University Of Tehran Press Social Theories of Muslim Thinkers 2538-5240 12 4 2022 12 22 Comparative study of Ghazali's and Khwaja Nasir al-Din Tusi's views on the cause and belonging of friendship Comparative study of Ghazali's and Khwaja Nasir al-Din Tusi's views on the cause and belonging of friendship 15 29 92241 10.22059/jstmt.2023.350144.1562 FA Saeideh Hamledari Ph.D. Student at Ethics, Qom University, Qom, Iran, Ahmad Fazeli Assistant professor, Department of Ethics, Faculty of Humanities, University of Qom, Qom, Iran, Journal Article 2022 11 27 Friendship is an internal quality that stems from the conscience and temperament of a person. Neglecting this essential quality of human existence will result in destructive harm that will be difficult or impossible to compensate. Friendship encompasses numerous dimensions of types, degrees, obstacles, meanings, and resources, but the focus of this research is on the examination of two essential categories, “friendship’s causes and properties,” and it begins by posing the following questions: What factors motivate man’s tendency toward friendship, and what topics can constitute friendship? The author intends to investigate the answers to the aforementioned questions from the perspectives of Ghazali and Khwaja Nasir al-Din Tusi, two renowned Islamic thinkers. This research required library research to collect the necessary data, which was then compared to determine the similarities and differences between the two approaches. The findings indicate that Ghazali, with his mystic outlook, considers “God” to be the greatest friendship motive among the causes of love. Also, only “God” deserves to be man’s best companion among the subjects of love, and expressing love to other subjects is interpreted as friendship with God. The greatest motivation for love, according to Khwaja Nasir al-Din Tusi, is the combination of the three reasons he lists for friendship: pleasure, benefit, and pure goodness. In terms of friendship, Khajah prioritizes social relationships with other males. Friendship is an internal quality that stems from the conscience and temperament of a person. Neglecting this essential quality of human existence will result in destructive harm that will be difficult or impossible to compensate. Friendship encompasses numerous dimensions of types, degrees, obstacles, meanings, and resources, but the focus of this research is on the examination of two essential categories, “friendship’s causes and properties,” and it begins by posing the following questions: What factors motivate man’s tendency toward friendship, and what topics can constitute friendship? The author intends to investigate the answers to the aforementioned questions from the perspectives of Ghazali and Khwaja Nasir al-Din Tusi, two renowned Islamic thinkers. This research required library research to collect the necessary data, which was then compared to determine the similarities and differences between the two approaches. The findings indicate that Ghazali, with his mystic outlook, considers “God” to be the greatest friendship motive among the causes of love. Also, only “God” deserves to be man’s best companion among the subjects of love, and expressing love to other subjects is interpreted as friendship with God. The greatest motivation for love, according to Khwaja Nasir al-Din Tusi, is the combination of the three reasons he lists for friendship: pleasure, benefit, and pure goodness. In terms of friendship, Khajah prioritizes social relationships with other males. https://jstmt.ut.ac.ir/article_92241_7e2ee302c3714fd2219dfb3117b405c5.pdf