1-7. Hafez
Khajeh Shamsoddin Mohammad Hafez Shirazi, the shining star of the rich Persian literature, was horn in Shiraz in 726 AH. He presented his great Gnostic and poetic services to the Persian literature and Iranian culture during the 77 years of his prolific life.
Hafez created the best literary and Gnostic concepts in the form of eloquent and pithy lyrics. His concepts surpassed those of other contemporary philosophers, thinkers and scholars. His marvelous poems, not complying with the existing norms of his time, contributed a valuable and unique treasure to the Persian literature. He made excellent use of allusions, metaphors, parables and other figures of speech, never achieved before or after him.
Hafez is one of the rare poets capable of expressing the lover's grief, the feeling of burning butterfHes, a candle's sigh and a nightingale's love with great eloquence. He has preserved his words in an ocean of accessible and unique definitions and images, which are an honor for the Persian culture.
From His Large collection of poems, nearly 400 well-Known verses and lyrics has so far been rewritten and printed
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thousands of times and translated into tens of other languages. Hafez recited the Qur'an beautifully and cited Qur'anic passages by heart according to all the seven reliable related versions of pronunciations.
Hafez died in 803 AH. He was buried adjacent to the public prayer ground in a suburb of Shiraz. His shrine is the place of pilgrimage for the yearning mystics, lovers of poetic perfection and the seekers of truth and humanism.
The poetic heritage of Hafez includes approximately 40005000 verses, 400-500 lyric-poems, several long elegies, short couplets and a few pieces of 9th century inscriptions.
His lyrics, attributed to divine grace and the complete messages of the great Qur'an, have always been held in great esteem by Persian speakers, enthusiasts and Muslims. People's respect for this great poet is so great that his Divan is found in almost every house.
Before beginning any new venture, or when hesitant about any particular decision, people consult his Divan to seek convincing answer, which they often find. (Salehpour, 2003)
It is a common knowledge that Khajeh Shamsod-Din Mohammad was a gifted Persian poet who left a poetic legacy of approximately 5000 verses, 500 lyric poems, several long elegies, short couplets, and a number of 9-century inscriptions. The whole legacy is considered as a heavenly vehicle that carries the reader of his poems to the heavens, and introduces his soul to the most delicate human feelings. Some consider it as a unique treasure of the Persian literature. His unparalleled
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use of allusions. metaphors, parables, and other figures of speech was never achieved before or after him.
He acquired the surname Hafiz from having memorized the Qur'an at an early age. Later on. he could recite it according to all the reliable versions of pronunciation (7 versions and 14 versions, according to various sources). Despite his deep love for family life, he lived alone nearly half of his life, mainly because of personal and social complications :
Not, in all the cloisters of tile magi like me a distraught one (in) one place, the Khirka (my existence is) the pledge for wine; the book (the heart in) another place.
The heart, which is a real mirror, hath (by worldly affairs and by the dross of sin) a great dust, (the prohibitor of divine bounty); from God, I seek the society of one, luminous of opinion.
By the hand of idol, wine-selling, repentance I have made;
That again wine I drink not without the face of a banquetadorner.
If of the way of its (beauteous) eye, the narcissus boasted, grieve not (for, version, it hath not);
The mystery of this subtlety, perchance, the candle will bring to its tongue;
If not, for speech, the moth hath not (even) a little solicitude.
From my eye to the skirt, He has established streams (of tears), so that, perchance,
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in my bosom, they may be one, straight of stature.
The bark (shaped) cup, bring; for without the beloved's face,
From the heart's grief, very corner or the eye hath become a great Ocean (of tears).
To me, mistress-worshipping, speak not of aught beside;
For, beyond her and the cup of wine, for none is mine, (even) a little solicitude.
How pleasantly to me came this tale when in the morningtime, side,
At the door of the wine-house, with drum and reed, a Christian: "If the being a Musulman be of this sort that Hafiz is".
"Alas! If, after today, be a tomorrow."
