دوفصلنامه اسلام و علوم اجتماعی
پیاپی 13 (بهار و تابستان 1394)

This issue that where would be a good starting point for research on the objective situation of religiosity and its developments has been remained controversial since the founding of such researches. Is it possible to investigate the actual dimensions of religiosity based on a prior definition? Possibility and alteration of such definition in the beginning of sociological research has been the ground of continued disputes in this field of science due to the necessity for the reliance of that definition to the observations in one hand and the impossibility of formulating the problem without presenting any prior definition of religion on the other hand. In this research paper, first, the related sociological literature is reviewed and then problems concerning determination of relationship between religion and religiosity are explored. It seems that taking an empirical approach at the beginning of examining actual and objective dimensions of religion without regarding internal requirements of a religion does not ensure high reliability. For this purpose, it is tried to evaluate the dimensions of religiosity including fundamental beliefs, rituals and moralities with regard to their status in Islam and investigation of their methodological implications in assessment of religiosity dimensions. These dimensions have common relationship with other monotheistic religions. This helps to the minimal efficiency of religiosity assessment models in which those dimensions were used. In religiosity assessment models, the most problematic aspect was morality. Moral aspect here means social pervasive conducts and characters which gradually change to collective habits. Unlike ontological patterns, religiosity indices in sociological researches are gradual and a researcher in this field needs mixed methods to test the hypothesis of research.

This issue that where would be a good starting point for research on the objective situation of religiosity and its developments has been remained controversial since the founding of such researches. Is it possible to investigate the actual dimensions of religiosity based on a prior definition? Possibility and alteration of such definition in the beginning of sociological research has been the ground of continued disputes in this field of science due to the necessity for the reliance of that definition to the observations in one hand and the impossibility of formulating the problem without presenting any prior definition of religion on the other hand. In this research paper, first, the related sociological literature is reviewed and then problems concerning determination of relationship between religion and religiosity are explored. It seems that taking an empirical approach at the beginning of examining actual and objective dimensions of religion without regarding internal requirements of a religion does not ensure high reliability. For this purpose, it is tried to evaluate the dimensions of religiosity including fundamental beliefs, rituals and moralities with regard to their status in Islam and investigation of their methodological implications in assessment of religiosity dimensions. These dimensions have common relationship with other monotheistic religions. This helps to the minimal efficiency of religiosity assessment models in which those dimensions were used. In religiosity assessment models, the most problematic aspect was morality. Moral aspect here means social pervasive conducts and characters which gradually change to collective habits. Unlike ontological patterns, religiosity indices in sociological researches are gradual and a researcher in this field needs mixed methods to test the hypothesis of research

Assistant professor and faculty member at The University of Religions & Denominations This paper aims to review religious tourism (also commonly referred to as faith tourism). The subject matter of this study is firstly investigated with respect to content and meaning and then its function and role in three following levels of reality are explored: social, cultural and spiritual. In these threefold levels, religious tourism is recognized as a social construct as well as a cultural and spiritual need which plays an important role in human solidarity and convergence. And finally in a triple conceptual framework, God-seeking, altruism and self-discovery are explained and classified in Islamic view.

This paper attempts to investigate the implications of the principle that implies Islam has its own unique normative legal and moral system and does not neglect any individual and social area and also benefits from a strong rational and innate theoretical framework. Based on this view, the controversy on the dualism of agency and structure will be justified by the discussions on God's right and people's right followed by discussions on love and justice and subsequently the representation of nature in knowledge and desires, i.e., reason and needs, should be recognized. Consequently such a view makes gradual movement of human being on the basis of basic essential needs inevitable. To achieve a better result, documental and content analysis methods, with an emphasis on religious texts and thoughts, are used.

The present paper is to look at the works of Allameh Mohammad Taghi Jafari (RA) (1923 - 1998); who is regarded as one of the most prominent thinkers and intellectuals of Iran's scientific legacy[t1], in a different way from the prevailing European views and tries to constitute a systematic framework of his attitudes on the issue of the relationship between structure and agency. This enterprise has been recognized as one of the most important issues in the field of sociology mainly arguable in the realm of social ontology. In this paper, by referring to his works it is initially tried to explore, articulate and develop Allameh Jafari's views and thoughts and then with a comprehensive outlook to all of his works it is attempted to infer sociological implications relating to this issue. Finally his precise theory would be explained by gathering its components which seems to be disseminated in Jafari's works. This research has a descriptive-analytical approach. It seems that Jafari has a dualist view to the issue of structure and agency. This means that his remarks do not entail any general rule about all structures and all agencies. He believes that every person is brought into existence with a preliminary nature and outside the chain of deterministic causes. In one hand, these basic features can bring a unique identity for each person and grant him/her an independent personality. On the other hand, people as social actors do not grow in a vacuum, but after the birth, will be affected by natural and environmental factors, pre-formed social structures and even particular instincts and his/her natural self. The type of individual life and how to deal with these influential sources determine the supremacy of the action or the supremacy of social structures.

The relationship between human nature and political theory is recognized as one of the most important topics in analytical study of every political theory. Political scientists usually establish the legitimacy of their theory about politics and government based on a particular explanation of human nature. This study explores the political views of Al-Farabi- one of the most significant political thinkers of the Islamic world- from this perspective. Farabi's political theory has a universal character and this is due to the perception that he offers with regard to the human nature. In political theory of Al-Farabi, because of their nature, human beings require a presence in the society to achieve prosperity and happiness. As a result, Farabi's account of politics is collectivistic in nature and is at odds with the modern individualistic conception of politics and government. Farabi believes that the humankind, to recognize happiness, needs to others. This need is satisfied simply by connecting to the creative reason, which is itself created by God or Demiurge as the first cause. Hence, Farabi's political theory finds a certain special connection with the issue of monotheism. Modern political theories have mainly ignored the issue of ruler or leader of the political community. But for Farabi the question of who should rule is of utmost importance. In this case, he owes his political theory to the perception he offers of human nature.

The aim of this research is to infer the role of social factors in the creation of human knowledge in Al-Ghazālī (c.1056–1111) and Ibn-Khaldun''s (c.1332–1406) views with a comparative approach. The method of this research is comparative analysis of Al-Ghazālī and Ibn-Khaldun''s understandings of this phenomenon through reviewing and scrutinizing their views. Findings of this study show that the relationship between knowledge and society is one of the main concerns of these two Muslim philosophers. They both have tried to investigate how social factors influence various levels of human knowledge. In the view of Ibn-Khaldun¡ the division of people into rural population and urban population is based on a variety of social factors. But from the viewpoint of Al-Ghazali¡ the division of human beings into common people¡ theologians and mystics refers to their knowledge system which can be influenced by social factors. Results demonstrate that while Al-Ghazali notices the role of social factors as barriers to the realization of genuine knowledge¡ he determines their function in the formation of human knowledge such as jurisprudence¡ theology and politics. Ghazali in his approach mainly attempts to display negative aspects of social factors of knowledge formation and development. On the contrary¡ Ibn-Khaldun tries to explore the diversity of social factors such as Asabyyat (mostly known as tribal solidarity)¡ geographical situation¡ economy¡ religion and environment with a realistic approach using an objective experience. He expresses both positive and negative roles and endeavors to show their impact just in the form of knowledge and not its content.