Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

The Evils of Westernization

Author: Dr. WahidAkhtar

www.alhassanain.org/english

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Table of Contents

Preface 4

Supplement 1 5

Supplement 2 9

Supplement 3 12

Supplement 4 15

Supplement 5 19

Preface

Mizan Press, Berkeley, Contemporary Islamic Thought Persian Series (1984), 5. 95.Occidentosis (Gharbzadegi )* isJalal Ali Ahmad's tryst with the infinite world of ideas, for which the scene is set in twentieth-century Iran and the background is provided by the vast panorama of the East faced with the onslaughts of the Western civilization. The first draft of the book in Persianwas presented at two of the many sessions of the Congress on the Aim of Iranian Education, on 29 November 1961 and 17 January 1962 in the form of a report, but it did not find a place in the proceedings of the Congress due to its critical nature.

The first one-third part ofGharbzadegi was published in the periodicalKitab -eMah causing the suspension of the journal. The author published it as a separate work privately in 1341/1962. Since its publication the book has been discussed, criticized andanalysed heatedly both in Iran and abroad.It is acknowledged by both admirers and critics as a work of unique significance because of its content as well as its approach.

R. Campbell has done a commendable service to contemporary Islamic thought by rendering the book into English.

Hamid Algar , a specialist in the field of recent Iranian thought and politics, has greatly enhanced the value of the translation by adding well-researched scholarly notes to it. The notes byAlgar are both informative and corrective, forJalal Ali Ahmad, being not a historian and a meticulous researcher, had committed certain errors that needed tobe pointed out for the sake of providing readers with more accurate and definite information about the events referred to in the book.

Algar has done the editorial job with superb competence.

Jalal Ali Ahmad is one of the most eminent figures of contemporary Persian literature, basically a fiction writer, but nevertheless an equally important ideologue of modern Iran. In manyrespects he is a precursor of Dr. AliShari'ati , who, despite exercising far greater influence thanJalal on the youth, could not surpassJalal Ali Ahmad in literary excellence.

Supplement1

Jalal Ali Ahmad (b. 1923) belonged to a family of strong religious traditions. The famous revolutionaryAyatullah Mahm'd Taliqani (d. 1979) was his paternal uncle andJalal Ali Ahmad had been always impressed by him, but particularly during his later religious phase came closer to him.Jalal's family was reasonablywell-off . When the clerical classwas deprived of itsnotarial function and the income they derived from it, his family was put to hardship andJalal had to give up his education after primary school.

Instead he was sent to work to supplement the family's income.Jalal secretly enrolled in night classes and obtained his high school diploma in 1943. One yearlater he joined theT'deh party, and made a complete break with religion. There he founded a literary association of Marxist writers, and within three years was appointed director of the party's publishing house with the responsibility of launching a new monthlyMahanah-yi mardum .

He wrote prolifically for the party journals. In thisperiod he was under the influence of the nationalist, anti-Shi'i writer AhmadKisrawi . In 1946, he graduated from the Teachers' Training College in Tehran, and started his career as a teacher and as a writer of fiction almostsirnultaneously .

His first collection of storiesDid wa Bazdid (Visits exchanged) was published in 1945, and his anti-religion stance in those stories marked his complete break with Islam and his father.

His second collection of short storiesAz ranji ki mibarim , an exercise in socialist realism, was published in 1947 The very same year he came out of theT'deh party along with a group of activists led byKhalil Maliki as an aftermath of the party's support to the Soviet Union's refusal to save the communist-dominated autonomous government ofAzarbayjan . Now he devoted most of his time, except brief occasional sojourns in politics, to literary work.Seh Tar, his third collection of stories is product of this period.

He returned to political activity with Dr.Musaddiq's campaign joined an alliance for the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry and' withHizb -eZahmat Kashan . In 1952,as a result ofMaliki's rift with theHizb -eZahmat Kashan , a new partyNir '-yeSewwum was formed andJalal served it for a short time. In 1953, when thefugitive Shah was brought back by the U.S.A. ,Jalal left this party also.

Moreover, political activitywas made virtually impossible due to severe repressive measures.Jalal turning again to literary pursuits translated Gide's Re tour del'URSS and brought outZan -eziyadi (The superfluous woman). He dabbled in modernist poetry andpainting also for some time.But more, significant for his intellectual development was his interest in anthropology. Within a period of fouryears he published three research monographs dealing with Iranian villages and their age-old customs, viz.Aurazan ,Tatneshinha -yeBul'k-i Zahra, andJazirah -yeKhark .

