Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

The Evils of Westernization

Author: Dr. WahidAkhtar

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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.

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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.

Chapter 8: The Multilateral influences of the belief in Resurrection

If, at a time, it was imagined that mind and intelligence taking the place of God and armed with knowledge, it is possible to lead the society to happiness and tranquility today, such an imagination and misconception, would find no place for itself in the human society. This is because experience has shown that the advancement of knowledge also cannot overcome the human problems. Indeed it cannot be denied that the efforts of the scholars have yielded great results in the field of inventions and discoveries, which have changed the lives of humans but in exchange have brought forward new, complex and bigger problems as presents. Problems such as weapons of mass destruction, devastating wars on the face of the earth, new and killing diseases, and spread of psychological sicknesses and suicides are some of these problems.

On the other hand, the passing of times and experience have shown that setting up of laws or external pressure for the purpose of training and controlling man is not very efficient. This is because those people who possess power and the others, each one trample the laws beneath their feet or find a way to escape from it. Whereas, if the factor which controls man is belief and internal to man, the results shall be definitely better. Accordingly, Islam has placed the training and controlling factor of man within himself, and with the faith in Allàh and a sincere conviction regarding Resurrection, it has paved and evened out the way for him to become a true human and so also for his development and perfection, such that should a person or a society, really act upon these Islamic teachings, or at the least, achieve a firm conviction regarding the Universal Resurrection and the life after death, then he has laid out the foundation for his and his society's happiness. Here, we shall mention concisely only a few examples of the influence of this liberating and constructive belief.

1. Spiritual Tranquility

It has been proven by experience that material luxuries, successes and pleasure seeking on his own, cannot take man to his objective and to ease and happiness. That which can make life sour for man in spite of having all the material luxuries is anxiety and mental and psychological disturbances. These anxieties and disturbances, more than anything, cause suffering to man and is the reason for an increase in suicide and drug tragedies, which threaten the present civilization.

Unfortunately, this present century of ours, in spite of the advancement of knowledge, sophistication of technology, the diminishing of the hours of work and also the simplification of the various works which previously were performed with great difficulty, and similarly the quantitative and qualitative increase in the various types of amusements, as also their being in the reach and use of the general public, have not only not reduced the anxiety and the disturbance of the mind, but according to the sociologists and the psychologists, the spiritual diseases are on the ascent. One of the main reasons for this new chaos and the spreading of the spiritual diseases is the feeling of emptiness in the life and it being without a purpose. The twentieth century man has, by turning away from religion and placing aside the necessary and life-constructing beliefs of it, entangled himself in an empty and purposeless life and has painted for himself a terrifying face of death and as a result has become caught in life-taking sufferings which he could never have even imagined.

Professor Young one of the famous psycho-analyst and one of the well-known assistants of Freud says: “Two thirds of the people, from all over the world, who have consulted me are people who are educated and successful in life, the major trouble of them being the emptiness and aimlessness in life and this major trouble is causing them suffering, anxiety and disturbance of mind. The reason for this problem of man in the twentieth century is haughtiness resulting from sophistication in technology, shortsightedness and prejudice which resulted in their losing their religion, and even now, until they do not revert to the correct religious beliefs, they shall not attain tranquility, because irreligiousness means emptiness and absence of purpose in life.”[71]

Not only does lack of belief in life after death, fill the life of man with anxiety, distress and purposelessness, but also tends to strike out at the instinct of the love for permanence of man. In other words, man who is always seeking perfection and eternity will never be satisfied with this limited material world and in no way shall achieve his tranquility in this cage. Whereas, the belief in resurrection and an eternal life fulfils this desire and in its light shall obtain the spiritual tranquility, and shall attain freedom from the sufferings and diseases resulting from this anxiety and disturbance of the mind.

2. Justice and Social Security

Great efforts have taken place in various human societies, so that by some means, justice and social security be established and the violations and crimes diminish or cease altogether. However, one fundamental problem which exists in these efforts is that they desire to compel the individuals to a desired state by setting laws and building prisons and in short, by using an external control, but this method did not have any effectiveness, and was tested time and again. This is because if the control is only by means of laws and other controlling tools, which work on an individual externally, then the leaders and chiefs who exercise control over the people shall consider themselves exceptions to the law or may find means to escape from it and thus abscond.

