Ferdowsi, Haft Bazm & Social Skills Training " Psychological Introduction to Haft Bazm Story in Abolghasem Ferdowsi's Shahnameh"

In today’s world, issues in life skills have come to enjoy a special position because if such issues are not dealt with seriously and efforts are not made toward enhancing the mental health of individuals in today’s industrial and galloping world, the psycho-social abilities of individuals would diminish, thus leading to mental fatigue and a rise in social injuries**. In the past recent decades, psychologists have emphasized that many disorders and injuries** arise from failure to control emotions, an individual’s incapability of encountering difficult situations, and unpreparedness to solve life problems. In line with such beliefs, psychologists have mobilized to prevent mental diseases and social abnormalities, provide life skills education, increase psycho-social abilities, and ultimately prevent behaviors injurious to health and well-being and enhance mental health in individuals (WHO 1996, cited by Ghaleh Asadi 2007). Hakim Abolghasem Ferdowsi paid special attention to such areas of education over a millennium ago and described them in the forms of thoughts and behaviors of different persons in his stories and poems. One of such stories is one entitled “Haft Bazm” (Seven Feasts). This story which Ferdowsi depicted in his masterpiece, the Shahnameh, is set in a sublime atmosphere and a splendid meeting and in the form of question and answer sessions. The atmosphere of the question and answer sessions and the questions raised by Ferdowsi in such sessions by quoting them from Bozorgmehr and other scholars and the way the Sassanid King and rest of the audience, who are all among the great thinkers of their era, approach the thoughts presented in the words of Bozorgmehr are all prominent examples of the requirements of social skills which is indicative of this great poet’s mastery of the knowledge of communication skills and his great social and spiritual intelligence.The present study seeks to provide an introduction to Haft Bazm and offer an analytical paper for researchers and instructors engaged in social skills and other interested readers. Dr. Mohamed Yousef of Malaysia believes that in the same way that the west Europeanized or westernized Islamic philosophy, astronomy, medicine and mathematics, the Muslims too must Islamize and use the communications theories in which Europeans have made good progress (citation from Bolton, Shahvali’s translation 2001, p 4).