The position of the Father in the family Nahj al-Balagha Doctrines

Subject Areas : Islamic-Iranian Family Studies Journal

Shayesteh Ahmadi ¹ , seyed sadegh zamani ² , Nasrolah Erfani ³ , hooshang jadidi ⁴

1 - PhD student in psychology, Sanandaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj, Iran.
2 - Department of Psychology, Sanandaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj, Iran.
3 - Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Payame Noor University (PNU), P.O. Box 19395-4697, Tehran, Iran
4 - Department of Psychology, Sanandaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj, Iran.

Received: 2023-05-01 Accepted : 2023-06-16 Published : 2023-05-22

Keywords: father, Training, Keywords: ATLAS.ti software, Family, Nahj Al-Balagha,

Abstract :

AbstractThe beginning school of every person is his home and family. As the early years of training play a fundamental role in the physical, emotional, moral, and rational structure, they are of great importance and the role of the family in these years is so distinguished. As one of the family pillars, the father does not have any substitutes. Children acquire the first affection, friendship, hatred, and hostility lessons at home. The role of the father is highly outstanding in the family because he is the main person responsible for the proper training of children. This research aims at investigating the educational role of the father in the teachings of Nahj al-Balaghah. The study was done with the descriptive-analytical approach and gathered library data, in particular Nahj al-Balaghah and Imam Ali's (A.S.) sayings related to the role of the father in training children. Thus, qualitative content analysis was used to analyze Nahj al-Balaghah. The ATLAS.ti software was used in this study to code, classify, and categorize selected texts. After the Nahj al-Balaghah statements related to the research subject were collected and coded, in total 571 codes related to the training and father themes were extracted from which 53 were about the training and father codes. Summarizing and incorporating Nahj al-Balaghah codes and classifying them leads us to six titles of the factors that influence training. Dashti translation of Nahj al-Balaghah was used for coding this book. Keywords: ATLAS.ti software, Family, Father, Nahj al-Balaghah, Training  IntroductionIntroduction: Training means leading (Beheshti, 2019). From the training point of view, a father is regarded as a leader and a teacher, a practical and intellectual mentor, and a behavior model. The roles that people played in families in Imam Ali (A.S.)'s era were different from those in current families. In Imam Ali (A.S.)'s era, the father played a substantial and vital role in the family, was the manager of the family's production, and since his living and workplace were close to each other, he could better supervise his family. However, nowadays the living and workplace are far from each other and the father can't spend much time with his family and children (Aron, 2014: 30)."Training from Ali's Point of View" by Majid Rashidpur, "Training and Education in Nahj al-Balagha" by Majid Fuladgar, "Mah-e Mehrparvar", "Training in Nahj al-Balagha", and "Taer Farrokhpey" by Mostafa Delshad Tehrani, and "Social Training and Professional Training in Nahj al-Balagha", "Effective Factors in Training from Nahj al-Balagha Point of View" by Najme Vakili are all written in this regard.This study aims at investigating the role of the father in Nahj al-Balagha doctrines. Thus, the descriptive-analytical method is used to study the role of the father in training children from Imam Ali (A.S.)'s point of view. MethodologyThis research is applied in terms of purpose and uses the content analytical method. All of Nahj al-Balaghah was used as the statistical population and the ATLAS.ti software was used for extracting 2345 codes. Fifty three codes that referred to the role and position of the father were chosen for this study. ResultsAnalyzing the quantitative data of the factors effective in the father's role in training from Nahj al-Balaghah's point of view was the basis of testing the research hypotheses. It is worth mentioning that we tried to rely only on analyzing the quantitative data of extracting the categories from the chosen Nahj al-Balaghah text; in other words, we didn't use our personal opinions to obtain the results. Since without mentioning God and relying on divine training, the heart is destroyed and humans fall into the bottom of the well, the father must take care of his children to invite them to divine piety and polish their souls with advice and suggestions. DiscussionThe study investigated the role of the father in the family based on the teachings of Nahj al-Balaghah. The results indicated that when training his children throughout their childhood and teenagehood, the father must advise his children based on his love for them, and he must teach them self-improvement principles and walking with God, so that they avoid worldly whims, remove distracting hobbies, and think of the hereafter journey without any negligence.The study results are in line with the results of Salehi Babamiri & Faraji (2019), Alavi (2014), Zohadat (2011), and Siers (2012) studies. In his research, Mirzabeigi (2015) concluded that the father is the main responsible person for establishing order and security, enforcing the law, and planning life matters at home; therefore, as the children get older, their need for their father gets more essential and more vital.     ConclusionStudying the results of some research that was done in the 1990s, we conclude that:Although the child models many people in his life, the father can be a suitable model for him at all ages. The child models many ethical vices and virtues from his father. The role of the father in the family and training children is considered so important in educational psychology that his ethical and personality characteristics may be found out through his children's behaviors.Nowadays, one of the reasons for the families' weakness is the reduced role of the father in the family. Children who are grown up in their father's absence are more susceptible to crimes.Acknowledgments                                The study is extracted from the Ph.D. dissertation at the Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj Branch. We hereby thank all the experts who contributed to the research. FundingThis research received no specific funding from funding organizations in the public, commercial, or non-profit sectors, and the research costs were covered solely by the first author. Conflict of interestResearchers allow the journal to publish this article. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.    References:Alayi Rahmani, F. S., Z. (2014). The Impact of Family, Environment, andDetermination on Forming Human Personality from Imam Ali's (A.S) Point of View. Quarterly of Nahj al-Balagha Research Papers, 5(2), 83-104. (Persian).Aron, R. (2014). Basic Steps of Thought in Sociology (P. Bagher, Trans.). Islamic Revolution Publications. (Persian).Beheshti, M. (2019). The Basics of Training according to Qoran point of view. Research Institute of Islamic Culture and Thought. (Persian).Mirzabeigi, H. A. (2013). The Role of Father in the Family. Avamatn. (Persian).Salehi Babamiri, N. F., Y. (2019). A Study of the Role of Family in the Education and Training of Children from Nahj al-Balagha. Psychological Studies and Educational Sciences, 1, 84-73. (Persian).