Paper Derived from Thesis
Culture and Civilization
Roohallah Noori; Akbar Hassanpoor; Yousef Vakili; Mohammad Mesbah Mesbah
Abstract
SUBJECT & OBJECTIVES: The concept of pure living represents a core yet insufficiently theorized element of Afghan indigenous governance thought. Drawing on three interconnected traditions, this study develops a five-dimensional framework of pure living comprising moral integrity, social harmony, ...
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SUBJECT & OBJECTIVES: The concept of pure living represents a core yet insufficiently theorized element of Afghan indigenous governance thought. Drawing on three interconnected traditions, this study develops a five-dimensional framework of pure living comprising moral integrity, social harmony, environmental stewardship, spiritual authenticity, and intergenerational accountability. The analysis explicitly treats indigenous institutions as internally heterogeneous rather than uniformly beneficial, examining their exclusionary, gender-discriminatory, and conflict-generating dimensions alongside their integrative functions. Despite significant political and institutional transformations across eight governmental periods, indigenous governance institutions, including the Jirga (council), Pashtunwali (Pashtun tribal code), Ulema (scholars) networks, and Ashar (communal cooperation), have demonstrated remarkable resilience. The study examines the conditions under which these institutions have either supported or undermined pure living and human dignity, and identifies which components of which institutions are most closely associated with each outcome.METHOD & FINDING: Using a qualitative comparative-historical approach, the research combines process tracing, comparative analysis, critical juncture assessment, qualitative content analysis, and thematic coding. Evidence was triangulated from official documents, 28 semi-structured interviews, and authoritative secondary sources. Analysis revealed six indigenous values consistently linked to pure living—consensual decision-making through Jirga, the Pashtunwali principles of hospitality and sanctuary, communal solidarity, moderate Ulema authority, environmental stewardship, and intergenerational knowledge transmission—and, concurrently, identified specific components of the same institutions (ethnically bounded Pashtunwali authority, Badal , Namus) that have functioned as mechanisms of exclusion, retaliatory violence, and gender subordination. These values proved most effective during periods of constructive, safeguarded cooperation between state and indigenous institutions, particularly under the Zahir Shah administration and the National Solidarity Program during the Karzai era.CONCLUSION: Indigenous values remain active governance resources whose effects on legitimacy, social cohesion, and human dignity are conditional rather than uniform: the same institutions that sustained cooperation and welfare provision have also been used to justify ethnic hierarchy, gender subordination, and cycles of retaliatory violence. The quality and safeguarding of interaction between formal administrative systems and indigenous institutions emerges as the strongest predictor of governance performance across all periods. To promote sustainable governance, the study proposes a four-tier Hybrid Public Service Model based on institutional recognition, procedural integration, value codification, and explicit safeguards against the exclusionary uses of the same institutions. It also establishes pure living as a legitimate, but internally contested, criterion for evaluating governance quality alongside conventional administrative measures.
Paper Derived from Thesis
The Meaning of Life
Zhaleh Davoudzadeh; Hasanali Bakhtiar Nasrabadi; Zohreh Saadatmand
Abstract
SUBJECT & OBJECTIVES: This study examines freedom and the meaning of life in Habermas's social philosophy, focusing on his theory of communicative action. The central problem is the paradox of contemporary societies: the expansion of individual freedoms alongside a deepening crisis of meaning. ...