In addition, in the courts also, important factors like recommendation, bribes presentation of forged documents and thousands of other deceptions, play a pivotal role. In short, that which is not exercised is the Truth and that which is not heard is the complaints of the oppressed. It is because of this lack of effectiveness of the laws and other methods of control, that the national security and the defense budgets are always on the increase and the prisons are increasing day by day, whereas if, alongside these measures and laws, an internal control also existed, the results would be much better. That is, if an individual (or a society) believes that after death, he would have to be present in a court in which he shall witness the reality of his deeds and their results without the slightest reduction and should he have any objection, the parts of his body which performed the deeds would stand witness against him and in addition to this, in such a court, no bribes, friendship, recommendation and reconsideration exist. In such a circumstance, how much would crime, violations and revolts diminish in the society? It is possible to claim that basically, with the presence of such a faith and belief, the occurrence of such acts of crime and violations, is strange and unanticipated and would, in all totality, become effaced and cease to exist. Of course, since varied instincts and numerous and at times contradictory, tendencies exist within man, violations and crime cannot be totally uprooted from the human society, however at the very least, the part played by these beliefs and the internal control with regards to the happenings which usually take place in material, godless and irreligious societies, is beyond question and denial.

Another point being, it should not be concluded that thus, no offence and crime exist in the Islamic and religious societies or that the state of these societies are, according to statistics, cent per cent better than the other societies (which indeed is), because two fundamental factors serve as a hindrance for the total uprootment of offences and crime in the human and religious societies, and they are as follows:

i) The varied and at times contrasting instincts of men, shall continue to incline man towards uncleanness.

ii) Weak beliefs of the people with respect to Allàh and Resurrection after death.

Hence, however much the beliefs of the people with respect to Allàh and life after death become stronger and deep-rooted, calmness and security shall increase in the society and as a result, the quantity of offences, crimes, treason, criminals and prisoners shall decrease.

3. Stimulus for service and performance of good deeds

One who does not have faith in Resurrection and life after death and seeks the rewards of his deeds in this very world, does not have sufficient stimulus for fulfilling the needs and wants of other individuals. Hence if he sees a miserable person, he shall not come forward to help him out of his misery, except if it has some benefit in store for him. For example, by providing this service, he can use that person to his benefit. On the contrary, one who has faith in life after death and knows that the rewards for his deeds shall be received by him completely in the other world, with regards to helping the poor and the helpless and fulfilling the needs of the needy and for all good deeds in general, is strongly motivated. His stimulus is not the worldly benefits, but seeks his rewards from Allàh and knows that Allàh shall grant the best of the rewards in this world and the hereafter (the day when he is most in need of the rewards).

Regarding this, Hazrat ‘Ali (‘a) says:

من أيقن بالخلف جاد بالعطيّه

“One who, with respect to the (rewards of) the day of Resurrection, has firm belief and conviction, shall behave in a goodly manner while serving others.”[72]

This sentence of Hazrat ‘Ali (‘a) very clearly relates the stimulus for serving others and the performance of good deeds in the light of the belief in resurrection. On the other hand, some of the Qur’ànic verses mention the lack of stimulus in the unbelievers and the deniers of the day of Resurrection, for serving others, in this fashion:

أَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي يُكَذِّبُ بِالدِّينِ فَذَلِكَ الَّذِي يَدُعُّ الْيَتِيمَ وَلاَ يَحُضُّ عَلَى طَعَامِ الْمِسْكِينِ

“Have you considered him who calls the Final Judgement a lie? That is the one who repels the orphan. And does not urge the (others) to feed the poor.”[73]

The belief in the day of resurrection and the day of rewards and punishments become reason that man on the one hand, reforms his connection with Allàh, while on the other hand, adjusts and makes right his connection with the creations of Allàh. As a result, giving charity and helping others is not difficult for him, because he is convinced that the rewards for his deeds and much more than what he anticipated, shall be given by Allàh in this world and the hereafter.

