The book “Between Selfhood and Alienation: In Search of the Meaning of Identity and its Crisis in Islamic Teachings”, authored in Persian by Seyed Reza Moazzen, has been published by the University of Islamic Sciences Press in 154 pages. Situated within the fields of religious studies and the humanities, this work addresses one of the fundamental issues confronting contemporary humanity: the “identity crisis.”
By positing that the identity crisis is among the most paramount challenges of modern humanity and constitutes the root of numerous moral, cultural, and social crises, the author endeavors to provide a response grounded in revelatory sources through a distinct approach. While psychologists and sociologists have each examined this issue from their respective specialized disciplinary perspectives, this book relies on the Quran and Hadith to reinterpret the concept of identity and propose strategies for its recovery.
The structure of the book is organized into three sections. In the first section, the author examines and analyzes various perspectives on the meaning of identity, ultimately adopting the definition of the “quiddity of a thing” (its essential whatness) as his foundational analytical framework.
The second section constitutes the core of the book’s discourse and is dedicated to the examination of diverse theories of identity across four chapters. This section critically analyzes perspectives such as the equivalence of the soul and identity, the contingent identity of human beings in relation to God, and the equivalence of Fitrah (primordial human nature) and identity. Furthermore, by elucidating the concept of Fitrah, the author clarifies its distinction from the intellect and, drawing upon religious teachings, defends the perspective that Fitrah remains constant, despite the possibility of human deviation from divine inclinations.
In the final section, factors that precipitate identity crises—such as the environment, heredity, heedlessness, worldly attachment, and satanic influences—are investigated. Subsequently, Islam’s proposed strategies for managing and remedying this crisis are presented. Elements such as awareness, piety, and seeking refuge in God, alongside practical solutions like eliminating heedlessness, drawing lessons from the past, repentance, and seeking divine forgiveness, constitute the author’s proposed framework for reclaiming authentic human identity.
“Between Selfhood and Alienation” can be regarded as an endeavor to bridge identity studies and religious sources. It is a work that, through an analytical and problem-oriented lens, seeks to establish a framework for understanding and resolving the identity crisis in the contemporary world, rendering it an inspiring resource for researchers in the fields of religion and the humanities.