His lyric poetry is acclaimed as the finest ever written in Persian. His lyric poems, especially his passionate lines, were largely seen as allegorical by Iranians, while critics in the West were inclined to construe them literally. He enlivened the conventional imagery of the ghazal, a form of love poetry in rhyming couplets, comparable to the sonnet. His poetry, in ghazal and in the other poetic forms of qasideh. (long rhyming poem) mathnavi (couplets), and ruba'iyyat (quatrains), survive in his Divan, a collection that prompted numerous commentaries
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After marriage, he became the father of a family with one son. However, his son died before reaching the age of twenty.
The event was followed by the death of his beloved wife, Shakh-e-Nabat, a woman of learning :
That friend, by whom our house the (happy) dwelling of the Pari was,
Head to foot. free from defect. a Pari was.
(My) heart said: "In hope of her in this city, I Will sojourn :"
Helpless, it knew not that its friend, a traveler was.
His Divan was so popular that nowadays it is used for bibliomancy: predictions are made from randomly selected verses. When Hafiz died, some tried to refrain from or prevent the burial of body according to Islamic Sharia :
From the bier of Hafiz, keep not back thy foot :
For though he be immersed in sin, he goeth to paradise.
Goethe's Westostlicher Diwan (1819) was inspired by Hafiz. Hafiz was buried in a splendid tomb to the north of Shiraz. (Clarck, 2002)
1-8. Ibn Khaldun
Ibn Khaldün (Ibn Khaldun (1332- 1406), was an Arab historian, scholar, and politician, the first thinker to articulate a comprehensive theory of historiography of history in his
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Muqaddimeh (final revision 1402), the introductory volume to his Universal History (Kitab al-'ibar, 1377-82). Born and raised in Tunisia, he spent the politically active first part of his life in northwestern Africa and Muslim Spain. He moved to Cairo in 1382 to pursue a career as professor of Maliki law and judge.
Ibn Khaldün created in the Muqaddima (English translation by F. Rosenthal, 1967) what he called an "entirely original science." He established a scientific methodology for historiography by providing a theory of the basic laws orating in history so that not only could the occurrences of the past be registered but also "the how and why of events" could be understood. Historiography is based on the criticism of sources; the criteria to be used are inherent probability of the historical exports (khabar; plural: akhbar) to be judged on the basis of an understanding of significant political, economic, and cultural factors- and their conformity with reality and the nature of the historical process. The latter he analyzed as the cyclical (every three generations, c.120 years) rise and decline of human societies ('umran) insofar as they exhibit a political cohesiveness ('asabiya) in accepting the authority of a dynastic head of state. Ibn Khaldun's sources were the actual course of Islamic history and the injunctions about political and social behavior found in the Greek/Persian/Arab princes and wisdom literature, welded together by an Aristotelian teleological realism/empiricism; by contrast, he was critical of the metaphysical platonic utopias of thinkers like al-Fardbi.
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His influence is to be felt in later Arab authors and in particular in Ottoman historiography. In the West, where he has been intensely studied since the eighteenth century, he has been variously seen as the founder of sociology, economic history, and other modern theories of state. (Audi, 2001)
The Islamic historian is remembered in philosophy principally for a simple version of the cyclical view of history. He believed that in a period of about 120 years, a people would pass through the cycle of primitivism. nomadic life, and civilization, the last of which would fall as a new cycle commenced. He is regarded as the first (and still the greatest) historian of Arabic logic, possibly the most outstanding figure in the social sciences between Aristotle and Machiavelli (Blackburn, 2005. Ibn Khaldun was one of the most creative of Muslim statesmen and political thinkers, widely acclaimed by modern historians as the greatest philosopher- historian. In this major theoretical work, The Prolegomena, he introduced the notion of natural causality in history, in contrast to Islamic theology, and called for the definition and study of sociological and political processes (considered to be the principles of historical methodology) with the express investigative intention of recovering historical accuracy. He defined and claimed to be the originator of a 'science of culture' ('umr?n) that would study cultures in multiple stages in their natural human, social, and political development. His methodology emphasizes the study of environmental impact on social organization and economic processes that define value, prosperity, and culture. (Honderich, 2005)
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1-9. Tabatabaee
Mohammad Hosein Tabatabaee (1281- 1360 AH), after spending the elementary levels of Howzeh's (Islamic Seminary) education, went to Najaf, and took different scholars' lessons, and after the attainment of Ijtihad, he returned to Tabriz and taught there for ten years, and then emigrated to Qom (Hoseini Tehrani. 2002).