In short, the belief in life after death also breathes a meaning into the life of this world, and instills a sense of responsibility into the hearts of the people. It compels them, to the understanding of the responsibilities, righteousness and truthfulness in serving others and performance of good deeds and helps them from refraining from the uncleanness in the same measure as the strength of their conviction in the rewards and punishment of the day of resurrection.

4. Liberation from baseness and pollution

One, who does not believe in his eternal life, cannot choose for himself objectives beyond his material and animal needs. As a result, all of his objectives shall be summarized in the fulfillment of his carnal instincts and attainment of the base and worldly lusts. Such individual or individuals cannot have a search for things other than profits, pleasures or attainment of wealth and power. Once such a thing happens, man is ready to indulge in every crime and submerge in every kind of lust and dirtiness, so as to achieve his base and materialistic objectives. As a result, laws, morals, piety and service of people and... do not mean anything to him. On the contrary, one who believes in resurrection, considers the life of the world to be a preamble to his eternal life and, all his efforts and strivations is directed towards the selection of high, lofty and eternal objectives which can help him in the future and which can make him happy and successful. Hence, he shall not drown himself in lust and base and transient worldly objectives. He shall not get entangled in uncleanness and shall not indulge in crimes and offences and shall not be willing to commit suicide or inflict injuries to his body and soul. He shall tolerate the difficulties and the sufferings of life for the purpose of reaching his lofty objectives. In short, he shall choose a clean life and a goodly path for himself.

The Holy Qur’àn mentions one of the reasons for the pollution of the polluted ones of the hell, in their own words, to be the lack of belief in resurrection and states:

قَالُوا لَمْ نَكُ مِنَ الْمُصَلِّينَ وَلَمْ نَكُ نُطْعِمُ الْمِسْكِينَ وَكُنَّا نَخُوضُ مَعَ الْخَائِضِينَ وَكُنَّا نُكَذِّبُ بِيَوْمِ الدِّينِ

“They shall say: We were not of those who offered the regular prayers. And we used not to feed the poor. And we used to enter into vain discourse with those who entered into vain discourses. And we used to belie the Day of Judgement.” [74]

Thus, four basic reasons for facing the punishment and suffering on the day of resurrection has been mentioned, one of which is the lack of faith and the denial of the resurrection.

5. Moderation in the acquisition and consumption of Income

An individual or a society which does not believe in life after death, shall, in every economic matter, strive to increase its income by means of deceit, trickery, fraud and treachery, or by performing less shall try to achieve a greater benefit. In addition, when he has gathered wealth, he shall not spend it for the goodness of himself or the society, but indulge in extravagance and lavishness and in reality drags the financial resources of the society towards destruction. On the contrary, the individual or the society which has faith in life after death, not only takes into consideration the Divine and the human criteria for acquiring of the wealth and never strives to collect wealth in every manner possible, but even during consumption of the wealth, always takes into consideration the rights of the society.

Unfortunately, that which is destroying the material resources of this world in this era of ours is the lack of consideration of these two important points. In other words, in the twentieth century, the western civilization, and man in general, with the advancement of knowledge and technology, has extracted the god-given resources in every way possible, without giving thought to the protection of the environment or the rights of the coming generations and after that, in its consumption also has not exercised moderation and consideration to the social rights. Consequently, it has destroyed the economic resources and the environment of the world as well as corrupted them.

Here, it is interesting to note that man, after years of destruction of the economic resources and the environment, and extravagance in the consumption of the divine bounties, has now sat back to reflect upon the protection of the environment and more interesting is that the researches of the scholars have shown that the only serious and effective way to protect the environment and to give importance to the economic resources and to safeguard the rights of the future generations lies in the religious teachings and amongst them the belief in the continuation of life after death. With this and the other religious beliefs, it is possible to have an effective check on the pollution of the water, jungles, the incessant consumption of the underground resources and.... etc.

In addition, on the basis of this belief, it is possible to establish the foundations of a correct economic connection in the society and thus stop the economic trickery, fraud and treachery in check.