During thisresearch the contradictory nature of the Western and the Islamic Eastern traditions dawned upon him, a realization that paved the way for his return to Islam.The worth of his anthropological work was immediately recognized by both the Iranian academic circles and Western universities .

He undertook extensive foreign travels: to Europe in early 1963, to the Soviet Union in 1964, and to the United States in 1965. Of all these, the journey exercising the farthest reachingimpact on his psyche was his hajj pilgrimage in 1964, which proved to be a great leap towards Islam. During this period of greatcreativity he realized the basic conflict between the traditional Iranian social structure and the new changes being imposed on the Iranian society in the name of modernization.

Theinteriorization of this awareness resulted in a unique kind of self-realization-broadening of the field of self-activity to the levels of national as well as religious collective-self-realization. The Iranian-Islamic archetypal patterns of conscious and unconscious psychical processeswere revealed to him to be in opposition to those patterns of thought and practice which were being imported with technology from the West and transplanted on the Eastern soil.

Jalal's realization of the contradictory characters of the Western and Eastern cultures caused him to writeGharbzadegi , an analysis of the corrupting influence of the West on the East in the historical perspective with particular reference to the Iranian society and body politic.In the last years of his life he produced two major works: the novel,Nafrin -ezamin (The curse of the land), published in 1967, a damaging criticism of the so-called Land Reform; and a work of ideological importance, Darkhidmat wa khiyanat -erawshanfikran (Concerning the service and disservice of the intellectuals), which was posthumously published during the peak hours of the Revolution.

Jalal died on September 9, 1969 in a village inGilan , andwas buried near theFir'zabadi mosque atShahri Ray. Thus came to end an intellectual career, apparentlychequered with swift shifts in political and philosophical position, but in reality depicting the journey of a restless soul in search of itstrue identity , a quest for the roots.Jalal's psychological and intellectual biography is not different from those of many others who underwent similar radical upheavals and transformations in the post-Second-World-War period of disillusionment with almost all the modern ideologies causing a deep sense ofrootlessness .

Jalal traced back the roots of his own existence along with the roots of Iranian culture and soul to Islam-a diagnosis of great relevance to the Muslim world in general.Hamid Algar's introduction to the translation ofGharbzadegi furnishes all necessary information aboutJalal's literary and political life.

Algar's following observation provides the key to understanding the real nature ofOccidentosis :

It is important to remember that its author was neither a historian nor an ideologue. He was a man who after two decades of thought and experimentation had discovered an important and fundamental truth concerning his society-disastrous subordination to the West in all areas-and was in a hurry to communicate this discovery to others. He had neither the time nor the patience to engage in careful historical research, and at some points in thebook he even enjoins his readers to dig up the historical evidence for a given assertion. (p. 14).

A more important observation made byAlgar concerns the nature ofJalal's rediscovery of the soul of Islam.In his view,Jalal's return to Islam is not straightforward, because, firstly, he could not completely free himself from theOrientalist influence, and secondly, there was an unmistakably nationalistcolour to Ali Ahmad's proud claim that Islam became Islam when it reached the settled lands between the Tigris and the Euphrates, until then being the Arabs' primitiveness andJahiliyyah "Jalal inOcciden tosis blamesOrientalists for inflating the Iranian ego by causing them to believe that they are the people with a great past and consequently making them think that they did not need learn anything new from the West except the use of machine.

Then taking advantage of this false pride and complacence, in his view, Western scholars changed the moulds of Iranian thought substituting them by their own measures.It is strange that an intellectual ofJalal's calibre , who was aware of the Western scholars' conspiracy, fell so cheaply into their trap and explained the origin of Islam in terms of "a kind of delayed response to the call of Mani andMazdak " or, using Marxist jargon, "a new call based on the needs of the urban populations of the Euphrates region and Syria".

These and many other false notions and criteria are fabrications of the Western mode of thinking imported to the East in the name of "scientific tools of socio-historical analysis".

And our intelligentsia is so allured by the temptation of being considered modern that a conscious writer likeJalal , fully aware of Western intellectual conspiracy, applies them to the realities of Islam and the Eastern culture unhesitatingly.Unfortunately all intellectuals who have been and are in the vanguard of political and intellectual movements in the third world have been using Western concepts and criteria to interpret and solve the complexities of their own traditions.

