Extended Abstract

1. Problem Statement

Among the cultural and scholarly figures of modern Iran, Mirza Abu’l-Hasan Khan Foroughi—son of Mohammad-Hossein Foroughi (Zokāʾ-ol-Molʾk I)—occupies a significant position and played an influential role in Iran’s educational transformations and intellectual environment. One of his most important writings is the article “Primary Education and Higher Learning Alike,” written in response to a debate—launched by Āyandeh magazine in 1925–26—on whether primary or higher education should be prioritized. This debate provided an opportunity for Foroughi to articulate an idea for which he must be regarded as one of the principal theorists in modern Iran: the revival of the Iranian educational spirit.

In contrast to many intellectuals of his time, Foroughi stressed the importance of returning to the epistemic foundations of Iranian civilization—particularly its religious dimension—and reviving the works of numerous thinkers who shaped Iran’s intellectual and civilizational traditions. He also insisted on reclaiming the spiritual dimensions of Iranian moral and cultural conduct as the distinguishing hallmark of Iranian identity vis-à-vis the West. Throughout his life—from his administrative and teaching roles in Dār-ol-Moʿallemin, Dār-olfonun, and the University of Tehran to private teaching sessions at his home—he devoted himself to explicating these concerns and passing them on to younger generations.

Foroughi’s ideas—especially regarding education, culture, and social development—not only possess historical significance but also offer substantial potential for informing policy design aimed at enhancing the spiritual well-being of society. The central question of this study concerns the theoretical foundations and components upon which spiritual well-being and the Iranian educational spirit rest in the thought of this important yet under-studied modern Iranian intellectual.

2. Method

This article employs thematic analysis to examine Foroughi’s writings and lectures. Due to its theoretical flexibility and capacity to extract meaningful patterns across textual sources, this method enabled the identification and organization of themes associated with spiritual kinship and the Iranian educational spirit. Its step-by-step structure also facilitated rigorous documentation and strengthened the reliability of findings, which aligns with the study’s objective of clarifying the generative foundations of this concept in Foroughi’s thought.

Among various modes of thematic analysis, the theme-network approach was adopted. Data were extracted from Foroughi’s books and articles and, following coding, were categorized into six subthemes under one overarching theme.

3. Findings and Results

The findings indicate that six major thematic clusters constitute the backbone of Foroughi’s understanding of Iranian education:

1. The foundational role of literature in cultivating intellectual and spiritual faculties;
2. The significance of Iranian art and architecture as embodiments of aesthetic sensibility and civilizational identity;
3. The status of classical sciences and learning as Iran’s rational and philosophical reservoir;
4. The function of Qur’anic teachings and religious knowledge in elevating personal and collective ethics;
5. The necessity of cultural exchange and dialogue with other world civilizations;
6. Iran’s strong civilizational absorptive capacity, especially in relation to neighboring peoples and historical conquerors.

Accordingly, the conceptual structure of the “Iranian educational spirit” emerges directly from these themes, distilled from Foroughi’s lectures and writings.

Foroughi viewed Iranian education as a multidimensional process shaped by the interaction of reason, ethics, beauty, spirituality, and historical experience. For him, literature was not merely linguistic artistry but a means of cultivating precision, emotional refinement, and reflective capacity. Iranian art and architecture symbolized the nation’s spiritual coherence, aesthetic creativity, and historical continuity. Classical sciences—including philosophy, logic, literary scholarship, and religious studies—provided epistemic grounding for a measured engagement with modernity. Qur’anic teachings, especially in his later works, served as a guide for completing the spiritual and ethical dimensions of the human personality. Cultural exchange—rooted in a confident Iranian identity—was a necessary strategy for intellectual advancement, educational development, and the promotion of societal spiritual well-being. Meanwhile, Iran’s civilizational absorptive power mitigated fears of cultural dissolution.

Based on these findings, Foroughi’s intellectual system fulfills three major functions in reconstructing the Iranian educational spirit:

1. Revivalist Function: Recovering authentic civilizational layers in literature, art, wisdom, and religion;
2. Balancing Function: Mediating between historical heritage and modern intellectual achievements, avoiding the tradition/modernity dichotomy;
3. Inter-civilizational Function: Emphasizing dialogue, exchange, and Iran’s participation in addressing universal human concerns through cultural self-confidence and the enhancement of communal spiritual values.

4. Acknowledgement & Funding

· The manuscript did not receive a grant from any organization.

5. Conflict of Interest

·        The authors declare no conflict of interest.

6. Author contribution

All authors share equal responsibility for the content of this paper.

Hasan Hasanzadeh; Email: hhasanzade61@gmail.com; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6454-3852

Reza Mahoozi; Email: mahoozi@iscs.ac.ir; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3371-0829