ماهنامه معرفت
سال هجدهم شماره 4 (پیاپی 139، تیر 1388)

What follows is a commentary on 'Khamsa 'Ashar' supplication, which Ayatollah Misbah made during the month ofRemadan at supreme leader's office inQom.In the beginning, he gives a semantic explanation of some concepts including dua (supplication), munajat (prayer/whisper) and nida (call) relating their differences. Munajat means to whisper or to speak quietly. Nida means to call somebody loudly. Dua is however general including both whispering and calling. Every one naturally likes to have a private meeting with dignitaries. A believer who is aware of divine dignity is not an exception to this rule. He also likes to find a private place to whisper to his deity. He who is devoted to Allah will enjoy through divine grace the pleasure of whispering to Allah. Conversely he whose top priority is worldly pleasures will not be able to taste the pleasure of whispering to Allah. Sins like love of the world, ostentation, hypocrisy, craving for gaining reputation, etc. are the important factors that deprive one from getting engaged in whispering to one's deity.

Using a reference methodology with a theoretical approach, the present article aims to explain social order from the view point of Islam. Social order comes into being as a result of the mutual influence of normative factors and the interacting network of individual and social actors. Factors such as participation, unity and solidarity play a part in establishing social order. According to this study, Islam profusely stresses on social order, discipline and law-abidingness. That is why it has introduced mechanisms to maintain social order in major social areas including educational system, family institution, legal institution and social institution.

The institution of family and its functions have always been interesting for different schools of thought, cultures and religions including the Islam. The objective of this article is to study Islam's approach towards family and its four important functions. Having adopted a theoretic-analytical method, the author first gives a cursory look at the place of family in Islam and then he explains the point of view of Islam in regard with the important functions of family after determining these functions in an earlier phase. While relating Islam's point of view, the author has made use of the main sources oflslamic doctrines.

Nowadays social security, which is usually called 'social service's is animportant applied discussion in social sciences. The question is: what is Islam's point of view regarding social services? The aim of this paper is to present Islam's basic point of view concerning social services. Studying Islamic doctrines, it becomes clear that just as Islam has programs regarding individual life, it has programs concerning social life, social cooperation and social solidarity. These programs are either confirmation of the conducts of rational individuals or something new without having any precedence. Having a descriptive method, the article makes use of Islamic resources.The most important finding of this article is that from the Islamic point of view social security is an indisputable right that has to be respected both by a state as well as by its subjects. This right is prescribed in order to insure every individual' transcendental and non-transcendental social needs for a clean life, especially at times of crisis.

Though functionalist justifications existing in a religion or religious views of some theologians lead some to widely use functionalist justifications to expand or protect a religion, the dominance of functionalist justification of a religion leads to its secularization. The present paper aims to challenge an extensive and thoughtless usage of functionalism through explaining its secularist peculiarities and relating their differences with the apparently common functionalist justifications of a religion existing theologian's words. What distinguish functionalist justifications advocated by sociologists from the functionalist justifications existing in religious texts as well as in many theologian's words are the secularist characteristics of this approach. Reducing a religion to a mere worldly tool, preferring this world to the next world, recommending pluralism at the cost of ignoring a true religion, distorting a religion or making it ineffective and making a religion teleological or ideological are among the top qualities of the current functionalist approach that leads to the secularization of a religion.

Following an analytic-descriptive approach and using a library method, this article seeks to explain the importance ofbody in consumption culture, women's getting distance from natural body so as to attain a social body through using

Discussions pertaining to the problems of youngsters and youths and finding solutions to them, have always been an interesting subject in our society. Having adopted a theoretical approach and reference methodology the article aims to study factors involved in paving the way for generation gap in our families and society.Though the presence of intellectual differences between young generation and other generations especially in families is very natural, existing in varying degrees in every society, it is necessary to distinguish between two kinds of generation gap: normative generation gap and value-laden generation gap. What is dangerous for societies and youths in the long run is not normative generation gap, for though it is natural it can be easily prevented in advance, but value-laden generation gap.

It is a real concern for every Muslim intellectual to know why Islamic splendid dynamic civilization found itself on the road to decline and was finally completely ruined. From the view point of Jabiri the root cause of the problem goes back to reason and culture. Muslims failed to detach themselves from the precious heritage of their past epistemologically, ideologically and socially. As a result, some previous elements continued to keep their presence in the heritage of the world of Islam. Some Muslim intellectuals seek to solve Arab problems through adopting Western theories and making them sound indigenous to their people. Others are trying to go back to the golden age of Islam. As a matter of fact, the overt and covert problems of Arabs go back to the time of 'ignorance'. Some of the problems pertaining to the age of ignorance continue their presence disturbing development in Arab countries. If Arab countries really want to embrace development, they must rid themselves of disturbing factors and get equipped with modem equipments. All these have to be done with the preservation of Arab-Islamic culture.