The intellectual and scientific developments in the West and the Islamic world, alongside the emergence of materialist currents and the redefinition of religious thought within the framework of liberation movements, have prompted a profound reexamination of the cognitive layers of these movements. Martyr Morteza Motahhari, with a deep understanding of the cognitive processes shaping social discourses, systematically analyzed these strategies by focusing on the mental and identity constructs of such movements. While political and military dimensions have always been prominent, cognitive studies, as a meaning-making framework in today’s meaning-oriented world, play a pivotal role in redefining collective identity and directing social actions. This research employs an analytical-descriptive approach and applies Thomas Spragens’ method (emphasizing crisis identification, root cause analysis, and the delineation of an ideal order) alongside a cognitive-epistemological approach to examine the foundational layers of Martyr Motahhari’s thought on liberation movements. The findings reveal that, from Motahhari’s perspective, the ultimate goal of liberation movements is “the realization of true human freedom,” which faces obstacles at three cognitive levels: 1) individual-subjective, 2) collective-discursive, and 3) structural-institutional. The cognitive causes of their failure stem from deficiencies in collective thinking processes. In outlining the “ideal order,” Motahhari emphasizes the cognitive reconstruction of society, and at the level of solutions, he focuses on discourse-shaping institutionalization through cognitive engineering. This study demonstrates that the success of liberation movements depends on transforming “individual cognition” into “collective consciousness” and institutionalizing it within social structures.