Modernism, liberalism, scientism, secularism,sociologism and many other 'isms' were evolved and developed in the West according to the changing conditions of the Western society and polity, which were confronted with a fundamental contradiction between new scientific modes of thinking and Christian-dominated medieval ways of life and thought that caused an unbridgeable breach between sacred and profane, spiritual and physical, worldly and otherworldly, religion and social existence, or the church and the state.

So-called Eastern intelligentsia ingeneral, and Muslim intellectuals in particular, without applying their intellect to the fundamental opposition between Oriental and Occidental milieu, accepted Western notions as if they were universally true and applicable to various realities.

Nationalism is also such a category having little relevance to the realities and ideals of Islam. Iranian Islam, Indian Islam, Malaysian Islam, Pakistani Islam, TurkishIslam and Arab Islam as terms have become so current in contemporary writings that even the most cautious and meticulous of Muslim scholars brought up under the Western educational system use them as valid.Undoubtedly Islamic teachings due to their immense potential of adaptability could fit in different environs without being altered basically, but it did not mean that Islam could be variously interpreted.

Since such a wrong conception of Islam became current, MuslimUmmah as a whole began to lose political and economic power and became stagnant intellectually and scientifically.Jalal's pride in anIslam which became Islam after settling in what is presently known as Iraq, Syria and Iran stems from a similar nationalist oriented misconception.

Surprisingly enoughJalal is critical of theSafawid Iran for playing into the hands of anti-Muslim Eastern and Western powers by stabbing the Ottoman Muslimempire in the back which proved to be the last stronghold of Muslim resistance against the world supremacy of the West. Granted that his criticism is not justified concerning all the points, nonetheless his analysis, though defective, reveals his keen desire for Muslim unity. He is also aw are that the breaking up of the Ottomanempire into small states and principalities was engineered by Western imperialist designs. This awareness should have led him to understand the true nature of the movements of nationalism in the Muslim world.

The seeds of nationalismwere sowed in the hearts of the Muslims by a well-planned conspiracy of Western imperialism, intellectually supported byOrientalists and Western educators with a view to break Muslim unity.

Supplement2

The Arabs who are still serving their Western masters, with their overemphasis on Arab nationalism fail to realize that the differences within their own fold are due to themselves and are offshoots of the spirit of nationalism cultivated in their minds by the vested Western interests. The divisive role of nationalism does not stop at alienating Arab Muslims from the rest of the Muslim world, but it goes further and deeper by causing subdivisions among themselves making them even more dependent on the West.

Like many modern and so-called progressive writers of the pastgeneration Jalal Ali Ahmad, in his diagnosis of the evil effects of Western influence, could not smell the danger of the West-inspired nationalism.

Thus he, whose messianic mission was to liberate Iranians from the clutches of Westernization, fell an easy prey to the Occidental trap not realizing the ideological pitfalls in Western thought. This is howOrientalists consciously coin certain notions with ulterior motives and our Eastern, or more precisely Muslim, intellectuals imitate them unconsciously subscribing to their views and serving their motives.

Algar , quotingSimin Danishwar ,Jalal's wife, concludes thatJalal's "relative return to religion was a means to preserving national identity and a path leading to human dignity, mercy, reason, and virtue." All these terms are ambiguous, ratheremptyclichs , confusing "Islamic identity" with a particular kind of "national identity."

Jalal's return to Islam is dubbed as incomplete byAlgar , for, even inKhassi dar Miqat ,Jalal's travelogue of his hajj pilgrimage, despite his occasional emotional outbursts, he is more concerned with the human and material surroundings than with his own inner experience.On the one hand, it may be explained in terms of a hangover from his Marxist past, and on the other, it can be deciphered "as an attempt to flee from the mosque" The last phrase occurs inKhassi dar Miqat (Tehran: 1345/1966, p. 74) on the occasion of his visit to the tomb of the Prophet (S) in Medina.

