Quran, Culture and Civilization
Year:2025 | Volume:6 | Issue:3 (پیاپی 21)|Papers Count:6

The widespread establishment of a culture derived from the Qur’an and the Ahl al-Bayt (PBUT) has always required intensified efforts, optimization, and the provision of suitable groundwork. Accordingly, the present study aims to identify the most significant obstacles to the development of Qur’anic culture and to propose corresponding corrective measures, with an analytical focus on the National Charter for the Development of Qur’anic Culture. The central research question is: what are the major obstacles and the most essential corrective actions necessary for realizing the development of Qur’anic culture in society? Utilizing a descriptive-survey method combined with library research, the study employed a questionnaire consisting of ten key questions, gathering insights from Qur’anic experts and activists nationwide, with a statistical population exceeding 1,450 participants. After examining a wide range of obstacles and proposed reforms, the findings classify these obstacles into two categories based on their level of impact: structural and secondary. Among the most important structural obstacles are: the multiplicity of governmental authorities overseeing Qur’anic affairs, insufficient conviction regarding the centrality and priority of the Qur’an in national governance, and the lack of cohesive support for Qur’anic activists. As for secondary obstacles, they include inadequate attention to training and recruiting efficient and specialized Qur’anic practitioners, the absence of a comprehensive system of evaluation and continuous supervision of Qur’anic activities, and the lack of modern, integrated information systems with ongoing updates. The results indicate that the development of Qur’anic culture in society is achievable, but its realization requires the removal of obstacles and the implementation of a wide range of corrective measures centered on the National Charter for the Development of Qur’anic Culture.

With the growing trend of globalization and the promotion of global values—often in conflict with religious values and teachings—Islamic societies face unprecedented challenges. In this context, the Qur’anic lifestyle, grounded in religious foundations and moral values, is recognized as a stable and resilient model that can effectively withstand these challenges, preserve itself within modern social interactions, and contribute to improving the quality of social life. Given the influence of prevailing beliefs and values on both individuals and society, attention to the foundations of lifestyle is of great importance, since they shape an individual’s behavior in the community. Using a descriptive-analytical method and library sources, this study identifies fixed principles as the foundations that influence human behavior and actions in life. Accordingly, the research seeks to answer the following question: upon which sociological foundations is lifestyle in the sphere of social interactions established? The findings indicate that these sociological foundations consist of those religious elements and guidelines that have become fundamental principles shaping individual behavior and action in society. Among the most important sociological foundations of Qur’anic lifestyle are: belief in the simultaneous material and spiritual dimensions of life; the purposeful nature of society; social development and progress toward perfection; the need for guiding leaders and adherence to role models; the necessity of morality and value orientation in social behavior; the necessity of reason’s authority in social conduct; and the necessity of maintaining a clear boundary between truth and falsehood in social interactions.

Despite the comprehensiveness of Sūrat al-Nūr, no holistic educational model for Islamic lifestyle that adequately responds to the challenges of the modern age has yet been derived from it. The purpose of this study is to construct such an educational model, based on the comprehensive approach. This qualitative research employs thematic analysis, collecting and coding themes with the aid of MAXQDA software. The findings demonstrate that, through a holistic perspective, the surah addresses various crises of modernity: the crisis of spirituality in the doctrinal, devotional, and ethical dimensions (connection with God and reliance on His guidance, integration of faith and practice in life, cultivation of moral values); the crisis of face-to-face communication and complex sedition in political and social dimensions (constructive social interaction, optimization of the judicial and legal system); the crisis of materialism in economic and professional dimensions (attention to the divine aspect in economic matters, avoidance of extremes, adherence to moderation); the crisis of diminishing authentic aesthetics in the artistic dimension (collective moral beauty, spiritual beauty, beauty of nature); the crisis of information explosion in the scientific and technological dimension (linking rational scientific thought with insightful and truth-seeking scholarship); and the crisis of excessive externalism in the bodily dimension (protective and reformative modesty and dress).

