Conceptual Comparison of Self-Esteem in Western Psychology

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Conceptual Comparison of Self-esteem in Western Psychology and Islam Religion Abolfath Azizi Abarghooi2 Maryam Azizi Abarghooi3 Abstract Self-esteem is one of the concepts that western psychologists have studied to describe, explain and develop it and they have presented different theories and approaches about this concept. On the other hand, this issue is one of the important concepts of Islamic ethics behind there are a great deal of Quran verses and innocent stories. There is no doubt that investigation and interdisciplinary comparison of self-esteem would have a great portion to develop knowledge. In this regard, we will try to define self-esteem based on the western psychologists, primarily, and then, with utilizing the related verses of Quran, we will compare and criticize that one with Islamic self-esteem. The analysis of these definitions shows that as psychology considers self-esteem to be as a science, it is individualist and based on individual criteria. But Islamic definition of self-esteem is based on monotheism and divine values and Islamic self-esteem area includes both mundane life and hereafter life. Therefore, Islamic definition of self-esteem is more comprehensive. Keywords: SELF-ESTEEM, PSYCHOLOGY, ISLAM, QURAN Introduction Nowadays, the discussion of self-esteem is a prominent topic in the science of psychology. Discussion of self-esteem began from the works of a psychoanalyst named Carl Rogers (1961). Rogers believed that a person’s low amount of self-esteem has chronic deduction effects in academic achievement, depression, and unemployment (Biabangard, 2007, p. 192). From that time to the present, lots of attempts have been made to explain more about this topic leading to the expansion of conceptual scope of self-esteem and its presence in the world's scientific communities. The point is that whether self-esteem has a position in Islam or not. Have the Islamic scholars discussed this issue? If yes, what is their definition of self-esteem? Are there any common points in western psychologists' definition and Islamic scholars'? What is the difference? Are the criteria for Islamic self-esteem identical to psychological self-esteem? And whether the method of obtaining self-esteem in both of them is identical or each one has its own features. These kinds of questions encourage us to analyze the psychologists' ideas and meanwhile, comparing them with Islamic principles, we evaluate the existing challenges of western psychology and Islam religion. Accordingly, the present study, firstly defines the self- esteem concept from the view of prominent scholars of western psychology and then Islam's view is proposed and at the end both of them will be compared.

2 Department of religion Group , Abarkouh branch , Islamic Azad University, Abarkouh, Iran 3 MA Student in Psychology, Sahid Sadoghi medical University of Yazd

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Self-esteem in Psychology Most of the scientists and theorists of the western psychology considers positive evaluation of self as the basic factor in social-emotional compatibility of the people. At first, scholars such as William James (1842-1910) and Herbert Mead (1931) emphasized on the importance of self-esteem and later on Neo-Freudians and people like Sulivan (1849) and Karen Horeny (1952) brought ego in their personality theories. After many years, psychologists mingled the theories with experimental works and concluded that positive self-esteem is related to the individual's effective operations (Shafi' Abadi & Naseri, 1999). An attitude has been grown up in people who have a weak self-esteem that they see themselves from a weak, negative and criticizing viewpoint, and interpret the facts through negative means. They focus on the negative aspects of each situation and feel that like the past, there is not hope for future. They have a pessimistic and disappointing attitude towards future (Ettikenson, 1991: Translated by Baraheni). Greenberg (1992), determining the fact that why we need self-esteem has proposed the theory of "control of horror". Jennifer (1990) believes that based on this theory we need self-esteem, because it protects us against anxiety. Studies show that high self-esteem removes the people's anxiety while people with low self esteem experience more anxiety. From the aspects of mental health and personality balance, self-esteem is very important. Self-esteem is a positive attitude towards self and it is a major and crucial element in body and sex hygiene. Bell et al. (1985) assert that self-esteem is like a cultural shield against anxiety. Coopper Smith (1967) believes that children having high self-esteem are those who like to express themselves with self-confidence and exploiting their own ability and creativity and they are not easily influenced by the environmental factors. Adler (1937) believes that low self-confidence is the reason of stress and thinks that inferiority grows with the environment. Human moves to one purpose as if reaching this ideal purpose gives him tranquility of mind and provides his self-esteem (Shafi' Abadi & Naseri, 2006, p.88). In hierarchy of needs that Abroham Maslo points out, a very important degree has been considered for self-esteem. He asserts that human needs self-esteem prior to food and water. We need to know that self-esteem is not the equivalence of our shelter or the food in our stomach but it is a factor that may lead to achieving them. The need of self- esteem stems from two basic facts. First, for our survival and successful domination of the environment we need thought and knowledge to achieve the correct selection and second, we should respect ourselves, deem ourselves as valuable creatures, and for being successful we need to attempt (Brandon, 2009, p. 62). In the structure of psychology, self-esteem is the resultant of "self" and "self-conception" or it is related to some subjects of psychology like self, self-efficacy, self-idealism, self- esteem and respecting oneself. Some people consider these concepts as identical or synonym with each other but we should know that all of them have not the same meaning and while they are similar in meaning they also have differences.