In the morning when I said, 'peacebe upon you, O Prophet,' 1 was suddenly moved. The railing surrounding the tomb was directly in front of me and1 could see the people circumambulating the tomb I wept and fled from the mosque. (Occidentosis , p.18)

However, this incomplete return to Islam in itself is significant, because it paved the way for the coming of many an intellectual in the fold of the Islamic Revolution.Ayatullah Taliqani remarked of him: 'Jalal was very good toward the end of his 'life.' Had he livedtill the victory of the Islamic Revolution, most probably he would have been on the side of the 'ulama '. This is not a shallow conjecture, butcan be supported with ample evidence. He was the first member of the intelligentsia to lament the killing ofShaykh Fadl AllahN'ri , the chief opponent of Western-style constitutionalism. .Jalal reevaluated his positive role in blocking the smooth sailing of the Western interests in Iran in the following words:

... The martyredShaykh N'ri was forced to mount the gallows not as an opponent of constitutionalism, which he had defended early on, but as an advocate of rule by Islamic law (and as an advocate forShi'i solidarity). This is why they all sat waiting for the fatwa from Najaf to kill him-this in an age when the leaders among ouroccidentotic intellectuals were the ChristianMalkum Khan and the Caucasian Social DemocratTalibov .

Now the brand ofoccidentosis was imprinted on our foreheads. I look on that great man's body on the gallows as a flagraised over our nation proclaiming the triumph ofoccidentosis after two hundred years of struggle. Under this flag we are like strangers to ourselves, in our food and dress, our homes, our manners, our publications, and, most dangerous, ourculture .... (Occidentosis , pp. 5657)

Ali Ahmad was probably the lone litterateur who recognized the significance of the 15Khurdad 1342 (6 June 1963) uprising, and could see how decisive a role the 'ulam a' were to play in shaping the destiny of Iran.

He also went to see ImamKhumayni , whowas quoted as saying: I once sawJalal Ali Ahmad for a quarter of an hour. It was in the early part of our movement. I saw someone sitting opposite me, and the bookGharbzadegi waslying near me. He asked, 'How did you come by this Nonsense?' andI realized it was Ali Ahmad. Unfortunately,I never saw him again. May he enjoy the mercy ofGod. (Commemorative supplement toJamh'ri -yeIslami , p.10)

The first chapter ofOccidentosis deals with the nature of the disease. Itis said that the division of the world in two blocs, East and West, or communist and non-communist, has become redundant. Infact there exist two blocs, and they are: producers of the machine and buyers of the machine. It makes all the difference who exports and who imports machines. Economy, politics, sociology, psychology, and every other thing including prosperity, mortality andbirth-rates , social welfare, nutrition, culture, and socio-political structure depend upon this single fact. The West or the exploiter owns the machine, and the East or the oppressed, or inmore respectable terms the developing countries, need the machine. The boundaries of the East and the West are also floating and shifting. Sometime the East overlaps the West, and vice versa.

The East includes Asia, Africa, and Latin America, while the West comprises Europe, America, Japan, SouthAfrica and Israel. In such adivision ideological compartmentalization becomes superfluous.Jalal discovered this radically new reality in the early sixties. In the past the area from the Eastern Mediterranean to India (and China), presently called by the West 'the East' was the advanced and civilized part of the world, whereas the present West then led a semi-barbaric life.

Now the balanceis tipped infavour of the other side. It was success in trade and advancement in machinery and technology that vested the West with superior authority in all respects. With the process of civilization, or rather Christianization, the worst forms of deprivation,exploitation and dehumanization encroached upon the lands of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Religion, culture, economy, socialstructure and the old value systems were destroyed by the colonizers.It was only Muslim unity that obstructed the onward march of imperialism. With the elimination of IslamicAndalusia the last battle scene was set in the Ottoman empire, the last citadel of formal or real Islamic unity.

When the Ottomanempire was disintegrated as an aftermath of the first world war, its provinces, formed as independent states, but virtually Western satellites, fell an easy prey to the ever-increasing lust of the West. Iran was apart and parcel of this scheme, where a dictator of the West's choice was crowned emperor.

This entire processwas facilitated by importing into Iran the machine and its Western experts along with all its paraphernalia. The post-war period witnessed the all-embracing tentacles ofoccidentosis rapidly taking into their deadly embrace the entire Iran and all the aspects of its religious, cultural,social and economic life. This was the end of a national identity.

The next three chapters describe the earliest signs of the illness, the wellsprings of the flood, and the first infections. In thesechapters Jalal gives an account of the historical events leading to the ultimate surrender of the East to the West. The villain of this long drawn drama is the machine-a substitute for Fate, the villain in the classical Western play-as a tool of the demigods of money and political power in Iran.