Self-sacrifice on the battlefield is one of the life-giving themes emphasized in many human schools of thought. Examining this concept in living non-monotheistic traditions such as Buddhism-which still has a considerable number of followers-shows that a rational explanation of the Qur’anic teachings and the clarification and reinforcement of commonalities between Islam and Buddhism in relation to self-sacrifice can bring about significant civilizational convergence among their adherents. Investigating this issue requires an in-depth study of the foundations, objectives, and characteristics of self-sacrifice, since these three domains determine the quality and scope of defensive and sacrificial teachings within religions and traditions. Using a descriptive-analytical method, this study explores the general teachings of Buddhism in these three domains, explains their influence on the spirit of sacrifice and defense, and then critiques them in light of Qur’anic knowledge. The findings indicate that Buddhism, drawing upon the Four Noble Truths, the law of karma, and universal altruistic thought, regards the main strategy of self-sacrifice in war as granting concessions and offering one’s interests to the aggressor in order to satisfy the enemy’s material desires. The Qur’an, while acknowledging the principle of suffering in life and directing it wisely toward higher goals, critiques the Buddhist objectives, rejects the notion of the enemy’s reformability in the Buddhist strategy, and instead affirms the necessity of active defense and sacrifice.

Since the teachings of the divine prophets contain the foundations for the emergence and formation of civilization, the study of Qur’anic narratives serves as one of the most important sources for uncovering these foundations. Through an analysis of these stories, it is possible to address some of the problems of contemporary societies and to identify certain components of Islamic civilization. However, as the verses and chapters of the Qur’an were revealed under specific historical circumstances-and the narratives of the prophets are no exception-different portions of these stories, relevant to the mission of the Prophet of Islam, were revealed within various chapters. Accordingly, this article, employing a thematic–tanzīlī exegetical style and using a descriptive-analytical and library-based method, seeks to answer the following question: which components and which sections of the story of Prophet Noah (PBUH) were revealed under what spatial and temporal circumstances, and what is the relationship between the mentioned segment of the narrative and the surrounding verses of the chapter in which it occurs? Furthermore, how does this contextualization between circumstances and the story of Prophet Noah (PBUH) reflect the components of Islamic civilization? The application of this exegetical approach to the story reveals that Qur’anic narratives were revealed in harmony with the overarching objectives of each chapter as well as the various conditions of the life of the Prophet (PBUH), the Muslims, and the opponents of Islam. All parts of the story of Prophet Noah (PBUH) appear in Meccan chapters, and from them the following components of Islamic civilization can be derived: loyalty to God and His messengers, prayer, piety, warning and glad tidings, patience in the face of repeated trials, the empowerment of the oppressed, industrial and economic strength, trust in God, and explanatory jihad through migration.

Paratextuality, as a branch of Gérard Genette’s broader theory of transtextuality, is a contemporary approach for examining the influence of a text on its surrounding elements and especially on its readers. Initially developed for analyzing the book as a text, this theory provides a framework for exploring the reciprocal relationship between a work and its paratextual environment. The presence of Qur’anic verses in diverse works produced across the Islamic world has been one of the earliest and most distinctive features separating “Islamic art” from the arts that preceded it. Manuscripts of the Qur’an reflect a wide range of information about the art, culture, and civilization of their era. The ornaments that frame this most significant historical text and the miracle of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) have undergone substantial transformations over time. This study investigates the evolution of these ornaments, their types, and their mutual interaction with the Qur’anic text from a paratextual perspective, employing a descriptive-analytical method and situating the discussion historically within the framework of the Persianate world. The findings reveal that ornaments, as paratexts, create a communicative network that mediates between the divine word and its readers, inviting engagement with the text. Furthermore, the study examines their grammar as a medium, categorizes the functional, symbolic, and decorative conventions present in this network, and traces their historical transformations.