An Analysis of Allama Tabatabaei's Interpretation of Human Nature as the Cornerstone of Islamic Humanities

There are many theories about human nature in both Western and Islamic scholarship. In the history of Western philosophy, the story of human nature has its background in ancient Greek philosophy. There is a wide range of theories of human nature, as numerous as philosophies themselves, presented by many thinkers from different cultures, periods, and schools of thought. Undoubtedly, one of the practical elements in shaping and orientating the humane sciences depends on the type of interpretation of human nature and identity; for instance, a secularist view of human nature in one way and a religious view in another way play a fundamental role in the process of determining the sort of humane sciences. This article focuses on Allama Tabatabaei's explanation of human nature as the foundation of Islamic humanities by using descriptive-analytical and exploratory-inferential techniques. Allama first looks at human nature in terms of its link to the Cause of the causes, the Creator. His concern was human nature from the very outset of the creation of the human soul and before its inherence in the human body to the end of physical life on this earth, and even into the soul's life after Death and finally at the Resurrection. Such an understanding of human nature is the original basis of Islamic human sciences. Although the social aspects of human life and human beings' intercommunication are Allama's focus, they are secondary to the perfection of the human individual and self-actualization.