Governance and Happiness in  Allamah Tabataba i's Political Thoughts

Happiness is one of the key terms used by philosophers, in general, and by Islamic sages, in particular. From ancient Greek philosophers to the thinkers advocating monotheistic religions and Islamic philosophers, all have dealt with the issue of human happiness. In the view of the majority of philosophers, the ultimate goal of politics and establishing a government is attaining happiness. However, this concept has been defined differently by different thinkers. In this paper, the author has tried to explore the place of happiness in the philosophy of ‘Allamah Tabataba’i, the distinguished contemporary philosopher and interpreter of the Qur’an. In his view, a society attains happiness when it moves in the line of human primordial nature (fitrah) and the system of creation. A religion which has been sanctioned by God is the extension of a detailed primordial nature which exists in our nature. Thus religion – Islam – is the criterion for distinguishing faith and good deed. Accordingly, a society will attain worldly and otherworldly happiness if it is ruled by a religion which conforms to Man’s primordial nature.