Intellectual, historical and civilizational traditions of Muslim social thought
sina sheikhi; Hossein KACHOYAN
Abstract
Saadi's Gulistan, which contains the highest number of Persian proverbs of any single work and served as a primary educational text in Iranian maktabkhaneh (traditional schools) for centuries, played a crucial role in shaping this ethic. This article, using a grounded theory method, examined Saadi's ...
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Saadi's Gulistan, which contains the highest number of Persian proverbs of any single work and served as a primary educational text in Iranian maktabkhaneh (traditional schools) for centuries, played a crucial role in shaping this ethic. This article, using a grounded theory method, examined Saadi's social ethics in his book Gulistan, arriving at the concept of "social service" as the ethical type. Saadi must be considered one of the greatest architects of an "ethics of service" in Persian literature. With rare skill, he presented mystical and ethical concepts in both prose and poetry, offering them to the general public in a simple and enduring manner.The mystical-ethical perspective on "serving the people" (khedmat-e khalq), evident in Saadi's works and the Islamic-Iranian mystical tradition, is not merely a spiritual teaching; it has had profound social and ethical impacts on the structure and dynamics of society. These impacts can be outlined in three main areas: strengthening social solidarity, reducing inequality and injustice, and shaping the collective spirit of society.Service to the people, which has played an important role in Iranian history, has been accompanied by diverse and multifaceted cultural and structural developments, with endowments (waqf), Sufi lodges (khanqah), and religious alms (khums and zakat) being prominent examples. In Saadi's thought, serving the people creates a solidarity among members of society that is distinct from the superficial and self-interested solidarities of the modern world.
Rereading and interpreting the ideas of leading Muslim thinkers
Ahmad Jahani Nasab
Abstract
This article aims to analyze Utopia from Avicenna and Ibn Khaldun’s socio ـ political point of view based on Spriggans’ model. Therefore, the research question is: How did Avicenna and Ibn Khaldun think about the idea of Utopia and what ideal solution did they propose to get rid of its crises? ...
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This article aims to analyze Utopia from Avicenna and Ibn Khaldun’s socio ـ political point of view based on Spriggans’ model. Therefore, the research question is: How did Avicenna and Ibn Khaldun think about the idea of Utopia and what ideal solution did they propose to get rid of its crises? Using the descriptive ـ analytical method, as well as library resources, the researcher found out that in an effort to create a link between politics and prophecy, Avicenna considered the crisis to be a lack of centralized national power, which in turn led to a lack of prophetic policy and proper implementation of sharia laws. Proposing the Utopia, he considered a prophetic political law as the best system, in which the prophet or his successor is at the forefront. His Utopia includes reconciliation of religion and philosophy, linking politics with sharia, and maintaining the unity of the Muslim community through the philosopher ـ prophet concentrated power. In fact, proposing of Utopia from the socio ـ political perspective was based on the divine nature of man and the maximum role of government in the felicity and salvation of citizens in this world and hereafter. However, in Ibn Khaldun’s point of view, formation and expansion of powerful and vast governments are related to origin of religious principles and the role of religion in the lifespan of the states. He considers the state a fluid and declining phenomenon that, like humans, has a natural lifespan from its emergence to its decadence. Given that, in addition to tribal solidarity (Asabiyyah), religious solidarity can strengthen governments.
Rereading and interpreting the ideas of leading Muslim thinkers
elahe faraji; yarmohammad ghasemi
Abstract
Since social capital is one of the ground of social science, and in recent decades it get much importance that it was called invisible wealth, this article has paid attention to the comparative study of this concept with the Asabiyah of Ibn Khaldun who used this key word to analyze the social and political ...
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Since social capital is one of the ground of social science, and in recent decades it get much importance that it was called invisible wealth, this article has paid attention to the comparative study of this concept with the Asabiyah of Ibn Khaldun who used this key word to analyze the social and political disorders of this time and he knows it a consolidating and uniting factor. In fact, the main goal of this study is to answer this question that whether we can update the Asabiyah of Ibn Khaldun according to the theories of social capital?Theoretical framework of this study is based on the theory of Gidenz and, its supplementary, ideas of Putnam. The set of presented arguments were resulted in this that although these two concepts have some in common, they have some differences which distinguishes them from each other in some respects. Thus, it can be inferred of differences of these two concepts that Asabiyah couldn’t be updated completely (however religion is still the main factor of solidarity in most societies specially our society, confederacy which also nowadays is formed regionally and universally, are some items which help to the possibility of updating the Ibn Khaldun theory of Asabiyah with new society) .On the other hand, Ibn Khaldun lived in a time and place with which Asabiyah was blended while in present modern societies race and lineage have been replaced by law and competence. In this way, the possibility of updating is cancelled in this case.
