An epistemological plan for religious education with an emphasis on the Qur'an's view of human commercial life in the world based on the thought of Ali Safai Haeri

Introduction and Method: Faith-based education aims to shape fundamental understandings of human life and beliefs through the teaching of religious teachings. In recent decades, a significant concern has been providing suitable epistemic content to foster transformative faith experiences among learners. Within the context of Islamic education, efforts have been made to develop epistemic plans. However, these plans need reconsideration from two perspectives: First, they often remain confined within limited thought paradigms, failing to engage emotions and sentiments effectively, and thus not leading to behavioral transformation. Second, they lack a substantial divine dimension, making it challenging to attribute them directly to revealed texts.
In this context, among the scholars, Ali Safai Haeri has addressed these concerns. He has developed an epistemic plan that begins with core religious teachings and extends to the necessary criteria for decision-making in various life situations. Notably, he draws inspiration from Quranic literature in his work titled “A Merchant’s Perspective on Human Life.”




 
 
 
 
 




This study employs a descriptive-analytical method to extract his epistemic framework, focusing specifically on essential religious teachings such as “knowing man and his dignity,” “knowing Allah and His Greatness and Mercy,” “knowing humanity’s role in existence,” “Belief in the Afterlife,” and “knowing the role of prophets and Imams in guiding man.” By integrating insights from the Quranic concept of “trade,” the resulting epistemic content takes on a fresh perspective.
Findings: Human beings are calculative creatures! Our lives, with their countless choices and actions, are a series of transactions. Therefore, it is logical to expect us to be prudent in this regard!
Generally speaking, the nature of any trade can be summarized in four components: what we give (inputs), what we receive (outputs), the needs or desires that drive us to engage in trade (needs or desires), and finally, the party with whom we trade (buyers). Consequently, a calculative person must accurately understand these four elements in every transaction to ensure the correctness of their trade.
Inputs: In comparing myself to other beings—such as animals, trees, and stones—I find, in addition to the common talents (capital) I possess, I have unique abilities such as thinking, reasoning (intellect), free will, choice, and conscience, which they lack. Therefore, I (the human) am more capable and, as a result, more efficient than they are. Additionally, by carefully observing the interaction among my abilities, I realize that they function like the letters of the alphabet. Consequently, despite the limitations of each, their interaction makes their efficiency/value infinite and unlimited. Thus, the precise measure of this capability/efficiency is obtained.
Needs/Desires: From the existence of additional human talents, we can infer the continuation of life (existence of other worlds), even if only as a possibility. These abilities are meant for those realms, much like how we infer from observing a fetus in the womb. Since the extent of human ability (efficiency) is infinite, continuing this path implies an infinite journey. This long and infinite path that we hypothesize for humans will bring about needs, and since this path is infinite, undoubtedly, its needs will also be immense.
Outputs: The calculative human must trade with their talents/capital and cultivate them to properly meet their immense needs on the long journey ahead. Naturally, we will seek a buyer who can cultivate our infinite capital.
Buyers: We face various buyers such as the “soul,” the “world,” and “people.” However, all of them either have less capital than us, like the world and the soul, or are on the same level as us, like people. Therefore, they cannot be our trading partners because they cannot increase our capital; instead, they diminish it, causing us to lose what we have.
At this stage, a question arises: Is there a superior buyer worthy of trading with humans? The “comings and goings of abilities and inabilities” and the “existence of a set of unwanted limitations” in humans indicate that none of these events occur by his will. He is bound by this situation, and there must necessarily be a ruler who orchestrates these comings and goings and limitations. Careful consideration of the concept of “ruler” reveals that a ruler cannot be bound (non-subjugation). From non-subjugation, we can infer the attributes of “self-sufficiency” and “limitlessness.” The ruler’s self-sufficiency also implies “non-composition.” Similarly, the ruler’s limitlessness can guide us to “uniqueness,” “encompassment,” “presence,” “knowledge,” “power,” and so on. Additionally, if we accept the ruler’s self-sufficiency, we can also consider the ruler to be “beneficent” and “merciful.” These combined attributes indicate that the ruler can be the buyer of our capital because none of the deficiencies and shortcomings of previous buyers exist in the ruler.
Method of Trade: To trade with the ruler, our actions must have three characteristics: Firstly, they must be for the ruler (intention). Secondly, they must be in the manner and method that the ruler desires (tradition). Thirdly, in cases of conflict between actions (the ruler’s desires), the most important one should be prioritized (importance).
To achieve “tradition,” among the possible ways (“instinct,” “revelation and inspiration to each individual,” “sending a book for everyone,” “appointing an intermediary and guide”), only the third way is undeniable. To verify the claimants, we can use five characteristics: “knowledge of what I do not know,” “freedom from attractions,” “kindness towards me (human),” “ability to perform miracles and miraculous deeds,” and “information provided by previous guides.”
Conclusion: This study aimed to present the fundamental teachings of religion using an innovative and novel method. The main structure of the paper was built based on the pillars of trade (input or capital, output, need or desire, buyer) and developed over ten steps. In the first and second steps, preliminaries about the “nature of trade in human life and the factors of human loss in it” were discussed. In the third and fourth steps, under human capital, the “human talents and their greatness and their incompatibility with worldly goals” were highlighted. The fifth and sixth steps were dedicated to the “continuation of human life (the afterlife) and the immense needs it entails.” Steps six to eight, under the pretext of discussing buyers, explained “knowing God and His distinguishing attributes by moving beyond the soul, people, and the world”. In the last two steps, under the method of trading with Him, the “path to reaching Him” and the “divine proofs and ways to identifying them” were discussed.
In summary, as previously mentioned, this plan has two advantages compared to many similar plans. First, in choosing the format and language of the discussion, it is Quran-based. Second, the knowledge it conveys is not abstract; rather, it is belief-forming and emotion-evoking, a feature that relates to the tangible and perceptible nature of the concept of “trade” for humans.