The Concept of Ta'lïm and Tarbiyah in Mutahhari's Thought Khadijeh
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The Concept of Ta'lïm and Tarbiyah In Mutahhari's Thought Dy: Khadijeh Zolghadr A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts Institute of Islamic Studies McGill University, Montreal Canada January 2004 © Khadijeh Zolghadr 2004 Library and Bibliothèque et 1+1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 0-612-98488-5 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 0-612-98488-5 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l'Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans loan, distribute and sell th es es le monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, électronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. ln compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privée, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont été enlevés de cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. ••• Canada Table of Contents Acknowledgement. .............................................................................. .111 Abstract. ......................................................................................... .IV Résumé ............................................................................................VI Introduction........................................................................................ 1 1. Mutahhari and the Concept of Insiin ................................................... 10 • 1-1. Human and animaL ......................................................................... 12 1-1-1. Rumanknowledge and desires ............................................... 12 1-1-2. Animal knowledge and desires ............................................... 13 1-1-3. Elements that distinguish the human being and the animal.. ............. 14 1-2. Humanity ..................................................................................... 15 1-2-1. Ruman tendencies. .. .. .. .. .................................... 18 1-2-2. The human capacity for knowledge .......................................... 19 1-3. The Perfeet man .............................................. '" ............................24 2. Mutahhari's Thought on Ta'lïm ( Education) .......................................... 27 • 1 2-1. The Position of 'Iim in Islam ..............................................................29 2-2. Is Knowledge Sufficient? ................................................................. 33 2-3. The Decline of Science among Muslims ................................................ 37 2-4.'Ilm and 'Aqi .................................................................................. 47 2-5. A Short-Cut .................................................................................. 53 2-6. Ta 'lïm in the Hawzah (The Center OfReligious Teaching) ......................... 55 3.Tarbiyah (Upbringing) in Mutahhari's.. view .......................................... 60 3-l.The concept ofTarbiyah .......................... , ........................................61 3-2. Mutahharï's Defmition of Tarbiyah ..................................................... 64 3-2-1. Faculties of Insiin ................................................................ 65 3-2-3. Fitrah ............................................................................. 66 3-2-3. Human faculties of Insiin ........................................................67 3-3. The Role of Tarbiyah in Achieving Ruman Perfection ................................ 71 3-4. Criteria For a Proper Tarbiyah ............................................................ 74 3-5. Islamic Tarbiyah ............................................................................ 75 3-6. Mutahharfs view of Moral Foundations in Islam....................................... 76 Conclusion.......................................................................................... 79 Bibliography ............................................................ '" ....................... 83 II Acknowledgements 1 am grateful to Allih The Almighty for the inspiration to commence and the strength to complete this project. Particular thanks are due to my respected supervisor, Professor Eric Ormsby, for his insightful comments and inspiring academic guidance. My thanks are also due to my beloved husband Seyed Reza Mousavi, whose invaluable help made this work possible, and to my dear son Sayed Mostafa for his patience and understanding an throughout the period of my studies. 1 would also like to express my gratitude to Mr. Stephen Miller for his great help in editing the text, and to the entire staff of the Institute of Islamic Studies, faculty, library and administrative personnel, for their valuable assistance and encouragement. III ABSTRACT Author : Khadijeh Zolghadr Title : The Concept of Ta 'lïm and Tarbiyah In Mu!ahharf s Thought Department : Institute oflslamic Studies Degree : Master of Art Due to the significance of education and upbringing in the individual and sociallife of human, the se two subjects have received a great deal of attention from Muslim thinkers. The present work looks at Murta~a Mutahharfs (1920-1980) thought on these subjects. Ta 'lïm (education) and tarbiyah (upbringing) in his view are the only paths to human perfection. The humanity of insGn (human), which is based on human knowledge and tendencies, makes him capable of receiving ta 'lïm and tarbiyah and thus of becoming a perfect human being. MutahharI believes that Islamic ta 'lïm and tarbiyah are the best means of attaining such a goal. In his analysis of ta 'lïm, MutahharI identifies ta' aqqul (reflection) as the factor that enables the insGn to distinguish reasonable from unreasonable and true from faIse, empowers him to see the future and not imprison himself in the present and prevents him from surrendering to the customs and traditions of the majority. Tarbiyah, on the other hand, tends to develop the human faculties (as compared to IV the animal faculties) in such a way that aU his faculties achieve their expected growth and a balanced development. In Mutahharfs view the moral foundation of each school of thought shapes its respective system of tarbiyah by developing the human faculties in accordance with those foundations. Hence, since the foundation of Islamic morality is self-respect, Islamic tarbiyah can therefore he defmed as a system that develops the human faculties based on self-respect. Interestingly enough, since self-respect is based on self-knowledge, and since this leads to the knowledge of God, Islamic tarbiyah can therefore he said to be based on se1f-knowledge and knowledge of God. v RÉSUMÉ Auteur : Khadijeh Zolghadr Titre : The Concept of Ta 'lfm and Tarbiyah In Mutahharfs Thought Faculté : L'institut des études islamiques Grade : Maîtrise dès arts En raison de l'importance de l'éducation et de l'enseignement dans la vie individuelle et sociale humaine, ces deux sujets ont été l'objet de beaucoup d'attention parmi certains penseurs musulmans. Ce travail actuel est une présentation de la pensée de Murtada MutahharI(1920-1980) sur ces deux sujets. De son point de vue, ta'lïm (l'enseignement) et tarbiyah (l'éducation) sont les seuls chemins menant à la perfection humaine. Selon lui l'humanité de l'insan (l'être humain), qui est basée sur la connaissance humaine et ses tendances, le rend capable de recevoir le ta 'lïm et la tarbiyah. Le résultat attendu du ta 'lïm et de la tarbiyah se traduit par un humain parfait. MutahharI croit que le ta 'lïm et la tarbiyah islamiques sont capables de fournir un tel but. Sur le sujet du ta 'lïm, l'accent est mis sur le ta' aqqul (réfection) en tant que critère permettant à l'insan de distinguer le raisonnable du non-raisonnable, et le vrai du faux; l'autorisant à voir le futur et à ne pas s'emprisonner dans le présent et à prendre en compte les conséquences de ses actions; et l'empêchant de capituler face aux coutumes et aux traditions de la majorité. VI Chez Mutahharï, la tarbiyah est le développement des facultés humaines de l'inséin (comparées à ses facultés animales) de manière à ce que toutes ses facultés acquièrent leur pleine croissance et aient un équilibre dans leur développement. Dans son point de