ISLAMIC IRANIAN PROGRESS MODEL
Year:2020 | Volume:7 | Issue:14|Papers Count:12

Islamic economy places emphasis on manufacturing national product and meeting domestic demands within the national boundaries. Many thinkers and scholars have writtenand spoken about this need. Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Shahabadi is among the scholarswho has doubly s tressed supplying goods within the Islamic nations. In his Shazrat al-Ma’ arif he has explained various aspects of manufacturing national product. This paperintends to apply an analytical-descriptive method and use library documents to find anappropriate answer to the following ques tion: What are the national product threats ineconomic views of Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Shahabadi? Some findings of the paperindicate that manufacturing national product is in direct relation with political power andnational dignity so that inattention to meeting economic demands in Muslim nations, will pave the ground for economic dependency and impose ins tability on the pillars ofIslamic government. Some national product threats in Islam’ s political sys tem accordingto Ayatollah Shahabadi are the following: sinking into indolence and luxury, discord ineconomic activities, mismanagement in public treasury, thirs t for welfare by citizens, dependence of national economy on foreign goods and indus tries, discounted loans andusury, export of unprocessed natural resources, lack of gratitude for God’ s Grace, capitalaccumulation and creating obs tacles to manufacturing sector, economic conflicts.

Situations, goals, and developmental issues in political and economic sys tems shouldbe based on the foundations of the values, beliefs, ideologies and culture of every nation. Resis tance Economics is a cons truct based on axiological foundations that has led to theformation of a new discourse in our country and has become one of the main pillars ofour country’ s socioeconomic development policy. One of the aspects of resilient economyis the development of entrepreneurship and creating the right conditions for businessdevelopment. Since entrepreneurship and business development are one of the maincomponents of the field of Resis tance Economics, the present paper seeks to identify themos t important dimensions and components for the development of entrepreneurshipwithin the framework of resis tance-oriented economy discourse. In the present s tudy, carried out in a seven-s tep approach through of Meta– Synthesis method, efforts havebeen made to develop business s trategies and develop entrepreneurship under the conditionsof resilient economy. The result of the research is a model consis ting of six sections: "Development of social-cultural norms of value-added entrepreneurship", "Improving thebusiness environment", "Improving entrepreneurial attitudes and business inclination", "Financial support to entrepreneurs", " Legal support to facilitate business s tart-ups" and"Empowering innovative entrepreneurs to build and commercialize knowledge". Also, solutions tailored to each of the identified dimensions for the development of entrepreneurshipin the context of the discourse of resis tance-oriented economy were presented.

Lifes tyle consis ts of intertwinement and networking of the factors that affect s tylesof living of human beings. Lifes tyle, particularly in economic field, can be reinforcingand can increase the power of resis tance if it is in an appropriate shape, otherwise, it cans trengthen the obs tacles on the way forward. The society’ s inclination towards consumerismwould inflict huge damages on the economy and culture of the society. The consumptionmodel of every society plays a determining role in the allocation of productionresources, the type of manufactured commodities and the mode of their dis tribution, foroptimum allocation of resources for the production of goods and services, to a great extent, depends on the knowledge of the appropriate model of consumption and its culture. Themain ques tion that raises is as follows: Is it possible to move towards reduction of povertyand depravation by promoting and s trengthening the Islamic lifes tyle of the society? Survey and ques tionnaires were used in this s tudy to collect the necessary data from asample of 425 s tudents of Malayer City through s tratified sampling method. Spearmanand Cramer’ s V correlation tes ts were used for the analysis of the data with the help ofSPSS16. The findings of the s tudy show that there is a positive relationship between theIslamic lifes tyle and approach to consumption and saving. Also through an Islamic lifestyle’ s approach, one can prevent unnecessary consumptions and have a suitable saving.

