kuliah 1 worldview

8/10/2019 Kuliah 1 Worldview

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THE WORLDVIEW OF ISLAM/

ISLAMIC WORLDVIEW

Part One


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WEEK 1WORLDVIEWS: MEANING,

CHARACTERISTICS AND

KINDS

- meaning and characteristics of the

Islamic and other worldviews


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REFERENCES1. Mohammed, Riza and Dilwar

Hussain,(ed.).(2003) Islam The Way ofvival. Leicester:Revival Publications.

2. SMN al-Attas, The Worldview of Islam: AnOutline.pp 25-71, in Islam and theChallenge of Modernity, (ed. Sharifah Shifaal-Attas) K.L 1994

3. Prof. Dr. Muhammad Kamal Hasan, TheIslamic Worldview Towards a PositiveIslamic Worldview.pp 11-33


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Definition Literally : view of the world To answer basic cosmological questions;

1. Where did this life and universe came from,and to where is it going?

2. What is the purpose of this being of spaceand time?

3. What is the position of man within thetotality of this being?

technically: the way how man answers thebasic question explain the world andinterpret the life


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Basic Characteristics of Worldview

Capable to answer the basiccosmological questions of relevance

to the universe as whole, not only tosome certain parts of the life

Provides a well grounded, reliable

and eternally valid comprehensionand not a provisional and transient


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Provides some theoreticalbasis of cosmological truth,not only purely practical

and technical values

It promotes commitment

and responsibility.


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KINDS OF WORLDVIEW

Scientific worldview

Philosophical worldviewReligious worldview


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SCIENTIFIC WORLDVIEW

Three important foundations

- Empiricism

- Rationalism

- Skepticism


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MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF SCIENTIFICWORLDVIEW

Identify the problems

Propose hypotheses and assumption

Collecting data and information Test the hypotheses - if wrong reject

or modified or replace it with the

correct oneVerification of the data and

information


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If correct then provide it with full

explanation- Repeat the test in similar situations -

if the result is equal then construct

scientific theory- Stand to resistance - a scientific law

Become scientific facts

Remain in tact for a long time but itcan be questioned again


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ADVANTAGE

Science is based on theexperiment, empiricalresearch, verification

through mathematic,statistics and

measurement, so, they areexact and authentic.


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We get a lot of information through

science Understand nature and colonize it and

make use of it resources Science allows human reason to

exercise its ability Science produces knowledge of many

fields

Discover many laws and patterns of Godin the universe


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DISADVANTAGE

Science is not a complete way tointerpret the life and universe, onlyapplicable to certain parts of ourexistence

It Confined to a physical world The purpose of existence (universe

and life) is not known by scientific

viewpoint, thus SWV is knowledge ofpart not the whole


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Science theoretically unstableand not-enduring (ghairithabit), so it is not capable toprovide a firm, eternal andunshakable foundations of faiththat demands of Worldview.

Failed to protectnature/environment, humandignity and justice


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Science and technology becomingtools against humanity;

- care more on power, mastering naturebut undermining spiritual, moral andreligious elements e.g Green house,

caring so much on air pollution andcontamination of water or nuclearpower

Science tries to go beyond its limit byallowing other sources to be authenticsource od knowledge as revelation.


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PHILOSOPHICAL WORLDVIEW

Relies on philosophy and its means todeal with the questions of LIFE

The means of philosophical worldview

- logic/logical reasoning- Deduction (general to specific)

- Induction (specific to general)

- Mathematic

- speculation


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Simple logic, example;

All human are animal

Ahmad is a human

Ahmad is an animal

deduction

induction


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It relies on certain self-evidence

(undeniable principle) of mindand the nature to answer thehuman question.

The philosophical worldview ismore richer in its scope thanthe scientific worldview because

it deals with the issues ofphysical and metaphysical world


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PWV attempts to give a meaning to

creation and live It instill in ourselves a sense ofmeaning

Its results and findings are notprecise and measurable like sciencebut they open up new way for

human to think beyond his physicalworld


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MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF PWV

More comprehensive than scientific worldviewbecause it deals with physical andmetaphysical world

If SWV deals with certain parts of theuniverse only, the PWV deals with the entireexistence and the Universe

The PWV give meaning to our lives and

assumed that life has a meaning The PWV able to give us a perception of the

WV of the existence


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HOW IT DIFFERS FROM SWV

The SWv conduces to action bygiving man the power and

capacity to control the nature,but PWv conduces to action bygiving the reason for action and

the criteria for human choice inthis life.


