Classical and Contemporary Islamic Studies

Classical and Contemporary Islamic Studies

Examining the Qurʾanic Foundations and Principles for Confronting Social Indifference

Document Type : Scholary

Author
Marzieh Mohases
Department of Islamic studies, Faculty of Theology and Religions, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
10.22059/jcis.2026.410915.1471
Abstract
Social indifference is among the serious pathologies of contemporary societies, as it undermines the sense of collective responsibility and challenges moral cohesion and active social engagement. The Qurʾan, as a guiding text concerned with the organization of both individual and social human life, adopts a fundamental stance toward this phenomenon and rejects any form of silence, passivity, or conscious withdrawal in the face of social conditions. Employing a descriptive–analytical approach and drawing upon Qurʾanic verses, the present study seeks to elucidate the Qurʾanic foundations and principles relevant to confronting social indifference. The central question of the research concerns the theoretical bases upon which the Qurʾanic structure of social ethics is grounded, and the manner in which these bases are transformed into practical principles for addressing social indifference. The findings indicate that the Qurʾan, in addition to emphasizing individual responsibility, also attributes a form of collective responsibility and accountability to communities, regarding collective actions—whether acts or omissions—as subject to divine judgment. Accordingly, social indifference is not merely an individual moral weakness, but rather a disruption in the sense of responsibility borne by individuals within society. This study demonstrates that the existence of a collective social record for communities, along with the necessity of adopting explicit social stances, constitutes among the most significant Qurʾanic foundations in this regard. These foundations are manifested in principles such as faith-based brotherhood, social guardianship (wilāya), social cohesion, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, and mutual cooperation. On this basis, the Qurʾanic framework for confronting social indifference is responsibility-centered, action-oriented, and community-focused; it transcends individualistic ethics and offers a coherent framework for reconstructing social morality and revitalizing the active participation of believers within society.
Keywords
Social indifference
faith-based brotherhood
social guardianship
social cohesion
enjoining good and forbidding evil
Subjects
The Holy Qur'an
Al-Azharī, M. (2001). Tahdhīb al-Lugha. Beirut, Lebanon: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. (In Arabic)
Al -Ghazālī, M. (n.d.). Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn (Vol. 5). Beirut, Lebanon: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī.
Al -Mudarrisī, M.T. (1998). Min Hudā al-Qurʾān (Vol. 13). Tehran, Iran: Dār Muḥibbī al-Ḥusayn.
Al-Muṣṭafawī, H. (1990). Al-Taḥqīq fī Kalimāt al-Qurʾān al-Karīm. Tehran, Iran: Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. (In Arabic)
Al -Sadr, M.B. (1980). al-Madrasah al-Qurʾāniyyah. Beirut: Dār al-Taʿāruf lil-Maṭbūʿāt.
Al-Ṭabarānī, S. (2008). Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm. Irbid, Jordan: Dār al-Kitāb al-Thaqāfī. (In Arabic)
Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid Modernity. Polity Press.
Bauman, Z. (2001). Community: Seeking Safety in an Insecure World. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Behjatpour, A. (2012). Tafsīr al-Farīqayn: Tārīkh, Mabānī, Manābiʿ. Qom, Iran: Āthār-e Nafīs.
Coser, L.A. (2001). Zendegī va Andīsheh-ye Bozorgān-e Jāmeʿeh-Shenāsī [The Lives and Ideas of Great Sociologists] (M. Salasi, Trans.). Tehran, Iran: Elmi Publications.
Darley, J.M. & B. Latané (1968). Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of responsibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8(4), 377-383.
Dehkhoda, A.A. (1998). Loghat-Nāmeh-ye Dehkhoda [Dehkhoda Dictionary]. Tehran, Iran: University of Tehran Press.
Durkheim, É. (1897). Suicide: A Study in Sociology. Free Press.
Eisenberg, N. & P.A. Miller (1987). The relation of empathy to prosocial and related behaviors. Psychological Bulletin, 101(1), 91-119.
Faḍlallāh, M.H. (1998). Tafsīr min waḥy al-Qurʾān (Vol. 20). Beirut, Lebanon: Dār al-Malāk li al-Ṭibāʿah wa al-Nashr.
Hardin, R. (2006). Trust. Polity Press.
Ibn ʿAṭiyya, A. (2002). Al-Muḥarrar al-Wajīz fī Tafsīr al-Kitāb al-ʿAzīz. Beirut, Lebanon: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya. (In Arabic)
Ibn Fāris, A. (1985). Muʿjam Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Edited by ʿA. M. Hārūn. Qom, Iran: Maktab al-Iʿlām al-Islāmī. (In Arabic)
Jawadi Amoli, A. (2015). Tasnīm: Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-Karīm (Vol. 63). Qom, Iran: Markaz-e Nashr-e Esrā.
Putnam, R.D. (2000). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Quṭb, S. (1989). Fī Ẓilāl al-Qurʾān. Beirut, Lebanon: Dār al-Shurūq. (In Arabic)
Saeedi Roshan, M.B. (2010). Āsīb-Shināsī-ye Jaryānhā-ye Tafsīrī. Qom, Iran: Research Institute of Hawzah and University.
Shubbar, A. (1995). Al-Akhlāq. Qom, Iran: Hijrat Publications.
Smith, E.R. & K.D. Williams (2016). The Social Psychology of Social Problems. Psychology Press.
Ṭabāṭabāʾī, M. (1970). Al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut, Lebanon: Muʾassasat al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt. (In Arabic)
Ṭabrisī, F. (1989). Majmaʿ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Edited by S. H. Rasūlī Maḥallātī & S. F. Yazdī Ṭabāṭabāʾī. Beirut, Lebanon: Dār al-Maʿrifa. (In Arabic)
Ṭāliqānī, M. (1984). Partowī az Qurʾān (A Ray from the Qurʾān). Tehran, Iran: Sherkat-e Sahāmī-ye Enteshār. (In Persian)
Turkle, S. (2011). Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. Basic Books.
Classical and Contemporary Islamic Studies
Volume 9, Issue 1
Winter & Spring
January 2027
Pages 127-140