The Epistemological Convergence of Postmodernism and Islamic Mysticism in Critiquing Modern Rationality

This research aims to explain the epistemological convergence of postmodernism and Islamic mysticism in critiquing classical rationality by addressing the main question: «How do these two paradigms, despite fundamental differences, align in criticizing modern rationality, and how can this convergence lead to the presentation of an epistemological model beyond the correspondence theory?» Through the analysis of themes such as knowledge as discovery in Islamic mysticism and the critique of representation theory, it is demonstrated that both traditions: 1. challenge classical rationality due to its claim to comprehend infinite reality; 2. consider language and reason incapable of fully explaining truth; in such a way that both discourses portray knowledge as beyond the simple mind-reality relationship. However, this convergence in critique leads to different outcomes, and while postmodernism tends toward epistemological relativism, Islamic mysticism, relying on the manifestation of divine wisdom, proposes a three-dimensional model based on negation (critique of instrumental reason), intuition (presential knowledge), and action (piety as the foundation of knowledge). The present research, employing the method of comparative analysis of texts (including the Quran, Islamic narrations, and key postmodern texts), argues through themes such as knowledge as manifestation and critique of representation theory that this combined model can both escape the limitations of correspondence theory and avoid postmodern nihilism. The findings indicate that «knowledge» in this framework is not a static representation but a dynamic process in engagement with the transcendent.