Document Type : Research Article / Original Article

Authors

• Hossein Kachoian ¹
• Esmaeil Nodeh Farahani ²

¹ Associate Professor of Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences University of Tehran

² Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran

Abstract

Futuwwa guilds represents one of the oldest ethical, social, and economic systems in Iranian history. It has attracted scholarly attention since the earliest academic attempts to understand pre-modern Iranian culture. In particular, the existence of written futuwwat-namas (manuals of chivalry) from various historical periods, along with the interest of European orientalists in exploring futuwwa and its guild-based manifestations, have contributed to this scholarly focus. Despite the expansion of literary studies involving the collection and critical editing of futuwwat-namas, and the inclination of social sciences to examine guild futuwwa as a form of socio-economic institutional and a culturally-developmental indigenous capacity, existing research appears to overlook the cultural-historical narrative of how this phenomenon emerged. Thus, this article attempts to investigate the history of the origin and the formation of Futuwwa guilds, focusing on how futuwwa, initially a personal and ethical agenda of conduct, gradually transformed into a socio-economic institution. The article uses an Inductive-analytical method and library-based sources, and concludes that the jurisprudential approach (as a realistic, individual, and microscopic encounter) intended to teach business and transactional rulings to market practitioners, fundamentally differs from the Sufi-futuwwa approach (as a mytho-theological, macroscopic encounter) which sought to imbue professional and occupational identities with spiritual meaning.

Keywords

• Asceticism and Sufism
• Chivalry and Futuwwa
• Guild Futuwwa
• Futuwwa of Guilds
• rulings on business
• Work Culture

Main Subjects

• Empirical application of Muslim social knowledge