Research Article / Original Article
Rereading and interpreting the ideas of leading Muslim thinkers
Fatemeh Nazari; Majid Zamani Alavijeh; Ahmad Fazeli
Abstract
This article examines the civilizational thought of Malek Bennabi and demonstrates how his critique of the foundational assumptions of Western civilization provides the groundwork for Islamic civilizational renewal. Bennabi argues that Western civilization presupposes a universal truth and regards the ...
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This article examines the civilizational thought of Malek Bennabi and demonstrates how his critique of the foundational assumptions of Western civilization provides the groundwork for Islamic civilizational renewal. Bennabi argues that Western civilization presupposes a universal truth and regards the civilization it has produced as the ultimate embodiment of that truth. By contrast, he maintains that truth is situated and communitarian: each ummah is endowed with a form of truth corresponding to its collective capacity, and no community may claim exclusive access to absolute truth. According to Bennabi, these communal truths are context-bound and contingent. He identifies a range of factors that condition and delimit truth, emphasizing in particular the dominant spirit of a people and the culture that permeates social life as the primary constituents of civilizational truth. This study adopts a comparative-analytical approach to examine Bennabi’s civilizational ethics and political thought. The research is based on library sources and employs thematic content analysis to extract core conceptual patterns from Bennabi’s writings. The findings indicate that Bennabi’s civilizational framework assigns Muslims the responsibility of constructing a distinctive civilization aligned with their own talents and dispositions. His ethical schema culminates in a form of communitarian deontology, in which moral obligation is conferred upon the moral agent by the ummah. Within this paradigm, war is valorized over peace, insofar as every civilization is required to engage in continuous struggle to preserve its identity. Moreover, Bennabi’s model entails the fusion of religion and politics, rendering ethics subordinate to religion and challenging the normative authority of Western human rights discourse. From this perspective, each ummah is entitled to construct a legal system consistent with its own civilizational ethos.
Research Article / Original Article
Intellectual, historical and civilizational traditions of Muslim social thought
Amir Mohajer Milani
Abstract
In the years preceding the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, the gradual incorporation of modern epistemic frameworks into Iranian intellectual life posed profound challenges to the authority of established, tradition-bound modes of thought. Confronted with these epistemological disruptions, religious ...
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In the years preceding the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, the gradual incorporation of modern epistemic frameworks into Iranian intellectual life posed profound challenges to the authority of established, tradition-bound modes of thought. Confronted with these epistemological disruptions, religious discourses could no longer rely exclusively on doctrinal rigidity or devotional orthodoxy. At the same time, the deeply entrenched character of traditional knowledge—shaped by centuries of religious and cultural continuity—significantly constrained its capacity for adaptation and reconfiguration in response to emerging paradigms.Within this context, interpretations of the hijab, grounded in premodern epistemologies and largely devoid of women’s subjective presence, were frequently shaped by patriarchal assumptions and, at times, explicit misogyny. Such readings increasingly proved untenable amid the shifting intellectual and social dynamics of modern Iran. As traditional epistemes fractured and were reconstituted under the pressures of modernity, religious thought was compelled to reassess its foundational premises. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s archaeological method, this study investigates the nature and conditions of this epistemic rupture within contemporary Islamic thought. By dividing the historical trajectory into three key periods—pre-Pahlavi, the Pahlavi era (excluding its final decade), and the years immediately preceding the Islamic Revolution—the study traces transformations in discourses surrounding the hijab. It argues that the entanglement of religious tradition with cultural norms, together with the emergence of female agency in public and intellectual life, necessitated a reformulation of religious language—one that is gender-inclusive and responsive to a transformed epistemological landscape.
Research Article / Original Article
Rereading and interpreting the ideas of leading Muslim thinkers
Maryam Sadat Seyedkarimi; Yahya Bouzarinejad
Abstract
During the 1980s, the scope and limits of state intervention in Iran’s economy became the subject of significant debate between two divergent interpretations of Imam Khomeini’s theory of Velayat-e Faqih (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist). Prior to the revolution, Shiʿa jurisprudence had ...
