Draft:Ali Shariati

Ali Shariati
File:Ali Shariati.jpg
Name	Ali Shariati
Other Names	Ali Mazinani
Personal Details
Birth Place	Sabzevar
Brith Date	23 November 1933 CE
Death Place	England
Death Date	19 June 1977 CE
Religion	Islam
Website	Website

Dr. Ali Shariati was born in 1933 CE in Mazinan, a suburb of Sabzevar, into a religious family. His father was Professor Mohammad Taghi Shariati, a pious and righteous man, knowledgeable in transmitted and rational sciences, and a professor at Mashhad University.

In 1958 CE, after receiving his bachelor's degree in Persian literature and ranking first in his field, Ali Shariati was sent to France for further studies.

During his studies at the Faculty of Literature, he devoted himself to publishing works such as: the translation of Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, the translation of Prayer by Alexis Carrel, and a series of research articles in this field.

In 1958 CE, after receiving his bachelor's degree in Persian literature as the top student of his class, Ali Shariati was sent to France for further studies. There, he studied subjects such as sociology, foundations of historical science, and Islamic history and culture, and became acquainted with prominent professors such as Louis Massignon, Georges Gurvitch, and Jean-Paul Sartre.

Biography

Ali Mazinani, known as Shariati and Dr. Shariati, was born on 2 Azar 1312 SH (23 November 1933 CE) in Kahak village, a suburb of Sabzevar. His father, Mohammad Taghi Shariati, was the founder of the Center for the Publication of Islamic Truths and a modernist interpreter of the Quran, and his paternal grandfather, Akhund Mulla Qurban Ali, was among the students of Mulla Hadi Sabzawari.

Shariati completed his elementary and secondary education in Mashhad and began teaching in 1952 CE after finishing teachers' college. He completed his bachelor's degree in Persian language and literature in 1958 CE at Mashhad University. In 1959 CE, using a government scholarship, he went to Paris for further studies and received his doctorate from the University of Paris in 1963 CE. Ali Shariati's doctoral thesis was a translation and commentary on a manuscript titled "Fada'il al-Balkh by Safi al-Din".

In 1958 CE, before completing his bachelor's degree at Mashhad University, he married Fatemeh (Pouran) Shariati Razavi. From 1959 to 1971 CE, Shariati had four children: Ehsan, Susan, Sara, and Mona.

Shariati returned to Iran in 1964 CE and was imprisoned for six months outside of Iran due to political activities against the Pahlavi government. In 1966 CE, he began teaching as an Associate Professor of History of Islam at Mashhad University. Shariati's lectures on Islamic studies were delivered during this period. From 1968 to 1972 CE, he was one of the main speakers at Husseiniyah Irshad in Tehran, and his lectures were met with great enthusiasm (and according to some reports, unprecedented) by youth and students. He went on the Hajj three times with the Husseiniyah Irshad caravan.

After the closure of Husseiniyah Irshad in 1972 CE, he lived clandestinely for several months and then turned himself in to prison. After his release, from the last days of 1974 CE to 1977 CE, he lived in Tehran under the supervision of SAVAK and was unable to activity, give lectures, or publish his books.

Ali Shariati finally left Iran on 26 Ordibehesht 1977 CE (17 May 1977) and passed away on 29 Khordad in London. The newspapers Ettela'at and Kayhan, on 31 Khordad 1977 CE, stated that Shariati's death was due to a heart attack and announced that he had gone to England for treatment of eye discomfort and heart illness. Shariati's close associates have denied any heart illness. Some revolutionary forces called Shariati's death martyrdom and many addressed him as the Martyred Teacher.

Shariati was finally buried on 5 Tir 1977 CE (26 June 1977) in the Zaynabiyah, Damascus in the presence of Imam Musa Sadr and his associates, near the shrine of Lady Zaynab (peace be upon her).

References

• Esfandiari, Shole-ye Bi-garar (Restless Flame). 2011 CE.
• Kayhan Farhangi. Bahman 1984 CE.
• Khosrowpanah, Asiab-shenasi-ye Din-pazhuhi-ye Moaser (Pathology of Contemporary Religious Studies). 2010 CE.

