An Analytical Study of the Islamic Principles of Altruism as An Educational Objective

Discussing the educational objectives is among the main missions of the philosophy of education. Given the tight link between "education" and "Faith" and the importance and role of religion in human life, religion and religious teachings are considered as one of the main sources of educational objectives in religious communities. Therefore, in religious communities, it is essential that the educational objectives be discussed in terms of religious principles. Using analytical- inductive method, the present study seeks to investigate altruism as a goal in Islamic education. To this end, through explaining the concept of “altruism” and the relationship between altruism and education, spirituality and religiosity, the ontological, anthropological, epistemological and axiological assumptions that form the basis of Islamic altruism are made clear. Therefore, the mentioned principles were analyzed by referring to a number of the Quranic verses and Sunna of the prophet and the infallible Imams (in the form of their narrations) and the ideas of some Islamic scholars. Finally, it was shown that these principles support altruism as one of the goal of Islamic education.