The delayed reaction on the part of the East, like that of Shakespearian hero Hamlet, comes to the surface at the end of the nineteenth century, in the form of constitutionalism, which also proved to be inspired andmanoeuvred by theBritishers . It is in this perspective that the martyrdom ofFadl AllahN'ri is assessed as a sacrifice of great significance by the author. Beforethat Jalal hadanalysed the vital role of Iran-Turkey conflict as an instrument of strengthening the forces of the West.

In the fourth chapter, "The First Infections", among other things,Jalal evaluates the nature and character of Western education. The first point he makes out is that the entire Western education is based upon andmodelled according to Christianity. In theEast it aims at alienating the Eastern people from their culture, religion, and social structure.

It is an irony of events that an educational system more advanced than that of the medieval Christian systemwas put aside as being obsolete and retrogressive in the name of modern science and technology. This type of education alienated the so-called elite from their people, soil, and their traditions, without bestowing upon them the slightest spark of expertise in modern science and technology. In the Iranian context,Jalal makes note of the following fact:

This estrangement came about because the two generations that have cropped up here since the Constitutional Era to become professors, writers, ministers, lawyers, general directors, and so on, only the doctors among them having any true specialized competence they all went astray in opting for "adoption of European civilization without Iranian adaptation".... (p. 58)

Westernization is not an isolated phenomenon confined to Iran.

Supplement3

All colonies of the West in the East had to meet this challenge. For instance, the Indian subcontinent, which remained under the British colonial rule virtually for about two centuries, underwent a process of Westernization, but it could affect a minority of civil servants and upper ruling class only, and failed to engulf the vast majority of the Muslim and non-Muslim population.

The Western education systemwas thrust upon the subcontinent partly due to needs of the British rulers for efficient functionaries for their administration, and partly because a few far-sighted leaders considered the old Muslim and Hindu systems of education out-dated and felt that the Indians' acquaintance with modern sciences was the only means of rescuing them from total destruction. A section of orthodox Muslim 'ulama ' and staunch champions of Hindu culture put up some resistance to the Western influence.

This resistance, though not lasting long, served as a warning as well as a safety measure and effective restraint in checking complete surrender of India to the West . Thus, the Indians were enabled to master modern scientific knowledge and its tools without beingtotally alienated from their own cultural traditions. Only a negligible minority of timeservers took pride in Anglicizing themselves, but the majority of the Muslims, Hindus, and other communities, including even new converts to Christianity, retained and preserved their traditional style of life.

As a consequence of firm adherence to their native traditions, Indians learnt modern sciences and proved themselves to be the equals, in specialized fields, of the Westerners, but at the same time they retained their "Indianness ". Contrarily, in Iran, after the early resistance against Westernization by the clergywas repressed by force, there was no check against Westernization.

It is more tragic that instead of trying to specialize in modernsciences they remained content in imitating Western ways of dressing, living and eating, and they forcibly unveiled their women without initiating them into modern spirit. Another factor that accelerated superficial Westernization was affluence, which came in the wake of the oil money.

Jalal repeatedly uses the phrase "the ugly head of oil" for referring to the negative consequences of the oil. Though thelion's share of oil revenue was usurped by the Western powers and companies , yet the remnant of it was enough to ensure Iranians that they could buy all they needed from the West.

They became accustomed to the use of the machine without having technicalknow-how . Gradually they became more and more easygoing andcomfort-loving , and surrendered their social, cultural, political, and economic freedom to the despotism of the machine. WhenJalal curses the machine and holds it responsible for Iran's slavery to the machine-producing West, his criticism issues from a realization that the machine played the key role in subjecting Iran tooccidentosis . The imported machine andtechnology required expertise, which was not available in the country, and hiring of foreign experts meant importing the necessary paraphernalia.

which was accompanied by all sorts of foreign cultural influence, including that of theOrientalists , sociologists, political analysts, functionaries of cultural exchangeprogrammes , etc. With all this, Iran's subjection tooccidentosis was complete. The same process took place in the Arab countries also with some minor differences.But probably the pre-Revolution Iran had become much more Western in its life-style than any other Muslim or Eastern country.

