نشریه پژوهش دینی
سال دوازدهم شماره 25 (پاییز و زمستان 1391)

The Quran and hadith are considered two of the principal sources of religious knowledge; these two, named religious narrative sources in this paper, frequently address man, and underlining the material and spiritual needs of man, provide instructions for the happiness man in this world and the Hereafter. Comparison of Islam and its narrative sources, including the Quran and sunnah, suggest that Islam is a social religion and does not merely aim at the happiness of man in the Hereafter. The Holy Quran underscores the basic human needs which include sound belief, admirable morality and desirable practice and teaches their general principles. It has been left to the sunnah of the Infallibles to offer the details and explication of these general principles which are related to human needs in some way. These teachings cannot be understood without being cognizant of various aspects of the comprehensiveness of the two aforementioned sources. This paper, first, reviews the comprehensiveness of the Holy Quran – which is considered an important basis in interpretation of the Quran – using traditions and, then, enumerates some examples of human needs relying on the inspiration from traditions as a comprehensive religious source and, finally, concludes that the comprehensiveness and extensiveness of narrative sources in meeting the needs of Muslims and none-Muslims is indisputable.

Modern world has a cultural context in which cultural elements arise and all the social interactions and individuals’ actions take place and are perceived in this context. Following religious and sociological approaches, this paper deals with these interactions which lead to creation of individuals’ tastes and lifestyles. Considering the fact that Iranian society is mainly a religious community, we often witness some modern lifestyles which have created challenges dealt with in this paper. The literature of the paper is based on the views of sociologists and theologians. The research method utilized here is analytic-explanatory. Our findings indicate that as the community and social interactions of man move farther away from traditional society, modern lifestyle better manifests itself and in Iranian community with its mainly religious atmosphere, modern lifestyle has led to some confrontations and undesirable consequences. Nevertheless, following a religious lifestyle and reinforcing religious beliefs, challengescan be minimized and individuals can be directed toward their religious identity by being freed from selfalienation. The authors believe that religious lifestyle is one of the mechanisms of the resistance economy.

The Quran is a Divine book which includes man’s the most important requirements for the realization of his worldly and other-worldly happiness. Social issues are of great important in this context. The Quran is concerned about the importance of social issues in favor of man’s spiritual perfection and, in some cases, leaves it to man to formulate regulations for his social life so that they can help him follow the true path. In this context, the Quran absolutely denies mutiny, oppression, vices and moral corruption, fueling social conflicts, wastefulness, and following unbelievers and advocates their corresponding virtues for man’s social happiness. Also, the Quran lays emphasis on traditions of examination, ebtela’ (affliction), estedraj (approaching perdition gradually and unknowingly) and punishment which are necessary for the realization of the Divine social justice. These teachings are important due to the role they play in directing social life and social studies aimed at improving the social principles, theories and regulations so that a set of general and desirable laws can be established.

Religious faith has a special standing in Islam and is considered the core of all virtues. Muslim scholars have described it using such expressions as ‘acknowledgement by heart’, ‘verbal confession’, ‘practice’ and ‘knowledge’. Allameh Tabatabaee identifies ‘faith’ with acknowledgement of the Unity of God, His prophets, Day of Retribution, return to God, commandments of the Devine prophets along with practical adherence. He believes religious faith is likely to enhance or decline. This article is an attempt to probe into religious faith from the viewpoint of Allameh Tabatabaee and on the basis of Tafsir al- Mizan and to explicate its impact on the worldly life and eternal happiness.

Asceticism and monasticism are common phenomena in religions. Only a few centuries after the emergence of Christianity and Islam, certain groups of their adherents turned to ascetic life for different reasons. These scattered ascetics gradually established monastic orders with specific social functions. Monasteries of Christian monks and khānqāhs of sufis have played an important role in the development of the religious culture in Muslim and Christian communities throughout the history. Despite their obvious religious and cultural differences, these institutions have several features in common some of which are insistence on asceticism, existence of specific rules for life, existence of an authentic religious tradition, existence of specific rituals and living or gathering in specific places.

Secularization is a process which leads to the weakening of the standing and function of religion in the realms of religion, individual and society. Although the origin of secularization is the West, it may impact all religions and religious societies including Iran. The attempts of some Muslim thinkers and reformists to eliminate the challenges of Islam and to enhance its adaptability with man’s new requirements by resorting to modern lifestyle have resulted in the weakening of the standing and function of religion in society. In this context, Doctor Mojtehed Shabestari’s views represent a new interpretation of Islam and modernity. In this paper, an attempt has been made to probe into the features of secularization and its consequences in his views.

Following the transformation of man’s attitude during the last few centuries, various perceptions have been given about the ‘comprehensiveness’ of religion. Three groups of scholars have offered three types of evaluations in this context. Two groups have taken extreme positions with one of them claiming that religion has all the answers to all the questions including the detailed ones and another maintaining that religion only deals with issues related to the Hereafter. According to the third group, the comprehensiveness of religion needs to be evaluated considering the goal and mission of religion. The present paper offers a criticism of the first two views and rejects them and substantiates the third view drawing on logical and narrative reasoning.