The content analysis of the views and thoughts of Fayz Kashani and their implications for moral education

As one of the major problems of our time is the crisis of moral education and lack of ethics, today moral education as one of the areas of education has received serious attention from educational scholars. The purpose of this article is to examine Fayz Kashani's ethical views and their implications for moral education. Accordingly, a qualitative analytic-descriptive method based on library studies was employed in this study. To this end, first, Fayz Kashani's works, in particular, the two important educational works of Mohsen Fayz Kashani, namely, “Mohjat-al-Beyza fi Tahzib al-Ahya” and “Al-Haqa'iq Fi Mahasin Al-akhlaq”, and also books and articles on moral education were reviewed. Fayz Kashani's moral system is based on self-knowledge and moderation of physical powers. The results of the study indicated that human ethical training empowers them to overcome their self-centeredness in epistemological, communicative, and emotional contexts. That is to say, people do not make judgments based on their mood, knowledge, information, interests, and behavior, but seek their happiness in the happiness of others, and this contributes to the development of moral happiness .


Introduction and the problem statement
Moral education is one of the most important fields of the education process because the relationship between education and ethics is so profound and they are so intermingled strongly that there was no clear boundary conceived between them in the past and the education process was considered to be identical to ethics.Sometimes, even being moral was equal to a person's educational development and upbringing good morality in him/her (Beheshti, 2005).
Education constitutes the most important part of the doctrines, instructions, and teachings of the heavenly religions, especially Islam.Our educational system is an import system and not based on the philosophy of Islamic education, so many of the challenges, shortcomings, and issues that our education is struggling with are rooted in the theoretical foundations of this system because such foundations are inconsistent with the beliefs, expectations, and culture of our faithful, religious, and pious people (Soltani Renani, 2012).
Therefore, the role and importance of ethics in the spiritual transcendence of mankind are clear to anyone, and so far its need has not been questioned in any society.Accordingly, the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) stated that his main mission was to complement ethics.Besides, the great leaders of Islam also oblige their followers to learn selfpurification and self-knowledge and deem learning ethics as a science as one of the essential foundations of happiness for the community (Amouzegar, 2016, p. 191).
Accordingly, every society based on the system of values governing it seeks to educate those people who can embody society's ideals.Some of these ideals are train learners as faithful individuals, promoting a specific ideology, creating a positive attitude toward altruism, seeking justice, social norms, and the like.Much of these goals and aspirations are achieved through the education system of that society.Education is a process that aims to bring about appropriate and favorite changes in the various dimensions of students' existence.The curriculum is an essential component of any educational system and indeed plays a key and critical role in changing and reforming the educational system (Maleki, 2016).It is also imperative to have moral and social requirements to educate students to become democratic, compassionate, creative, and responsible citizens (Joseph, 2012).
Fayz Kashani attached great importance to ethics and moral education and considered it to be a source of divine bliss and happiness.Following al-Ghazali, he regarded ethics and moral education as "transaction science" which helps followers to pursue the science of revelation and esoteric knowledge (Fayz Kashani, 1387 AH, vol. 1, pp. 61 & 66).The foundations set by him for moral education are ethical variability, comprehensive moderation and a discussion of intentionality and emotional arousal.He considered self-knowledge, self-construction, mental balance, social adjustment, and the divine proximity as his educational goals.For him, moral education is characterized by systematicity, a narrative, and hadith-based (practical) approach, and cherishing care and friendship (based on the love of God) (Beheshti, 2005).
Therefore, addressing the issue of moral training in education and developing the body and spirit of the community's future makers should be given greater attention.Therefore, given the background of our country's scientific and philosophical works on ethics and morality, their ability for expansion and development, and also given the strength and solidity of Fayz Kashani's thought that was inspired by the Qur'an that helped him understand and solve real-world events by deducing deep Quranic instructions and teachings with fewer ideological, ethical, and practical issues were left unsolved in his book, Rah-e Rowshan (the Illuminated Road), designing a model for moral education for promoting his views that emphasized the sublime human ethics as the only way for preserving the will power and guaranteeing the rule of law is of high significance (Tabatabai,vol. 4: 173).Therefore, the present study aimed to provide a content analysis of Fayz Kashani's ideas and views and infer their implications for moral education.

