Critical review about the essence of society in the social thought of contemporary Shiite Quranic intellectuals

The fundamental issues of a knowledge are often answered and explained in the philosophy of that knowledge. The question of the essence of the society is also a question that the philosophy of the social sciences is concerned. Throughout history, many scientists have sought to answer this question, but little has been achieved. Muslim scholars have also sought to explain the essence of society by identifying the relevant words in the Holy Qur'an and identifying the characteristics of the words, but this does not seem to be useful either. This article, while explaining and criticizing the definitions of society from the perspective of Qur'anic thinkers, seeks to find out the definition of society from the perspective of the Holy Qur'an. The Holy Qur'an summarizes the common point which leads to the emergence of society in the word of “Wilayah” and mentions a kind of transcendental relationship between individuals based on faith or infidelity and their related actions, referred to in this study as social guardianship. The present article, which has been documented in a descriptive-analytical and inferential way with an inferential interpretation method, argues that in explaining what society is, the Qur'an first considers the essence of society spiritual and not dependent on geography, tribe, race, and language and secondly, according to the Holy Qur'an, society refers to a set of human beings who together have a social guardianship based on vision and actions consistent with faith or disbelief.