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Psychologists believe that "self" is the core of personality and a number of states of self or the kinds of self-conceptions which could emerge in a person depends on the amount of self acceptability. In the following figure the place of self-esteem and its related concepts are indicated.

Figure 1. The relationship between self-esteem and its features Psychologists believe: ego (self) is a collection of person's believes about self that is mostly based on description not judgment, despite the fact that whether this idea is based on reality or unreality; while self-esteem is the matter of evaluation and judgment of self (Ahmadi, garusi Farshi and Sheikh Alizadeh, 2006, No. 2 & 3). Coopper Smith believes that self-esteem is a personal judgment about having value or lacking value, accepting or rejecting the self which appears in attitude. Self-esteem is the amount of value which like other aspects of self we ascribe to ourselves. In other words, self-esteem is the amount of value which other people consider for us as a person (Sandferd . B. W.& Frank, 1965). Bedonar & Richard (1989) introduces self-esteem as the result of each individual's viewpoint to four categories including: feeling of worthiness, successful experiences, success and failure definition, and individual's reaction against criticism. Natanail Brandon who is called the father of self-esteem movement calls it "self- awareness immunity system" and believes that self-esteem is an experience that we recognize ourselves suitable for life. He defines self-esteem as follows: 1. Having confidence in self-ability in thinking, it means, having confidence in self to deal with primary challenges of life.

2. Having confidence in one's own right for being successful and happy, feeling worthiness, appropriateness, having the right of expressing needs and wishes, expressing willingness of achieving values and enjoying the results of one's own attempts (Brandon, 2009, p. 241).

All in all, self-esteem is the amount of value which an individual considers for himself and the definition which he has had for success and failure and consequently, the amount of confidence which one has from oneself for living and achieving his goals.

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1. Self-esteem Dimensions

In general, self-esteem has five dimensions in psychology (Emami & Fatehizadeh, 2000): 1.1. Social Self-esteem

Social self-esteem is a feeling and judgment that one has about himself as a friend for others and also whether others like him and respect him or not. Whether they allow him to participate in their activities and consider value for him or not? If the social needs of a person are provided and he is relaxed, his social desirability will be met. Personal immunity and confidence are two criteria of social background for people which are very effective in providing self-confidence. 1.2 Familial Self-esteem

Evaluation and evaluation of an individual as a member of family which is made by interaction with family members is called family self-esteem. One's mutual relationship with father, mother, brothers and sisters and also the fact that to what extent this person is accepted by them is effective in his attitude towards himself and determines his family self-esteem. 1.3 Bodily Self-esteem Bodily self-esteem refers to the evaluation and judgment of the people about their own body abilities. This kind of self-esteem is created through people's bodily activities and performances. The kind of attitude and satisfaction that people have about their body operation, proportion and situation determines their bodily self-esteem. This kind of self- esteem in women is mostly related to their appearance and about men it is related to their muscularity and body abilities. 1.4 Educational Self-esteem This kind of self-esteem refers to the educational backgrounds and in fact, it is the evaluation of individual from himself as a successful student. If others' reaction to the educational situation of a person is desirable, he will have a satisfaction feeling and helps him to make a positive judgment about himself. 1.5 General Self-esteem General self-esteem is one's evaluation and judgment about all of his values. This aspect of self-esteem embodies the above aspects and in fact, it unifies and combines them. A person who has a positive general self-esteem considers himself as a desirable person in all bodily, social, familial, and educational aspects. This person gets his positive attitude from the positive reaction of family members, friends, teachers and their own bodily abilities. This person knows very well how to challenge his problems (Pope et al. 1989; Biabangard, 1994).

