Despite The Winds of Atheism, Materialism and Social Darwinism Religion Stood Its Ground
By
Mushtaq ul Haq Ahmad Sikandar, New Age Islam
29 June
2022
Islam
and Muslims Too Went Through Various Phases of Revivalism, but Islam Couldn’t
Be Secluded To the Individual Domain
Main
Points:
1. Ali Shariati
is an important scholar of contemporary times who tried to reinterpret
Islam.
2. Shariati's
views on religion and Shia theology constitute a refreshing engagement with
texts.
3. Shariati has
offered new explanations about the concept of Imamate.
----
Sociology
of Religions: Perspectives of Ali Shariati
Author:
Mir Mohammad Ibrahim
Publisher:
Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi, India
Pages:
277 Price: Rs 395
----
Religion is
an undeniable fact of any civilization, even the Western Civilization which has
its roots in Atheism, couldn’t completely negate religion but just changed its
sphere of influence from Public to Private. Despite the winds of atheism,
materialism and social Darwinism religion stood its ground and still holds sway
over the lives of millions of people. All religions except Islam had to go
through a process of reformation in the aftermath of European Renaissance, as
these religions were hampering and becoming obstacles in the course of history
which was in transition from superstitious to scientific, though Islam and
Muslims too went through various phases of revivalism, but Islam couldn’t be
secluded to the individual domain, Islam still is held in reverence and marks a
distinction in the lives of Muslims. Islam never tried to obstruct the path of
scientific revolution, free inquiry and healthy criticism, as Islam stood for
these principles, but it must be acknowledged that a certain section of Ulema
and Mullahs whose interpretation of Islam and grip on masses would wither with
the scientific progress, did try their best to intimidate Muslims to keep away
from accepting the fruits of Renaissance, describing them UnIslamic, but the
resistance died ultimately. The opposition by these Mullahas and Ulema was
reinforced by the Colonization of Muslim lands by flag bearers of Renaissance,
but this attitude was more political rather than Islamic.
The
onslaught of the European Powers and Western civilization gave birth to many
revivalists among occupied Muslim lands, who later on took the reins of Islamic
and Muslim revivalism in their hands. Three personalities deserve our special
attention here: Allama Sir Muhammad Iqbal, who carried the banner of revivalism
in South Asia, Sayyid Qutb in the Arab world and Ali Shariti, son of the
Mesopotamian civilization. All the three had the similarity of visiting and
studying in the west, and during their stay they became disgusted with the
Western way of life, started to revolt and came back to their native countries
and worked for what they upheld as Islamic Revivalism for the rest of their
lives, and the latter two were martyred for their activism regarding what they
assumed as Islamic Revivalism.
Ali
Shariati
----
The present
book under review discusses Ali Shariati’s views on religion, by the noted
author Mir Mohammad Ibrahim. The book is divided into four chapters, and a long
Prologue is penned down by the veteran academic and researcher Dr Hamid Naseem
Rafiabadi, who discusses various theories about the origin of religions, and
concludes Islam as the best among all religions.
In his
Introduction, Ibrahim points out that, “Shariati is more concerned with the
impact, usage and outcome of religious beliefs, instead of examining a belief
from philosophical, scientific, logical and theological point of view. He
impresses upon his readers to see whether a belief bestows a sense of
responsibility, awareness, human values and boost to push forward humanity in
the process of being to becoming or not”.
Shariati’s
religion makes him more responsible, emphatic towards humanity, which resists
the status quo, in a similar manner in which Marx said that Philosophers have
discovered the world, but the point is to change it and unlike Marx Shariati’s
religion isn’t opium for the people, though he acknowledges the abuse of
religion too, as Ibrahim further describes that according to Shariati,
“Religion has played both Positive and Negative role and it is an amazing
phenomenon which plays contradictory roles in the life of human beings. It
destroys and revitalizes, puts to sleep and awakens, enslaves and emancipates,
teaches docility and revolt. Shariati acclaims that the history of Islam itself
is the story of these contradictory roles of religion among various social
classes. It is the history of the war of Islam against Islam and even war of
Quran against Quran”.
The first
chapter titled Concept of Religion: An Analysis, discusses the definition of
religion from various sources as well as the theories about religion. The
concept of religion too is discussed from historical, psychological,
philosophical, Marxist, rational and other perspectives. At last Ali Shariati’s
views about religion are emboldened, deliberated and discussed.
Typology of
Religion is discussed in the second chapter, which deals with the Non Semitic
religions only though it is too acknowledged that distinction of religions as
Semitic and Non Semitic is flawed because Quran says that to each nation we
have indeed sent a Prophet, and maybe what we bracket as Non Semitic religions
may in fact be Semitic ones too. Chapter third discuses Ideological Foundations
of Islam and Islam holds a Tauhidic(monotheistic) way of life, plus the
relationship between Islam and Science is too taken in account, bringing out
its flaws with other religions especially Christianity whose clergy distorted
the scripture, exploited the masses in the name of religion and reduced the
religion to a mere tool of satisfying their material lust, thus Christianity
had to suffer heavily in the aftermath of Renaissance which was other way round
with Islam.
Revolutionary
Dimensions of Islam is the fourth chapter of the book and Shariati describes
Imamate
Ijtihad
Enjoining
good and forbidding evil and
Hajj
as the
revolutionary pillars of Islam though Ibrahim describes Shariati’s theory of
Imamate as partial, “Shariati tried to approach the concept of Imamate
sociologically and came out with some highly scintillating, yet inconclusive
insights in this intricate subject. Despite his unorthodox views about the
subject, he was not successful in advocating a convincing theory of Imamate, as
evident in the writings of Murtza Mutahhari or even Ayatullah Khomeni. His
emphasis on the downtrodden masses and redressal of their problems, spells out
clearly his permanent obsession with the Marxian paradigm of revolutionary
leadership. In general Muslims, there is concept of Khilafat, which fulfils the
domain of guardianship of Muslim ummah after Prophet of Islam”, (P-184)
Shariati
was an intellectual par excellence, but unlike the arm chair intellectuals who
spent their whole lives writing tomes, attending seminars and presenting papers
but Shariati was public intellectual and activist who worked to narrow down the
gap between Intellectuals and Ignorant masses, as he opines that, “At present
on the one hand, the intelligentsia pursue life in an ivory tower without
having any understanding of their own society, and on the other hand, the
uneducated masses are deprived of the wisdom and knowledge of the very same
intellectuals whom they have sponsored(albeit indirectly) and for whose
flourishing they provide. The greatest responsibility of those who wish to
rebuild their society and bring together the unintegrated, and at times,
antagonistic elements of the society into a harmonious whole is to bridge the
gap between these two poles-the pole of theory and the pole of practice- and to
fill this great abyss of alienation between the masses and the intellectuals”.(P-217-218).
Overall the
book is a welcome read, and scholarly addition to Shariati studies. The author
deserves our appreciation and encouragement for penning down the scholarly
treatise, and the printing is of high quality despite few grammatical and
spelling mistakes which sour the taste, but the price of the book makes it
affordable for all to enrich their personal study.
-----
A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Mushtaq
Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander is Writer-Activist based in Srinagar, Kashmir
URL: https://newageislam.com/books-documents/atheism-materialism-social-darwinism-religion-/d/127350
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