Ulul Albab values in Maher Zain’s lyrics Open Your Eyes: Paul Ricoeur’s Hermeneutic Perspective

ABSTRACT

The Maher Zain’s “Open Your Eyes” song is the Islamic nuance song which contain the Qur’anic values. Ulul albab is the Qur’anic values. Ulul albab is the quality that exist in the human when they use their mind to contemplate the world phenomena (kauniyah verses). This term is derived from 16 Qur’anic verses which contain several values that are formulated by Muhaimin. The Qur’anic values especially the ulul albab values have potential to change the attitude of human. Therefore those values are important to analyze in the Maher Zain’s “Open Your Eyes” lyrics. Because this song is the vital song which is watched and heard by many people.

This research is conducted to reveal the ulul albab values in Maher Zain’s song Open Your Eyes. This research uses the metaphor and symbol in Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutic perspective. It is done by analyzing the metaphor and the symbols meaning in Open Your Eyes lyrics. The researcher uses the result of symbolic meaning in Maher Zain’s Open Your Eyes lyrics as the references. It means that the researcher doing the analysis based on the meaning of symbols in the lyrics. After that the researcher correlates the symbolic meaning with the ulul albab values that are formulated by Muhaimin.

The result of the analysis achieving in this research are: the metaphor in Maher Zain’s song Open Your Eyes lyrics is the state-metaphor which makes tension between the word “open” and the word “eyes”, “heart and mind” in the lyrics. It means that the word “open” will absurd to do “open” to the “eyes, heart and mind” because they are the inside organ of our body. Therefore, according to Ricoeur, these proposition is the discourse which need philosophical thinking to understand it. And this thinking start from the symbol to symbol. There are three symbol concepts which function as the farther explanation of the state-metaphor above. They are the concept of perfect harmony, perfect order, and the biggest miracle. Those symbols mean the Allah’s evidence of existence.

The ulul albab values found in Maher Zain’s Open Your Eyes lyrics are: thoughtfulness, the sense of curiosity, the hikmah/ lesson learned and the I’tibar/wisdom.