Lifes tyle sugges ts intertwined and interconnected network of factors affecting human’ sway of life. If lifes tyle, particularly in economic field, is formed in a proper manner, it canturn into a reinvigorating factor to boos t the power of resis tance, otherwise it can intensifythe obs tacles on the way. Social inclination toward consumerism has imposed massivedamages on the country in economic and cultural aspects. The consumption pattern inany society has a decisive role in financing manufacturing sector, type of manufacturedproduct and dis tribution sys tems. This is because optimal financing for supplying goodsand services depends, to a great deal, upon identifying proper pattern of consumption, promoting cultural awareness to that end, and its dominance in the society. The principalques tion, in the meantime, is whether expanding and promoting Islamic lifes tyle in thesociety can help alleviating poverty. This paper has applied survey research and organizedques tionnaires to collect data from 425 respondents from among the university s tudentsin Mahabad, using s tratified sampling. For data analysis we have used Spearman’ s andCramé r’ s V tes ts by SPAA16 software. Results of the research showed that there is apositive relation between Islamic lifes tyle in attitudes toward consumption and saving. Thus Islamic approach toward lifes tyle can help avoid unnecessary consumption andmake proper saving decisions.

Economic wellbeing of individuals in the society is the mos t important issue towarddevelopment in any country, which has been equally paid double attention in Islamic teachings. Despite efforts and initiatives for improving economic wellbeing in Iran, social andeconomic indicators are s till on a downward trend so that poverty is now a major problemfor the country. Therefore, Islamic government mus t do its bes t to improve the economicconditions in the society. Boos ting livelihood of the individuals, the underprivileged walksof life in particular, can deeply affect economic indicators of the society. This paper intends topresent an Islamic-Iranian model of progress to find an appropriate answer to the followingques tion: What is the role of Islamic sys tem of government in boos ting financial support tothe needy? With a qualitative approach, this paper has applied an analytical-critical method. Results of the s tudy show that the government can help alleviate poverty through its cognitive, organizing, leading, supportive and management roles. Unders tanding the need forins titutionalization of the culture of supporting the needy is related to the cognitive role ofthe Islamic government and paying attention to meritocracy in appointing economic agentsis related to the organizing role of the government. Similarly, boos ting cultural insight in thesociety toward supporting the needy, educating and upbringing a piety-based and spiritualsociety is an example of the insight-oriented role of the Islamic government. From amongthe executive and supervisory role of the government, mention should be made of the following: identifying the needy in the society, obliging the government and its agents to livea simple life, setting inter-individual relations based on the principle of service-rendering, es tablishing interes t-free credit funds, and paving the ground for implementation of theprinciple of joint social liability. Supporting charity ins titutions and private economic enterprises, and motivating private sector for creating employment opportunities come in thelis t of government’ s supportive role.

The present s tudy was conducted with the aim of designing and validating a culturalmodel based on an Islamic-Iranian approach for the Iranian higher education sys tem. Amixed method of explorative plan-tool development model was used. In the firs t place, inthe qualitative s tudy, a ques tionnaire consis ted of 4 factors, 14 criteria and 64 indicatorswere designed by using the method of Grounded Theory and interview with 9 experts. Inthe next s tep, in the quantitative section, the designed ques tionnaire was conducted on 36members of Iranian experts with higher education. Based on the received feedbacks, theques tionnaire was revised, Then, the final and modified version was dis tributed among150 experts in different City of Iran. The validity of the ques tionnaire was confirmed byexperts and its reliability was calculated by Cronbach’ s alpha which was equal to (0/954). Non-probability purposive sampling method was used in the qualitative part of the s tudy, whereas classified random sampling method was applied in the quantitative part. In addition, analysis of s tructural equation modeling was used for tes ting the mentioned model. Inthe firs t phase of open coding, 76 concepts were obtained. The data of the second phase ofopen coding were classified in 64 concepts and 14 major categories. In axial coding s tage, 4 theoretical codes were determined. Then, in terms of condition, interactive/process andoutcome characteris tics was classified. In selective coding, category of Superior culture, Islamic-Iranian culture, as the central category where selected. By doing confirmatoryfactor analysis, all factors were approved. The results of second-order confirmatory factoranalysis also showed that all 14 factors are sufficient factors loading to prediction ofcultural model based on Islamic-Iranian approach for Higher Education Sys tem in Iran. The goodness of fit indices (GFI) were: (CMIN. DF) which equals to 1. 896, (RMSEA)= 0. 038, (GFI) = 0. 991, (AGFI) = 0. 921, (CFI) = 0. 942, (NNFI) = 0. 961, (TLI) = 1. 000, (IFI) = 0. 919 and (RFI) = 0. 934. The results of s tatis tical tes ts display that the designedmodel enjoys very favorable fitness for a cultural model based on Islamic-Iranian approachfor the Iranian universities. Also, the model designed in this s tudy is a complexand multidimensional concept. This model will have a positive function, only if it isconsidered as a single totality equal due attention is paid to all its aspects.

