An Examination of Authority in the Moral Teachings of Nahj al-Balaghah

Authority, in the sense of legitimate authority, is an issue that has been examined from different aspects and has many types. One of these types is educational authority. Thinkers and schools of thought have discussed this issue, and one of the drawbacks is that the authority of the teacher may eliminate the learner's independence. The present study has tried to investigate the concept and nature of authority in Nahj al-Balaghah moral education to examine the goals and types of education in Nahj al-Balaghah, as well as the principles and methods of moral education, teacher authority, and learner independence in Nahj al-Balaghah. This research has been carried out on Nahj al-Balaghah through using qualitative content analysis method with Mayring (2000) inductive approach. The sampling method was non-probabilistic and purposeful or standard, which was done by text-studies method and Silverman's rethinking credibility and, quality improvement strategy was used. The findings of the study suggest that the principles and methods of moral education in Nahj al-Balaghah do not indicate the relationship of dominance in education and are planned with the aim of giving freedom and independence to the learner, and the goal of its freedom and reason is to achieve voluntary perfection.