Challenging the Eurocentric nature of the concept of social wellbeing: An alternative discourse from Islamic thought-Said Nursi example

The concept of social wellbeing has been discussed particularly in religion and many other disciplines like philosophy, sociology, psychology and economics. Extensiveness of the field, the concept of social wellbeing is related with, diversifies the areas which affects social wellbeing adversely and also complicates making a single definition about this concept. In this study, the concept of social wellbeing was discussed in the framework of Islamic and Eurocentric thoughts. Hence, this study matters in the sense of showing the concept of social wellbeing affected distinctly by which fields. In this discussion made within hermeneutic method, it is acknowledged that the nature of Eurocentric thought is a factor affecting social wellbeing negatively, and Islamic thought is a factor affecting social wellbeing positively. Thus, this study aims to analyze critically why and how the nature of Eurocentric thought negatively affects social wellbeing, and why and how the nature of Islamic thought positively affects social wellbeing. Purposefully, critical literature and discourse about Eurocentric thought were analysed. It was found out in this analysis that Eurocentric thought has an ethnocentric, marginalising, colonising, orientalist, secular, capitalist and modernist nature. Also, this analysis shows that the nature of Eurocentric thought has a destructive and breaker impact on continuity and routines of human, and this unfavourable impact leads to anxiety and domination. Discourse of Islamic scholar Said Nursi was analysed to understand why and how Islamic thought is an alternative to social wellbeing discourse which leads to anxiety and domination. In the analysis of Islamic thought, it was seen that this thought has a nature of justice, compassion, cooperation and solidarity. This positive effect pointed out that the nature of Islamic thought causes ontological safety. As a result of the analysis of this discourse made within grounded theory method and related literature, it was detected that wellbeing is an ontological necessity for human being. This ontological necessity of wellbeing was conceptualized as ontological wellbeing theory that is the synthesis of the dialectic of ontological anxiety-ontological safety. When the discourse of Nursi about ontological wellbeing was analysed within methodology of content and discourse analysis, it was found that Allah is the absolute subject of ontological wellbeing, and human being and creatures are the absolute objects of ontological wellbeing. In addition, it was seen that persons, phenomena and concepts like Qur'an, prophet Muhammad, Islam, zakah, and justice are epistemological information sources. So, it is found out that ontological wellbeing is being claimed that it is ensured along with the knowledge sources of Tevhid thought of Islamic discourse. Key Words: Eurocentrism, Islam, Modernity, Ontological Anxiety, Ontological Safety, Ontological Wellbeing, Said Nursi, Social Wellbeing