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SUBJECT & OBJECTIVES: This study examines freedom and the meaning of life in Habermas's social philosophy, focusing on his theory of communicative action. The central problem is the paradox of contemporary societies: the expansion of individual freedoms alongside a deepening crisis of meaning. The objective is to reconstruct Habermas's framework and complement it with Islamic teachings. Unlike liberal Western views, Islam presents freedom as a divine gift linked to truth, responsibility, and ʿubūdiyyah (servitude to Allah).METHOD & FINDING: methodology combining conceptual analysis, hermeneutic interpretation, and critical discourse analysis. The findings show that in Habermas's theory, communicative freedom functions as a precondition, context, and constitutive dimension of meaningful life. However, the analysis also reveals that this framework remains incomplete without a transcendent grounding. From an Islamic perspective, concepts such as ʿubūdiyyah and ḥayāt ṭayyibah (pure life) complement Habermas's model by introducing a vertical dimension of meaning grounded in divine purpose.CONCLUSION: From an Islamic perspective, the crisis of meaning may also be understood as resulting from the neglect of humanity's vertical relationship with Allah. The findings suggest that communicative freedom may remain vulnerable to relativism without a transcendent grounding. Islam offers "responsible freedom"—freedom within the truth—balancing rights with spiritual responsibilities. From the comparative perspective advanced in this study, a more comprehensive account of meaningful life may incorporate both intersubjective recognition and a transcendent orientation toward the Divine. Habermas's theory can be enriched by integrating Islamic teachings, and the Quranic concept of "pure life" offers a more comprehensive model for human flourishing. Implications for inter-religious dialogue and Islamic education are also discussed.
Research Article
Life Style
Zohre Sadat Nabavi; Mohammad Reza Arad
Abstract
SUBJECT & OBJECTIVES: In contemporary societies, human beings face conflicting life patterns that often generate confusion, fragmentation, and spiritual dissatisfaction. In response, this study examines the Quranic concept of al-Ḥayāt al-Ṭayyibah (pure life) as a foundational model for understanding ...
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SUBJECT & OBJECTIVES: In contemporary societies, human beings face conflicting life patterns that often generate confusion, fragmentation, and spiritual dissatisfaction. In response, this study examines the Quranic concept of al-Ḥayāt al-Ṭayyibah (pure life) as a foundational model for understanding and explaining the contemporary Islamic lifestyle. The study aims to clarify the nature of this concept, the realm in which it is realized, and its practical components for individual and social life.METHOD & FINDING: This research applies a library-based, descriptive-analytical method supported by an interpretive hermeneutic approach. The data are drawn from the Holy Quran, authoritative exegetical works, lexical sources, and contemporary research. It is found that al-Ḥayāt al-Ṭayyibah is not merely physical survival or worldly prosperity, but a real, new, and meaningful life grounded in faith and righteous deeds. This life is characterized by contentment, satisfaction, lawful sustenance, obedience to God, and felicity. It manifests in both this world and the hereafter and functions as a comprehensive model for individual, family, and social life.CONCLUSION: Al-Ḥayāt al-Ṭayyibah offers a Quranic and practical framework for the contemporary Islamic lifestyle. It transforms life through spiritual depth, moral responsibility, and social well-being, making it a suitable paradigm for rethinking Muslim existence in the modern world.
Research Article
Interpretation, Quranic Knowledge and Hadith
Haytham Buʿadhar; Majid Dekamin; Lyla Etemadynia
Abstract
SUBJECT & OBJECTIVES: This study addresses the sustainability challenges of the linear "take–make–dispose" economy and examines how core Qur'anic principles—such as mīzān (balance), khilāfah (stewardship), and amānah (trusteeship)—can provide a comprehensive framework ...
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SUBJECT & OBJECTIVES: This study addresses the sustainability challenges of the linear "take–make–dispose" economy and examines how core Qur'anic principles—such as mīzān (balance), khilāfah (stewardship), and amānah (trusteeship)—can provide a comprehensive framework for sustainability, within which the circular economy can be situated.METHOD & FINDING: Using an interdisciplinary methodology grounded in Qur'anic studies and sustainability analysis, this research analyzes key Qur'anic concepts and maps them onto circular economy principles such as regeneration, recycling, and reuse. The findings reveal that while circular economy mechanisms align with these principles, they function primarily as operational tools within a broader Qur'anic framework. The Qur'an not only promotes balance, justice, and environmental stewardship but also establishes binding ethical constraints—such as the prohibition of isrāf (wastefulness) and fasād (corruption)—which extend beyond the technical scope of circular economy models.CONCLUSION: The study concludes that the Qur'anic economic framework provides a more comprehensive basis for sustainability than the circular economy alone. Circular economy principles operate effectively as practical tools within this broader ethical system, which integrates environmental protection with social justice and intergenerational responsibility.
