The Iranian philosopher’s visionary reinterpretation of Islam, resistance against Western influence and his role in inspiring the Iranian revolution
Ahmad Fardid, an Iranian philosophy professor, coined the term, “Gharbzadegi” loosely translated as Westoxification implying that Iran was both intoxicated with the West and also a victim of the West’s toxins. Imperialistic thoughts and ideas were promulgated and adopted by the people blunting their revolutionary instincts to the degree of obeisance. They were intoxicated with the ideas declaring Islam irrelevant and foggy to the modern challenges and demands. People were oppressed culturally and religiously. West-constructed values and ideas replaced Islamic values and principles.
The westernized Iranian generation abandoned religion considering it useless to resolve their contemporary problems. It lacked utility for them. Ali Shariati decided to reinterpret the tenets of religion for them explaining its relevance and resolution to the modern west-torn ideologies. He opposed the prevailing interpretations of Islam and criticized the pseudo-scholars and clergies of his time. Marxist and secular critics consider him anti-ulema and anti-Islamic state. This is a fabrication. He wanted ulemas to be responsible and intellectuals to understand the layered misinterpretation of Islam and its beliefs. He divided Shiism into two into two thoughts: Alawi and Safavid Shiism. The former is radical, revolutionary, active and committed to social justice whereas the latter is conservative and politically quiescent.
Like Allama Iqbal and Shaheed Mutahhari, he took the mission to liberate Islam from the hegemonic clutches of the West and stressed adopting the right methods to understand Islam and its true message. He was not against ulemas but he wanted them to be intellectuals to understand how colonizing and atheistic ideology works surreptitiously undermining and suppressing the fundamental resisting message of Islam. He decodes the true meaning of Tauhid (monotheism). He interprets it as a resistance to despotic rulers and leaders. It means a better society in which justice, equality and peace are prevalent.
Ali Shariati learnt from Frantz Fanon that religion, culture and civilization can be understood by going back to their roots. Ali Shariati studied religion historically to detect its distortions. He was a sociologist and took it his obligation to go through the social and historical dimensions of religion. He says that to know someone or something, we should adopt two approaches to study it. First, we should know the books, articles and speeches of a person. Secondly, we should know the history and society of someone or something. He treated Islam as a human being and analyzed it through its history and the society in which it was practised and implemented.
One can either know Islam through Quranic thoughts and ideas or one can know it through its history. He believes Islam is a religion for making a better society. He critiques the scholars, clergies and philosophers who ignored society. He praises Aviccena for his intellect but criticizes him for being negligent towards his society. Religion for him has been created to develop the social life of a human being in addition to individual life. He reinterpreted the Quranic stories to awaken people about their social and historical role. He reread theological doctrines and interpreted them in a way that was unknown before.
Ali Shariati was bohemian. He challenged the prevalent customs and traditions and sparked a new wave of revolution among people to overthrow the centuries-long despotic regime of Raza Shah Pahlavi. His lectures were attended by huge crowds who got awakened and fought to establish an Islamic government. He is considered to be the ideologue of the Iranian revolution that has foiled the ill designs of Europe. He prepared the minds of people to understand the new interpretations of Islam focusing on overthrowing the tyrannical regime. Ali Shariati is still relevant. His ideas are still espoused by hundreds and thousands of people worldwide. His ideas still provoke revolution and motivate people to challenge dictators and leaders.
The writer can be reached at az*********@***il.com