The significance of the study
Moral education plays a very important role in education systems.Ethics and moral education are, in principle, one of the fundamental elements of human culture.For this reason, moral education has long been an issue of interest in Islamic culture and has been the subject of much research in many countries today (Salahshouri, 2013).The concepts such as ethics and moral education have always been the subject of much interest among philosophers, scientists, scholars, and educational practitioners because of their enormous role in the happiness and salvation of humans and societies in both the world and hereafter (Vojdani, 2015).
According to Mehr Mohammadi (2007), the transformation of education systems has been evaluated as a prerequisite for sustainable development goals for smart people.The foundation of the extraction and formulation of the goals, principles, content, and methods of religious education from the Islamic point of view is the existential attributes of man, the world, and the creator of man and the world that are to be extracted from Islamic texts.
Moral education should be considered as one of the most important topics for the curriculum development of primary education because curricula are one of the most important factors influencing the success and failure of educational systems (Barnet & Coate, 2005: 123).No matter how the curriculum is defined (e.g.learning experiences, content, lessons, etc.) (Hyun, 2006), they mirror the panorama of the extent to which learners develop ethical virtues and how they are getting prepared to deal appropriately with new community issues.One can even evaluate the quality of a community's education from the content of its curricula at various stages of education, and the removal of ethics from the curriculum can mean failure in preparing the learner for personal and professional life (Erzikovia, 2009: 25).
The important criticism raised against the curricula offered by the universities of the Islamic world is that they mainly incorporate the ideology of the Western world (Wilford, 2010).Thus, by integrating Islamic heritage curricula that include the Islamic heritage by using epistemological resources and modern disciplines for students of Muslim countries, better education can be provided in the field of moral education can from the Islamic perspective (Amin & Haneef, 2011).
The present study is significant in several respects: First, it examines moral education and its essential components according to Fayz Kashani's ideas and views especially the discussions presented in his book, Mohjat-al-Beyza fi Tahzib al-Ahya, which should be addressed in the process of Islamization of sciences and in particular the humanities.Second, given the emphasis on upstream documents and in particular the Document of Fundamental Transformation of Education on the localization of curricula, this study presents an example of a local curriculum based on Islamic teachings and ideas.Third, given the possibility of renaming the education organization into a formal and public education organization, this study focuses on the discussion of education, and in particular moral education.Fourth, it deals with elementary education as one of the most sensitive and influential educational programs in shaping and internalizing social values and norms.And fifth, this study addresses ethics in education as ethics and moralities encompass much of the instructions and teachings of the Islamic religion.

Research method
This study used an analytical-documentary method because the sought to describe the current situation and also to analyze concepts and themes to discover the main elements and concepts.An analyticalphilosophical approach aims to identify and improve a set of concepts or a conceptual construct and present experiences, interpretations, and intended themes categorizing the issues under analysis.This approach does not aim to find out whether a given concept is true or not but to provide a thorough description of the concept in question.The dataset used in the present study was collected in two stages from Fayz Kashani's book, Rah-e Rowshan (the Illuminated Path): The first stage involved in determining the components and dimensions of moral development.To this end, Fayz Kashani's views on voluntary action, ethical practice were reviewed from his book, Rah-e Rowshan (the Illuminated Path).In the second stage, the moral implications Fayz Kashani's views were identified using content analysis.