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PWV is depending on reason,

which tests on a series of evidentprinciples that undeniable to themind.

- the PWV answers those ideologicalquestions

- Philosophical thought discerns

(yubayyin) mien (mazhar) of theuniverse as whole


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DISDAVANTAGE

It is a product of human

mind that could lead toanother philosophicalproblem which isHUMANISME


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RELIGIOUS WORLDVIEW

- WORLDVIEW OF ISLAM-

The vision of reality and truth

that appears before our mindseye revealing what existence isall about; for it is the world of

existence in its totality thatIslam is projecting.


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The current definition Nazrat al-Islam lial-Kawnis not the proper definition todefine Islamic WV.

WV of Islam encompasses both al-Dunyaand akhrah.

The term to define reality is haqqahand not waqiyyah.

The WV of Islam is the vision of

reality and truth that appearsbefore our minds eye revealingwhat existence is all about.


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The worldview of Islam

encompasses both dunyaand al-akhirahin which thedunya aspect must be

related in a profound andinseparable way to the

akhirah-aspect, in which thelater has the ultimate andfinal significance


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The dunyaaspect is seen as apreparation for the akhirah-aspect.

Everything in Islamis ultimatelyfocused on the akhirah-aspectwithout thereby implying any

attitude of neglect or beingunmindful of the dunyaaspect.


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THE CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY OFISLAMIC WORLDVIEW

IWV is unlike WV projected by theWestern Culture and Civilization

because; It is a metaphysical survey of thevisibleas well as the invisible

worlds including the perspective oflife as a whole.


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NOT a WV that isformed merely by the

gathering together ofvarious cultural object,

values and phenomenainto artificial coherance


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NOT a WV that is formed gradually

through a historical anddevelopmental process ofphilosophical speculation and

scientific discovery, which must ofnecessity be left vague and open -ended for future change andalteration in line with paradigms

that change in correspondence withchanging circumstances


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NOT a WV that undergoes a dialectical

process of transformation repeatedthrough the ages, from thesis toantithesis, with elements of each ofthese stages in the process being

assimilated into the other, such as a Wvbased upon a system of thought thatwas originally god-centered, and is nowworld-centered and perhaps and

perhaps shifting again to form a newthesis in the dialectical process


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NOT a Wv that change in line with the

dominant ideology of the day It has never been characterized of

influenced by opposing systems ofthought advocating differentinterpretations of Wv and valuesystems like that which have occurredand will continue to occur in the

history of the cultural, religious andintellectual tradition of the West


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WEEK

THREE


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WEEK 3

SELECTIVE

CONTEMPORARY

IDEOLOGIES:a. Secularism

b. Post-modernism

c. materialism


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THE CHARACTER ANDPERSONALITY OF

WESTERN CULTUREAND CIVILIZATION(WCC)


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WESTERN CIVILIZATION IS ;

.. The civilization that has evolvedout of historical fusion of cultures,philosophies, values and aspirationsof ancient Greece and Rome; their

amalgamation with Judaism andChristianity, and their furtherdevelopment and formation by the

Latin, Germanic, Celtic and Nordicpeoples.


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SPIRIT OF WCC

SECULAR- Inspired by secular PHILOSOPHY, devoid of

CERTAINTY, subject to CONSTANT REVIEWand CHANGE

- Its WV formulation not upon REVEALEDKNOWLEDGE and RELIGIOUS BELIEF butrather upon CULTURAL TRADITION,

SPECULATIONS TO SECULAR LIFE centeredupon MAN AS PHYSICAL ENTITY


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HUMANISTIC-reliance upon thepowers of humanreason alone to guide

man through life


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DUALISTIC

- adherence to the validity ofthe dualistic vision of reality

and truth-Affirmation of the reality ofthe evanescent-aspect of

existence projecting asecular WV


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TRAGIC

- emulation of the allegedlyuniversal reality of drama andtragedy in the spiritual, ortranscendental , or inner life ofman, making drama andtragedy real and dominantelements in human nature andexistence


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SECULARIZATION AND ITS

IMPLICATION ON THE WV

OF CONTEMPORARYMUSLIMS


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Any foreign Key concepts must betranslated profoundly by understandingits symbolic forms that which WV isprojected.

