Marife Turkish Journal of Religious Studies

Abstract

This article examines Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī’s conception of values and religious education through a comprehensive reading of his works on ethics, politics, household governance, logic, and spirituality. Mo-dern scholarship has mostly highlighted Ṭūsī’s achievements in mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy, leaving his philosophy of education and approach to religious and moral formation comparatively fragmen-ted. Focusing on Akhlaq-i Nasiri, Asas al-Iqtibas, and Awsaf al-Ashraf together with related kalām and pedagogical treatises, the study seeks to reconstruct a systematic model that brings together his reflecti-ons on virtues and vices, moderation, family and social upbringing, and religious education. The central research problem is to identify the key principles that structure Ṭūsī’s conception of values and religious education and to clarify how this conception can be located within the broader landscape of classical Islamic educational thought. Methodologically, the study is designed as qualitative research and employs qualitative document analysis. The primary corpus consists of institutional editions and translations of Ṭūsī’s texts in ethics, politics, household management, logic, Sufism, and doctrine, which are examined in their accessible PDF or critical-print forms. These materials are coded through concept-based categories such as harmony between fiṭra and religion, habit-environment-teacher, the relation of knowledge and action, developmental stages, the balance of encouragement and warning, the sequence of religion and philosophy, and the educational functions of ritual worship. The findings are then interpreted in dialogue with classical Islamic discussions on education, as well as contemporary literature on religious, character, and values education, in order to highlight both convergences and points of tension between Ṭūsī’s fra-mework and modern conceptualizations. The analysis shows that Ṭūsī understands education as the dis-ciplined cultivation of the concupiscent, irascible, and rational powers toward moderation, and as the gradual formation of moral temperament through repeated actions that become stable habits. Education therefore cannot be reduced to transmitting correct information; it must shape character by integrating knowledge, practice, and enduring dispositions. Family, social environment, and in particular the “wise teacher” are presented as constitutive elements in personality formation. From the naming of the child and the choice of wet nurse and playmates to the moral atmosphere of the home, neighborhood, and school, the entire environment is treated as a field of values and religious education. Childhood is described as the stage in which habits are most easily formed, whereas youth is framed as the period in which earlier imita-tive beliefs and practices must be rationally examined and confirmed. On this basis, Ṭūsī defends a peda-gogy that proceeds from the easy to the difficult and from the concrete to the abstract, moving from brief primers to commentaries and finally to comprehensive, demonstrative works, supported by repetition, exercise, and dialogical study. A further key finding concerns the sequential relationship between religion and philosophy in Ṭūsī’s educational vision. Religion functions as the “first teacher,” instilling correct beli-efs, basic rituals, and moral habits primarily through imitation and affective attachment in the early years. Philosophy acts as the “second teacher,” deepening the same path in youth and adulthood by means of logical analysis and demonstrative argument, and thus securing the unity of faith and reason. Within this sequence, prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, and almsgiving are interpreted as practical arenas of values educa-tion that discipline the faculties, structure time and self-observation, cultivate empathy and solidarity, and institutionalize generosity and social justice. The article concludes that Ṭūsī’s fiṭra-oriented, happiness-centered framework, when read without anachronism, offers a historically grounded conceptual resource for rethinking school climate, ritual-based learning activities, teacher formation, and family-school coope-ration in contemporary religious and values education.