Professor Murteza Motahhari's Theory of "Evolution of Society and History"

Reviewing Professor Murteza Motahhari's works on the development of society and history, the present paper seeks to elaborate on his theory of "evolution of society and history". To this end, it is worth considering the following questions: What is meant by evolution? What are the criteria for the evolution of society and history? And what is the nature of evolutionary process of history? A review of Motahhari's works indicates that "evolution of history" refers to cultivation of natural capacities of society, whose criteria are faith, ideology, and achievement of freedom and increase in awareness in society. The evolutionary process of history means that, throughout history, all societies in all times drive towards evolution. This total evolution will be acceptable if it refers to the evolution which occurs at the end of history and has the form of Mahdist society. However, it is not necessarily always acceptable as a total evolution in some junctures of history, though it is acceptable for certain historical periods.