Hazrat ‘Ali (‘a) has very sweet and eloquent statements in this regard. Amongst them, in one of his letters to one of his governors, who had misused some funds from the public treasury, after reprimanding and rebuking him, says:

فسيبحان الله! أما تؤمن بالمعاد؟ أو ما تخاف نقاش الحساب؟""

“Glory be to God! Do you not believe in Resurrection and do you not fear the accounting and the questioning (of that day?”[75]

Hence, if one believes in the day of resurrection and does not forget it, he will never misappropriate the funds from the public treasury. A prominent example and a practical and perfect model of this reality is Hazrat ‘Ali (‘a) who has narrated the incident of himself and his brother Aqil, whereby he states: “ By God, I saw Aqil disturbed and in a state of abject poverty. He wanted me to give him some of your wheat (public treasury) and I saw his children whom due to poverty had their hair disheveled and their skin darkened, as if color had been applied to their faces. He would keep visiting me and repeat his request. He imagined that I had given in to his requests.

Then I heated an iron piece and brought it close to him. He wailed out in a manner as a sick person would in pain. He was near to be scalded by the heated iron. I told him “May the criers cry over you as a mother cries over her burnt child. You wail of the iron which man has playfully made hot and wish to drag me into the fire, which the Powerful God has heated by His anger? You moan due to the suffering and I should not moan from the burning due to the anger of the Creator?”[76]

The Holy Qur’àn also, after threatening them with the sentence, “Woe unto the defrauders in measuring”, says:

أَلاَ يَظُنُّ أُولَئِكَ أَنَّهُمْ مَبْعُوثُونَ لِيَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ يَوْمَ يَقُومُ النَّاسُ لِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

“What! Think they not that they shall be raised. For a Mighty Day. On the day when men shall stand before the Lord of the worlds?”[77]

From these verses, it can be clearly understood that the belief in Resurrection refrains man from overcharging and other illegal economic actions. Perhaps the reason that the Holy Qur’àn mentions the name of the overchargers and threatens them, could be that one of the important economic problems and offences during the time of the revelation of the Holy Qur’àn and also throughout the eras, was and is, overcharging.

Anyway, one of the most important results and effects of the belief of Resurrection, is moderation in the consumption, and non-performance of treachery and offence in the way of acquisition of income and also non-destruction of the economic resources and the environment.

6. Steadfastness in Jihad and the battlefield

One of the other most important effects of the belief in Resurrection is steadfastness in the battlefield and perseverance on the path of Truth. This is because, one not having faith in life after death, when confronted by an adversary, does not have the stimulus for being steadfast and at times being killed. As a result, he is always in a state of fear, hesitation and disturbance and at an opportune time shall readily take to flight.

Such a person shall not only not show steadfastness in the battle-field, but also, during his entire life, whenever he encounters any obstacle in the course of a divine or human objective, he shall change his course and altogether deviate from his path, objective and ideas. But one who believes in the life after death and considers it to be better, wider and more perfect, in the battle-field, not only does he not choose flight, but even fear does not overcome him. He believes in the Holy Qur’àn, which mentions the final outcome of a soldier of a religious war and knows that eventually, he would either be victorious, or attain martyrdom and eternal happiness. The Holy Qur’àn mentions the final outcome of a soldier fighting for truth as:

قُلْ هَلْ تَتَربَّصُونَ بِنَا إِلاَ إِحْدَى الْحُسْنَيَيْنِ وَنَحْنُ نَتَرَبَّصُ بِكُمْ أَنْ يُصِيبَكُمْ اللَّهُ بِعَذَابٍ مِنْ عِنْدِهِ أَوْ بِأَيْدِينَا فَتَرَبَّصُوا إِنَّا مَعَكُمْ مُتَرَبِّصُونَ

“Say: Do you wait for us but one of two most excellent things? And we wait for you that Allàh will afflict you with punishment from Himself or by our hands. So wait; we too will wait with you.”[78]

In short, the belief in the life after death is the cause for steadfastness, perseverance and incessant strivations in the battlefield and also during the entire life of a person and in all occasions which demand strife and struggle. The Holy Qur’àn while mentioning the incident of a group from the Bani Israel who were under the command of Hazrat Saul (Talut) when embarking on a war with Goliath (Jalut) explains beautifully and subtly the mentality and the characteristics of those accompanying Hazrat Saul and the part played by the belief and the lack of belief in Resurrection saying:

