Exploring Ibn Khaldun’s Views On The Religious Roles Towards Happiness: A Study Of Religionswissenschaft In The Muqaddimah

Abstract

Religionswissenschaft or the study of religion is an attempt to understand various aspects of religion, especially through the use of other intellectual disciplines. The Muqaddimah is principally meant to be an introduction to the voluminous text of history, namely Kitab al-cIbar. Yet, the creation of Muqaddimah includes information on the study of human, which simultaneously includes information and views on religions. There are many views on religion highlighted by Ibn Khaldun in his Muqaddimah. These views on religion mostly describe the roles of religion in human life as found through his sociohistorical approach of cUmrān science. Through the use of qualitative content analysis on Muqaddimah text, this study found that there is a focus made by Ibn Khaldun in his views on religion, namely religion and happiness. This article explores Ibn Khaldun’s views on religion and its roles for human happiness. Many modern scholars of religious study have shared their views on religious roles towards happiness. These modern views came from scholars of many religious backgrounds such as the atheists, seculars and religionists. In the Muqaddimah, Ibn Khaldun pronounces his understanding of happiness, which are not divorced from the religious teachings and practices. This article purports to highlight Ibn Khaldun’s views on religious roles towards happiness, which focusing on Ibn Khaldun’s justifications and rationalizations for such religious roles. From findings on Ibn Khaldun’s views on religious roles towards happiness, this article suggests that Ibn Khaldun’s rationalizations for such religious roles determine his thought style that is integrative (naqlī-caqlī) or in tawhidic manner. This article proposes that Muqaddimah is supposed to be taken as a representative of Islamic thought in the midst of many references for religious study, especially in encountering various present views on religious roles in human’s life.