All diseases produce corresponding antibodies.Similarly the plague ofoccidentosis produced from within writers likeJalal and a combating resistance force in the form of the 'ulama ', who untiringly fought against all forms of Western supremacy. This concerted struggle ultimately culminated in the movement led by ImamKhumayni .Jalal witnessed its beginning and anticipated correctly its far-reaching socio-political effects.

The fifth chapter '"The War of Contradictions", brings out the main contradictions of the Iranian society caused by the machine transformation. The logic of machine consumption compelled premature urbanization,as a consequence of which villages were deserted and agriculture destroyed. This change forced Iranian consumers to be dependent on foreign food grains and frozen or tinned food products.

The entire Iranian economy collapsed. Thefigures which are supplied andanalysed byJalal concern the years 1331-1340 (1952-1961), which marked just the beginning of Iran's dependence on the West, and particularly the U.S.A. Desertion of the countryside and total collapse of agriculture in the coming years turned Iran into a country spoon-fed by the West. Oil reserveswere drilled and exported with an alarmingly fast rate . No long-term planningwas even conceived at any level. The White Revolution did nothing except darkening the conceivable future of the nation. Urbanization andoccidentosis everywhere and always go hand in hand:

First, the new urban resident attends initially to the wants of his stomach and then to those of the region beneath his stomach, and for the sake of the latter, to his grooming. (p. 66)

In this period, as compared to the most advanced cities of the world, Tehran had 2200 licensed men's barbers and women's hairdressers and 2500 unlicensed ones. Comparing this with London's 4300 barbers and hairdressers, or Moscow's 3900, one can appreciate how much the people of Tehran devoted themselves to maintaining their appearance.Similarly the number of cinema houses and other places of refuge from urban anxiety, home and family, school, and sexual and other deprivations increased stupendously.

The bank accounts of the Hollywoodfilm-makers were incessantly fed from the pockets of lower and middle class Third World citizens. The amounts spent and earned in this business were staggeringly high. Secondly, the problem of security grew serious day by day. Thirdly, traditional industries and handicrafts were ruined.

Fourthly, a whole course of timeis needed to accustom people to the use of the machine. In the West, the people's consciousness and mode of living developed with the evolution of the machine, whereas in Iran its introduction on a large scale was so sudden that people in general lost the sense of all proportion. A simple villager came to the city and w as astounded to such a degree that hefell an easy prey to all sorts of temptations, which led him to a life of easy-money and crime.

In thisprocess corruption was logically accepted as a way of life.

Fifthly, in a medieval social set-up that did not provide women with respectable work and valued theirlabour much cheaper than that of men, womenwere superficially emancipated . Withoutbeing trained in any trade of social significance, they had no other job but to freshen and exhibit themselves as objects of sex. Sixthly, ninety per cent of the people of Iran have deep-rooted faith in the return of the Twelfth Imam (A), "allawaiting him, each in his own way; because none of the Iranian governments ever lived up to the least of its promises; for oppression, injustice, repression, and discrimination had been always pandemic."

In such a clime of waiting for a just government, propagation of the idea of a national government with all its tools and institutions of oppression, the SAVAK and the torture, and an alien system of education could cause only a wider breach between faith and practice. Such a system could breed either cynics and rebels or timeservers and hypocrites. Another contradiction to whichJalal attracts attention is that in this age of shrinking international boundaries with all the affluence that provides every Iranian an opportunity for travel, Iranians remained usually ignorant of their immediateneighbours and theircultures :

But if the Afghan and I, united in our religion, language, and racial stock, know nothing of each other or if to travel to Iraq Or India is harder than to penetrate the iron Curtain, it is because we are within the sphere of influence of one corporation and the Afghan in that of another.

Jalal's conclusion is that the worldis compartmentalized according to the interests of our masters who pull our strings from behind the scene and we submit like puppets to them. InJalal's view, the most dangerous of all the contradictions arising fromoccidentosis is our ignorance of our own situation in that part of the world in which significant events are taking place.

The locus of threathas been transferred to the Middle East. The sixth chapter contains some positive suggestions as to how we can break the spell ofoccidentosis .Jalal says that the road Iran has so far followed is to remain only a consumer of the machine, to submit utterly to this twentieth-century juggernaut.

...First we need an economy consistent with the manufacture of machines, that is, an independent economy. Then we need an educational system,then a furnace to melt the metal and impress it with the human will. Then we need schools where these skills may be practically imparted. Then we need factories to convert the metal into machines and other industrial goods.And then we need markets to make them available to the people in the towns and villages.

