UNGS 2030 – INTRODUCTION TO ISLAMIC WORLDVIEW: STUDY OF SELECTED

ESSENTIALS

________________________________________________________________

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 1

ISLAMIC WORLDVIEW (IW) : GLIMPSES ON STUDIES AND

DEFINITIONS

 GLIMPSES ON THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE IW

STUDIES
 DEFINITION OF THE IW
 AL- TAWHID AS A KEY ELEMENT IN THE DEFINITION AND
CONCEPTUALIZATION OF THE IW
 DEFINITION AND CONCEPTUALIZATION
 A COLLECTIVE VISION OF LIFE AND VICEGERENCY
 A COMPREHENSIVE STRUCTURE OF INTEGRATED
KNOWLEDGE
 A VISION OF LIFE AND PERFECTION
 A MANIFESTATIONS OF RELIGION, STATE, SOCIETY AND
CIVILISATION

__________________________________________________________________________

 GLIMPSES ON THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE IW

STUDIES

1. There is a shortage of studies on the development of 'worldview' from

both historical and conceptual perspectives within the Islamic context
- no specific discipline and no specific branch of knowledge called ' worldview
studies'

2. No specific branch of research that deals with the historical development

of the concept of worldview but only focus on the issues and topis in IW
- the works dealt with worldview issues in general terms rather than systematic
and objective inquiry in worldview

*There is a need to develop more comprehensive approaches to the study of

worldview in a well organized body of research.

 DEFINITION OF THE IW
 AL- TAWHID AS A KEY ELEMENT IN THE DEFINITION AND
CONCEPTUALIZATION OF THE IW
  Unity of God as a vision of existence and vicegerency
 core of IW, without; Islam loses its originality and dynamism
 should revolve around al-Tawhid and its implications to belief and life
 emanates from the belief based on life and existence came into being as
a result of the will, desire and design of the One and Only Creator

 DEFINITION AND CONCEPTUALIZATION

PROF NAQUIB AL-ATTAS

 inseparable link between the seen and unseen aspects and between the
present world realities and the hereafter one
 firmly stresses on the metaphysical of IW

PROF CHOUDHURY
 emphasizes both the divine source of IW as well as the intellectual
processes required in its construction in light of the revealed word of God

MURTAZA MUTAHHARI
 relates to well-known question of knowledge; exclusively human property

ALPARSLAN
 the ultimate foundation of all human conduct

PROF MOHD KAMAL HASSAN

 emphasizes on the Islamic perspective and one's philosophy or outlook of
life

 A VISION OF LIFE AND PERFECTION

1. Collective Ummatic nature of IW

2. Posits and deals with exisstence in its totality: seen and unseen worlds
3. Result of the Muslim interaction with life and reality in accordance with
the teachings of Islam
4. IW provides the necessary guidance for the Muslim to outrival in his
objectives in this world and in hereafter

 A COMPREHENSIVE STRUCTURE OF INTEGRATED KNOWLEDGE

- pertaining to realms and concept of 'existence' of the seen and unseen worlds
and their implications to man in this life and hereafter; God as the prime cause
for the entire creation

 A VISION OF LIFE AND PERFECTION

 a structure of integrated knowledge and a vision of life that offers man
the necessary knowledge and orientation required in his endeavours as a
vicegerent of God on Earth
  A MANIFESTATIONS OF RELIGION, STATE, SOCIETY AND
CIVILISATION
 entails and systematically integrates the religious, social and
civilisational aspects of life

________________________________________________________________________________

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 3

WORLDVIEW: OBJECTIVES, KINDS AND APPROACHES

 OBJECTIVES OF WORLDVIEW
 KINDS OF WORLDVIEW
 APPROACHES: SCIENTIFIC, PHILOSOPHICAL AND RELIGIOUS

________________________________________________________________________________

 OBJECTIVES OF WORLDVIEW
 help us to integrate the facts into a meaningful whole
 basis for making life's decisions

 KINDS OF WORLDVIEW
- existence of many worldview
- distinction betwwen the revelation based worldview wherein the text is
preserved and man-made worldviews

 APPROACHES: SCIENTIFIC, PHILOSOPHICAL AND RELIGIOUS

 SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO WORLDVIEW

- reason and its rationalistic paradigm is the God of Scientific Inquiry

- Main Principals:
1. empiricism in which all issues under discussion should undergo the test
of experimental and empirical requirements
2. rationalism wherein reason and human intellect assumes he position and
role of the controller interpretation
  Important Elements:
1. exactitude and precise nature of the scientific approach
2. confines it to physical realities that can be observed and subjected to
empirical and experimantal conditions

 PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACH TO WORDVIEW

 wider than scientific approach as it extends its coverage to the met-

physical matters as well as the physical ones
 focuses more on logical reasoning and speculative methods
 inquiry upon self-evident and self-proven premises and principals of logic
and mind
 unlike science, philosophy is capable of giving man a worldview as the
foundation of ideology

 RELIGIOUS APPROACH TO WORLDVIEW

 divided into two; revealed and man-made

 more comprehensive vision
 entails most of the ultimate questions pertaining to the realms of seen
and unseen
 insists on the need for strong evidences and proofs for its truth and
teachings

 Materialism: Example of an Extreme Western Worldview

 denies the existence of creator

 the only reality that is real and possible is this physical reality
 entire existence is confined and reduced to what one sees in this world