Friendship

Through this paper, the need of a good friend has been discussed by taking evidence from Islamic sources. This evidence then is further reinforced through the discussion of sociological, cognitive and psychological research findings. The introduction of this paper briefly sheds light on how Islam is a complete code of life and how friends have played an important role in expanding and sustaining this code. Furthermore the introduction shortly discusses the need for friends as identified via contemporary sociological research. The main theme of the presents references from the Holy Quran and Sunnah through which the need of having and being a good friend in human life is critically explored. Lastly, conclusion of the paper sums up the discussion and presents recommendations through which the element of friendship can be effectively incorporated in one’s life.

Political Cinema is defined as a "political event", a "biography", or "process". Such a definition is, however, not inclusive enough to cover the films which focus on the normative aspects of politics without necessarily narrating a special political issue. By reviewing Abbas Kiarostami’s films, this article attempts to revise the definition of political cinema and propose the notion of normative political cinema .

In his Nichomachean ethics, Aristotle has introduced Friendshiop (philia) as a civic virtue higher than justice. After Aristotle, Latin and Iranian thinkers articulated on the notions of “Amiticia” and “Dusti” as equivalent to Aristotel’s philia. In the modern times, while justice was regarded as legal system protecting individual rights, Friendship was reduced to a personal concern and was confined to private sphere of life. In recent time once again friendshiop has entered the intellectual melieu both in Iranian and German culture. In this paper three models of Friendship, namely Phronetic, Erfanic, and Phenomenological, are analysed, and, according to what these models pertain to, it is suggested that as regards convergence, it can be brought about by Friendship more than by Justice.

In this unorthodox autoethnographic study, we present a dialog between us - two transnational scholars. Throughout the manuscript, we explore several issues, which instantaneously came out during our unstructured, simultaneous, and casual conversations. We first discuss how our dichotomous relationships based on respect as an advisee and an advisor; a mentee and a mentor; and a student and a teacher have transformed into a sincerity-based friendship over time owing to our shared interest in autoethnography. We then move on to a discussion of our beliefs/thoughts/emotions about “home” in accordance with our lived experiences as transnational scholars. We scrutinize how inhabiting, knowing about, and becoming in academia complicated our understanding of where, or more importantly, what “home” means for us. Afterwards, we talk about the affordances and challenges of autoethnographic discourse agreeing that it requires us to practice vulnerability in order for us and our readers to benefit from the therapeutic effect of autoethnography. Throughout the manuscript, we also discuss how using both singular and plural first-person voice provide us with the opportunity to maintain our individual voices in an interpersonal and collaborative relationship while achieving a multivocal tone. We hope that our discussion extends with our readers’ critique of, negotiation with, participation in, and/or resistance to our beliefs/thoughts/emotions as stated in our conversation.