Table of Contents

Introduction 11

Not All English Versions of Quran Are Acceptable12

What is a 'Commentary'?13

The Current Commentary 14

Attributes Needed for Working on This Kind of Commentary 15

The Problems in Translating 15

Translators Note16

Editor's Note17

Notes19

Acknowledgment20

Notes20

References21

Arabic, Farsi Commentaries21

English Translations of Qur'an 21

Supporting Technical References22

Phraseological and Philological Sources22

A Presentation to Muslims24

Notes25

Surah An-Nisa', Chapter 4, Section 4 26

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 24 26

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 25 26

Section 5: Woman's rights over her property 29

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 26 29

What Are These Limitations for?29

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 27 29

Explanations30

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 28 30

Explanation 30

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 29 30

Explanation 30

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 30 31

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 31 31

Explanations31

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 32 32

Occasion of Revelation 33

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 33 33

Explanations34

Section 6: Disagreement and reconciliation between husband and wife35

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 34 35

Guardianship in the System of a Family 35

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 35 36

The Family Peace Court36

Section 7 38

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 36 38

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 37 39

Hypocritical and Godly Charities40

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 38 40

Explanations40

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 39 41

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 40 41

Why Does Allah not Do Injustice?41

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 41 41

Explanations42

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 42 42

Explanations43

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 43 43

A Few Legal Ordinances43

Dry Ablution for the Excused 44

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 44 44

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 45 45

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 46 45

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 47 46

The People of Sabbath 46

Explanations46

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 48 47

Explanations47

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 49 47

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 50 48

Notes48

Section 8: Leaning to injustice and evil to be avoided 49

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 51 49

Explanations49

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 52 49

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 53 50

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 54 50

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 55 51

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 56 51

Explanations52

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 57 52

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 58 52

Occasion of Revelation 52

Deposit and Justice in Islam 53

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 59 53

Who are 'Those Charged with Authority'?54

Explanations54

Notes56

Section 9: Hypocrites refuse to accept the Messenger's judgement57

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 60 57

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 61 57

Explanations58

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 62 58

Explanations58

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 63 59

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 64 59

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 65 60

Occasion of Revelation 60

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 66 61

Surah An-Nisa', Verses 67 - 68 61

Surah An-Nisa', Verses 69 - 70 62

Occasion of Revelation 62

Companions in Heaven 62

Notes63

Section 10: Believers64

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 71 64

Explanations64

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 72 64

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 73 65

Surah An-Nisa', Verse74 65

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 75 66

Seeking Assistance through Human Affections66

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 76 67

Note67

Section 11: The Hypocrites' Attitude towards the Believers68

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 77 68

Occasion of Revelation 68

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 78 69

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 79 70

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 80 70

Practice of the Prophet is Just like the Revelation of Allah 70

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 81 71

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 82 71

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 83 72

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 84 73

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 85 73

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 86 74

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 87 74

Notes75

Section 12: Dealing with Hypocrites76

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 88 76

Occasion of Revelation 76

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 89 77

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 90 77

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 91 78

Section 13: Murder and its punishment80

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 92 80

Occasion of Revelation 80

Some Ordinances upon Manslaughter80

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 93 81

Explanations82

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 94 82

Occasion of Revelation 82

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 95 83

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 96 84

Section 14: Believers remaining with the enemy 85

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 97 85

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 98 85

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 99 86

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 100 86

Occasion of Revelation 86

Emigration, an Islamic Constructive Instruction 86

Notes87

Section 15: To cut short prayer while travelling 88

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 101 88

Explanations88

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 102 88

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 103 90

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 104 91

The Occasion of Revelation 91

Notes92

Section 16: Not to side the dishonest93

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 105 93

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 106 93

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 107 94

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 108 94

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 109 94

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 110 95

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 111 95

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 112 95

Calumny is a Crime96

Notes96

Section 17: Secret counsels of the Hypocrites97

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 113 97

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 114 97

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 115 98

Section 18 100

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 116 100

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 117 100

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 118 100

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 119 100

Satan has sworn to persuade some programs101

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 120 101

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 121 102

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 122 102

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 123 102

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 124 103

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 125 103

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 126 104

Notes105

Section 19: Dealings with Orphans and Women 106

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 127 106

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 128 106

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 129 107

Heavenly Law Has no Contradiction with Natural Disposition 107

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 130 108

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 131 108

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 132 109

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 133 109

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 134 109

Note110

Section 20: Equity to everyone -The Jewish Hypocrisy Condemned 111

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 135 111

Social Justice111

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 136 112

