Critique of Liberal Autonomy and the Reconstruction of the Concept of Freedom in Islamic Thought: Implications for Political Education in Iran

The present study aims to critique individualistic interpretations of autonomy in the liberal tradition and to reconstruct the concept of freedom based on Islamic thought, in order to derive implications for political education in Iranian Islamic society. The main research problem is to explain the theoretical and practical challenges of liberal autonomy and to propose an alternative formulation of freedom that can ground responsible agency compatible with national and religious identity.

The study employs conceptual analysis with a comparative-critical approach based on Bereday’s model. Through the stages of description, interpretation, juxtaposition, and comparison-critique, it examines the anthropological, epistemological, and axiological foundations of liberal autonomy and Islamic freedom, and derives their educational implications through practical inference.

The findings indicate that dominant accounts of liberal autonomy rely on atomistic individualism, epistemic self-foundation, and the priority of personal choice over the good. In practice, these assumptions create challenges regarding social bonds, moral authority, and religious life in Iranian society. In contrast, Islamic thought, drawing on Transcendent Theosophy and concepts such as fitrah, dignity, and hurriyyah, defines freedom as liberation from servitude to anything other than God and as a path toward existential perfection, termed “Rabbani Freedom.”

Accordingly, the article presents Rabbani Freedom at three cognitive-intellectual, moral-spiritual, and political-social levels, proposing implications such as insight-building, responsibility, and council-based participation for political education. The study concludes that this model can provide a theoretical basis for rethinking political education in Iran.