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We must not stop at the stage of these ideals. They may be a thing which may be desirable for a nation, but not enough in itself, neither horizontally nor vertically. In other words it must develop further with the passage of time. For example, let us take freedom. It is a good ideal. It is required. But the question is whether it is a content or only a form which we must pass to reach the content. There was a time when Europe was under the pressure of the Church, which had monopolized knowledge and had thereby placed restrictions on the common man. People were groaning under the yoke of the feudalists. Trade, industry and other affairs of life were controlled by a cruel and oppressive aristocracy.
At that time the most important question for the people of Europe was that of freedom. They thought if they got freedom, they would obtain all that they desired. They made freedom their ideal. But freedom is only the first step towards making a historical move. It is not a thing with which one should become content. Other steps must follow the first step. One must see what is that for which freedom is required. We want freedom to go to bazaar to be able to purchase something. If we have a freedom to move, we must know what for we want to move. If we get free, but do not know what to do with our freedom, we will be like a boat aimlessly released in the middle of a sea. Freedom is very important for marching towards the main ideal, but it is extremely dangerous to regard it as the goal of life.
Especially with the present technical and industrial progress it may culminate in playing with atomic weapons and drawing the world to bloodshed and ruin. Means of devastation in the hands of a free but irresponsible man are just like matches, cotton, gunpowder and other incendiary material in the hands of the children playing with them.
From vertical point of view, that is from long term point of view a half-way ideal is relatively good, but it is of no use if further progress is not made towards the absolute ideal. A halfway ideal is fit to be a stage and a means only. Another example of this sort of an ideal is the unit formed by family members. Several families make a tribe; several tribes make a clan; a number of clans make a community and then several communities make a nation. Instead of extending our outlook to the world level, we often make our family our ideal and make every sacrifice to safeguard its interests. This is another example of giving undue importance to a relative ideal. The Qur'an says: As for those who disbelieve, their deeds are as a mirage in a desert. The thirsty one supposes it to be water till he comes to it and finds it nothing, and instead finds with him Allah, who pays him his due. (Surah al-Nur, 24:39)
The deeds of those who have no proper goal and have not a divine outlook are like a mirage. They run after what has no real existence. They find Allah before them because Allah is everywhere. Wherever one goes Allah is there. When the Qur'an says He finds Allah before him, it means that Allah is at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of everything. When those who have not a divine outlook reach the end of their journey towards their ideal, they find no trace of it. On the other hand, they find Allah everywhere. All their ideals being half-way ideals, they must move forward from the stage of these ideals. Otherwise they will again and again come across the same boring ideals which cause society to degenerate and decompose it from within. In short the declining societies find themselves facing one of the four situations. In one of the situations they may have some relative ideal. The Qur'an admits that a society having a relative ideal may obtain some positive results as far as its material life is concerned. The Qur'an says: Whoever desires this worldly gain, We hasten for him in this world that We will and for whom We please. (Surah Bani Isra'il, 17:18)
It is a different thing that in the next world he may have to face difficulties. As for those who seek next worldly gain, the Qur'an says: And whoever desires the Hereafter and strives for it with the effort necessary, being a believer; for such their effort finds favour with their Lord. (Surah an-Nisa, 4:19)
That means that those who have an eye to the more distant horizon, their wish is also fulfilled. The next verse makes it clear that both these groups are helped in achieving their respective objects. Each do we supply, both these and those, from the bounty of your Lord. And the bounty of your Lord can never be blocked. (Surah Bani Isra'il, 17:19-20)
Those who have only a relative ideal, work to achieve it. That is the first stage. After they have achieved their objective, the second stage comes, which is a stage of pause. But as man cannot remain without an ideal for long at the third stage they choose some prominent personalities from among them as their ideal. That is why the Qur'an says: They say: Our Lord, we obeyed our chiefs and elders, and they misled us from the way. (Surah al-Ahzab, 33:67)
They follow their chiefs, because they had reached the stage of pause. It is at this stage that man begins to adore other human beings, for he cannot sit idle and must have something or someone as his ideal. As a result, these chiefs and elders form an aristocratic class and begin to lead a luxurious life. To maintain their position thus acquired, these luxurious people oppose every reform. The Qur'an says: We never sent a warner before you (Holy Prophet) to any township, but its luxurious ones said . , (Surah al-Zukhruf, 43:23)
Whenever a Prophet comes, he is first of all opposed by this very wealthy class, the members of which are held in respect and awe by those, who having been cut off from their ideal, cannot think of anything except maintaining the existing position. Once having gained power, the luxurious and oppressive class never agrees to loosen its grip on society. Then the fourth stage comes when this class rides so roughshod over society that it deprives the common people of all the fruits of their civilization and seizes and destroys their resources. We find many such instances in the past and the contemporary history. Hitler and his German Nazis destroyed the fruits of civilization amassed by so many countries over long periods through all kinds of trickery. When wealthy classes come into existence, side by side with them there appear those who ultimately annihilate them. The Qur'an says: And similarly We have allowed in every town its ringleaders to intrigue therein, but they intrigue against themselves only. (Surah al-An'am, 6:123)
They intrigue to create disorder which culminates in their own destruction and the destruction of their civilization. Though none of the ideals so far mentioned by us was a true ideal, yet it is a fact that society regards each of them as a religion. Stalinism is a religion. Nazism is a religion. Despotism and even licentiousness are religions. As we have already said, one of the ideals is the existing state of affairs. It is accepted as such either because of laziness or as the result of pressure by some oppressive force. Another ideal is some half-way movement. This ideal also in the long run leads to the same results as the first one. In the wake of it society passes through various vicissitudes and is ultimately annihilated. As such we must find out some other ideal which may be consistent with man's forward-looking nature. As he can satisfy this yearning of his by directing his attention to Allah, we propose Allah as the third ideal. There are two advantages of our proposal.
