Reconstructing the Islamic Worldview as an Epistemological Paradigm: A Critical Examination of the Western Concept of Weltanschauung

Abstract

The dominance of the concept of Weltanschauung in the Western philosophical tradition has shaped the construction of modern epistemology that tends to place reality in empirical and rational dimensions, thus giving rise to a reduction in the metaphysical aspects in understanding the nature of life. This condition encourages the need for conceptual reconstruction of the worldview through an Islamic perspective that has a different ontological, epistemological, and axiological foundation. This study aims to reconstruct the concept of the Islamic worldview as an epistemological paradigm through a critical analysis of the Western Weltanschauung concept, while simultaneously explaining its implications for the relationship between religion, science, language, and the formation of civilization. The study uses a qualitative approach based on library research with an interpretative-philosophical paradigm. Data are analyzed through comparative conceptual analysis and content analysis of the works of Western, Christian, and Islamic thinkers, especially Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, Sayyid Qutb, James W. Sire, Ninian Smart, and James Underhill. The results of this study indicate that the Western worldview is based on an empirical and materialistic orientation, while the Islamic worldview is built on the principle of monotheism, which integrates revelation, reason, empirical experience, and intuition as sources of knowledge. These epistemological differences result in different consequences for viewing reality, science, language, culture, and the goals of civilization. This study confirms that the Islamic worldview is not only a belief system but also an epistemological paradigm capable of serving as an integrative framework for building science and civilization oriented toward the unity of the worldly and the hereafter. This finding contributes to the conceptual reconstruction of the Islamic worldview as an alternative epistemological paradigm to the dominance of Weltanschauung in the modern tradition of thought.