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2. Methods of Increasing Self-esteem

Psychologists propose different ways to increase self-confidence. Natanail Bernaden suggests important points in his book about increasing self-esteem that called them the most important factors on self-esteem (Bernaden, 2009, p. 92).

2.1. Living consciously: this means that we should live in present times, pay attention to realities and we should not avoid them. We should be able to recognize our own situation and estimate it with our aims and plans. 2.2. Self-acceptability This includes three levels. The first one means to be at the side of oneself, be for oneself and speak at one’s own confirmation that is our true right. The second level is that we need to know that we think about what we think; we feel whatever we feel and should hold respect for them. The third level of self-acceptability requires kindness, which means we should be a friend of ourselves. It means we should not be satisfied with our undesirable behavior and think about how to decrease them. 2.3. Responsibility for self: responsibility for oneself includes the responsibility for purposes, actions, choices, awareness, the way of relationship with others, relationship with oneself, life priorities, choice of values, increase of self-esteem etc. 2.4. Expressing (self-) existence: this means that we should respect our needs and values. 2.5. Purposeful life: that is having personal discipline and leading one’s behavior on specific purposes. 2.6. Personal integrity: this includes a personal integration and the fact that our speech should be in coordination with our behavior. These cases are considered as the major factors of self-esteem for which planning strengthens and increases self-esteem. Now, after discussing the concept of self-esteem and its features from the psychologist’s viewpoint, we try to discuss and analyze this concept from Quran and tradition viewpoint. Definition of Esteem in Islam In Arabic language, a land which is firm and impenetrable is called "Ozaz land" and a scarce object is considered as a beloved existence. Because it has a state of ability and to obtain it is difficult (Esfahani, Shaval, 2012, p. 334). In Persian, self esteem is defined as venerability, honor, decency and dignity and is the opposite of abjectness and humiliation and beloved is able and dominant to everything (Ibn Manzur, 1414 A.H Vol. 5. P. 374). The word 'esteem' has been repeated 10 times in Quran and the word “beloved” (Aziz) has been used 92 times and its derivations have been used frequently. It refers to being undefeatable and a state of not being defeated (Hagh Panah, the journal of research, p. 31). The most frequent meanings of esteem in Quran are venerable, scarce, strong, competent, dominant, prevailing, not being influenced, cherished, able, capable, unique and undefeatable (Gharib, 1987, vol. 1 , p. 67).

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Esteem is a state by which one could not be defeated and tries to be conqueror. Of course, if this self-esteem is superficial and stems from rebellion and upheaval of the person, it makes him to commit wrong deeds and sin. “and when it is said to him," Fear God", vainglory seizes him in his sin So Gehennam) Hell (shall be enough for him how evil a cradling” (Baghareh, 206). Here esteem is a superficial thing from a senseless and unwise person that considers esteem as the mundane life which is based on superficial understandings. And also esteem is interpreted as zeal and eagerness, “nay, but the unbelievers glory in their schism.” Definition of Self from Quran and Tradition View The topic of “self” is a philosophical and scientists such as Aristotle and Avicenna has proposed discussions about its nature, power, essence and presence or past that we just will explain its concept from Quran view. In Quran, self has been used in meanings of life or animal life (Anbia'/ 34), soul or human life (An'am/ 70), formed and stable personality (Baghareh/ 233), sensual consciousness or self-awareness (Anbia'/ 35), human fixed principle (Shams/ 7 & 8) and animal self or not elevated self (Yousef, 53) Bani Jamal & Ahadi, p. 14, 2004). According to the fact that self has several meanings in Quran, on the one hand, human's self is the same as soul which contains fondness, instincts and animal desires, on the other hand it is related to the nature which has the power of understanding and it can comprehend evil and right deeds and they could be effective in determining their own destiny. Self also has other different features and characteristics that without having plans for them, human's development and elevation would not be possible. Therefore, the holy Quran has divided functions of human's self as three parts: 1. Concupiscence: which is the unyielding soul of human that invites him constantly to evil deeds and beautifies lust and dissoluteness for him (Yousef/ 53) (Makarem- e Shirazi, 1995, vol. 2, p. 822).