The theoretical framework of the study Ethics by definition
Ethics is a concept related to personality, temperament, character, and habits that regulate human behavior in all aspects of social life (work, everyday life, politics, science, family, and personal, intra-group, intraclass relations (Aghabakshi, 1996).Ethics means adapting to norms, rights, common duties; however, there is the possibility of the conflicts between two acceptable social standards and one learns to judge in such cases based on one's conscience (Pourafkari, 2000: 148).Sometimes the term ethics is simply used to refer to good and decent traits and actions.For example, self-sacrifice is called an ethical trait and the act of stealing is considered immoral.All human attributes, whether stable or unstable, are the source of good or obscene actions.Accordingly, if a miser person possibly gives something generously to others in spite of his usual nature, he/she is considered to be generous because his/her action is judged ethically to be positive and decent.Even though this trait is not enduring in him/her, in the literal sense, generosity is not considered as one of his moral attributes (Mesbah, 1999).
Given the various human traits and characteristics such as courage, generosity, trustworthiness, or cowardice, vulgarity, and betrayal, it can be assumed that in some people these traits are enduringly consistent; they usually do their actions automatically and without thinking based on their inherent qualities and traits.In contrast, some people lack such traits and they are forced to do some actions by contemplating these actions.Whenever an attribute has become intrinsically stable for a person, he/she can do things without much deliberation, it is said that the attribute has been internalized for him/her.Otherwise, the attribute in question is unstable and transient and the person does not do the actions related to the attribute automatically (Mesbah, 2001: 25).Temperament means a stable and deeply-rooted and internalized attribute that leads to the automatic and unconscious performance of actions without the need for reflection.These attributes together constitute ethics (Sae'i, 1990: 18).Ethics do not include only decent attributes but also covers indecent attributes and characteristics.For instance, some people possess decent and generous qualities and some are inflicted by indecent characteristics and qualities.

The importance of moral education
The discussion into the importance of moral education relates, on the one hand, to the position of ethics in the social system and the role that utopian ethics can play in the personal and social well-being of human beings, and, on the other, relates to the intense interconnectedness of morality and education.There are various fields of education, one being the field of moral education.Despite the great efforts of educators to develop ethical issues, there are many gaps in moral education programs around the world's educational systems (Golin, 1990).
The importance of moral education lies in the fact that it is the primary goal of the prophets' mission.In addition to divine religions, earlier philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle have also introduced the primary purpose of education in bringing up people with good ethical attributes such as wisdom, justice, courage, and selfrestraint.Besides, contemporary philosophers such as Spinoza and Rousseau have praised ethics as the superior aspect of man.Kant regards human dignity is dependent on his morality, and while emphasizing the sanctity of moral law, considers moral education as the last and highest level of education (Naqibzadeh, 2005).
Therefore, addressing an important issue such as moral education in children, given that our society suffers from numerous social damages and this threatens the future generation of the country, must be taken seriously and addressed by the country's education system.On the other hand, the results of the studies show that the fading of moral and human virtues is the main reason for the lack of sustainable and purposeful relations between members of the community.
Parents, schools, and the community are constantly confronted with the issue of training polite and ethical children.In an age when the supervision of children is very sophisticated, it is essential to train decent and noble children.On the other hand, individual prejudices and misconduct are widespread in different societies, indicating a serious gap in moral education for different groups of people living in society.Certainly, the best time to develop moral values in the individual is childhood, and families and the education system should best help to develop moral values in children.These values can be taught to children to protect them against social harm.Since the results of teaching ethical components to students should be reflected in their behavior, the ethical implications of these teachings can be applied in a correct and principled way.Teaching ethical behaviors in childhood will contribute to training an ethical and responsible generation that is not indifferent to their common problems and respects the values, norms, and beliefs of the community.The main goal of education is to provide a context for the growth and development of humans to achieve perfection.Since moral education in childhood does not follow a certain pattern, this study aims to provide a good practice model to be used by educational planners.

Moral education and training
The most important social institution in our society is the education system which deals with the moral education of students based on the ideology of Islam.The ideology of Islam must be incorporated into the school curricula and reflected in the behavior of students.Therefore, paying ongoing attention to curricula that reflect Islamic values and norms is important and professionals in the field of education and curriculum development must be familiar with, interested in, and committed to teaching, promoting, and implementing these values.Therefore careful study, initial planning, proper goal setting, and continuous efforts to educate and empower students are essential, especially in elementary school as one of the most critical stages of any human life serving as the foundation of the human personality, behaviors, and habits.Human learning is based on educations provided during their childhood and what is learned subsequently will be lied on this foundation.Elementary education is the basis of all educational programs and is the cornerstone of the education system.The content of the textbooks offered in this educational period will be carved into students' mind that resembles a white and blank tablet.By reading these textbooks, students can gain first-hand knowledge of customs, traditions, and social rules and regulations (Dehghani, 2009: 127).
Despite recent European and English statistics on the decline of religiosity in universities (Woolfolk, 2007) and significant criticism against the curricula offered by universities of the Islamic world for the curricula mainly embodying the ideology of the Western world, the present study aims to integrate curricula including the Islamic heritage and epistemological resources and modern disciplines to provide students of Muslim countries with better training programs in the field of moral education from an Islamic perspective (Amin & Haneef, 2011).