Tabatabaee was a great Islamic researcher who was involved in researching in different Islamic sciences. He was so humble and he lived an ascetic life for purification and adornment of the soul with admirable properties, trimmed away from vices (Sobhani; cited in Goli zavareh, 1996).
Tabatabaee's manners, morality, thought, knowledge and mysticism were indicators of the immaculate Imams of Islam's morality and knowledge (Hoseini Tehrani, 2004). He forgave individuals' scientific errors and always kept scientific courtesy in correction and criticism of them. He was a very much humble person arid too kind to his students and people. He had a very great power of creativity, and was insistent on being generous with his knowledge (Mokhtari, 1998).
Tabatabaee answered the questions of people and his students according to their power of understanding. He stated the scientific matters in short statements (Mokhtari, 1998).
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1-10. Motahhari
Mortara Motahhari was born in 1919 in Fariman of Mashad in Iran. He had religious parents. He was intelligent from the very beginning of his childhood, and interested in reading books. Motahhari learned the preliminaries of Islamic science from his father and then went to Mashad to continue his studies for two years. He returned to Fariman and studied his father's books for two years. In 1936, he went to Qom and inhabited Feiziyyeh School -one of the greatest Islamic seminaries or howzas in the world of Islam. He was the student of Tabatabaee. He continued his Islamic studies with much enthusiasm and made use of the teachings of greatest scholars of Islam. He started his scientific, cultural and propagandistic activities from the early years of his inhabitance in Qom. He traveled to Tehran in 1952 and started his teaching in seminaries (howzas) and university of Tehran. He also continued his cultural, scientific and political activities there. He had many lectures and wrote many books. He was martyred in 1979 (Nasri, 2003) in Tehran.
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(2) Educational Ontology
2-1. Goals of Education
Khajeh Naseer believes that a human being has different and diverse abilities, aptitudes and capacities. Man has two attitudes: one towards goodness and one towards badness. Therefore, It is quite necessary that, as one of the most important goals of education, man's abilities to be educated and his or her capacities to be actualized in order that he or she might achieve a scientific and practical perfection and attain the ultimate happiness and nearness to God. It is evident that education and guidance of educators, teachers and guides play a great role in this field (Beheshti, Abuja'fari & Faqihi, 2000).
Khajeh Naseer Tusi introduces as absolute happy one whose happiness has no decline and change. Happiness is obtained whenever its owner enjoys a pleasure of wisdom. One, who has not comprehended such a true and real pleasure, how will be inclined to it? (Tusi, 1981).
Khajeh Naseer Tusi emphasizes "moderation" a characteristic that can bring humans to happiness. Those ones, who pay attention to only some of their aptitudes or powers, cannot reach happiness (Tusi, 1981).
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Farabi believes each folk (country) whose cities cooperate to achieve happiness will become lucky, and all the inhabitants of the world will become lucky whenever all folks (countries) in the world cooperate to attain perfection and happiness (Seyyed Arab, 2007).
Farabi considers human perfection as one of the educational goals in acquiring virtues and acting according to them. He believes that action is of particular importance in actualizing the intellectual development (Soltanolqaraee, 2005).
Farabi sees guidance of man's main aptitudes or powers (i.e. lust, anger and rational faculty or intellect) as the aims of education. The major aim was the cultivation of the rational faculty in such a manner that it becomes governor of other aptitudes (Soltanolqaraee, 2005).
The following cases can be known as the goals of education from Farabi's viewpoint :
1. Instruction of right beliefs and strengthening the belief in them; such beliefs as the belief in God, hereafter, happiness and the way to reach it through cognition of deeds and actions that lead to happiness
2. Training of necessary skHis for incumbency of a duty in Utopia (virtuous or perfect city)
3. Encouragement of individuals for action according to right beliefs
4. Encouragement of individuals for doing social duties (Howza- University Co- Operation Center, 1998)
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Farabi is of the opinion that the goal of education is moderation in the appetitive and irascibility faculties and submissiveness to intellect. Therefore, the goal of ethics and education is a moderate personality that its speech and rational faculties govern other faculties. As for lust and anger, Farabi says that these two are not good or bad in themselves; rather, their goodness or badness is dependent upon whether they are in service of intellect and real happiness or not. In social aspect of education, he deeply believes that the orientation of education should be towards regulating the affairs of Utopia that he has described it in one of his books. Farabi much emphasizes that educational goals to be social oriented. On the whole, it can be said that the following points can be concluded about educational goals:
Perfection of rational faculty in its two sections: Speculative (theoretical), and practical (Pragmatic); Originality or authenticity belongs to perfection and development of speculative intellect, and the leadership of societies is the right of real philosophers, whether they have achieved truth through their own efforts, or through inspiration.
