The Principles and Criteria of Human Progress from the View of Islam

Providing the index of human progress form the view of Islam can be regarded one of the important issues in developing an Islamic-Iranian model of progress. It is necessary to take into consideration the criteria and principles of Islamic human progress in order to achieve this aim. The index of conventional human development, which has a particular and limited attitude towards man, limits all aims of the index to material well-being and neglects man's mental and spiritual aspect which is his most basic existential dimension. Using an analytical-deductive-descriptive method, the present paper seeks to extract the criteria of human progress in the view of Islam from Quranic verses and traditions, and elaborate on the principles governing it. The research findings indicate that religiosity, knowledge and science, broad mindedness, dignity and providing livelihood are four criteria for human progress, from the view of Islam. Accordingly, the index of human progress takes into consideration not only the criteria of index of conventional human development including science, relative health and well-being but other issues such as religiosity, knowledge, dignity and broad mindedness, as well. The criteria introduced for human progress are based on intellectual principles of Islam including its transcendent view of man and perfection. Offering these criteria can introduce distinct indices for human progress, some of which are referred to in the paper.