This is because any effort to avoid the influence of the...

This is because any effort to avoid the influence of the hereditary deterministic factor, according to the saying of Saadi, would be a useless and futile effort. Consequently, in accordance to the example presented in the former tale, man’s characteristics are preconfigured, which entails invariability of man’s inherited model of personality and thus resulting in the fruitlessness of training and education.

There is another theory confronting this theory which considers the will of man independent of the hereditary factor and believes that although the hereditary factor can influence the will of man, the choice of getting influenced by the hereditary factor or any other external factor is the man’s, and using his free will power, it is him who can choose his will and voluntary act, and as a result, shape his personage and destiny.

This other theory has been stated and emphasized in various ways in the Holy Quran among which are the verses that describe Allah (S.W.T) using the description: ‘He brings out the living from the dead, and He brings out the dead from the living’ (30:19) Here the narrations obtained from the pure Imams interpret the word ‘Hayy’ (the living) to mean the faithful and ‘Mayet’ (the dead) to mean the infidel [^2] This is the same in Islamic religious sources, in the story of ‘Buddha’ where his father is introduced as a tyrant, anti-religion person who put his utmost effort on killing pious and religious people.

[^3] Explaining the Islamic view regarding man’s freedom factors like environment, hereditary and others Martyr Allamah Mutahhari says: ‘Whilst man cannot entirely cut off his relations to hereditary, natural environment, social environment, history and time he can rebel against these barriers. Man by his power of wisdom and knowledge on one hand and his faith and free will on the other hand, can change the received influences of these factors modifying them according to his desires and wishes.

He could own and control his life and his destiny’[^4] Therefore the theory of hereditary determinism of moral and behavioural characters has definitely been rejected in the religious and philosophical resources originated from Islamic religious sources.

On the other hand, confronting the deterministic hereditary factor, some of the ancient and modern social philosophies believe in the theory of ‘the determinism of social environment’ as the main factor in shaping the personage and will and behaviour of man and have strongly defended it.