Action and behavior are of particular importance in actualization and development of intellectual faculty of humans. A special and great attention has been paid to social goals and development of expertise, skHis, social and economic problems in the thinking and educational system of Farabi.
Intellectual and spiritual perfection and pleasure is higher than material and physical pleasure.
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Farabi considers the worldly happiness as an introduction for the hereafter happiness, and he also deems it possible to achieve spiritual happiness in this world. He introduces cognition and attaining the Truth as the ideal goal and the final perfection (Howzeh- University Co- Operation Center, 1993, PP. 267-269).
Avicenna's view on educational goals is almost similar to Farabi's. These two philosophers both emphasize speculative intellect and social aspect of education (Howzeh- University Co-operation Center, 1993, P. 275).
Avicenna calls God as the pure and absolute goodness Who is the true and real Beloved for all human beings. He also believes that happiness is the real purpose and the desired aim of humans. A real happiness is free and pure from worldly interests and defects. Although sensory' affaires and worldly things appear apparently as happiness, but in fact, they cannot be considered as happiness (Avicenna, 1981).
Avicenna, regarding happiness as one of the goals of creation and education, in harmony with Plato believes that whatever humans become closer to God, their enthusiasm, love, and beatitude increase, and whenever they remain away from God, such an enthusiasm, love, beatitude and joy decrease in them (Shiite encyclopedia, 2007).
Avicenna swears by God that it is only the foolish who become unable of getting to perfection and get attached to this abject and low world. One, who has given her or his heart to the world, is always involved in abyss of pains and
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disappointment, and is always distressed and in delusion of worldly goods. Then, how may it be possible that such people have love of seeking and cognition of the truth? Avicenna introduces amphiboHes and quarrelsomeness as the most invalid efforts. The best actions are those which their doers have a pure intention and clear belief, and the best intentions are those sprung from knowledge. Wisdom is the mother of virtues, and cognition of God is the first and the most important involvements. All bondmen should seek help from God. They should come to know that following the worldly desires causes darkness of the soul; therefore, it is necessary to forsake many of carnal desires in the way of helping people. People should take lessons from the past folks. It is Knowledge that gives its owner a high rank and esteem. In the light of acquiring knowledge and virtues, man's soul will be purified from all kinds of vices (Dehkhoda, 1998). The foundation of Ghazali's educational philosophy is the realization of humankind's happiness as one of the goals of education. He means by "happiness" the other worldly happiness, because it includes all wishes. This happiness is eternal, is a pleasure without pain, is a perfection without decrease, is an esteem without abasement. To achieve such happiness, "knowledge" and "action" should be with each other so that one's behavior to be changed, for as far as one's behavior is not changed well, no happiness will be attained. If a light of knowledge shines to one's heart, her or his behavior will become admirable. Therefore, no change in behavior is expected without education and instruction. That is the reason why instruction is considered as the noblest of affaires. The
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desirable otherworldly happiness has a non-disjunctive connection with the societies of this world. Thus, it requires instruction to have no disjunctive connection with society needs, in such a manner that there should be some people who strive for a accomplishment of social life in which the life needs of this world have been satisfied, and also be consistent with man's nature and all people to observe God's orders and guidance in what they do. Humans are social in their nature and they need cooperation with each other to prepare their life materials. The task of instruction and education is preparation of people for participation in the accomplishment of the social life, in such a manner that everyone can do what he or she should do without difficulty and doubt (Kilani, translation, criticism and additions by Rafiie, 2007).