2. The reproof of conscience (remorse): it is the self on which Quran swore and states that (and swore to the reproof of conscience) (Ghiamat/ 12). The job of this self is blaming and it has an aware and awake soul. Although it has not been immune against sin and there is a possibility of slip, but it has the power of awakening and its deviation is not permanent. This means that there is a possibility of committing sins but later on it will reprove itself, repent and will return to the path of salvation and prosperity.

3. Peaceful remorse (tranquil state of mind): it is a self that settles with interest and memory of its God and therefore it sees itself as a servant who is not possessor of neither good and evil nor loss and gain. It considers the world as a life and considers to have or not to have it and also its loss and gain as divine test. If this

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self is drowned in worldly affluence would not turn to rebellion, corruption, inequity and oppression and if it turned to be poor and deprived it would not be inclined to blasphemy and polytheism, and it persists and continues to be servitude (of God) and would not be deviated from the direct path (Valfajr/ pp. 27-30) (Tabatabai, vol. 20, p.286).

Self has been considered as a precious pearl in the fourteen innocent ones' tradition which an equal thing like it could not be find. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) states that "if one knows himself, then he will know his God" (Majlesi, 1404, vol. 2, p. 32). Imam Ali, the first imam of Shiite, states that "how bad business is the one that you see the world equal price with your own self and exchange it with whatever is saved for you with God". (Sobhi Saleh, p. 74, sermon 32). And in a general division, Shiite Imams' tradition has divided human's self into two classes of unrestrained and educated self that educating and training this self seems to be necessary. Therefore, providing all of the desires of self may not lead to esteem and honor and obeying the irrational desires of self will leads to abjectness. Prophet Muhammad states that "everyone who wants to be the most beloved of the people, then he should have divine virtue". (Sheikh Horr Amoli, 1409, vol. 27, p. 170). In this regards, Imam Ali (peace be upon him) states that "everyone who is satisfied with his self, his enemies will be increased" (Sobhi Saleh, Qom, p. 471, Short Words, 460). Having this kind of attitude towards "esteem" and "self" we realize that because of insufficient awareness, sometimes the person seeking esteem, instead of obtaining properties of 'peaceful remorse', receives the characteristics of concupiscence and will be misled. Holy Quran explicates on this as follows: "nay, but the unbelievers glory in their schism" (p. 2). Or addresses AbuJahl and states: " Taste! Surely thou art the mighty, the noble" (Dokhan, 49). The real criteria in Islam are the divine ones that guarantee this world and hereafter happiness. The Islam's view toward self-esteem is two-dimensional not unilateral. Islam considers both this world's happiness and hereafter ideal perfection. Comparison of Quran's criteria from esteem and its psychological criteria which is taken from western scientists could explicate the existing challenges. Comparison of self-esteem from Islam and psychology view Whatever has been passed in psychology was the fact that the shortage of self-esteem causes inability and abjectness in getting to lofty goals and having self-esteem leads to worthiness and development of social-individual conditions; therefore, attempt for knowing about it would be valuable and admirable. Also having self-esteem is a value in Islam. It is a necessity of individual and social life and for acquiring this value one should make attempts. Human is a valuable creature and deserves generosity by God: "We have honoured the Children of Adam and carried them on land and sea, and provided them with good things, and preferred them greatly over many of those We created)" (Asra'/ 70).

