A comparative study of Quranic anthropology and western anthropology with respect to the fundamentals of Shiite belief

Knowing human being has been encountered with many people’s deep philosophical thoughts in all over the world for a long time. Quranic anthropology and western anthropology as two main intellectual schools have dealt with knowing human being, in generally speaking; they are different with each other in terms of the subject, the aim and the approach. The main weakness of western anthropology in comparison with Quranic anthropology is the weakness in the field of the subject, the aim and the approach so that western anthropology has been encountered with nihilism at the present time. On the other hand, its strength is to be practical and the tangible effect on human being life. However, Quranic anthropology has mainly remained in the theory scope. Western anthropology has passed from these three different periods; the ancient, the Middle Ages and the contemporary one. A comparative attitude of the comparison of the two above mentioned schools will be represented to the reader by virtue of Shiite religious principles, i.e., unity, resurrection, prophecy, leadership and justice, and also, referring to primary references such as Quran, Islamic philosophies, the traditions of Infallible Imams (AS), western orientalists, and western philosophies during different periods especially in the middle ages and the modern age.