Ghazali says that honesty and virtue of human beings are in having the aptitude for cognition of the Exalted God. The characteristic of human being is the ability of obtaining knowledge and wisdom, and the noblest kind of knowledge is the cognition of the Exalted God and his Attributes, because man's perfection is dependent upon this, and humans can attain happiness and can deserve neighborliness of God and proximity to Him through that particular sort of knowledge. The whole happiness of mankind is in this fact that makes vision of God as one's destination, and makes the hereafter as his or her deployed place and the world as passageway (Ghazali, 1989).
Humans should know and recognize the truth of their essence, because if they do not identify this, it will be
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impossible for them to seek their happiness and attain it. In fact, man's happiness, is in the cognition of the Exalted God, and the cognition of one's soul is the key to the cognition of God (Ghazali, 1997). Ghazali believes that wisdom is God's bounty, which will be given to everyone who deserves it, and the result of wisdom is easiness and the result of wealth is pain and disaster (Ghazali, 1888). Ghazali. says that each thing, which is finished because of death, has now a value for the wise; rather, that bounty has value which is eternal and permanent, and this bounty is "faith" which is the seed of eternal happiness (Ghazali, 1888). Ghazali believes that whoever knows the world and is always remembering the last breath of life (death) the affaires of the world will become easy for him, and his faith will be strengthened. Ghazali says that the comfort of the world is only for a few days and is mixed with different kinds of pains (Ghazali, 1888). Everyone who makes his effort in following the bodily pleasures and is like animals in eating, will fall in an abyss of ignominy (Ghazali, 1989).
Ghazali compared anger, lust, etc. to troops that attack humans and can finally overcome, enslave, perish, and bar them from the way of getting to the eternal happiness (Ghazali, 1989). As for the goals of education, Ghazali was of the opinion that human's inner form is not good when it comes to four powers or aptitudes: knowledge, anger, lust, and justice (Attaran, 1992).
According to Beheshti, Faqihi and Abuja'fari (2001), although Sa'di has not explicitly stated the educational goals in
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his works, the following goals can be deduced from his sayings and poems :
1. Detachment
Sa'di speaks in detail of self-cognition, faith, servitude to God, and praising God in his writings and considers such traits necessary if one desires to reach the position of attachment to God; and so to reach a place that includes all values. Sa'di recognizes serving God as a way to gain esteem, power and greatness, and he regrets that people come and go and do not taste the most pleasurable and enjoyable pleasures of sincere devotion and absolute sincerity, which will cause springs of wisdom to flow from the heart to the tongue.
Therefore, the ultimate goal of education, in Sa'di's viewpoint, is the cognition of the Exalted God and devotion to Him. He says that the way to reach this state is through the soul and being detached so that one acquires inner purity or good morality and is able to surrender to God.
2. Cultivation of spirit
Sa'di considers the cultivation of spirit as the basis of education and man's personality, and believes that it is impossible to cultivate the spirit without the purification of the soul and banishing carnal desires, arrogance, rancor, and oppression. He says that it is also impossible without acquiring moral virtues such as humility, modesty, benevolence, justice, and magnanimity.
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3. Health of Body
Sa'di considers man as consisting of physical body and spiritual soul. He states that spirit's cultivation is by itself desirable and as the major goal. However, he considers procurement of health, the power of body, and the satisfying of its needs as desirable intermediate goals for the purpose of worship of God and rendering service to people. He warns humans against indolence. Sa'di mentions four points regarding the health of body: 1) avoiding gluttony, 2) moderation, 3) preservation of greatness and magnanimity, 4) refraining from idleness.
4. Social Adjustment
From the viewpoint of Sa'di, social adjustment leading to peaceful coexistence is desirable as we aspire to the perfection of the ideal society. He imagines a Utopia in which these two things are the firm foundation of each individual in such society. It is the reason that Sa'di, in all parts of Gulistan and Bustan, speaks of characteristics of the individuals in a desired society and mentions such properties as justice, humility, peace, benevolence, sympathy, and contentment as the characteristics of the desirable society. Sa'di mentions the following items as the factors which create social adjustment: 1) justice, 2) humility, 3) self-esteem and uprightness, 4) benevolence and goodness.
Moulavi says that the goal of man's creation is "knowledge and guidance." In another part of "Masnavi," he introduces "knowledge of the truth" as the goal of man's creation.