The intellectual confusion and anarchy

emerged due to the CHANGES andRESTRICTIONS on KEY TERMS thatinfluenced the thinking of thosescholars, journalists, politicians whoseheart and mind awe with secularism


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EARLY LATINIZED WESTERN CHURCH

Referred secular to people who are unableto read and write, therefore not learned inthe arts and sciences, also called laity nonprofessional

Also conveys a general meaning of beingconcerned with the affairs of the world

Translated by Christian Arabs as almaniy(laysa min arbb al-fann aw al-hirfah) andsecularity as (al-ihtimm bi umr al-dunya) and to secularize (as hawwal ilghara alamiy ay dunyawiy)


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Overwhelmed by the world and life in

it, distracted man from consciousnessof the final destination (al-akhirah).

Islam does not derogate the worlditself rather asking us to reflect its

wonders One must alert on the distracting and

ephemeral nature of hayat al-dunya

The world is already perfect accordingto its own FITRAHbut life in the worldstill can develop.


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Secularization asUnderstood andExperienced in WesternCulture and Civilization


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Term seaculumin the real sense relates

to the doctrinal formulations of theWestern Christian religious traditionwhose true meanings couched in itasserted their intentions in their

consciousness more than 7 centuries Term secular conveyed a SPATIO-

TEMPORAL connotation has now

undergone a change emphasizing thetemporal rather than a spatial aspect


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SPATIO-TEMPORAL CONNOTATION

Is derived out of the experience andconsciousness of the fusion of theGreco Roman and judaic Traditions in

Western Christianityfusionthat mutually conflicting

elements of the Hellenic and Hebrewworldviews is considered problematic by

the modern Christian intellectuals andtheologians


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The HELLENIC view is spatial whereas theHEBREW is temporal

The arising confusions of worldviews becomesthe root of WCC epistemological andtheological problems

In modern times, the emphasis on thetemporal aspect which is the Hebrew vision ofexistence becoming more meaningful

Thus, secular conveys markedly dualconnotation of time and location now or

present sense of it and the location to theworld or worldly sense of it.


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SEACULUM is interpreted to mean

this age or the present time whichrefer to events in this world orcontemporary events

The emphasis of meaning is set on a

particular time in the world, viewed asa historical process

The concept secular refers to the

condition of this world at thisparticular time or period or age.


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The germ of meaning easily developsitself naturally into the existentialcontext of an-ever changing world inwhich there occurs the relativity ofhuman values

Now this natural and logicaldevelopment of the concept secular istaking place in contemporary modernwestern civilization which ispropagating throughout the world


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CONTEMPORARY MUSLIMS

AND THE THREAT OFSECULARIZATION


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Problems arising out of secularization,though not quite the same as those

besetting the West, have caused muchconfusion in our midst

These problems are caused due to the

introduction of Western ways ofthinking, judging and believingemulated by some MODERNISTS aswell as TRADITIONALISTS Muslim

scholars who have been influenced bythe modern West .


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They also awed by its scientific and

technological achievements thatthey could so readily be thusinfluenced betray their lack of true

understanding and full grasp ofboth the worldviews of Islam andthe modern West and the essential

beliefs and modes of thought thatproject them.


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They have become

disseminators of unnecessaryconfusion that is founded upona crisis of identity.

This situation is critical whenwe consider the fact thatMuslims are generally unaware

of what the secularizationprocess implies


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Secularization means.

.. The deliverance of man first from religiousthen from metaphisical control over hisreason and his language.

It is the setting free of the closeworldviews

Breaking of all supernatural myths andsacred symbols

The defatalization of history


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The discovery of man that he has been leftwith the world on his hands, that he can nolonger blame fortune or the furies for whathe does with it

It is man turning his attention away from theworlds beyond toward this world and thistime

Encompasses not only political and socialaspects but also cultural for it denotes thedisappearance of religious determination ofthe symbols of cultural integration.


