Worldview Theory and its relation to Islam and Muslim İdentity

Abstract

Since the 18th century to the present, the concept of worldview has been used in various forms by various writers and extensively in several fields of academic disciplines. The article provides a brief historical overview of its usage in the discipline and demonstrates how worldview has been perceived differently over time. It presents the evolution of the concept, its essential characteristics, worldviews frameworks, Muslim worldviews, and the identity formation of young Muslims. Thus, it provides a detailed, overview of how the concept has been understood in the core disciplines, particularly in Islam and Western culture, and most relevant for Muslim identity. The Worldview Theory has been popular in the West but has not yet found a proper place in the Turkish context. This study aims to remedy the lack of the concept of worldview in the current literature. Nevertheless, exploring the Muslim identity is important. The meaning of identity is defined with Tariq Ramadan’s four foundational pillars. These four aspects provide a sufficient idea of the basics of Muslim identity, individual and social, in a particular area of the world. Regarding this, religion and religious education have attempted to respond to the challenges faced by many young people seeking to find a worldview that holds the promise of a meaningful life. Thus, the religious worldview dimension of life is significant and is given special attention in this article. This paper is concerned to be one of the few attempts to discuss a need for professional care in dealing with the development of worldview and identity relations.