Ma`rifat Adyan

One way of comparing religious traditions, is comparing the ideal moral man in those schools. It is clear that the greater similarity of the ideal moral man attributes in two schools reveals close intellectual foundations, and it prepares the conditions for dialogue and cultural interaction. Using a desk-research and focusing on the main ethical texts of the two schools of Islam and Taoism, especially "Nahj al-Balagh" and "Tao Te Ching" the similarity of the ideal man qualities in these two educational systems is compared. Farzaneh (the ideal man of Taoism) has certain characteristics, is similar to the "Parsa" (the ideal man of Islam), in many respects. Piety, satisfaction to predestination, isolation, thinking, Intimacy with nature, silence, forgiveness, serving the people, avoidance of self-esteem, avoidance of violence and etc., are among those characteristics. On the other hand, Islamic Parsa is distinct from the Taoist due to features such as prayers and worship, a sense of responsibility towards the community, and the separation from the opponents (unbelievers) and believing in the Resurrection, and so on, which shows that these two schools have a considerable distance from each other despite the many similarities.