The first advantage is quantitative, for by following our suggestion man can incessantly move forward towards his infinite goal. His movement is not stopped at any stage, nor does he reach an impasse. There is no limit to his achievement. Society can never come to a stand-still. Way is always open for society to move forward. From this point of view this advantage is quantitative. We have seen that in the case of all other ideals man's progress comes to an end soon and as a result, society begins to decay. Therefore a continuous and constructive movement of society towards Allah is the only natural alternative.
The other advantage of our proposal is qualitative. By following our suggestion man can find a way to resolve the inner contradiction existing in him. First let us see what this contradiction is. We can study this question in the light of independent views as well as from the viewpoint of the Qur'an. It is gathered from the Qur'an that man has two kinds of tendencies. He has some material tendencies which include both his physical and mental needs and drives. He is naturally inclined towards ensuring his self-interests. He strongly desires to be rich and feels compelled to satisfy his sexual and other biological needs. He wants to live in comfort and luxury. At the same time man has a different kind of urge also. Having been made of clay, he has material tendencies, but has a flicker of divine spirit also in him. Allah says: "1 breathed in him of My spirit". As a result man has two conflicting kinds of tendencies. There is a conflict between truth and falsehood, between justice and injustice, between good and evil and between right and wrong. This is an inner problem of man. Social studies do not provide any solution of this problem. They only confirm its existence. Man is always in a fix which way he should go. He appears to have no means to resolve this contradiction.
Hence there must be an outside force which may pull him to one of the two conflicting sides. By nature we know the necessity of being pulled to that side which represents justice and virtue. Allah being the source of the pull, evidently we must have Him as an ideal. If societies organize themselves in such a way that they proceed toward Him, two great reforms will simultaneously take place. First, society will be reformed and secondly, man himself will change for the better. Other ideals cannot do this, because they cannot instil in man a sense of responsibility. Man regards other ideals either as his equal or an existence below himself. Allah is far above man. He is the Creator and Sustainer of the whole world. There is nothing like Him. He is not of the same category as man. Man cannot oppose Him, nor can he be His rival. Allah is Omniscient, All-hearing and All seeing. He is Just, He keeps an account of everything and recompenses for evil and for good. In Allah man can find all those forces which can induce an individual or a society to do a thing. As a result Allah's religion is the most important factor which can persuade a society to reform itself. In this connection it is necessary to explain how it is possible that Allah has a role in connection with human societies which on the one hand are concerned with such affairs as technical, industrial, agricultural and those connected with animal breeding, and on the other with human relations. Before giving our explanation in this respect, let us see what the proponents of dialectical and historical materialism, who bore us with their lectures on philosophy of history, have to say on this subject. These people who wish to reduce man to animal, insist that man should have no connection with Allah.
They say that religion is the opium of the nations. This statement is quite appropriate in respect of the religions we mentioned above - the religions which make a god of the existing state of affairs and deify their leaders, the religions which regard the material condition of their family or half-way independence as their ideal. No doubt these things have a narcotic effect and are the opium of the nations. We want man to get rid of these narcotics, but we do not want to make him the victim of a more dangerous opium. If you think of liberating man totally from religion, to what else do you want to hand him over for his future?
