as carrying a fixed meaning outside context, but holds that meaning is determined by its coordinate within the conceptual domain. Therefore, transferring a concept does not necessarily mean transferring its meaning from one domain to another.
3. Relation to the Prior Epistemic Domain
Taha Abderrahmane
He does not stop at consuming ready-made concepts; he works to reconstruct and re-ground them, and seeks an independent Islamic philosophical possibility in language, logic, and ethics.
MANHAJ
It adds an a priori question: what are the conditions of the domain within which we operate? What is its coordinate origin, its coordinates, and its relations? The issue therefore concerns not concepts alone, but the structure that enables these concepts to perform their meanings and functions.
4. Level of the Act: Rebuilding versus Modeling the Conditions of Construction
Taha Abderrahmane
The project moves toward rebuilding the philosophical and human act on a referential and ethical basis, and connecting reflection with action, work, and responsibility.
MANHAJ
It moves to a level that studies the relations in which reference, meaning, concepts, and the cognitive act are organized, making this structure itself an object of analysis, representation, and modeling.
Point of Convergence and Difference
Taha Abderrahmane: An Attempt at Re-grounding
Taha Abderrahmane’s project converges with the Intellectual Modeling Methodology in rejecting mere consumption of knowledge and in treating reference, language, and concepts as decisive elements in the independence of intellectual activity. It therefore differs radically from the model of the thinker who operates within a prior epistemic domain without questioning its foundations.
But the difference appears at the level of the perspective of inquiry. Taha directs his project toward rebuilding and re-grounding the philosophical act, whereas MANHAJ makes the structure within which this act is organized an explicit object of examination: doctrinal centrality, coordinate origin, conceptual domain, meaning coordinate, and then the cognitive act.
Condensed Form: Taha Abderrahmane seeks to re-ground the philosophical act within the Islamic reference framework, whereas MANHAJ seeks to model the conditions of re-grounding and the structure of the domain in which meaning and the act arise.
Conclusion
Convergence in Foundational Ambition, Difference in the Level of Work
The value of the comparison does not lie in proving that one project cancels out the other, but in determining the position of each. Taha Abderrahmane represents a conscious philosophical attempt to rebuild intellectual activity within the Islamic reference framework, with particular attention to language, concept, logic, and ethics.
MANHAJ, by contrast, advances to a structural question: how are the domains that produce meanings, concepts, and cognitive acts formed? What is the coordinate origin around which they are organized? And how does the value of meaning change when its coordinate changes?
The difference can therefore be summarized as follows: Taha works on re-grounding thought, while MANHAJ works on modeling the conditions for the foundation of thought and the movement of meaning within it.
For researchers and graduate students, two ready-to-use citation formats are provided.
Messeoud, F. (2026). Taha Abderrahmane and the Intellectual Modeling Methodology (MANHAJ): Reference, Meaning, and Coordinate Origin. MyPortail. https://www.myportail.com/en/compare_taha_faouzi_messeoud_logic_en.php
Messeoud, Faouzi. “Taha Abderrahmane and the Intellectual Modeling Methodology (MANHAJ): Reference, Meaning, and Coordinate Origin.” MyPortail, 2026.
