Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Varamin-Pishva Branch, Iran
2 Associate Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Payam Noor University, Iran.
Abstract
Introduction
he main issue of the present article is to provide a bridge between Sa’di's thoughts in Boostan and social work based on the theory of Saadat Farabi (872 AD - 950 AD). Research questions; As one of the best poets of Persian educational literature, how did Sa’di deal with the concepts of social work in Boostan? Also, how is the connection between these garden concepts and the theory of Saadat Farabi? theories; In Boostan, Sa’di not only addressed many concepts of social work, but also made and institutionalized those concepts based on current rumors. Also, there are undeniable links between the educational concepts of Boostan Sa’di, which is in the field of social work, and the theory of Saadat Farabi.
Materials and Methods
The method of this research is library, descriptive-analytical and based on Boostan Sa’di's verses, principles of social work and Saadat Farabi's theory.
Literature Review
Some sources of research background; "The Roots of Persian Literature in Social Work" by Ali Asghar Pakdel Soltani and Parviz Shams (1995), which generally focuses on the relationship between educational and social work literature and not on Sa’di in particular. Najaf Jokar (2006) in "The Ideal Society in the View of Farabi and Sa’di" examined the commonalities of the ideal city from the point of view of two thinkers in the field of governance and politics, while the topic of the research is intellectual and moral commonalities. Mary Muffet, W. and Jose B. Ashford (2021) in "Principles and Basics of Social Work" have only explained the intellectual and practical foundations of this knowledge. Therefore, none of the mentioned researches have addressed the topic in the present article, and it seems absolutely necessary to conduct this research.
Discussion
Concepts related to social work have existed in Iranian culture for a long time and can be seen in literature as well. Farabi, a scientist of the 4th century, says that true happiness is achieved by doing good deeds, beautiful actions and moral virtues. He considers the way to achieve true happiness to be closer to God. (Farabi, 2002: 280) Social work knowledge is also based on achieving spiritual and true happiness. On the other hand, the teachings of Persian educational literature, which Sa’di is the leader of, can be considered as the eastern type of modern science of social work. Therefore, Boostan Sa’di and social work are along the theory of Saadat Farabi.
According to Sa’di, it is the best kind of charity to receive the sense of happiness by the person himself. The real needy person is a helper and not a helper, because a benevolent person, by doing a good deed, reaches inner peace, which means true happiness. You only plant a seed of goodness, but in this profitable spiritual transaction, you reap the "harvests" of spirituality (ibid.: 62).
helping poor; A helper, like a bridge, delivers aid to the materially and culturally needy in order of priority. (Halabi, 2018: 146) Sa’di says: It may be late tomorrow and you will die, so help the poor as soon as possible. (Ibid.: 66)
compliance with social justice; The worker must inform the authorities about social justice. From Farabi's point of view, social justice is defined in the political field by expressing the utopia and the fair distribution of public benefits. (Farabi, 1992: 239) Sa’di tells the ruler that with more benevolence, you can gain more power (ibid.: 78).
Helping orphans; From the point of view of social work science, an orphan is someone who does not have an effective guardian or guardian. (Johnson, 2000: 55) Sa’di, who himself was orphaned as a child, has a special regard for orphans and knows about their suffering. (Sa’di, 1989: 80)
helping the elderly; Sa’di advises to preserve the dignity of the elderly and help them by young people - which is one of the concepts of helping. (Ibid.: 89)
Helping travelers and strangers; Sa’di says that the traveler is our guest, we must respect him and protect him from any kind of harm. (Ibid.: 44)
respect for prisoners and their families; Sa’di addresses the issue of the innocence of the imprisoned woman and child and recommends helping them - which is in the field of social work. (Ibid.: 51)
Recommendation to comply with social work ethics; In his address to the helper, Sa’di explicitly stops him from looking arrogantly at the help-seekers: (Ibid: 80)
Conclusion
From Farabi's point of view, true happiness is associated with gaining spirituality, closeness to God and divine guidance, and distance from material and worldly affairs. In most of Boostan Sa’di's charitable concepts, a person does charity for his true happiness. Benevolence and charity is the most important message of Sa’di's help in Boostan. It is as if he has organized a code of social work, such as: helping the poor, paying attention to social justice, helping orphans and the homeless, respecting the elderly, respecting and helping travelers and strangers, helping prisoners and their families, and avoiding bribery. and self-esteem by the helper. The root of help should be found in the spiritual and philanthropic thoughts of the East, because long before the western world, it was discussed in Iranian philosophical texts, including Farabi's works, and also in the field of literary education, writers such as Sa’di, but centuries later, this social knowledge was compiled and Today's discipline has returned to Iran as a western science! Therefore, social work, the theory of Saadat Farabi and Boostan Sa’di should be considered as three sides of a triangle. The main side of this triangle is Saadat Farabi's theory of happiness, because both social work and Boostan Sa’di are based on the intellectual infrastructure of this theory.
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