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Therefore, Moulavi believes that knowledge should be for God only. The possessors of such knowledge are those who are affected by their knowledge and insight, and their intellect restrains them from doing evil and committing sins. Moulavi places a particular emphasis on "intent". He says that, for example, a poet composes poetry for a special intent, and his intent plays the main role in this area. Therefore, all men benefit from their deeds and the sciences they learn on the basis of their intent and goal. If these intents and goals are good, the results and benefits of their deeds and behaviors will be unimaginable and very good. A man, who offers his prayer for God, will definitely be rewarded in this world and the Hereafter. Thus, one can understand that each of the disciplines are a means and instrument that can lead man to God, truth, and true peace and tranquility if man's intent or goal is good and approved. These disciplines cannot, by themselves, give man sublimity and are not consolatory. Sciences, which are tools for submission, sublimity, and transcendence are for leading man to the goals of creation, and should not be taken as the final goals. Moulavi emphasizes that all the branches of sciences and knowledge are for the sake of man.
Therefore, it can be said that those, who love God, should really love Him, and their final desire should be for God. In this case, it is possible for us to speak of a loving worship of God as one of the most important goals of man's creation. Thus, it is up to all the virtuous and wise scientists and scholars not to involve themselves in words, utterances, and appearances, and not to forget the real goal behind the words and controversies.
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Goals of education from the viewpoint of Moulavi can be divided into main different groups: 1) ultimate aims, 2) intermediary goals.
30-Regarding "ultimate aims", the following aims can be extracted from Moulavi's poems and writings (Beheshti, Abuja'fari & Faqihi, 2000, pp. 211-219) :
1. Annihilation in God and abiding in Hint or absolute devotion and servitude to God.
Moulavi believes that the ultimate and final perfection of human beings is in the disengagement from existence or being, and in reaching an abiding state after annihilation; and this is the meaning of proximity to God. Annihilation in God means becoming free from darkness, involvements, material and worldly attachments, and disillusionment with everything except God. A man annihilated in God does not see and does not want save God (Beheshti, Abuja'afari & Faqihi, 2000, pp. 211-212).
2. Voluntary death
This particular kind of death means that man dies or isolates himself, when living, from nature and material attachments, is borne in divine world, fights against carnal desires, lives free from ambition, disgrace, position, and eminence, destroys all devilish temperaments and dispositions and reaches a position that kHis the evil- prompting self, makes himself or herself free, and is borne with divine and spiritual life and humanly admirable dispositions; this is the second birth of human being.
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3. Intuition or knowledge by heart
In addition to the value of formal sciences, Moulavi believes that a seeking mystic or possessor of gnostic position of intuition, has really achieved the infinite Divine knowledge, and has undoubtedly revealed some secrets of being, even a sea of sciences and facts that others are deprived of. This intuitional and inspired knowledge is not only endless, but it is always in a state of being created, and represents at every moment new sciences and discoveries for the wayfaring mystics.
4. Immediate receiving of God's bounty or emanation
In the beginning, a mystic goes through the way along with his or her educator or leader, but the highest position or rank is where he or she receives the bounty and favor of God Immediately, even a seeker becomes the channel of Divine bounty.
As for intermediary goals, the followings can be extracted from Moulavi's works :
1. Cultivation and guidance of intellect and thought
Moulavi deems necessary the cultivation and guidance of intellect and thought in spiritual experience and intuition, and considers it as a goal of education. Moulavi says that the real knowledge is the intuitive knowledge that man receives immediately from God, and it is endless, and the superficial sciences cannot be considered real because of limitation and instability; but if people receive these sciences correctly,
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follow them well, act according to them, and cultivate and guide their intellect and thought in the light of them. they will gradually achieve the real knowledge.
2. Solving the existential problems
From Moulavi's viewpoint, humans' existential problems are the philosophy of creation, imprisonment of the spirit in the body, fear of the future, man's attachment to the lust shackle, anger, fame, position, etc., negligence of the real "ego" and of the original home, defect in thinking and intellect, loneliness, etc. Solving these problems is the goal of the mystical education in Moulavi's viewpoint. Moulavi says that these difficulties can be solved through appealing to spiritualities, acquisition of the soul's virtues, avoiding vices, and seeking help from those endowed with divine breath and spiritual soul, and finally the basic solution of these problems is "love". A lover is always in happiness and exhilaration. He or she complains of nothing and no one. There is no short sightedness, meanness, malignancy, cynicism, arrogance, temptation, greed, self- interest, or grief over this world and the hereafter in the heart of a mystic.