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It implies an irreversible historicalprocess in which culture and societyare delivered from tutelage toreligious control and closemetaphysical worldviews.

It is considered a liberatingdevelopment and the end product ofsecularization is historical relativism.

Hence, HISTORY is a process ofsecularization


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THE INTEGRAL COMPONENTS IN THEDIMENSIONS OF SECULARIZATION ARE

Disenchantment of Nature

- freeing of nature from its religiousovertones

Desacrilization of Politics- abolition of sacral legitimation of political

power and authority

Deconsecration of Values- rendering transient and relative all

cultural creations and every value system


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Secularization in the modernsense which is actuallyhappening is a process that

definitely opposed to religion,it is a philosophical programor an ideology that seeks to

destroy the very foundationof religion.


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POST-MODERNISM


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Definition

Postmodernism transcends fromthe word modernity which itselfsurpasses tradition. It is postmodernity

Modernity is about the mental andintellectual occupation of non-european cultures through such

notions by the name ofdevelopment and progress


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It was framed and shaped bythe technical jargon of culturalstudies and grand narratives

The idea of modernity givesense and direction to life,thought, truth, reason, morality,

tradition and history

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF


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THE SIGNIFICANCE OFPOSTMODERNISM

The ideas of colonialism andmodernism prepared the groundfor the final assault, actual

consumption and total absorptionof the non-west liberalism,secularism and western

consumerism throughpostmodernism

SEVEN PRINCIPLES AND


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CHARACTERISTICS OFPOSTMODERNISM

1. No truth2. No reality

3. Imagination and speculation

4. Meaningless and valueless

5. Equal representation

6. Total doubt


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MATERIALISM


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It is a philosophical position that states thateverything is material, or a state of matter.

The word comes from the Latin materia,meaning matter.

Materialists particularly deny that the humanself is a spiritual--or in any way nonmaterial--entity.

They interpret beliefs, thoughts, desires,

sensations, and other mental states asproperties of material systems.


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Materialism is often considered a "scientific"philosophy because it is closely associated

with the view that everything that occurscan be explained by scientific laws--perhapseven by the laws of physics alone.

The Greek philosophers Leucippus andDemocritus developed an early form ofmaterialism called atomismin the 400's B.C.

They believed that invisible, indivisible

material particles, called atoms,of varioussizes and shapes make up everything thatexists.


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According to atomism, the mind itself ismade up of small, round, materialatoms.

Later atomists included the Greekphilosopher Epicurus and the Romanpoet Lucretius.

The growth of Christianity, with itsemphasis on spiritual concerns, led to adecline in materialism for manycenturies.


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Materialism reemerged as a significantintellectual force during the rise of modern

science in the 1600's. In France, PierreGassendi, a philosopher and scientist,revived some of the doctrines of ancientatomism.

The English philosopher Thomas Hobbesdeveloped an uncompromisingly materialistphilosophy.

The French philosophers Denis Diderot andJulien de la Mettrie also were among thebest-known materialists of the 1700's.


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A version of materialism known asdialectical materialismemerged in the late

1800's with the works of the Germanphilosopher Karl Marx and the Germansocial scientist Friedrich Engels.

The German philosopher G. W. F. Hegel hadused the term dialecticto indicate anecessary transition from one phase of theworld or society or thought to anotherphase.

This transition occurs as a result ofinadequacies or "contradictions" in theearlier phase.


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Hegel identified dialectical processeswith the development of reason or

spirit, but Marx and Engels combinedthe notion of dialectic with the viewthat the forces underlying historical

development are always material.

Marx and Engels particularly believedthat economic factors determine social

structure and change.


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Dialectical materialism provides thephilosophical basis for Communism, a

political and economic movement.

Since the 1950's, many scientifically orientedphilosophers have defended materialistpositions in metaphysics,a branch ofphilosophy that is concerned with the basicnature of reality (see METAPHYSICS).

These philosophers uphold materialistpositions independent of any politicalideology or theory of social development.