While entertaining the reality of this divine ideal, we have to accept the five fundamental principles of Islam on which the ideality of Allah is based. These principles are: Monotheism, and Prophethood, which forms a link between Allah and humanity, and the Ummah, which is the external crystallization of Prophethood, the Hereafter, which serves as an incentive to human efforts and lastly Divine Justice. Should we try to elaborate these principles, we will have to go into the relation of religion to society and history and will have to discuss historical norms. Hence we skip over the ideological and intellectual aspects of the question and take up the theme of society.
If society has a link with Allah, the two-fold relationship which exists in every society works better. There are two constant elements in every society, man and nature. Man's relation with these two is important, that is man's relation with his fellow human beings and his relation with nature. We want to study this relationship from the point of view of religion and would like to see what should be done if we want to improve the relation between man and man. Here Marx comes with his analysis of the social questions. He says that society is always divided into a privileged class and an under-privileged class. In order to get rid of its deprivations that under-privileged class has always been engaged in a constant class war over all periods of history. The struggle between these two classes will continue till all class disparities vanish and an ideal classless society comes into existence. This should be regarded as an inexorable process and a historical inevitability. He says that all revolutionary activities that he wants to be conducted are meant only to push forward this historical movement, though the process will inevitably continue even otherwise. If we involve ourselves with the discussion of this controversial theory, we are afraid that our own programme and purpose will be left incomplete. Hence we overlook the criticism which has been levelled against this faulty theory. For example it is asked why this theory of revolutionary process has failed in the case of industrialized countries such as the U.S.A., Britain, France and Germany?
Why do we see that in certain countries the rich and the poor classes have come close to each other and instead of fighting against each other, work together without any mutual conflict at all. In the U.S.A. the workers and the employers cooperate with each other. In this case what happened to the principle of contradiction and conflict? Is this class contradiction true in the case of certain selected peoples only or is there a contradiction between the material prosperity of some and the poverty of others? If the theory of class conflict is really valid, this conflict should be universal irrespective of the time and place. But we see that the Marxists themselves admit that the divergent conditions prevailing in each country make a lot of difference. Incidentally it may be remarked that there appears to be an ominous concord between the American workers and the American employers that America should seize the resources of the countries under its influence and divide them between its own workers and employers. The whole case appears to be that of cocks making free with horse's corn. All have eyes on oil of the Middle East, diamonds of Tanzania, cotton of Egypt, and tobacco and wine of Algeria. There are other sectors also where the American workers and employers have an agreement. As we cannot accept the basis of contradiction pointed out by Marx, we must find out another basis of it.
Despite all his originality, intelligence and study of history Marx's thinking is limited. The flight of his thinking could reach only a minor aspect of the real contradiction. He discovered that human relations centre round a conflict between the strong and the weak. The strong may derive his strength from his wealth, his post or any other sphere of power and influence. Even science is an evil which may provide someone with strength to trample upon the weak. It is not a question of capital only.
In fact the root of this phenomenon goes much deeper. Hence we must find out the real root-cause of the contradiction and conflict prevailing in human society. The main question is whether man should have a materialistic tendency or should tend towards the flash of divine light. As this is a question of man's inner feeling, the contradiction can be resolved only when all societies and men follow that course which man's vicegerency of Allah demands. As we know, Allah has placed every thing of the world at the disposal of man as a trust. All problems are automatically solved, when man follows that course. We see that a man who recognizes Allah and follows the course prescribed by Him is compassionate and kind-hearted. He shows respect to his fellow human beings and does not regard them as tools for the satisfaction of his own desires. As far as class war is concerned, it is to be noted that there are cases when both the classes of a nation unite together to crush another nation. Therefore class war does not have a root in society all over history, nor are the ups and downs in the history of societies always determined by economic and material questions.
The problem is more deep-rooted. Man has two contradictory elements in his nature. The question is to which side he should incline. Within him man has no force to give a definite turn to one of his conflicting tendencies. Therefore there must be an outside force to direct him, and that force can be nothing except his turning and leaning towards Allah. This is the position as far as the relation between man and man are concerned. In fact our problem is two-fold: man's relation with other men and man's relation with nature. A link with Allah and religion solves both these problems. As for man's relation with other men, the problem is that man while dealing with others turns to selfishness and ignores the interests of others. This not only creates conflict of interests, but is also contrary to man's natural inclination towards Allah. The solution of this problem lies in our belief in Allah and religion.