Love satisfies the thirst of spirit, satiates the heart, and dissolves the lover in the Lord, and he or she enjoys heartfelt, because the right cause for enjoyment and happiness is internal, not external. No happiness is possible through possessions, position, fame, or prestige; rather, it is emitted from the inner being.
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Moulavi (2000) believes that acquisition of knowledge should be for the sake of God. In other words, man's intention from learning and the dissemination of knowledge should be the nearness to God (pp. 1-2). The knowledge of such scholars is not superficial, because superficial science may lead to negligence (Rum: 7). It is intellect and reason that govern their lives (ibid, p.2). Even their religiosity is based on knowledge. Thus, According to the prophet of Islam "the best of you as to faith. is the best of you in knowledge" (Mohammadi Rey Shahri, 1993, p.121), so their faith is the best and firmest kind of faith; that is because Imam Baqer says that those who acquires knowledge, their knowledge will lead them to righteous deeds (ibid, p. 131).
Therefore, it can be concluded that humans receive benefit from the sciences they learn according to the intentions they have. It is in the light of good intentions that they receive real tranquility and are led to God and truth (ibid, p. 32). The prophet of Islam says that if a person learns science for hypocrisy and worldliness, God will remove blessing from his life and make the life troubled and difficult for him (Mohammadi Rey Shahri, 1993, p. 479).
Educational goals according to Ibn Khaldun's viewpoint can be divided into two general groups: First) ultimate goals, second) spiritual dispositions (i.e. series of goals and perfections of soul) (Behehsti, Faqihi Abuja'afari, 2001, pp. 109-113).
Ibn Khaldun considers "knowledge, faith, and theistic belief' as the ultimate goal of education. Due to his viewpoint,
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spiritual dispositions can be divided into three groups: first) scientific dispositions, second) industrial dispositions, third) spiritual dispositions
1. Scientific Dispositions
These are mastering skHis in science in such a manner that its owner can teach that science, participate powerfully in discussions, and understand derived branches from principles with mastering on foundations of the rules and problems of science.
2. Industrial Dispositions
These are practical- intellectual skHis, like sewing and carpentry.
3. Spiritual habits or dispositions
These are firm humanistic moral properties, and the position of soul perfection, which is along with exaltation, motivation, and approaches of the individual to God, angels and the ultimate aim.
According to Tabatabaee (1987), Islam has established its most important commandments, such as Hajj, prayer, jihad, charity, and every kind of religious piety, based "on community" (society). It has also considered the real happiness in the nearness to God as the supreme goal of an Islamic community. Achieving this sacred goal is in itself a great guarantee of performance that acts as a serious inner supervisor for the implementation of the laws regarding an Islamic society.
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Tabatabaee (1987), considering one of the verses of the Qur'an (Thariyat: 56), says that the ultimate aim of man's creation and of Islamic education can be worship (and in fact devotion and submission to God). Both worship and perfection that man receives from it are the aims of man's creation. and all are results of worship, such as the mercy of God ... cognition or knowledge obtained from worship, will be a higher aim as compared with worship itself. The truth and reality of worship is in the fact that a bondman reaches the place of humbleness and submission to God. The ultimate aim of creation is to achieve the truth of worship, i.e. a position in which the bondman has separated from himself and all other things, and is always in a state of remembrance of his Lord.
Tabatabaee (1990), in the eighteenth volume of Al-Mizan Interpretation when interpreting the Qur'nic verses mentions this speech from Imam J'afar Sadeq that a believer is a brother of another believer and as his eye and guide, does not beguile or deceive him, does not oppress him, does not mislead him , and if he promises him something, he does not break that promise.
Tabatabaee (1987) argues that in the light of "law of social justice", each rightful cause will be sided and righteousness will be sided with its doers, and the relations among people will become justly. Thus, humans arc inevitably in acceptance of having a society and social justice. Islam has considered social spirit in all of its commandments and rules. According to Motahhari (1988), man in Islam has a comprehensive personality and is very sensitive to his social responsibilities.
