The Variability and Modification of Human Behavior in the View of the Holy Quran

The realization of a society based on a developed religious culture depends on a full understanding of the civilized and cultural attitude of the Holy Quran. Achieving this objective requires some preparations, the first of which is to examine the question whether or not, according to the Quran it is possible to fundamentally modify human behavior. The challenging question is centered on three categories of Quranic verses. The first has a negative view about the behavior of the majority of human society; the second ignores the possibility of modifying specific individuals; and the third obliges preachers of religion to take no action under certain circumstances. According to the findings of this article, the first two categories are concerned with the historical and contemporary experience of human societies as well as Quranic anthropology and it is by identifying the intrinsic and extrinsic challenging factors in the development process of standard culture that they are completed. The third category is, in fact, the result of the realistic Quranic assessment of the effects which constitute part of the educational planning of the Quran. Consequently, while emphasizing the idea of planning to modify the human behavior of all mankind and expressing the possibility and necessity of the authority of standard culture in human life, the Quran dismisses the idea of modifying the behavior of all mankind on the basis of the divine law on man’s freedom of choice, even though the task of delivering the message of religion as an ample evidence is necessary well founded.