The second problem is how to subdue the ruthless and inflexible nature and bring it under our control so that we may obtain from it all that we need in life. This problem can be solved if we work with nature more and more. Thus we will get the experience necessary to bring nature under our control. In fact this is a two-way process. The more we work with nature, the better we control it and the more we control it, the more experience we gain and consequently new avenues are opened to us. But the problem is that when man begins to control nature and becomes capable to make a better use of it, he enslaves others and his power of exploitation increases. We had no power of exerting pressure on others when we depended on hunting for our livelihood and could defend ourselves only with wooden and stone weapons. But with the availability of huge industrial outfits and modernized means of agriculture, man acquires power of exploiting other fellow beings also. This is affirmed by the Qur'an when it says: Surely man is rebellious when he thinks that he is independent. (Surah al-`Alaq, 96:6-7)
When man could cultivate only his own land and could produce only as much food as was barely enough for himself, he could not think of seizing the land of others. At that time he scarcely had any means to exploit others. But today he has acquired enough power of exploitation.
Now what is to be done to ensure that man subdues nature, gets maximum benefit out of it and at the same time does not exploit his fellow beings? In our opinion the solution of this problem lies in the relation between work and experience. The more man exerts himself, the more experience he gains. The only condition is that he must not sever his relation with Allah. He must look at all natural resources as a divine trust, at himself as the vicegerent of Allah and at other human beings as his brethren. If he does so, surely prosperity will grow many fold and the blessings of Allah will shower from the heaven and the earth. There will be no shortage of anything for human society. There is another way of saying the same thing. If there is a fair distribution, the production is bound to go up to the required level. This is a belief which has its roots in the Qur'an. There are many verses which lay stress on it. This view is also supported by historical norms. As for the Qur'an we may quote the following Qur'anic verse for example:
If they continue to tread the right path, We shall give them to drink of water in abundance. (Surah al-Jinn, 72:16)
The following verse is clearer in its import: If the people of the townships had believed and kept from evil, surely We should have opened for them blessings from the sky and from the earth. But they disbelieved, and so we seized them on account of what they used to earn. (Surah al-A'raf, 7:96)
Of course this view can be accepted only by those who have faith in the Qur'an. But we can observe the applicability of this formula in our everyday life. If in a society justice, virtue and piety prevail; the factors which unify it become strong. Its homogeneity which is necessary to run the colossal wheels of industry and agriculture is galvanized. Because of its unity and cohesion such a society can overcome all its difficulties and never faces any disruption. Societies not having this unifying force are liable to decay and disintegrate. The authorities which subjugate these societies, themselves create disunity and discord. One may think that they are civilized and have unity and solidarity, but as a rule their solidarity is artificial. They are split at the places where human solidarity is required.
It is interesting to note that such words as arrogant, tyrant and oppressor which we have used, we have derived from the story of Fir'awn in the Qur'an. Some people may think that the Qur'an recounts historical stories such as the story of Fir'awn and Prophet Musa, merely to narrate history. Now we can say that this notion is wrong. The Qur'an wants to point out that the factors of disruption and annihilation are inherent in despotic societies. We can predict their fate. On the other hand a divine society is blessed with the quality of homogeneity.
Surely this community of yours is one community, and 1 am your Lord, so worship Me. (Surah al-Anbiya, 21:92)
Allah says that He has made the Muslims one single formation. Hence it is their duty to march forward and open new avenues. The position of the pharonic society is, on the other hand, quite different. The dissensions of the members of this society inevitably split them into six classes. We would name the first one the despised class. This class depends on the despots and pharaohs and cooperates with them. In respect of them the Qur'an says: When the wrongdoers are brought before their Lord, Those who were despised (on the earth) say to those who were arrogant: But for you, we should have been believers. (Surah as-Saba, 34:31)
This verse depicts the scene of the Doomsday. On that day some of the wrongdoers will be blaming some others. The verse makes it clear that even all those who belonged to the despised and depressed class were not virtuous. Some of them also were wrongdoers. Allah says when the wrongdoers will be brought before Him, some of them will be belonging to the despised class and they will have a verbal contest with the arrogant.
The second class consists of the pharaohs' favourites and their advisers. They encourage and guide the pharaohs. So to say they are often more Romans than the Romans themselves.
The Qur'an says: The chiefs of Pharaoh's people said: `Will you allow Musa and his people to make mischief in the land?' (Sarah al-A'raf, 7:127)
These Pharaoh's favourites were instigating him and saying: We wonder why do you leave Musa and his people alone. They will be making mischief and will not accept your godship. These chiefs provoked Fir'awn to say that he would soon kill the sons of the Israelites and enslave their womenfolk.
Thus the second class comprises the Pharaohs' favourites and advisers.
