Dialectical Reasoning in Recontextualizing Maslahah: A Methodological Critique of Islamic Educational Epistemology

Abstract

Contemporary Islamic Religious Education (IRE) frequently remains trapped in a passive, dogmatic-scholastic approach, rendering it less responsive to the complexities of modern social dynamics. This study aims to critique the methodological limitations of conventional IRE epistemology and propose an epistemological reconstruction grounded in dialectical reasoning through the contextualization of the maslahah (public interest) concept. As a non-field qualitative inquiry, this study focuses on textual sources covering Islamic epistemological thought, dialectical theory, and the doctrine of maslahah spanning classical to contemporary scholars, purposively selected for their conceptual relevance. Utilizing a philosophical-hermeneutic approach, data were gathered via document analysis and subjected to critical-constructive content analysis to synthesize text, reason, and social reality. The findings demonstrate that the divide between normative IRE doctrines and social realities can be bridged by transforming maslahah from a mere legal product into a dialectical, methodological-pedagogical principle. The study concludes that reconstructing IRE epistemology through the dialectics of maslahah harmoniously integrates bayani (textual), burhani (rational-demonstrative), and irfani (gnostic-intuitive) approaches. Consequently, this study highlights the necessity of shifting the IRE curriculum and pedagogical paradigms from rigid rote transmission toward a transformative, humanistic, and practical critical education capable of responding to contemporary challenges.