Ethics from Fayz Kashani's viewpoint
Fayz considers morality and moral education one of the most important areas of education and states: "Ethics has a sublime position and plays an important role in the personal and social happiness and perfection of human beings and its profound effects on material and spiritual life are unmatched and unique as ethics in various verses and narratives has been regarded as the main goal of the Prophet's mission (Fayz, 1388 AH: 55).
Ethics is a servant and guarantor of the mental health and well-being and serves as a guiding light in the way of life, helping man to know the facts and also distinguish the good from the evil.Since, according to the Islamic perspective, a human is made of dimensions of the body and the soul and all the transcendence and growth of the human takes place through the soul, morality is a factor in preventing the human soul from being infected with immoralities and diseases.Just as the human body may be exposed to all kinds of diseases, the human soul is also susceptible to all kinds of diseases, so morality can protect the human soul from these diseases (Fayz; cited in Sahebi, 1993, vol. 5).
Through morality, one becomes familiar with his physical and spiritual qualities including virtues and immoralities, and the creation and consolidation of good behavior and attributes and the emergence of good and ill-tempered qualities and learns how to correct and treat moral illnesses (Fayz, 1383 AH: 43).
Ethics is the science of anthropology, the science of religion and the hereafter, and it is the basis for happiness and closeness to God.Following Ghazali, Fayz considers ethics as a practical science that helps the disciple to reach revelation and intuitive and esoteric knowledge (Fayz; cited in Aref, 1993: 1).
Ethics and its position in Ehay al-Olum and Mohjat-al-Beyza Some of Fayz's important writings are devoted to ethical books, the most important of which are Mohjat-al-Beyza fi Tahzib al-Ahya, Haghayegh dar Akhlaq (ethical truths), Seir-o Soluk (odyssey), and Zad al-Salek and, and the most detailed and important one is Manhaj al-Neja written by Fayz as a motive for the revival of al-Ghazali's Ehaya al-Olum (Fayz, 1383 AH, vol.1).Fayz's school of ethics is mainly influenced by al-Ghazali's ideas about the revival of science but some of Fayz's intellectual and ideological principles and mainly his Shi'ism have led him to disagree with some of the methods and concepts of ethics proposed by Ghazali.Fayz, while admiring al-Ghazali for his intelligence, expressive power, and recommending the use of his book, expresses his intention of writing the book, Mohjat-al-Beyza, as follows: 1) A great element of faith which is the knowledge of the Imams whose access has been denied, 2) Some of the contents of the book are based on incorrect principles especially in the section dealing with worship, 3) Some of the anecdotes of the book quoted from Sufism are irrational and unacceptable, so he intends to revise the mentioned sections and base them on rational principles, add some specific secrets and wisdom of Shiites, and summarize some discussions contained in the book.However, he has stated that he did not intend to manipulate chapters and sections of the book or change the words or phrases therein (Ibid, p. 2).
Fayz Kashani believes that moral education is to learn and recognize virtues and immoralities and provide the ground for turning to virtues and applying the mechanisms and ways of creating and establishing virtues as well as removing immoralities to achieve eternal happiness and perfection (Fayz, 1383 AH;13).He also considers moral education as inner purity and states: Just as one is not allowed to say prayers without physical purity, it is not possible to remove immoralities and immoralities without cleaning the soul and hearth from vicious attributes (Fayz, 1383 AH: 27).