Research Article
Philosophical and Theological Knowledge
Seyyed Mohsen Hashemi; Kokab Darabi
Abstract
SUBJECT & OBJECTIVE: This study, using an anthropological approach in philosophy of religion, explores whether divine personal attributes and love can be inferred from the existential structure of the human being. It asks how natural human desires for truth, goodness, and happiness can lead to the ...
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SUBJECT & OBJECTIVE: This study, using an anthropological approach in philosophy of religion, explores whether divine personal attributes and love can be inferred from the existential structure of the human being. It asks how natural human desires for truth, goodness, and happiness can lead to the necessity of a personal and loving God, and aims to address the limitations of purely cosmological arguments in moving from a “necessary being” to a “personal God.”METHOD & FINDING: Using an analytical–argumentative method grounded in philosophical anthropology, the study analyzes concepts such as personhood, human dignity, and natural desires for truth, goodness, and happiness. Relying on the principle that no natural desire is in vain, it argues that these inclinations point to a corresponding ultimate end. The findings suggest that human happiness is only fully realized in a reciprocal relationship based on knowledge and love; therefore, the ultimate end must be an aware, free, and love-capable being.CONCLUSION: Human intrinsic desires for truth, goodness, and happiness imply not only an absolute end but also divine personality and love. A personal and loving God is thus presented as the most coherent explanation for human dignity and ultimate fulfillment, bridging the gap between the concept of a “necessary being” and that of a “personal and beloved God.”
Paper Resulting from Theorizing
Education and Social Ethics
Fatemeh Azadinejad; Sayed Mohammad Tabatabaei
Abstract
SUBJECT & OBJECTIVES: The stages of social education in the Holy Qur'an have often been analyzed on the basis of linear variables such as age. However, social education is a multidimensional construct that also encompasses class structures and levels of socialization. The present study aims to discover ...
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SUBJECT & OBJECTIVES: The stages of social education in the Holy Qur'an have often been analyzed on the basis of linear variables such as age. However, social education is a multidimensional construct that also encompasses class structures and levels of socialization. The present study aims to discover and comprehensively reinterpret the stages and criteria of social education in Sūrah Ṭāhā in order to propose a systematic and multidimensional model of the process of religious socialization.METHOD & FINDING: This study adopts an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on Qur'anic studies and sociology, and employs qualitative content analysis together with contextual analysis of the verses of the blessed Sūrah Ṭāhā. The educational propositions and narratives of the surah—particularly the grand narrative of Prophet Moses—are analyzed on the basis of the reciprocal relations among the dimensions of education. The findings indicate that Sūrah Ṭāhā presents social education within the framework of a three-dimensional structural model, rather than necessarily as successive linear stages. These dimensions are the developmental-age dimension, namely the transition from affective, family-centered education to social responsibility; the dimension of class-based exigencies, namely the differentiation of educational patterns of agency across various levels of power structures and the masses; and the dimension of socialization dynamics, namely the stages ranging from the internalization of values to collective law-abidance. These three dimensions are organically interrelated and determine the position of the educatee within the context of social relations.CONCLUSION: In contrast to traditional studies that have offered one-dimensional descriptions of developmental stages, Sūrah Ṭāhā presents a comprehensive model in which social education is a dynamic process influenced by the structural context of society and the class position of the educatee. The originality of this study lies in presenting an indigenous analytical framework that demonstrates how revelatory guidance redefines the agency of the educatee in confrontation with diverse social classes and the stages of active socialization.
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