The differences between attitudes and approaches of Islam to progress and developmentwith those of the Wes tern world are quite clear. Hence, it is inevitable to pay attentionto the cultural and environmental requirements of Islamic societies in designing anddeveloping an Islamic model of progress. The main purpose of this s tudy is to presenta model for sus tainable business development and progress based on Islamic approachand find out its dimensions, components and indicators. For this purpose, the requireddata were collected through qualitative content analysis of Islamic texts through inductivemethod. Based on the results, and considering the validity of the results (Credibility, Transferability, dependability, and Conformability), the Islamic Model of Sus tainableBusiness contains seven dimensions: 1) Economic, 2) Environmental, 3) Social, 4) Laborand Production, 5) Management and Leadership, 6) Human Capital, and 7) Progress andExcellence. This model, in the form of 36 components and 132 indexes, in the light oftwo fundamental Islamic principles (jus tice and ethics), will prepare the grounds for theachievement of Islamic sus tainable development goals.

In modern-day societies and economies, companies and corporations play a key role indevelopment of any country. This century, however, has witnessed crimes, corruptions, and inefficiency of the board of directors of large corporations, imposing heavy social, economic and political burdens on the country. A close and precise evaluation has indicatedthat the problems have occurred for lack of measures by corporate governance. Incorporate governance, the two theories of "agency" and "s tewardship" with opposing hypotheseson "model of man" propose different s tructures for the boards of directors of thecorporations. This research paper pursues a critical approach to these non-native theoriesand while clarifying Islamic attitude toward "model of man", presents an Islamic-Iranianpattern for the role of the board of directors. Results of this s tudy indicate that in Islamicapproach, all board members are endowed with roles for supervision and consultation. Moreover, both material and spiritual aspects of man are causes of motivation in ours tudy. Also, in addition to boos ting self-control, there is a need for control from outsidethe corporation. Therefore, based on the Islamic-Iranian model of board of directors, thepresence of both executive and non-executive members of the board with high level ofself-control and s trong belief in responsiveness to God will be good for preventing fraudand corruption, improving the performance of corporations and progress of the country

There has always been a serious ques tion among researchers and politicians on whatthe progress is and what its components are. Various research works have been carriedout for finding logical answers to the above ques tions, each picturing an ideal society andprogress in some way. "Clean life" is perhaps the mos t important picture that has beencreated as inspired by the Holy Quran. This picture, too, is so general that practicallyleaves no image before the researchers and proponents of progress. This paper intendsto find a proper answer to the ques tion of progress in view of Allameh MohammadTaqi Ja’ fari through a descriptive and analytical method. Results of the s tudy indicatethat Ja’ fari’ s "rational life" to the s trength of a theory is the bes t answer to the ques tionof progress, thanks to its intentional and extensional relations with clean life and idealsociety. Rational life gives us both logic of social order leading to progress and properinteraction for realizing this goal. Rational life is a theory where religion, philosophy andhuman experience meet, from among them the role of religion in picturing and realizingthe progress is quite outs tanding.