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 137 112

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 138 113

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 139 113

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 140 114

Explanations114

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 141 115

The Qualities of Hypocrites115

Section 21: Fate of the Hypocrites117

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 142 117

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 143 117

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 144 118

Explanations118

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 145 118

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 146 119

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 147 119

The End of Part Five120

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 148 120

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 149 120

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 152 121

Notes122

Section 22: Violation of the Covenant by the Jews123

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 153 123

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 154 123

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 155 124

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 156 125

Surah An-Nisa', Verses 157 - 158 125

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 159 126

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 160 127

Explanations127

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 161 127

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 162 128

Notes128

Section 23: The Qur'an testified in the previous heavenly Books129

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 163 129

Explanations129

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 164 129

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 165 130

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 166 131

Surah An-Nisa', Verses 167 - 169 131

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 170 132

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 171 133

Notes134

Section 24: Messengership of Jesus -Law of Inheritance135

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 172 135

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 173 135

The Way to Felicity Is both Faith and Good Deed 135

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 174 136

Explanations136

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 175 136

Surah An-Nisa', Verse 176 137

Occasion of Revelation 137

Notes138

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Chapter 5, Introduction 139

Introduction to the Surah 139

Section 1: General Discipline140

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 1 140

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 2 141

Eight Divine Ordinances in a Verse141

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 3 143

Moderation in the Usage of Meat144

Explanations146

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 4 146

Occasion of Revelation 146

A Lawful Hunting 147

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 5 147

Consuming Food of the People of the Book and marrying them 148

Marrying with Non-Muslim Women 148

Notes149

Section 2: Special cleanliness for Prayer -Equity enjoined 150

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 6 150

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 7 151

Divine Convictions151

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 8 152

An Earnest Invitation unto Justice152

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verses 9 - 10 152

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 11 153

Explanations154

Notes154

Section 3: The Covenants with the Jews and the Christians155

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 12 155

Explanations155

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 13 156

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 14 156

Explanation 157

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 15 157

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 16 157

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 17 158

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 18 159

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 19 160

Notes161

Section 4: The Israelites breaking the Covenant162

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 20 162

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 21 162

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 22 163

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 23 163

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 24 164

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 25 164

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 26 164

Explanations165

Notes165

Section 5: Jews warned against their wicked plots166

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 27 166

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 28 166

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verses 29 - 30 167

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 31 167

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 32 168

The Oneness of Human Beings168

Explanations169

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 33 170

Explanations171

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 34 171

Notes172

Section 6: Penal Regulations against Offenders173

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 35 173

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verses 36 - 37 173

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 38 174

Explanations175

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 39 175

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 40 176

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 41 176

Prophets Are Sympathetic unto the Misguided 176

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 42 177

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 43 177

Notes178

Section 7: Relation of the Quran to the previous heavenly Books179

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 44 179

Explanation 179

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 45 180

Retaliation and Remittal180

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 46 181

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 47 181

Those Who Do not Judge on the Divine Law 181

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 48 182

Explanation 183

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 49 183

Occasion of Revelation 183

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 50 183

Section 8: The relation of the Muslims with their opponents185

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 51 185

To Dissociate from Enemy is the Condition of Faith 185

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 52 185

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 53 186

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 54 186

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 55 187

Explanations188

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 56 189

Section 9: Mockers190

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 57 190

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 58 190

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 59 190

Occasion of Revelation 191

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 60 191

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 61 192

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 62 192

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 63 193

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 64 194

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 65 195

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 66 196

Section 10: The Christian Deviation from the Truth 197

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 67 197

Appointment of the Successor as the Final Point of Prophetic Mission 197

Ghadeer Khumm in Brief197

An Explanation 199

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 68 200

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 69 201

Explanation: What is the Objective Meaning of the Sabians?201

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 70 201

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 71 202

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 72 203

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 73 203

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 74 204

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 75 204

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 76 205

Explanations205

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 77 205

Note206

Section 11: Christian nearness to Islam 208

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 78 208

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 79 208

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 80 208

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 81 209

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 82 209

The End of Part Six 210

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 83 210

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verses 84 - 86 211

Note211