Centrality of Tawhid in Islamic Worldview

It is obvious almost to everybody who observes Islam its Tawhid principle in concept of God, followed by conceptual network centering in that principle. Even, when approached from secular point of view researchers cannot but agree that it is the most fundamental principle in Islam. This is the case when, for example, an Indonesian sociologist writes that “Muslim communities from all schools and traditions agree that Tawhid is the core of belief, tradition and practice of Islam.[1] Simply put, the meaning of Tawhid is formulated in the first part of shahadah (witnessing) through which a non-Muslim comes into Islamic brotherhood. This shahadah correctly understood is the universal statement brought by all the Prophets and the Messengers. It is Islam in the broadest meaning of the word, explaining “why everything in the heavens and the earth is submitted to God”.[2] It also means, in narrower sense, the religion of all the Prophets.[3] The importance of Tawhid as foundation from which all Islamic tenets are derived can be more discernible when it is seen within the context of worldview, since human activity, in its widest sense, is ultimately reducible to the latter. The role worldview plays in human activity is to be verified later in this article. The humble aim of this writing is merely to show the principle of Tawhid within the context of Islamic worldview to which all Muslim activities should aspire. To do this task, the concept of worldview in general will be concisely explained as a introduction to show its significance in human conduct. The meaning and elements of Islamic worldview will then be detailed with special emphasize on aspect related to human life. A more detailed account will be given to delineate Tawhid as a central concept in Islamic worldview especially when related to human life. On Generality of Worldview Human behavior is influenced by psychological, sociological and environmental factors. But the most essential among these factors is a worldview which shapes the way he thinks and, in turn, the way he acts. This is primarily true when understood from epistemological point of view. Since it is the only structure within which human intellect functions [4] and, thus, exerts effect upon his entire life. Generally worldview can be defined as “A perspective from which the individual views everything”.[5] The significance of a worldview is already implied in this definition, because every particular person’s doing is shaped by his view on that everything. As a result, all human being’s action is ultimately traceable to his worldview. A worldview can be broken down into structures, five of which is of primary importance. These five are life-structure, world-structure, knowledge-structure, value-structure and man-structure.[6] The first structure is generative of individual culture within social context which shapes and is shaped by that structure in a reciprocal manner. Out of this structure arise certain fundamental ideas and questions about the world. As these questions are solved satisfactorily or not, a more sophisticated conceptions rise as a result of answers given to the questions. These concepts are distinguishable from the first structure, thus can be termed as world-structure. After two structures are formed within one’s worldview, they function simultaneously in directing one’s deed. Other than the first two structures is not necessarily apparent in all worldviews. Only in those which are transparent [7] can entire five elements be found and analyzable. In a transparent worldview, knowledge-structure comes out world-structure. From three structures emerges a developed conception about morality which forms value-structure. The combination of these four finally brings into being man-structure. On Islamic Worldview Worldview in Islam is termed ru’yatul Islam lil wujud. The word ru’yah, encompasses all modes of vision, i.e., empirical, rational and spiritual, in the general sense of these words. It is not nazhrah, which connotes speculative-rational intellectual endeavor. Al-Wujud in this term is also significant in that it underlines the comprehensiveness and totality of being projected in Islamic worldview, unlike its counterpart, al-kawn, which meaning is confined within the boundary of observable world. Thus, Islamic worldview is “The Islamic vision of reality and truth, which is a metaphysical survey of the visible as well as the invisible worlds including the perspective of life as a whole”.[8] In the light of meaning of worldview in general, elements [9] of Islamic worldview will be further detailed into five structures accordingly. The first structure is the life-structure. Since it is the commonest shared element with all other worldviews, it is not so much different in that it represents cultural aspect of Islamic worldview, which regulates for Muslim the manner of eating, drinking and other socio-cultural aspects of his life. The world-structure is that aspect of Islamic worldview which consists of the concepts of God, prophethood, resurrection, religion and the hereafter. Like its general counterpart, knowledge-structure in Islamic worldview comes out of world-structure, which is signified by umbrella term ‘ilm under which there exist network of the key scientific Islamic terminology or Islamic scientific conceptual scheme. The value-structure consists of moral, ethical and legal practices, all of which cannot be separated from each other. The man-structure in Islamic worldview is in the concepts of khalifah and ummah. Concepts introduced in these structures are all traceable to the notion of Tawhid. Pervading Nature of Tawhid in Muslims’ Life Tawhid as understood in Islam is not a mere theoretical statement having no correspondence whatsoever with the daily life. On the contrary it is very much pervasive that even the minutest