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WEEK

FOUR


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WEEK 4OVERVIEW OF ISLAM

AND ITS MAIN

CHARECTARISTICS

-Iman, Islam, Taqwa and Ihsan

G O O S


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THE RELIGION OF ISLAM

Primary signification of the termDIN

- Indebtedness

- Submissiveness- Judicious power

- Natural Inclination or

Tendency


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There have not been in the

history of the cultural, religiousand intellectual tradition ofIslam distinct ages

characterized by apreponderance of a system ofthought based uponmaterialism or idealism


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supported by attendant

methodological approaches andpositions like empiricism,rationalism, realism, nominalism,

pragmatism, positivism, logicalpositivism, criticism, oscillatingbetween centuries and emerging

one after another right down to ourtime.


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They combined in the

investigations, and at the sametime in their persons, the empiricaland the rational, the deductive and

the inductive methods, andaffirmed no dichotomy between thesubjective and the objective, so

they all affected what we wouldcall the tawhidmethod ofknowledge.


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There have never been in Islam

historical periods that can becharacterized as classical, then

medieval, then modern and

now purportedly shifting againpost-modern; nor have therebeen critical events between themedieval and the modernexperienced as a renaissance'sand an enlightenment


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Proponents of shifts in systems of

thought involving changes in thefundamental elements of the Wvand value system may say that all

forms of cultures must experiencesuch shifts, otherwise in theprocess of interaction with

changing circumstances theyexhaust themselves and becomeuncreative and petrified.


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But this is true only in the

experience andconsciousness of civilizationwhose systems of thoughtand value have been derivedfrom cultural and

philosophical elements aidedby the science of their time.


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Islam is not a form of culture, and

its system of thought projecting itsvision of reality and truth and thesystem of value derived from it arenot merely derived from culturaland philosophical elements aidedby science, but one whose originalsource is revelation, confirmed by

religion, affirmed by intellectualand intuitive principles


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Islam ascribes to itself the truth

of being a truly revealed religion,which has been perfected fromthe very beginning.

Therefore, it requires no historicalexplanation and evaluation interms of the place it occupied and

the role it played within a processof development.


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All the essentials of the religion;

the name, the faith and practice,the rituals, the creed and systemof belief were given by revelation

and interpreted and demonstratedby the Prophet in his words andmodel actions, not from cultural

tradition, which necessarily mustflow in the stream of historicism


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THEREFORE,THE

RELIGION OF ISLAM Is conscious of its own identity from the time

of its revelation

When it appeared on the stage of worldhistory Islam was already mature needingno process of growing up to maturity.

A truly revealed religion can only be that

which knows itself from the very beginning;and that self-knowledge comes from therevelation itself, not from history.


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is not a form of culture, and its

system of thought projecting WVwhose original source isREVELATION

is perfected from the verybeginning

Developmental process in Islam isonly a process of interpretation andelaboration which refer back to theunchanging source


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The so called development in thereligious traditions of mankind cannot beapplied to Islam, for what is assumed tobe a developmental process is in thecase of Islam only a process of

interpretation and elaboration whichmust necessity occur in alternatinggenerations of believers of different

nations, which refer back to theunchanging source.


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The worldview of Islam is

characterized by an authenticityand finality that points to whatis ultimate and it projects aview of reality and truth thatencompasses existence and life

altogether in total perspective.

THE FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF


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WV OF ISLAM, AMONG WHICH ARE;

The nature of GODThe nature ofREVELATION

The nature of CREATION

The nature of RELIGION

The nature ofKNOWLEDGE


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The nature of MAN AND THE

PSYCHOLOGY OF THEHUMAN SOUL

The nature of FREEDOM

The nature of VALUES andVIRTUES and

The nature of HAPPINESS


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These fundamental elements that

we call WV of ISLM, together withthe KEY TERMS and concepts

that they unfold

These elements act asINTEGRATING PRINCIPLES thatplace all our systems of meaningand standard of life and values incoherent order as a unified systemforming the WV


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The supreme PRINCIPLE of

true reality that isarticulated by these

elements is focused onKNOWLEDGE of theNATURE OF GOD as

revealed in the Quran

kuliah 1 worldview

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