Ma`rifat Farhangi Ejtemaei

'Traditions' can be seen from four angles: subject matter, factors, effects and social objectives. A methodical examination of the traditions can contribute to developing a religious theory, controlling social activities and events and making easier the access to religious Utopia. The method of the study of traditions should not be in accord with the methodological approaches used in sociological studies, but it should be in consistency with the Qur'an commentaries. Due to the qualitative characteristic of the meanings and variables of tradition, it is necessary to use qualitative methods of study that take into account the Unseen and metaphysics, and when we want to refer to religious sources, we have to use a "content analysis" method especialy "structure analysis". In case of using "structure analysis", we should have an abstract framework. So, in order to study a 'tradition', we have to look for a proper framework that shows why the series of causes are ascribed to the Divine, attends to the active nature of man's will, observes the existence of causal relation between two phenomena, and explores the mechanism of actualization of tradition. Also, the abstract nature of the meanings of 'tradition' requires conceptualization; that is anaylizing the concepts from an abstract level into an observable, objective level. Qur'anic conceptualization is considered the best type of conceptualizing the meanings of traditions.