activities—spiritual, intellectual, emotional, social, cultural, political, and so on—of every Muslim must always be pregnant with values from that principle. Its formulation in testimony of faith is simple yet, if fully realized, contains everything Muslims need in their life. How Tawhid affects Muslims’ life is what will be explained hierarchically in what follows. The first principle arising out Tawhid is duality of being. This emphasizes the distinctness of the Creator and creature. Never will the former ontologically be the latter and vice versa in any means. This serves as a means for every Muslim to be aware of his ontological relationship [11] with his God as the Creator and, thus allow him to live in accordance with what He has commanded. Bond between both is available to human being through his cognitive faculty and, hence, manifests the second principle of ideationality. Cognitive power here is not reduced to ratio-speculative aspect of human cognition. It includes faculties through which human may gain knowledge in all order of existence. They may be “memory, imagination, reasoning, observation, intuition, apprehension, etc”[12]. From this second, a Muslim can know, through reading the open book (al-kitab al-manshur/the Nature) and the closed book (al-kitab al-mastur/the Revelation), the purposiveness of the cosmos including himself, from which then emerges the third principle, that is, the teleological principle of cosmos. Teleological principle provides him with a view which enables to act according to the purpose of the creation in general. This necessitates two prerequisites that are free will and free choice. This is so because, unlike other creations in which Divine Will is necessarily realized, human being is permitted to follow the opposite way. Human action is the only instance in which Divine Will is not automatically accomplished, but rather deliberately and consciously. In this respect, physical and psychological aspect of human being is submitted to God’s pattern in the same way as natural world is submitted. The difference between macrocosm (the natural realm) and microcosm (human being) lies in his spiritual substance comprising his moral comprehension and action which allow him to make moral decision freely. Moral decision he makes although in some particular point has utilitarian feature is characterized by freedom of choice and willingness. And this is what qualifies him as moral being, as distinguished from another creature. Freedom of choice and will brings him to the responsibility he is entrusted with known as amanah in the Quranic term. This brings about the fourth principle, capacity of man and malleability of nature. Capability of human to manage nature is a logical consequence of his being entrusted with responsibility, to carry out his task as khalifah. Realization of the Absolute is rasion d’etre of creation and hence must be possible for him as a moral agent to change himself, his society and his nature according to divine pattern. This responsibility requires the malleability of nature, meaning all historical circumstances where he strives to achieve his goal in space and time. Responsibility here means that all his doings will be judged fully in the Day of Judgment. This brings the fifth principle of responsibility and judgment. Judgment whether in this world or fully in the Hereafter is to ensure human attentive deed and to control him. The idea of reckoning human doings in the Hereafter may properly be grasped as the very basis of all moral teachings in Islam. The previous five principles are all self-evident in Islam. Some conclusions can be drawn from centrality of Tawhid in Islamic worldview. Concerning worldly life, Islamic attitude must be positive. It views that this current life is not something futile in which human has no purpose. His life is guided by Revelation which supplies him with values to hold onto. These ethical values are, by definition, divine ones that must be adhered to. To alternate or even merely to mix up these tenets with other humanistic doctrines would amount to some form of shirk (associating other gods with God) which is unforgivable sin. For a Muslim, his value contains truth, beauty and goodness, all of which is deeply rooted in his view of God’s oneness (Tawhid) and recognizable by his reason. Endnotes: [1] Yudi Latif, Dialektika Islam: Tafsir Sosiologis atas Sekularisasi dan Islamisasi di Indonesia, (Jogjakarta & Bandung: Jalasutra, 2007), p. 37. [2] Sachiko Murata and William C. Chittick, the Vision of Islam, (Lahore: Suhail Academy, 2005), p. 45-6. [3] Ibid., p. 46. [4] Alparslan Acikgenc, Islamic Science Towards a Definition, (Kuala Lumpur: ISTAC, 1996), p. 9. The author discusses worldview and scientific worldview epistemologically, the latter being a condition for emergence of Islamic science. [5] Ibid. p. 11. The process of how this perspective is formed within human mind and the impossibility of mind functioning without it are elaborated in ibid, pp. 8-20. [6] For detailed examination on these elements as general concepts, see ibid, pp. 21-3. [7] Transparent worldview here means that which emerges as a result of investigation and search for knowledge and contrasted to natural worldview which arises in a casual manner without deliberate effort to construct it. See ibid., pp. 15-6. [8] Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam: an Exposition of the Fundamental Elements of the Worldview of Islam, (Kuala Lumpur: ISTAC, 2001), p. 2. [9] Alparslan Acikgenc, op. cit., p. 23-5. [10] This is based on Ismail Raji al-Faruqi, Al-Tawhid: Its Implications for Thought and Life, (Virginia: IIIT, 1998), pp. 9-16. [11] Related to this relationship is the concept of debt (dayn) of human to his Creator, see Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, ibid., p. 45-53. [12] Ismail Raji al-Faruqi, ibid., p. 11.