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Therefore, human's rank is higher than the other creatures of the universe because in the beginning of its creation all of the angels genuflected for him because of his superior capacity and God promised to give a great prize and everlasting heaven to Adam's decent children. But it should be mentioned that Quran, originally, considers the whole of esteem being for God and does not consider everybody to be deserved to have it. The cosmos is from God and He is the undefeated and unassailable conqueror, and all of the creatures are pure poverty by nature. They have nothing in comparison to that Almighty unless they could enjoy the grace source and under His protection they could be esteemed. Therefore, while human is honorable we need to know that esteem and honor are not inherently with people but naturally human has the capability of acquiring this great grace and obtains it by attempt but obtaining this importance is possible just through choosing the correct life path. In Islam, first of all we need to know the real concept of esteem and then provide the means. Therefore, we will analyze the similarities of human and Islamic self-esteem. The Common Points in Western Psychology Self-esteem and Islamic Self-esteem Quran is a holy book and its educations are deeper than human concepts especially when its verses interpret each other as a well-ordered collection. In a general outlook, the common points of the self-esteem which Natanail Bernaden (famous theorist of western self-esteem) proposed and are in line with Islam are as follows: Conscious Life In correct attitude to the universe, God and human cause self-esteem growth. The holly Quran is thoroughly guidance and by expanding monotheism has divided human life into two parts of this world and hereafter life and while considering this world life as introduction, says that it is an opportunity for obtaining hereafter happiness. "Who created death and life, that He might try you which of you is fairest in works and He is the All mighty, the All forgiving". And somewhere blames people for their superficial attitude and states "They know an outward part of the present life, but of the Hereafter they are heedless" (Rome/7). These verses and many other verses giving a correct and pervasive attitude lead human towards a conscious life. Responsibility against Oneself One of the ways of acquiring high self-esteem is taking responsibility for our own capacities, actions and behaviors. In this regard, Quran states: "Every soul shall be pledged for what it has earned" (Modaser/38). "Every soul shall be paid in full for what it has wrought; and He knows very well what they do" (Zomar/70). It should be mentioned that Quran believes that the responsibility of all of the actions are related to human himself and not only considers it as related only to this world but also it encompasses his hereafter life too.

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Purposeful Life According to Quran, Islam is the most complete religion and Quran is the best book, because it holds all details for happiness both in this world and hereafter life and believes that creation of all creatures and human is purposeful and also designs the life path carefully to achieve the real perfection. For instance Quran states that "We created not the heavens and earth, and all that between them is, in play" (Dokhan, 38). And also states: " Who created death and life, that He might try you which of you is fairest in works and He is the All mighty, the All forgiving" Molk/2). And also: "O Man! Thou art labouring unto thy Lord laboriously, and thou shalt encounter Him" (Ensheghagh/6). Personal Integrity Personal integrity means that one has a balanced characteristic and his appearance, his heart, his words and his action are identical. Therefore, along with introducing discord, lie, hypocrisy, accusation, backbiting, greed and covetousness as the worst sins, Quran allocates the most rewards to pious men. Quran states: "Whosoever obeys God, and the Messenger they are with those whom God has blessed, Prophets, just men, martyrs, the righteous good companions they"(Nesa/69). "And he who has come with the very truth and confirms it, those they are the godfearing" (Zomar/33). "Surely the hypocrites will be in the lowest reach of the Fire; thou wilt not find for them any helper"(Nesa/145). After stating the common points it should be mentioned that these are only a few verses related to self-esteem. It is obvious that to think deeply in Quran verses reveals more precise dimensions of the subject and increases the value of the discussion. General Differences of Islamic and Western Self-esteem As it was mentioned before there are clear differences between Islamic educations and western psychology. some of them are related to Islamic self-esteem. They are as follows: 1. Widespread Concept of Islamic Self-esteem in Relation to Psychology: up to now, most of the psychologists' publications have been focused on individual self- esteem growth. Most of the techniques are focused on increasing the individual skills. Although complex structures are proposed for bodily, familial, educational, social and general self-esteem, their main attention is towards individual attitudes and judgments. On the other hand, there is not a particular faithful support for defining self-esteem. Also their definitions are relative and depending on the conditions, individuals, time and place and clear evidences could not be proposed from coordination with religious principles. In other words, in western psychology despite of religion, change of behavior for acquiring individual success is valued, but Quran, introducing a completely valuable concept from self-esteem, does not consider it limited to particular time and place or just worldly affairs. In Islam, multilateral perfection is important and self-esteem is defined according to this

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perfection and it encompasses all affairs of the mundane, hereafter, individual- social, political and economic life.

