Mid Term UNGS

Question 1:

Worldview literally consists of two words; world and view. From these two words, we can actually see that it is the view of the world, or the perspective of a person regarding this world.

Conceptually, worldview means a thinking with regards of the universe, whether it is guided by religious belief, philosophical thinking, or just by using mind. It plays a role in which a person interprets the world, what’s in it, the creation, value and norm of life, thus affecting the way he or she behaves, socialize with people, and appreciate this world.

Usually in a worldview, a man will include the interpretation of his existence, from where he came and to where he will go. It will also include the norm of life, values, moral, the way he perceives what’s around him and appreciates it, with the guidance whether from religion, philosophy, or just from his mind.

Question 2:

Islam is a way of life and by that, it governs every aspect of our life from the time we wake up until the time we want to sleep again. One of its main characteristic is comprehensiveness, which means it harmonizes between physical and metaphysical aspect of reality and material and spiritual aspect of life.

In Islam, the physical and metaphysical world, i.e. this world and the hereafter, is regarded as inseparable, as the world is considered the place to prepare for the afterlife. Despite that, Islam never teaches us to focus only on ‘ibadah and neglect the obligation as a khalifah on earth. Allah has stated in the Holy Quran, 28:77 that in our effort to strive for the akhirah, we must not forget our portion in the dunya. Nevertheless, Allah also warns us in Holy Quran 9:24 not to love the world more than Him, Rasulullah and the jihad in His sake. In a nutshell, we must balance between our obligation to make this world a better place, and our goal to attain His pleasure and heaven in the hereafter.

When comparing this aspect of Islamic teaching with scientific worldview and other religious belief, we can see that other religions stands on the metaphysical side, without any regards or only a little emphasis on the physical world. For example, when we look in Buddhism worldview, they considered the world as an evil place, and wealth is something that can lead to suffering. They focus only on how to attain nirvana – to be one with god. In Christianity, the marriage is regarded as filthy, thus their priests never get married.

Now, we can see the flaws of both worldviews. First, we can’t escape the fact that humans are born naturally with desires; in this case desire to own thing and marry. When the fitrah is violated, human will rebel and do something wrong to fulfill the desire. That’s why we can see the Buddhists temples is so great and beautiful, while their monks still have to beg for food, and cases of sexual immoral in churches. Second, these worldviews never contributed in prospering the world. The concept of not owning anything will halt the development of world, and if we never marry, soon human beings will become extinct.

Let’s see what Islam teaches on material and spiritual aspect. In Islam, material and spiritual is also inseparable and co-related. For example, when we give sadaqah, it gives us spiritual contentment, although materially we lose wealth. When we go to work, it is materialistic but behind it, Allah gives us spiritual blessings for our everyday work, as we contributes in the prosperity of the world.

If we take a look at scientific worldview, it only discusses about material world and never acknowledges the spiritual world. The question of God and hereafter has no answer in scientific worldview, as it describes the human interest in spiritual aspect is nothing more than the activity of brain neurons.

When we compare this with Islamic standpoint, the flaw of this worldview is obvious; the disregard of human spiritual aspect is totally unacceptable, as human do have feelings. Separation of spiritual aspect from human life is like robotizing human, thus makes human no longer have mercy and compassionate to others. Moreover, material world is not the only world with the discovery of quantum theory (existence beyond matter).

From these examples and comparisons, we can see how comprehensive Islam is. The nature of Islam is always the best, as it is the way of living ordained by Allah, and Allah knows best what’s for His creation.