A reinterpretation of the concept of “Amal-e Saleh” and its educational implications based on the theory of human as an agent

Mirshah Jafari, Sayyed Ebrahim; Yousefi Hamedani, Elham

doi:10.22034/iued.2018.36517

A reinterpretation of the concept of “Amal-e Saleh” and its educational implications based on the theory of human as an agent

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Sayyed Ebrahim Mirshah Jafari ¹

Elham Yousefi Hamedani ²

¹ Full professor, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan

² Curriculum development, Faculty of Education &amp; Psychology. Isfahan University, Isfahan, Iran

10.22034/iued.2018.36517

Abstract

The human actions have been described and evaluated by multiple words in the educational context of Quran. The concept of “Amal-e Saleh” is one of the most important and most frequent concepts in Quran that refers to a high quality of human action in comparison to other good actions. Although the words in Quran describing good actions have similarities with each other, each one has its unique and distinctive meaning. Therefore this study aims to explore the meaning of “Amal-e Saleh” based on the theory of “human as an agent” with emphasis on social dimensions of action and to present its differential aspects with other similar concepts. According to the results, the differential aspects of Amal-e Saleh include four dimensions: 1. Rationalism; 2. Faith and Sincerity; 3. Determination and 4. Designing and foresight; while all of them could be abstracted as being “strategic”. Such an interpretation is not an individualistic concept, but rather indicates the active presence of “Salehin” in society. Finally the educational and practical implications of this concept for managing the social life have been elucidated.

Keywords

Amal-e Saleh

strategic action

rationality

determination

foresight