2. Difference in the Source of Self-esteem in Islam and Psychology: as it was mentioned, the source of self-esteem in western psychology is internal and the thing that human should do is important in acquiring self-esteem but not the fact that what others do (Bernaden, 2009, p. 10). According to Quran, the source of self-esteem is not merely humanistic but along with mentioning the innate dignity of human, firstly, considers the whole of esteem specific to God and secondly, declares that everyone demanding esteem should acquire it from the unique and peerless God as Quran states: "Whosoever desires glory, the glory altogether belongs" (Fater/10). Therefore, obtaining self-esteem without knowing the religion and following its frameworks and regulations is not possible and the way of achieving this fact should be followed by the divine values.

3. Connection of Islamic Self-esteem with Monotheism: self-esteem in psychology is an unreligious concept. This means that theism and self-esteem are not related to each other because it is possible that polytheism and self-esteem could be existed in some people simultaneously. But in Islam, not only these two could not be together but also they are two separate concepts and completely opposed to each other. Unlike psychology that people with every opinion and principle, even if they are unbelievers, could achieve esteem, according to Islam polytheism is the same as abjectness.

Of course it should be mentioned that Islam says that people are free in accepting the religion and all of the people are respectable with their attitudes and their rights should be respected. There are a lot of unreligious people who have a high amount of self- confidence in their individual and social life and have achieved outstanding successes but this issue is not the cause of their esteem by God because in Islam, logic, monotheism and obeying Him is the requirement for esteem. In this regard, the holly Qurans states: “Those who take unbelievers for their friends instead of believers do they seek glory in them? But glory altogether belongs to God” (Nesa’/39). In fact, it should be mentioned that these people have acquired a kind of worldly self- confidence or esteem and they do not have any kind of hereafter self-esteem because it could be obtained in the framework of the divine regulations and obeying of the unique God. The worldly self-esteem is temporary and passing and it does not have any role in everlasting happiness.

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4. Connection of Islamic Self-esteem with Righteous Deeds: in Islam religion, those who believe in monotheism and obey the God’s orders are beloved. Those who do not neglect to obey the God and know themselves as His servant. The holly Quran states that “Whosoever desires glory, the glory altogether belongs to God To Him good words go up, and the righteous deed He uplifts (Fater/10)”.

From this verse it could be interpreted that having self-esteem has two stages: A) True faith to God and pure and right belief to his eternal nature that is called "goodness" (Tayeb).

B) Right doing and performing the God's instructions should be based on a good method that is established on firm belief.

Regarding the interpretation of this verse, Allameh Tabatabai states that "the pronoun 'towards him' refers to the glorious God and the word 'goodness' (Tayeb) means right believes such as monotheism and its ascending means its closeness to the lofty God, and right doing is any action that has been issued based on right believes and be compatible to it. The subject in the sentence 'increases it' is an empty one which refers back to the right deeds, and the pronoun of the object refers to the word goodness (teyb) (Tabatabai, 1417,vol. 17, p.24). There is a narration from Imam Ali (peace be upon him) that "every beloved person without the glorious God is abject" (Amadi, 1988). He states "one who obeys God will find esteem and become strong" (ibid. vol. 2. P. 190). And also he states: "oh my God! Just this honor is enough for me that you are my lord and this esteem is enough for me that I am your servant. You are what I want, so guide me the way you like" Ibn Abi Alhadid Mo'tazeli, 1404 AH. Vol. 20, p. 256). Therefore, obtaining real self-esteem demands obedience of God's instructions and doing the righteous deeds because the adverb 'righteous' does not consider every action suitable for obtaining esteem and sends out committing sin and improper actions. Therefore, impious and hypocrite people will be led to detour in achieving esteem and the real esteem is for God and real pious people. 5. Avoiding Individualism and Special Attention to Social Aspects of Self-esteem in Islam: the issue of expressing oneself is being proposed through which one will be able to bring up his thoughts, emotions, and believes directly and honestly. Love of nature is being confirmed in Islam and it is proper for human to be active in individual and social activities and defend his own rights in order to reach the end of perfection. Here it should be noticed that the real happiness is not just based on personal criteria but along with freedom and having the right of choosing the lifestyle one should have commitment to ethical and religious principles and moves in its framework to avoid the improper path.

