The Contexts and Consequences of Freethinking from the Perspective of Nahjul-Balagha

The aim of the present study was to analyze freethinking and introduce its contexts and consequences from the perspective of Nahjul-Balagha. The present study, using the method of directional deductive-inductive content analysis, collected propositions from the book Nahjul-Balagha that contained the words thinking and their synonyms and were somehow linked to thought. After conceptualizing and categorizing the selected propositions, attention was paid to those propositions that were somehow linked to the subject of freethinking, and four components of the foundations of freethinking, the characteristics and characteristics of freethinking, the context and contexts for realizing freethinking, and the educational effects and results of freethinking were inferred. After inferring the obtained components, the analysis of freethinking and its various aspects from the perspective of Imam Ali (a.s.) was considered, and some educational consequences of freethinking were also obtained. The findings of the study showed that freethinking is based on human freedom and conscious understanding of religion, and while it is accompanied by criticism and explicit statement of facts, criticality, and the centrality of reason and action to the dictates of reason, it requires the context and foundations for its realization, namely independence of thought, reduction of baseless attachments, realism and comprehensiveness, negation of subjective assumptions, and most importantly, consideration of the limitations of thinking. Adherence to the freethinking model presented by Nahjul-Balagha also resulted in educational consequences such as refraining from superstitious behavior, avoiding accusations, avoiding passivity, questioning and demanding, accountability and responsibility, flexibility, and avoiding doubts.