The third class consists of those who have no goal or ideal. This class includes mostly the illiterate, backward and poor people, who are always dragged from one side to another. According to the Qur'an they will say on the Doomsday: Our Lord, indeed we obeyed our chiefs and elders and it is they who misled us from the way. (Sarah al-Ahzab, 33:67)
It may be pointed out that these illiterate and barefooted people have a remarkable role in society. It is our duty to dissuade them from following their wicked chiefs and to guide them to the virtuous people. Imam Ali has mentioned this group. He classifies the people into three categories: the divines, those who receive education for their salvation and the stupid having no goal. The last ones are ready to follow anything false which may come across them.
There is a reference in the Qur'an to those who follow the divines. It mentions the virtuous companions of the Holy Prophet and then adds: and those who followed them in earnestness. (In Islamic jurisprudence the followers of the divines are called muqallids - followers of a mujtahid). It is our duty to persuade the great masses of the people to adhere to their juristic authority instead of going after false ideals or having no goal at all, so that they may be included among those who follow them in earnestness or in the words of Imam Ali among those who "receive education for the sake of salvation". In short these people form a large section of society.
In a despotic society a fourth class is also found. This class comprises the people who fully understand the unjust and tyrannical nature of the policies pursued by their rulers, but they keep quiet in respect of these policies. Referring to them the Qur'an says: The angels take them when they are unjust to themselves. The angels ask them: Where were you? They say: We were suppressed in the land. (Surah an Nisa', 4:97)
They mean to say that they were controlled by the despots and were not free to take a decision. But the fact is that it is not permissible to remain quiet in such a situation. The Qur'an quotes the angels as saying to them: "Was not the land of Allah vast?" Why could they not emigrate to a safe place and save themselves from the tyrants? Thus under a tyrannical and despotic government there exists a fourth category comprising those people who keep quiet and make no move. Even if they do not cooperate with injustice, they live in a despotic atmosphere and take no action to change the situation.
The fifth class consists of a small number of people who alienate themselves from society. They actually have no right to keep themselves in seclusion. Society requires men who work to reconstruct it, not those who renounce it. Allah reproached Prophet Yunus (Jonah) when he abandoned his society and told him that he must have stayed with his people. Consequently Prophet Yunus turned to Allah in repentance.
The Qur'an says: Many of the Jewish rabbis and the Christian monks devour the wealth of the people and turn them away from the way of Allah. (Surah Tawbah, 9:34)
Nowadays there are people who say that religious scholars have no right to interfere in politics, for religion and politics are two separate things. Those who have this logic, in the words of the Qur'an, "debar the people from the way of Allah."
To the sixth class belong those who despite being underprivileged and suppressed do their best to change the prevailing conditions. In this connection there exists a divine law and a historical norm which we would have discussed in detail if the space allowed. Anyhow, according to this law if the whole underprivileged and down-trodden class living under a corrupt system rises against it, it always gains victory. Today this is an important question of our present world. The subjugated nations making struggle for their liberation must know that this historical norm materializes invariably. The Qur'an says: We desire to show favour to those who are oppressed in the earth and to make them leaders and the heirs. (Surah al-Qasas, 28:5)
This verse refers to the same rule. The story of Prophet Musa and Fir'awn also proves its truth. "When We delivered you from Pharaoh's folk." But if no effective resistances made gradually the pharaohs and tyrants succeed in crushing and destroying the social forces by creating dissensions among them. When social forces have been disintegrated, the industrial and scientific forces are not of much avail or at least cannot produce the desired results. Even if any results are produced they do not benefit the common people and do not bring prosperity to them in a disintegrated society. As a result society is hit by disorder and chaos. In these circumstances how can society be reformed? It can be reformed only when all people have trust in Allah, believe in a hidden force controlling them and follow the path of justice. Then all the treasures of the earth are unveiled, all the potentialities become effective and all that has been deposited in the earth and the space for the welfare of mankind blossoms forth and becomes available. All this will happen on the day when the Mahdi (May Allah hasten his solace) will set up his government.
Then the Muslim Ummah will take the reign of justice in its hand. The whole world will be following one single line of action. Consequently all latent capabilities will be unfolded. All this will be perfectly in accordance with the laws of history which indicate the course of man's development. When man will have experimented with base and loose ideals and will cease to be attracted by them, he will naturally move in the right direction and will cast off stagnation, mental laziness and lethargy. As a result he will be drawn to the course that will lead him to this historical development. This subject is quite vast, but its further discussion will require more time and space than available to us.
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Author: Ayatullah Muhammad Baqir as-Sadr