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Therefore, in Islam along with love of nature (ego) there are other things such as avoiding viciousness, hypocrisy, show off, vanity, boasting, oppression and aggression to other's rights, as well as undertaking moral virtues such as getting the God's satisfaction in all affairs, amnesty and forgiveness, sacrifice, patience, empathy and kindness to guarantee the happiness of this world and the hereafter one for human. On the other hand, in psychology, the individual self-esteem is more important than the social one. It means that science has some individual teachings for achieving our goals, but in Islam mere individual success is not the criterion because the real Muslim along with having efforts for individual loftiness has efforts for Muslims' society. Accordingly, in Islam, acquiring all kinds of social, political, cultural, and economical esteems is recommended so that Islamic self-esteem is divided to two classes: A) Individual Self-esteem: it is related to growth of Muslims' faith and characteristic areas.

B) Social Self-esteem: its attempt is promotion if self-esteem in Islamic society and the leader of Islamic society provides the ground for people's development through strengthening public educations, respecting all sections of the society and promoting justice and they should attempt to obey him in defense of Islam realm and to mind each other's affairs. Therefore, Islam takes into account the growth of Muslims' regional social self-esteem against blasphemy and the Islamic leaders are in charge of spreading sprit of piety, righteousness, trust in God, independence, self-confidence, attempt, patience, anti Shah, anti oppression, and unity and empathy. In this regard, religious leaders' sireh has always been the cause of pious people's honor and pride so that Imam Hosein (peace be upon him), the third Imam of Shiites, states: "death with esteem is better than life with abjectness" (Harani, 1404 AH, Vol. 4, p. 69) and his Excellency in his first sermon in Karbela also states that "don't you see it is not being acted upon righteous deeds and void is not being prohibited. So it is proper for the pious ones to meet their God and ask for esteem. I know death nothing but happiness and living with oppressors nothing but misery" (Mazandarani, 2000, Vol. 4, p. 69).

6. Non-divine Strategies of the Western Psychology: some of the methods of self- esteem growth in western psychology are not in line with Islam teachings. For example, two famous psychologists named Hook and Paul (1997), has proposed three behavioral, sentimental, and rational techniques for treatment of low self- esteem that includes development of reaction, persuading others' confidence-in order to respect you- and avoiding any kinds of self-valuating. They consider that

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respect is a combination of appreciation, acclamation, and fear. They believe that self-value to inferiority feeling, sin, and low self-esteem lead to depression. They believe that self-value is illogical. Natanail Bernaden believes that self-value is important and considers it as one of the important elements of self-esteem.

In analysis and criticism, it should be mentioned that in encouraging us to ponder about life, the Holly Quran is the most important one while it should be accepted that our actions and behavior are the constructor of our identity and personality. Therefore, they should be followers of wisdom and logic. On the other hand, the development and increase of work, attempt and relationship with others and respectable behaviors are also accepted affairs and correspondent with Islam ideas. But doing righteous deeds just for reverence of human characteristics against others is a kind of reprobate action because in Islam, each action should include two features: verbal goodness and agential goodness. That is while the nature of action should be righteous, its intention also should be in line with God's satisfaction. In other words, an action plays a role in human's happiness that will correspond with divine regulation and the God's satisfaction and also is away from intentions such as showing off, arrogance, and other ethical vices. The tradition of the religious authorities also is based on the fact that at the times of conflict between individual and religious criteria, they were choosing the religion path in order to be away from being perplexed. Another point is that Hook and Paul believed that "self-value" was harmful for self- esteem and feeling of sin hinders the growth of self-esteem. Natanail Bernaden also asserts that "self-acceptability and expressing oneself" is an important factor in increasing self-esteem. But in Islam the growth of human-divine characteristic depends on disciplined supervision on one's own behavior and self-valuing. Feeling of sin is a way of instability and the permanence promotion of values in human and achieving the higher levels of perfection in higher levels. For this, the God's holly messengers who were the most righteous people always had been considering their deeds as nothing in comparison to God and they had been asking for forgiveness. Perhaps this issue was the reason of their constant moral growth. Of course the feeling of being sinful is sometimes faulty and it is when it comes along with disappointment from God's mercy and lack of attempt. In this way, wills (intention) start to be weak and the way of getting out of sin will be blocked. In other words, suppression of the internal abilities is not considered possible, but committing sin is indecent. A pious man ponders about results of good and bad deeds in the journey to God and finds a way to quit bad deeds and to do good deeds. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) states that "one who calculated his own self, is aware of his faults and surrounds his sins, avoids committing sins and knows about his defects" (Nori, 1405, AH, Vol. 16, p. 98). Therefore, calculating and valuing the self in Islam is a way towards quitting vices and acquiring spiritual lofty values. If the values are only mundane and the end of life is using material blessings and opportunities, the feeling of being sinful will be useless. But if the