Shariati's Thoughts

Shariati was one of the Muslim thinkers and at the same time had a critical approach towards certain religious beliefs. He specifically considered Safavid Shiism as the embodiment of a distorted tradition and introduced it as accompanied by servitude, superstition, imitation, and determinism.

He also criticized the superficial view of modernity and believed that the path of progress and advancement for Eastern nations is different from the path taken by the West. However, the conscious use of modernity's experiences in the West was accepted by Shariati. Shariati chose Mohammad Reza Hakimi as his executor to manage any alterations to his works.

Criticism of Imperialism

While Shariati was translating the book Five Years of the Algerian War, in three letters to Fanon, he criticized his theories regarding discarding religion as a tool for fighting Western imperialism. Unlike Fanon, Shariati believed that people can only fight the system of imperialism if they first discover their own cultural identity, and cultural identity in some countries is linked with religious traditions. Shariati proposed the slogan of returning to one's origin and religious background.

Monotheism

Monotheism from Shariati's viewpoint, as he himself claimed, is not just a theological belief theory and merely considering the Lord as one, but rather serves as a foundation and religious worldview. He presents Monotheism as the authentic principle of monotheistic worship and mentions it in his Islamology works in contrast to Shirk.

Shariati says Monotheism means:

A philosophy of worldview and cosmology that just as it seeks to give unity to the world, from the perspective of creation (it also seeks) to give unity to man, and just as it seeks to create unity between all elements of the world — it does not divide the world into good and evil —, similarly it seeks to build a foundation for the unity of human groups, races, and classes; and therefore the Monotheism of God, while being the justifying truth of the universe, is also the foundation of the Monotheism of man, and the Monotheism of the worshipped is the foundation of the Monotheism of the worshipper, who are humans…

The movement of Abraham seeks through Monotheism, while turning man around the real and true center of the universe in terms of existential knowledge, to simultaneously turn him around a criterion and an intellectual foundation, which forms the basis of human, class, and racial unity, and the symbol of both is the Kaaba.

Socialism

The path of non-religious socialism in Iran opened towards merging with Islamic teachings with the formation of the Movement of God-Worshipping Socialists, of which Mohammad Nakhshab (one of the religious political activists in the Pahlavi government) was one of the founders and Shariati was one of its most recognized figures. Shariati writes in the introduction of an article written in 1334 SH (1955 CE) titled 'The Intermediate School': "Among the schools of Materialism and Idealism, Islam has its own specific method, which can be called Realism. The social and economic regime of Islam is a practical socialism based on the mindset of God-worship and is the middle ground between the two corrupt regimes of Capitalism and Communism". Therefore, Shariati considered Abu Dharr, one of the loyal Companions of the Prophet, as a prominent example of a monotheistic socialist who stood against government oppression and rose in protest. His translation of the book Abu Dharr written by Abdulhamid Jodat al-Sahhar dates back to his youth.

Shariati says thus: True socialism that creates a classless society is not possible without religion; because if humans do not reach a stage of moral growth and spiritual perfection where they can overlook their own rights for the sake of human equality and reach the stage of immaterial altruism, an equal society cannot be built; because rights are never equal and materialism inevitably leads to individualism, and conversely, religion cannot be realized until a society is freed from the bonds of material greed, exploitation, and class conflict. For, only in such a society is man, freed from the bonds of material struggle, given the opportunity to be [saved] from the disease of objectification in the mechanism and capitalism system, or alienation against the idol of money and consumption and becoming wolfish in class relations…

And consequently, attend to his intrinsic evolution and take on the character of God and become God's successor in nature, and these are the final calls of religion, which can only be objectively realized in a classless society, based on 'the Book and the Balance and Iron', not ignorance and discrimination and weakness, and the realization of Monotheism in human life is this.

Notes

Shariati and Religious Government

Shariati did not believe in establishing a religious government. He considered democracy with majority vote in the modern world not the most perfect, but the most acceptable form of government: "First, we must see what a religious government is? A religious government is a regime in which, instead of political men, religious men (clerics) occupy political and state positions, and in other words, a religious government means the rule of clerics over the nation. One of the natural consequences of such a government is despotism, since the cleric considers himself the successor of God and the executor of His commands on earth, and in such a case, people do not have the right to express opinions, criticize, or oppose him. A religious leader considers himself a leader by himself, and not by virtue of the vote, opinion, and approval of the public.

