.Criticism of Religious Typology in Max Weber’s Sociology of Religion (According to the worldly life of Masters of Ni’matullahi Order in Iran)

Criticism of Religious Typology in Max Weber’s Sociology of Religion
(According to the worldly life of Masters of Ni’matullahi Order in Iran)
 
Abolfazl Fathabadi[1]
 
Abstract:
Max Weber in the field of sociology of religion has had a comprehensive study about the religions of the world and has studied the links between various religions and specific social groups, and the impact of a variety of religious views on other social aspects, such as economic behavior. One of the positive and unique aspects of Weber’s sociology of religion is his religious typology and developing the ideal types of religious attitudes: Inner-worldly asceticism, World-rejecting asceticism and World-flying mysticism. The problem of this article is based on the fact that Weber has placed Sufis in "World-flying mysticism" ideal type while, this notion seems to be not true, according to the worldly life of Sufi Masters in Iran. Therefore, by means of archival research method and study of related historical sources, the worldly life of some Masters of Ni’matullahi Order in Iran was studied. Findings show that contrary to Weber's view, these Sufi Masters were hard-working persons in the field of worldly jobs, social works like public utilities and charitable acts, and educating knowledge during their lifetime. So, the three original ideal types in Weber’s religious typology, was completed by a fourth one, called Sufism which Sufis are its examples.
Keywords: Sufi Masters of Iran, Sociology of Religion, Critical Approach, Max Weber, Religious Typology.
 
 
[1] .PhD in Sociology, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran (Corresponding Author). Abolfazl.Fathabadi@yahoo.com