ijcrb.webs.com FEBRUARY 2013 INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS VOL 4, NO 10 values are divine, this world's life will become more valuable and more effective. Thus, the thing that is the best criterion for the growth of human self-esteem is commitment to the God's instructions. Faith to God leads to human perfection, releasing from the material bonds and ascending the peak of perfection. Manifest, I say, and happy I am saying I am the slave of love and, free from the two worlds (Hafiz, 1996, p. 215, Ghazal 317). We should mention that psychologists' attempts in self-esteem growth are pretty valuable but in religious view self-esteem does not only end in this mundane world but it is related to the hereafter life too. Raising a Doubt and its Response A doubt could be raised here stating it is believed self-esteem acquisition is just through obeying God, and then what is the reason of success of impious people in acquiring various kinds of esteems and honors? In other words, why a lot of impious or low- believed people have been more successful than some pious people in obtaining individual and social self-esteem? The response is that there is a cognitive difference between Islamic and non-Islamic structure of self-esteem. This means that in non-divine schools, human and the world are only material creatures and all hopes and wishes end in this world. In these kinds of schools, the values are material ones and perfection has the same definition while according to Islamic attitude the criteria are not just mundane and material ones and the divine values are indicative of success and failure. Accordingly, in Islam, material successes are only one aspect of development and human perfection is achieved just in closeness to God. For this, the material values which are in conflict with religion, loose their credit and are replaced with the spiritual ones. The Holly Quran states: " Surely those who look not to encounter Us and are well pleased with the present life and are at rest in it, and those who are heedless of Our Signd. Those their refuge is the Fire, for that they have been earning" (Yoones/7-8). On the other hand, although the real self-esteem depends on obeying God, the holly Quran does not negate obtaining the superficial and worldly esteems totally and states: " Whoso desires the tillage of the world to come, We shall give him increase in his tillage and whoso desires the tillage of this world, We shall give him of it, but in the world to come he will have no share" (Showra/20). Therefore, while Quran states the compatibility of high self-confidence in some impious people, it believes that this issue is not a reason for their real self-esteem in hereafter life but the real esteem of each person depends on the amount of his obedience of God and human will have as much self-esteem as his own attempt to obtain God's satisfaction. The more precise his knowledge about the criteria of self-esteem, the more his acquisition will be. Secondly, another difference of western and Islamic self-esteem is the fact that in non- Islamic self-esteem, everyone considers having or lacking self-esteem for oneself based on personal definitions and criteria but in Islam, the definition of self-esteem is not separated from religious and Quran concepts.

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All in all, there are two major differences between self-esteem in western psychology and Islam which are: A) Monotheistic and Islamic God-believing attitude

B) Believing in resurrection and human return to God

In monotheistic attitude, the whole of the esteem is for God and human who is being originated from God's pure and eternal nature, is a capable creature and full of physical and spiritual capacity that God has laid potential esteem in his heart and this power is actualized when human prefers God's satisfaction to any other things. It is only through this way that human could acquire celestial spirits and eternal esteem, unlike non-divine schools which are not being believed in resurrection, everything will be finished with death and life will be ended in this world. But in Islam, pious people, believing in God, believing in returning to God and obeying His instructions will obtain this world and the hereafter life esteem. It is obvious that in this attitude the mere material and temporary criteria will be left and they will be replaced by real and constant ones. In this regard, the holly Quran states: "Faint not, neither sorrow; you shall be the upper ones if you are believers" (Al-e Emran/ 139).

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