Curriculum and moral education
Since our age is replete with destructive crises and challenges, if today's human beings want to have a mental balance, not be subjugated to conditions, and succeed in personal and social relationships, they must turn to ethics and moral education.The efforts of mankind in different eras and practicing educational techniques have been increasing to achieve a supreme model of a transcendent human.The participation of prominent figures such as al-Ghazali, Sheikh Tusi, Avicenna, Mulla Sadra, Fayz Kashani, and others in the field of science in the world and the Islamic lands also indicates the existence of plans at all educational levels in Islam (Beheshti, 2013).The continuity of this movement requires ethics-based curricula as the curricula taken from other Western schools cannot help us achieve our goals.A part of our problem with the education system is the existence of western views in curricula and we incorporate such views in developing curricula.
The studies conducted in the field of education revealed that there are serious and obvious shortcomings and despite the rich Islamic and Iranian heritage and the source of divine wisdom and other credible sources inherited from Islamic scholars, Iranian children do not experience appropriate educational and social conditions.These shortcomings are reflected in the behavior of people in the community, especially the youth.Issues such as identity crisis, lack of communication and social skills, religious aversion, and disregard for Islamic values and beliefs are more prevalent and have caused irreparable damages to our social system.These issues require the serious attention and dedication of educational scientists to conduct further research in this field.One of the external challenges in the education system is the decline of morality and the urgent need for a resurgence of morality and ethical values that calls for special attention to teachings in the scriptures and religious laws (Taghipour Zahir, 2007: 8).
After evaluating different curricula, curriculum specialists concluded that most of the developed curricula have disregarded the hierarchical dimensions of existence.According to Cecero and Prout (2011), the characteristics and practice of educational systems in recent decades have been based on academic achievement, mastery of pedagogic concepts, teaching the skills needed to attend and succeed in exams, and ignoring social, emotional, and learner progress and ethical characteristics.Some of the studies conducted in Iran indicate that the education system has not been effective in creating professional and scientific ethics.
In a study on how to teach moral education in physical education classes at university, Duman (2000) emphasizes the importance of moral education through curricula.Another piece of evidence suggests that schools need to offer a superior education system called ethical education (Crimson, 2011).In his public lectures, and even in articles and books published by Bock, the former Chancellor of Harvard University, he insists that leading colleges and universities in the United States should commit themselves to ethical education as one of their primary duties (Beaty, 2017).Ghanbari et al. (2014) consider paying attention to teachers' professional ethical standards as one of the basic strategies to improve quality assurance in the educational system (Khaghani Nejad, 2010).
So the most important social institution in our society is education, which deals with the moral education of students based on the ideology of Islam.The ideology of Islam must be incorporated into the school curricula and reflected in the behavior of students.Therefore, paying ongoing attention to curricula that reflect Islamic values and norms is important and professionals in the field of education and curriculum development must be familiar with, interested in, and committed to teaching, promoting, and implementing these values.Therefore careful study, initial planning, proper goal setting, and continuous efforts to educate and empower students are essential, especially in elementary school as one of the most critical stages of any human life serving as the foundation of the human personality, behaviors, and habits.Human learning is based on educations provided during their childhood and what is learned subsequently will be lied on this foundation (Dehghani, 2009: 127).

Key themes
At this stage, the researcher first extracted the themes from the Fayz Kashani clear path, using qualitative content analysis, and then extracts and reports on the frequency of key themes using MAXQDA software.It should be noted that the presented frequencies are related to the original text and do not include the footnotes (Also the Arabic expressions and terms in Arabic hadiths and narratives were excluded).First, the frequencies of key themes (virtues and immoralities) in different volumes of the book are presented in Table 1: Table 1: Key themes associated with immoralities Table 1 shows the key themes associated with immoralities and vices.
As can be seen, the concept and content of the sentence were taken into account and the key themes associated with immoralities were extracted concerning the content and the book volume.Table 2 shows the frequency of key themes related to immoralities: The frequency of key themes related to virtues is shown in Table 4 based on the book volumes:

Table 4: The frequency of key themes related to virtues
Table 4 shows the frequency of key themes related to virtues in each book volume.It should be noted that the reported frequencies merely indicate the repetition of each variable in each volume and does not show the content and meaning of the sentences.