The followers of the prophets (peace be upon them all) have resorted to the monotheis ticteachings in dealing with various issues affecting human societies to select an approachand behavior that are good and acceptable according to the Holy Quran. Part of this interactionrelates to the economic issues, the s tudy of which yields – in addition to individualpatterns – key teachings for the planning and executive bodies of the governments formedbased on Quranic precepts. This paper classifies and s tudies the verses of the Holy Quranwith the aid of library sources to analyze the mos t important economic indicators of thefollowers of the prophets (peace be upon them all) as believers and revolutionary forcesin view of the Holy Quran. In addition to defending the revolutionary nature and confrontingthe claims on inefficiency of their economic laws, this paper intends to presentsuccessful examples for economic progress and for overcoming economic tensions setby the enemies within general s trategies. Results of the s tudy indicate that wholesomeeconomic laws and transparency of these laws, all-out efforts, financial independence, crisis management, economic support of the people, fighting unwholesome economy, corruption and related abnormalities, financial equality with people and fighting aris tocracyare among the mos t important economic indicators of believers and revolutionaryforces in view of the Holy Quran.

Under the US sanctions agains t Islamic Republic of Iran, there needs to be paid moreattention to knowledge-based companies and help promotion of their capabilities with theaim of putting an end to the sale of natural resources and moving toward "knowledge-basedmanufacturing". In other words, the path toward success in "economic Jihad" and "resilienteconomy" passes through the medium of knowledge-based entrepreneurship. This qualitativework has been carried out with the ultimate goal of research into knowledge-basedentrepreneurship within the conceptual framework of resilient economy. We collected atotal of 1280 themes through a codified procedure after open interviews with 15 universityprofessors of management and economy and 10 entrepreneurs, managing directors ofknowledge-based companies, and related government officials, who were briefed on suchconcepts as resilient economy. Then, 60 themes from among the total 1280 themes wereselected through a codification paradigm for determining the following subjects: causalconditions (economic fight), phenomenal centrality (motifs for making knowledge-basedeconomy resilient), reciprocal actions and interactions’ s trategies (knowledge-based entrepreneurship), infras tructure (es tablishing economic war room), … as well as a scientificand knowledge-based approach toward all aspects and s tages of entrepreneurship, interveningconditions (Leader’ s recommendations on economy and entrepreneurship), domes ticagents’ inefficient and inappropriate performance, outcomes of knowledge-based entrepreneurship(boos ting non-oil economy, boos ting national production, resilient economy, antisanctionseconomy, … ), and Islamic economy as a pattern for inspiring world economy. Incontinuation and at the s tage of selective codification, the elements of codification paradigmwere explained one by one to set the plot of the s tory and create the theory.

In designing an Islamic model of progress what element should be truly includedextensively in all its variables, without which one can reject it as a non-Islamic model? How is it dealt with in view of the Holy Quran and Islamic traditions? These questionshelped us initiate a s tudy on the spiritual health epidemic for generalization ofspiritual behavior and for helping beliefs and spiritual affairs bloom in Islamic-Iranianmodel of progress. On the other hand, this work intends to look at practical factors tohelp overcome spiritual illness in Iranian society’ s model of spiritual progress. This wascarried out through secondary qualitative analysis of the narrative data taken from theHoly Quran and Islamic traditions. Findings show that the model’ s target of promotingspiritual affairs is among the mechanisms that will affect all human activities and asthe Holy Quran sugges ts, God-centered human activities in designing all model-basedvariables is accounted as a principal hypothesis; and this can be a criterion for differencebetween Islamic and Wes tern patterns. The material progress of the Islamic society, too, undergoes a dras tic change with this criterion so that economy and occupational ethicsbased on Islamic sys tem will shift away from object-orientation and profiteering towardthe Muslim people and a dis tinctive pattern with humanis tic approaches will be designed. An innovation achieved through this research work is presenting s trategies for feedingspiritual mechanisms in designing Islamic-Iranian model of progress.