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During the 1980s, the scope and limits of state intervention in Iran’s economy became the subject of significant debate between two divergent interpretations of Imam Khomeini’s theory of Velayat-e Faqih (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist). Prior to the revolution, Shiʿa jurisprudence had largely embraced an individual-centered approach that upheld private property rights and confined governmental involvement to the boundaries of established jurisprudential rules, most notably the principle of taslit (dominion over property). By contrast, Imam Khomeini and several of his followers—most notably Ayatollah Beheshti—advanced a substantially broader interpretation within the framework of “governmental jurisprudence.” This approach attributed extensive authority to the Wali al-Faqih, prioritizing maslahat (public interest) and the preservation of the Islamic system and revolutionary order over strict adherence to traditional jurisprudential norms. Within this framework, the Wali al-Faqih is empowered to restrict or modify otherwise legitimate private property rights in pursuit of higher systemic interests. This theoretical foundation served to legitimize and philosophically underpin expansive state intervention in economic affairs, particularly under extraordinary conditions such as war. Employing a documentary and library-based research methodology, this study draws on jurisprudential sources, historical documents, and jurists’ opinions, utilizing content analysis to examine the impact of the theory of absolute Velayat-e Faqih on economic policymaking. The findings underscore the central role of maslahat in prioritizing public welfare and regime preservation over traditional jurisprudential constraints, thereby facilitating the moderation of previously restrictive legal interpretations. Moreover, tensions between jurists and economic experts regarding the appropriate extent of state involvement in the economy were resolved through recourse to the authority of the Wali al-Faqih and the operative function of maslahat. Overall, the theory of absolute Velayat-e Faqih provided the principal source of legitimacy for expanded state intervention in the economy, particularly during the first half of the decade.
Research Article / Original Article
Rereading and interpreting the ideas of leading Muslim thinkers
Hamidreza Saremi; Mana Vahidbafandeh
Abstract
As an ideal and conceptual image of the city, the utopia of any society reflects its underlying ideas, values, and aspirations—elements that evolve over time in response to social, cultural, and economic transformations. Although utopian images differ in form and scale, they consistently correspond ...
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As an ideal and conceptual image of the city, the utopia of any society reflects its underlying ideas, values, and aspirations—elements that evolve over time in response to social, cultural, and economic transformations. Although utopian images differ in form and scale, they consistently correspond to an idealized conception of the city. From ancient periods through the Islamic civilization, this concept has been articulated in diverse forms by Iranian thinkers and scholars. In the contemporary context, redefining and applying utopia as a practical model for urban design has become increasingly significant. This study examines the concept of utopia within Iranian–Islamic civilization, with particular emphasis on the intellectual framework of Hakim Abolqasem Ferdowsi Tousi. Its primary objective is to analyze and develop a conceptual framework based on Ferdowsi’s vision of utopia and to explore its implications for Iranian–Islamic urban planning. Using qualitative content analysis, utopian concepts embedded in the narratives of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh are systematically examined. Subsequently, the interrelations among these concepts within the broader framework of Iranian–Islamic utopia are investigated through a narrative review approach. The findings indicate that the Iranian–Islamic utopia, understood as a concept transcending time and place, emphasizes wisdom and knowledge and offers an enduring ideal model for contemporary cities confronting present-day challenges.
Research Article / Original Article
Rereading and interpreting the ideas of leading Muslim thinkers
Hadi Salehi
Abstract
Although the concept of alienation has been explained within a broadly shared semantic framework across diverse intellectual traditions, it remains ontologically plural and contested with respect to its nature and meaning. Nevertheless, thinkers have repeatedly mobilized alienation to critique existing ...
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Although the concept of alienation has been explained within a broadly shared semantic framework across diverse intellectual traditions, it remains ontologically plural and contested with respect to its nature and meaning. Nevertheless, thinkers have repeatedly mobilized alienation to critique existing realities and to articulate alternative, desirable social conditions. Whether the criticized condition is understood as emerging from a material contradiction between social classes or groups, or as a primarily discursive formation, largely determines whether alienation is theorized on an idealist or materialist basis. In general, Søren Kierkegaard, G. W. F. Hegel, Ludwig Feuerbach, Max Stirner, and several nihilist and existentialist thinkers (e.g., Friedrich Nietzsche and Jean-Paul Sartre) have addressed alienation primarily within an idealist register. By contrast, Karl Marx and Frantz Fanon have employed the concept in materialist analyses. Among Iranian revolutionary thinkers, Ali Shariati makes extensive use of alienation. This study argues that Shariati’s treatment of alienation integrates both idealist and materialist dimensions. At times, however, methodological ambiguities in his work contribute to conceptual confusion or, at minimum, reduce the theoretical coherence of his definitions. Shariati’s materialist dimension is most visible in his analysis of cultural alienation and assimilation into foreign culture—an emphasis that may reflect the perceived clarity of antagonism between “native” and “foreign” cultural formations, reinforced by discourses of dependency, self-sufficiency, and “return to the self.” By contrast, class-based and intra-societal material antagonisms appear more ambiguous in Shariati’s context, given the incomplete formation of class structures and civil society in contemporary Iran. It is in this domain that Shariati’s account tends to assume a more idealist form.
Research Article / Original Article
Comparative study of Islamic and non-Islamic thinkers
Mona Hamidinasab; Mohammadali Tavana
Abstract
Theories of justice in contemporary Islamic political thought—particularly among Shiʿi scholars—remain relatively underdeveloped. Much of the existing literature either reiterates classical formulations or seeks to reconcile Islamic teachings with dominant Western theories of justice. Mohammad-Reza ...