Therefore, a ruler is irresponsible, and this is the mother of despotism and individual dictatorship, and since he considers himself the shadow and representative of God, he dominates the life, property, and honor of the people and does not allow himself any doubt in any kind of oppression and transgression, rather he considers God's pleasure in it. Moreover, he does not consider even the right to life for the opponent, for the followers of other religions. He considers them condemned by God, misguided, impure, and enemies of the path of religion and truth, and considers any kind of injustice towards them as divine Justice. In short, the religious government is the same that the priests had in the Middle Ages, and Victor Hugo has depicted it accurately."

However, this theory has been discussed, and proponents of religious government consider the piety of the Islamic ruler as a guarantee against the mentioned damages in religious government.

Despotism

Shariati considered despotism and dictatorship as external factors burying human talents Template:Quran verse and considered human salvation "Falah" up to God, up to "Sidrat al-Muntaha" (a span away from God) as the highest belief in Humanism. Shariati considers despotism and dictatorship as the essence of Shirk and considers the despot and dictator as someone who intends to become God on earth:

"Acceptance of despotism is acceptance of Shirk: If we entrust our destiny to someone or cast it into someone's hand, we have committed Shirk; if we sold our freedom to someone or considered someone our owner or accepted the claim of someone who considers himself our owner, we are polytheists…

Whoever boasts for the sake of power, knowledge, wealth, and race… and shows himself greater than others, or 'imposes' his will on creation and rules according to his 'desire', has claimed divinity, and whoever accepts it has committed 'Shirk'; because 'absolute government', 'absolute will', arrogance, power, dominance and ownership are exclusive to God."

Ummah and Imamate

Another major theory of Shariati is the theory of Ummah under the leadership of Imamate. Many consider this theory the beginning of the emergence of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist. Shariati's book "Ummah and Imamate" was especially severely criticized by revisionists, a book in which Shariati despised the vote of ignorant individuals of society and demanded a kind of guided democracy for backward societies until they reach an acceptable level of development. According to critics, Shariati, by raising the discussion of Ummah and Imamate and disregarding the vote of the masses, inadvertently helped justify the theory of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist in the Islamic Republic.

Shariati in this regard discusses the democracy of heads and the democracy of votes. The democracy of heads, in his view, relates to societies where individuals' votes depend on others, and for example, the tribal chief imposes his vote on the entire tribe. But the democracy of votes relates to societies where individuals of the society have reached "complete individualism".

Shariati says: The leadership of the Ummah (Imamate) is not committed to act according to the taste and preference and selera of customers like the President of the America, or the person responsible for the "You and the Radio" program, and is not committed to grant only pleasure and happiness and enjoyment -to the highest extent- to the individuals of his society. Rather, he wants and is committed to lead the society towards perfection in the most direct ways, with the highest speed and the most correct movement, even if this perfection comes at the cost of individuals' suffering, of course, a suffering that the majority have consciously accepted, not that it has been imposed on them. Thus, "Imamate" means the heavy mission of leading and driving the society and individual from "what is", towards "what should be", at any possible cost, but not according to the "personal wish of the Imam", but based on a fixed Ideology that the Imam is also, more than any individual, subject to it and responsible before it! And from here, Imamate is separated from dictatorship and the intellectual leadership of the revolution conflicts with the individual leadership of despotism.

Mahdaviat

Shariati looks at Mahdaviat and Principle of Expectation with a sociological perspective, and considers positive expectation not an expectation that subjugates society and in his own words negative, but an expectation of protest and rebellion. Shariati emphasizes in the book Expectation, School of Protest that "Expectation" is the most important component and element of "Mahdaviat"; an expectation that is proportional and compatible with "protest" and reminds of the spirit of rebellion and injustice-fighting and revolution of a committed and real Shia nation.

See also

• Ideology
• Abu Dharr al-Ghifari
• Hosseiniye Ershad