The word “Islam” is derived from the
origin words of S L M. It epitomizes variety of connotations. Customarily,
Islam typifies al-Din, submission, surrender, obedience as well as peace
(al-Faruqi 1982). This has manifested that a man can only attain true peace of
physical and spiritual via full surrender, obedience and submission to Allah
the Almighty. This has been irrefutably mentioned by Allah in the Quran (13: 28 -29). A man will become a
Muslim once he has verbalized the “Shahadah”. “Shahadah” signifies there is no
God except Allah and Muhammad (peace be upon him) is His prophet. A real Muslim
will carry three essential elements namely “Iman” (faith), “amal” (action) as
well as “ihsan” (Realization).
Worldview or underlying philosophy or weltanschauung on the other hand,
epitomizes how man perceives this world. Worldview denotes “a set of implicit or explicit assumptions about the origin of the
universe and the nature of human life” (Chapra 1992, pp. 1). Conventionally, every community or system is
controlled or influenced by its own worldview.
The different worldviews among these communities or systems will
eventually lead to dissimilar end means of human life. Other aspects of life
such as ultimate possession, cramped resources by virtue of human beings
disposals, the relationship among men in term of rights and responsibilities,
their surrounding environment as well as their interpretations of efficiency
and equity will also be different (Chapra 1992).
On the other hand, according to Al-Attas[1][1]
(1994), from the Islamic point of view, worldview is considered as vision of
reality and truth (ru’yat al-Islam li al-wujud). He then further interprets the
Islamic worldviews as “a metaphysical
survey of visible as well as the invisible worlds including the perspective of
life as a whole, is not a worldview that is formed merely by the gathering
together of various cultural objects, values and phenomena into artificial
coherence”. (p. 26). Hence, as far as Islamic nature of reality (ontology)
is concerned, Islamic worldviews concern with this universe (world) and the
hereafter or the Day of Judgment. The belief in dual worldviews has made Islam
looks exceptional and peculiar (Izetbegovic 1984). Since these views are
principally derived from the Quran, this reflects that Islamic worldviews are
identical to Quranic worldview. Unlike in the Western, their emphasizing is on
logical reasoning as well as illumination of rationality. Due to this, Islam
has distinguished itself from other available worldviews (Khurshid Ahmad as
cited by Mawdudi 1988). For instances, the Western’s and Christian‘s worldviews
are secular and religious respectively.
The ontology as far as the Quranic view is
concerned, entails diversity of purports (Mawdudi 1998). Human being has been
invented by Allah with the purpose to rule this world as a khilafah
(vicegerent). As the best creature ever created, man has been equipped with
remarkable qualities such as aql (mind), feeling (intuition) as well as the
beautiful physical. These virtues on the other hand, have enabled man to better
reflects, understand and distinguish between good and bad. With all these
advantages man ought to worship Allah and not to interpret himself as
autonomous. Thus, this has made Islamic concept of leadership different from
other systems.
Islam perceives world or earth only as a
transit for man to the perpetual life in the hereafter. Muslims believe that
world is a place where they are accountable to other Allah’s creatures as well
as to Allah Himself. These believe have limited the Muslims conducts. Muslims
can neither free to act as they wish nor follow the wishes of any groups. Every
man will be judged on the reckoning day for what ever deeds he or she has done during
his or her life in this world. If good deeds are more than bad deeds, this will
promise an everlasting place in Jannah (paradise) while hell is waiting for
those who have chosen to defy Allah’s command or bad deeds more than good
deeds.
Allah has manifested His right way by
means of the Prophets. The ultimate duty of these prophets with revelations was
to transform humanity from a state of Jahiliya (Lost in the earthly life) to a
true Muslim. Allah manifests in the noble Qur’an: "I have not created the jinn and ins (human beings) except to
worship Me" (51:56). Prophets such as Muhamad, Isa, Daud and Musa
(pbut) have received revelation from Allah in the form of scriptures. These
prophets were inherently carried similar paramount messages from Allah which is
to worship and obey all His commands. Although these Prophets carried similar
ingrained commandments, the details were not identical. The differences were
depending on the condition, nation as well as the Prophet who was in charge.
Muhamad (pbuh) was the last Prophets govern this world. He was very special in
the eyes of Allah. This has been evidenced by Allah via Quran. Quran is the
last scripture revealed by Allah and Its will lead man until the day of
reckoning. Quran is a complete scripture as compared to others which consists
all-inclusive doctrine as well as some particulars on many dimensions of human
life.
Table 1: Implications of Different
Worldviews on Man’s Way of Life
Types
|
Worldviews
|
Man’s Way of Life
|
Western
|
Secularism
|
Separation between religion and other
aspects of life, materialistic, individualistic, less socio economic justice
|
Christian
|
Religious
|
Less public relations, less concern with
the worldly life
|
Islam
|
Dual worldviews:
|
Maslahah of the ummah (public benefit),
accountability, trustworthiness, transparency
etc.
|
[1][1] Please refer to Islam and the
Challenge of Modernity, Proceeding of the Inaugural Symposium on Islam and the
Challenge of Modernity: Historical and Contemporary contexts, Kuala Lumpur August 1-5, 1994