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Theories of justice in contemporary Islamic political thought—particularly among Shiʿi scholars—remain relatively underdeveloped. Much of the existing literature either reiterates classical formulations or seeks to reconcile Islamic teachings with dominant Western theories of justice. Mohammad-Reza Hakimi, however, advances a distinctive approach by mobilizing religious and normative vocabulary in the service of social justice, grounded in the cultural and socio-historical context of Iranian society. Drawing on John Searle’s theory of speech acts, this article examines the assertive, directive, and perlocutionary dimensions embedded in Hakimi’s normative language of justice. Methodologically, the study employs qualitative content analysis of Hakimi’s theological and socio-intellectual writings in order to trace how concepts such as justice, tawḥīd (monotheism), and human dignity are transformed into mobilizing elements of discourse. The findings demonstrate that Hakimi articulates his vision of justice through a conscious distancing from both conservative religious interpretations and capitalist social relations, thereby positioning social justice at the center of his intellectual project. Normative concepts such as enjoining good and forbidding wrong (amr bi’l-maʿrūf wa nahy ʿan al-munkar), divine justice (ʿadl-i ilāhī), and tawḥīd provide the linguistic and conceptual foundations for linking faith to active social engagement aimed at eradicating poverty and oppression. By situating Hakimi’s thought within Islamic intellectual traditions and contemporary socio-political challenges, this article highlights his contribution to a renewed conception of Islamic social justice and underscores the significance of linguistic analysis for bridging theology and social praxis.
Research Article / Original Article
Rereading and interpreting the ideas of leading Muslim thinkers
Zakariya Mahmoudiraja; Mohsen Ale-sayedghafur
Abstract
Islamic unity has long been a foundational pillar of the power, stability, and cultural flourishing of Islamic civilization. Religious leaders and reform-minded thinkers have therefore treated unity not only as a moral virtue but also as a strategic necessity for the future of the Muslim ummah. Historic ...
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Islamic unity has long been a foundational pillar of the power, stability, and cultural flourishing of Islamic civilization. Religious leaders and reform-minded thinkers have therefore treated unity not only as a moral virtue but also as a strategic necessity for the future of the Muslim ummah. Historic initiatives for the Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought (taqrīb)—most notably Sheikh Mahmoud Shaltout’s recognition of Jaʿfari jurisprudence—sought to narrow sectarian divides through religious rationality, institutionalized dialogue, and educational reform. In recent decades, however, the rise of extremist discourses grounded in takfīr (excommunication) has undermined coexistence and intensified intra-Islamic fault lines. Movements such as ISIS, relying on superficial and absolutist readings of scripture, have repudiated rational ijtihād and legitimized organized violence. Adopting a critical–analytical approach, this study examines the conceptual foundations and socio-political contexts of takfīr while assessing the operational capacity of Shaltout’s unificationist thought as a coherent framework for countering exclusionary and violent discourses. Ultimately, it proposes an implementable model to reinforce Islamic cohesion and contain takfīrī currents, grounded in religious legitimacy, rational jurisprudence, and structural reforms.
Research Article / Original Article
Rereading and interpreting the ideas of leading Muslim thinkers
Seyyed Abedin Bozorgi; Mohammad Mohsen Hassanpour; Alireza Mohseni – Tabrizi
Abstract
This study examines Ali Shariati’s conception of alienation, focusing on its meaning, subject, origins, causes, types, and the theoretical framework through which he explains both alienation and de-alienation. Employing qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis, the research draws on seven ...
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This study examines Ali Shariati’s conception of alienation, focusing on its meaning, subject, origins, causes, types, and the theoretical framework through which he explains both alienation and de-alienation. Employing qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis, the research draws on seven of Shariati’s major works. Data were analyzed using the three-stage coding procedure proposed by Strauss and Corbin (open, axial, and selective coding). The analysis resulted in the identification of seven core themes: (1) alienation, (2) the alienated individual, (3) the subject of alienation, (4) the causes of alienation, (5) types of alienation, (6) alienation as an imposed or self-chosen phenomenon, and (7) de-alienation. Interpretation of these themes indicates that Shariati deliberately narrows the broad, global notion of alienation to the more specific concept of self-alienation. In this condition, the individual experiences the self as an “other,” loses self-consciousness, and lives under a false and fabricated identity. Shariati conceptualizes alienation as the outcome of a dialectical relationship between the individual and society. He argues that assimilation, alienation, imitation, and corruption are dialectically intertwined processes that may ultimately lead to self-consciousness, awareness, and the rebirth of the authentic self. Regarding the origins of alienation, Shariati refers to factors such as labor and the means of production, colonialism, imitation, bureaucracy, machinery, money, sophistry, and distorted forms of love. Together, these forces estrange human beings from their original selves and generate multiple forms of alienation. For Shariati, the ultimate solution lies in returning to the authentic self and overcoming self-alienation.
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