پژوهش نامه قرآن و حدیث
پیاپی 8 (بهار و تابستان 1390)

Relying on Tafsir al-Mizan، this article presents definitions for ethics and purification of soul from the viewpoint of Allameh Tabatabaee. Relying on the principle of monotheism، it also proves that a monotheistic ethical system is the most progressive ethical system which considers all the personal and social affairs of man along each other in order to fulfill a common objective، i. e. Devine unity، following the strategy of eradicating vices instead of repelling them.

Ethics is among the words which were formed together with man’s creation as humanity of man has no meaning without morality. Accordingly، the religious teachings، particularly the Quranic teachings، put special emphasis on morality and its elements. The Holy Quran as the last and the most perfect resource from God the Pure has an unmatched view of morality. Using the modern methodologies of Quranic studies، the present article delves into the word ‘ethics’ and clarifies its meaning on the basis of the conceptions and the logic of the Quranic verses. To fulfill this، in addition to clarifying the concept of the word ‘ethics’، the words related to it have been elucidated utilizing the meaning core context rule and the systematic relationship of the elements related to it.

Ethics is the discipline which studies values and revolutionizes human life so that man can lead his life enjoying virtue. Ethics has an intermediary role between theology and jurisprudence. It connects these two disciplines together so that the social behaviors are the manifestations of man’s morals and beliefs and the temperaments of each individual are the representations of his beliefs and ideals. Allameh Tabatabaee believes that ethics has different rankings: conventional ethics، rational ethics، and gnostic ethics. The conventional ethics is based on social intellect. Rational ethics relies on demonstrative intellect and gnostic ethics depends on intuition. The ethical life of each individual begins with conventional ethics and can find promotion into rational and gnostic ethics. These three rankings of ethics are different degrees of a single reality and can be joined together and they carry outward and inward considerations with respect to each other.

In Europe, a school of thought was formed by Hume, the Scottish philosopher, on the subject of the nature of the relationship between science and religion and following this on the nature of the relationship between science and ethics and the standing of ‘ought and ought not’ in ethics. Considering science and ethics separate is the outcome of the attempts of those who reconsidered the relationship between God and the world. They regarded religious and ethical propositions as the product of man’s internal sentiments and insisted on separating it from objective realities. From this perspective, human intellect has no role to play in discovering ethical propositions because logic doesn’t apply to them and they cannot be verified. Although this point of view has been accepted by a small number of Muslim scholars, almost all Muslim scholars disagree with it and have rejected it on the basis of logical reasoning. This group of scholars believe that although ethics is not logically generated from science and philosophy, it is not essentially possible to offer an ethical proposition without depending on objective reality. Islamic scholars believe that there is a priority and posteriority relationship between ‘ought and ought not’ in ethics and ‘is and isn’t’ in science and philosophy; that is, after being informed about a scientific reality by means of theoretical intellect, man finds out the way to achieve that objective reality in the real world aided by practical intellect. Then, he expresses that in the form of recommendatory propositions and ethical ‘oughts’. In fact, these scholars do not consider the generation of value from knowledge a logical process; rather, they believe that it is based on two propositions: one scientific and the other ethical. They hold that practical intellect as a posterior instrument makes use of the power of the theoretical intellect as an anterior instrument, gains access to ethical recommendations and offers them in the form of ‘ought and ought not’. This is the same kind of relationship that exists between science and philosophy, on the one hand, and ethics, on the other, since practical intellect cannot stipulate anything without knowledge and deliberation.

Family as a social unit is currently suffering from essential problems. Familial disputes, parentless children, divorce, and juvenile delinquency indicate that there are serious difficulties in today’s families. Some of these problems result from weaknesses in family management issues such as planning, decision making and organization. Therefore, to overcome these problems, families need to reconsider their way of management so that they can deal with the challenges of family life including child training and establishment of an appropriate relationship between husbands and wives. Allameh Tabatabaee is one of the Islamic scholars who has offered certain theories on family management benefitting from Islamic teachings, reasoning and free thinking. These theories can greatly help settle family management problems during the current transition period in our country. Thus, the present paper, first, introduces different kinds of family management. Then, family management in sociology and Islam are surveyed. Next, we give a detailed account of Allameh Tabatabaee’s family management theory which is based on separation of roles in the family and reasoning. Finally, following an evaluation of family management theories, the collaborative management model, based on religious teachings and scientific ideas, is offered as practical way to manage a typical Iranian-Islamic family.

Although a lot of research has already been done on Imam Ali’s (a.s.) views about politics and political management based on his sermons and letters in Najolbalagheh, no specific case study has been conducted so far on his relationships with Muaviyeh and his manner of managing them on the basis of the correspondence carried out during his short period of administration and using discourse analysis technique. In his letters to Muaviyeh, Hazrat-e Ali (a.s.) reveals a lot facts which were unknown to the majority of people at that time, and in some cases, he points out Muaviyeh’s moral and personality problems and finally makes him apologize and accept the legitimacy of his caliphate. To make an enemy do so requires some kind of discretion and forethought a fraction of which is discussed here.In fact, the article aims at offering a comprehensive view of Hazrat-e Ali’s (a.s.) mental and ideological principles of the true meaning of politics and political management by examining and analyzing the content of the letters exchanged between Imam Ali (a.s.) and Muaviyeh during the period of Hazrat-e Ali’s (a.s) caliphate.

Nations dominated by autocratic rulers revolt and call for participation in management of their societies. The thoughts of many great men of management fit the individual and social aspects of human beings. Imam Khomeini (rah.), the architect of the Islamic Revolution, believed that the only way which can save mankind is to manage the individual and social affairs of human communities under the auspices of religious teachings. He strongly resisted the ideas of the secular thinkers who insisted on the separation of religion and politics. In addition, after the collapse of dictator regimes, it is highly important to explicate democracy and political independence, to clarify the advantages and disadvantages of democracy, and to define political independence and its necessity from the viewpoint of the Quran.

In thecontemporary world, the mass mediaplay a very important role in transmittinginformation andnewideasand influencingpublicopinion.The course of developments in the information age and the necessity of interaction between the traditional and modern systems have made themass mediaso significantthat some scholars believe that development of economic, social, and political systems and the progress of the media and communications technologies are interdependent.