Explaining the Developmental Model of Motivation Based on Islamic Culture

This study aimed to explain the developmental model of motivation based on Islamic culture. The research method was “descriptive-conceptual analysis”. The resources of this research included the original Islamic resources (Quran and authentic hadith sources) and the exegeses by Moslem thinkers on Quranic verses and relevant hadithes. Based on the findings of the study, in Islamic culture, religious motives act in two levels‎. Religious resources indicated that there are criteria for the development from an inferior motivational level to a higher one. These criteria can be divided into three categories based on the factors affecting motivation: A) The criterion of ‎ spiritual levels: Among the five spirits mentioned in Islamic hadithes, three spirits are the inferior spirits (the spirit of life (ruh‎-al-‎hayat‎), the spirit of power (ruh‎-al-‎qowat‎), and the spirit of desires (ruh‎-al-‎shahwat‎)) that represent and create ‎motives of deficiency, and the remaining two spirits are the supreme spirits (the spirit of faith (ruh‎-al-‎iman), and the spirit of purity (ruh‎-al-‎qodos)) that represent and create great motives. The two supreme spirits employ the abilities and capacities of the three inferior spirits in a transcendent and developed direction. B) The criterion of knowledge levels: Believers’ ideas can be classified into three levels: ‎“cognitive knowledge” (ilm-al-yaqin), ‎“objective knowledge”‎ (ein‎-al-‎yaqin), ‎“truthful knowledge”‎ (haq‎-al-‎yaqin‎‎). This criterion shows that with the development of knowledge in religious people, it is expected that their motivational levels will also increase, and their religious motivations will become more refined, more mature and purer. C) The criterion of‎ emotional schemas. The emotional schemas that are the main bases of religious motivation can be divided into three levels: the low level which includes fear and hope, the middle level which includes modesty and gratitude, and the high level which includes the emotional schematic of love.