علوم اسلامي، قرآن و توسعه

Islamic Sciences, Quran, and Development

Considering the definition and global criteria of development according to which Iran is treated as underdeveloped, the present essay mentions three theories concerning development of our country. The first theory holds that the obstacle to development of Iran is firmness of national and religious beliefs in the Iranian nation and predominance of national-religious identity of Iranians over their global one. The second theory maintains that the notion of development and its criteria are western based upon scienticism of post-Renaissance era and cannot and should not be advised for Iran, but rather Iran should find its own way of development on the basis of its tradition and its genuine cultural identity. The third theory, which is presented in this essay and is somehow the extension of the second one, asserts that our actual tradition cannot respond to the development affair. Thus, it is attempted here to derive notion, criteria, and essentials of development from the Quran and hadith first and then, since development is impossible without science, to investigate possibility of establishing Islamic sciences in the realm of experimental sciences and the like.