Integrating the Islamic Worldview
However, if the opposite is the case, that is to say, if
the conditions in a city are awful and detrimental to living,
who is to be blamed? The demeanor, attitudes and
mindset of the city dwellers – everyone in the socio-political
hierarchy – as well as ce
rtain policies and their
enforcement, are as a rule pointed at as the causes of the
trouble. This may be partly true and acceptable, yet a
majority of the root causes
would definitely be related to
the snags in the people's
commitment to an adopted
worldview (philosophy and vi
sion of life and truth),
provided the worldview itself is free of them and other
imperfections.
Deviating from an established worldview, or
abandoning it completely, has always produced a chain
reaction in everything that people do. It follows that all the
phenomena witnessed in a community and its urban and
rural settlements, irrespective
of whether they are good or
bad, are reflective of the nature and strength of people's
association with a vision and philosophy of life and truth
(worldview) on whose principles the community had been
established and had been surviving for years. The stronger
and healthier the relationship between people and the
philosophy of their community
(their settlements) the more
is it likely that they (their community) will keep moving
ahead longer, and vice versa. Therefore, understanding
fully all the aspects of the problems that beset a city,
linking the symptoms with
their root causes, before
embarking on a healing process, shall always be vital.
As far as Islam is concerned, neighbourhoods serve
as the incubators of constructive ideas and schemes that
are epitomized in the characters and conducts of the
people. Hence, both the Holy Qur'an and the Prophet's
Sunnah
paid so much attention to the notion of neighbours
– their rights and resp
onsibilities, as well
as to the roles and
significance of housing, mosques, roads and public spaces
which make up neighbourhoods (Hakim, 1988). Of these,
the house institution, together with the mosque, occupies
the most important position. Central to the quintessence of
all the components of a neighbourhood is certainly the
comprehensive and enduring worldview of Islam.
While developing the city-state of Madinah, the
Prophet (pbuh) and the first generation of Muslims
demonstrated in a powerful and practical fashion the
Islamic view of the subjec
t at hand (Spahic, 2004).
Neighbourhoods, it could be
deduced, account for a
microcosm of Islamic culture and civilization in that
individuals and families bred and nurtured therein
constitute the fundamental units of the Islamic community
(
ummah
). Neighbourhoods have a potential to take up the
role of an educational and training centre able to
produce, in concert with other societal establishments with
the house institution in the forefront, individuals capable of
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