Discussion and conclusion
The curriculum is a means to move humanity step-by-step toward a transcendent life and ultimate perfection.Also, the curriculum for moral education is one of the most important tools that can be used to reach different goals of moral education.One of the most influential factors in the curriculum is the anthropological concepts that are used to shape principles, methods, and goals.In recent decades, curriculum specialists have adopted an integrative approach as a way to fill the gaps in the syllabus, by integrating or merging lesson plans (content domains) that are often incorporated in the curriculum separately.But it seems that this is not the solution because of the diversity of principles and perspectives.An appropriate model for the design of a moral education curriculum that is consistent with the Islamic Republic's education system seems to be a naturalistic integrative approach.This approach derives from Islam's view of religious anthropology.In this view, "instinct" plays a central role.Emphasizing this principle separates the educators and policymakers of Islamic education from the extreme social advocates.
Some of the indicators or principles that planners should consider when developing a moral education curriculum are to be "selective" and to have the right to "free choice".Thus, humans have the right to use self-restraint in establishing their motivational, cognitive, and emotional characteristics.Therefore, what facilitates education for policymakers, planners, and educators is the learner's efforts and thus we should not negate or neglect the role of learners in achieving the educational goals.
According to this approach, curriculum planners and decision-makers are directed towards concepts such as "human nature", "human perfectionism", "human development", "human beauty", "individual freedom and choice to reach their goals", and "the role of the teacher as a complete educational model".Adherence to these principles enables curriculum planners to identify and plan for actualizing innate talents and to avoid practices that suppress these capacities.In recent decades, thinkers such as Mullah Fayz Kashani, Imam Khomeini, Allameh Motahari, and Allameh Mesbah Yazdi have taken such an approach in explaining religious teachings and ethical conduct.
According to the naturalistic approach and about the aesthetic dimension of human beings, in presenting religious education in the form of a curriculum, care should be exercised so that on the one hand, the knowledge is ultimately presented as consistently as to satisfy the audience, and on the other hand, practical rules should be expressed in a way that delivers a beautiful and engaging life for the audience, so that the learner feels that observance of religious norms and ethical practices is not only restrictive but also offers effective and lifelong teachings.
Given the limitation of the child's perception of moral values and his or her socially inadequate development, educators at this stage should focus their attention on developing the child's interest in moral values, concepts, and practices.The child's familiarity with ethics and ethical values and its connection with an innate moral conscience is an appropriate ground for the child to explain obligations and prohibitions for him/her so that the child comes up with a clear picture of dos and don'ts.
Based on the findings of the present study, it can be suggested that moral education is the most fundamental social process and the continuous development of the identity of learners based on religious and ethical principles to prepare for the conscious and voluntary fulfillment of the goals, knowledge, transformation, righteous society, and all aspects of a decent life.Moral education is not about reforming the individual but transforming the whole of society and bringing about both economic prosperity and moral virtues.In contrast, departing from moral virtues makes the problems and bottlenecks of life more and more complex.Given the importance and necessity of moral values, they must be incorporated into the educational system.
Accordingly, this study attempted to explain the principles of moral education from Fayz Kashani's perspective.Our findings showed that to develop and manifest moral will and action, in addition to strengthening knowledge, promoting faith, emotional transcendence, consolidating moral property, and living in an environment rich in decent moral models, we need to consider all the principles that influence moral will and action (virtues and immoralities).The followings are some suggestions for improving moral education programs: -Avoiding immoralities and vices will strengthen faith and human and religious emotions and push the community toward moral virtues.-If moral virtues are not incorporated in the curriculum of elementary students, it will hinder the growth of their inner talents and emotions and pave the way for violating others' privacy and rights under the guise of evil and immoralities.-The most important immoralities to be avoided in the ethics of a desirable human society and which human society does not abide by include: self-praise, wickedness, arrogance, falsehood, lies, ridicule, retribution, backbiting, jealousy, suspicion and scrutiny in others' life.-A holistic approach in the moral education programs (considering the five components of moral development) must be taken at all stages of planning, implementing, and evaluating the moral education programs and avoiding one-dimensional attitudes.

Table 2 : The frequency of key themes related to immoralities
Table2shows the frequencies of key themes related to immoralities based on the book volumes.It should be noted that each frequency merely indicates the repetition rate of each variable in each volume.