فَلَمَّا فَصَلَ طَالُوتُ بِالْجُنُودِ قَالَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مُبْتَلِيكُمْ بِنَهَرٍ فَمَنْ شَرِبَ مِنْهُ فَلَيْسَ مِنِّي وَمَنْ لَمْ يَطْعَمْهُ فَإِنَّهُ مِنِّي إِلاَ مَنْ اغْتَرَفَ غُرْفَةً بِيَدِهِ فَشَرِبُوا مِنْهُ إِلاَّ قَلِيلًا مِنْهُمْ فَلَمَّا جَاوَزَهُ هُوَ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ قَالُوا لاَ طَاقَةَ لَنَا الْيَوْمَ بِجَالُوتَ وَجُنُودِهِ قَالَ الَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُمْ مُلاَقُو اللَّهِ كَمْ مِنْ فِئَةٍ قَلِيلَةٍ غَلَبَتْ فِئَةً كَثِيرَةً بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ وَاللَّهُ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ وَلَمَّا بَرَزُوا لِجَالُوتَ وَجُنُودِهِ قَالُوا رَبَّنَا أَفْرِغْ عَلَيْنَا صَبْرًا وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَنَا وَانْصُرْنَا عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْكَافِرِينَ فَهَزَمُوهُمْ بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ وَقَتَلَ دَاوُودُ جَالُوتَ وَآتَاهُ اللَّهُ الْمُلْكَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَعَلَّمَهُ مِمَّا يَشَاءُ وَلَوْلاَ دَفْعُ اللَّهِ النَّاسَ بَعْضَهُمْ بِبَعْضٍ لَفَسَدَتْ الْأَرْضُ وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ ذُو فَضْلٍ عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ

“So when Talut departed with the forces, he said: Surely Allàh will try you with a river; Whoever then drinks from it, he is not of me, and whoever does not taste of it, he is surely of me, except he who takes with his hand as much of it as fills the hand; but with the exception of a few of them they drank from it. So when he had crossed it, he and those who believed with him, they said: We have today no power against Jalut and his forces. Those who were sure that they would meet their Lord said; How often has a small party vanquished a numerous host by Allàh’s permission and Allàh is with the patient. And when they went out against Jalut and his forces they said: Our Lord pour down upon us patience, and make our steps firm and assist us against the unbelieving people. So they put them to flight by Allàh’s permission. And Dawood slew Jalut...”[79]

The faith and belief in resurrection and life after death, made the Muslims and the soldiers at the time of the advent of Islam so much desirous of martyrdom that they did not in the least fear death and without any fear, alarm or disturbance of mind, they would bravely rush into the ranks of their enemies. This unbelievable morale and bravery was a cause for astonishment and perplexity for the unbelievers. As a result, the hypocrites, for justifying their fearfulness and the fearlessness of the real soldiers of Islam, said:

إِذْ يَقُولُ الْمُنَافِقُونَ وَالَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرَضٌ غَرَّ هَؤُلَاءِ دِينُهُمْ…

“And when the hypocrites and those whom in their hearts is a disease said amongst themselves: Their religion has beguiled them.”[80]

The purport of the hypocrites from the above sentence was that the real soldiers and Muslims have been deceived by the faith in the resurrection and are warring, with manifest bravery and valor, for the purpose of the meeting their Lord.

It is interesting to know that during the Revolution and especially in the 8 years of the Holy Defense, we ourselves were witness to such morale and bravery that no justification other than the love for martyrdom, exists for it. And more interesting, the enemies and those weak in faith also made the same judgement as that made by the hypocrites of the era of the advent of Islam, that “these adolescents and youths have been deceived.”

Nevertheless, in spite of the fact that the effects of the belief in the resurrection are exhaustive, we shall content ourselves with these few examples, with the hope that we ourselves be among the true believers of the day of resurrection and also with the hope that Allàh, in every state and circumstance, especially on that Day, be our Helper.

Was-salaam.

Chapter 9: Bibliography

1. The Holy Qur’àn

2. Nahjul Balàghah - Research: Subhi Sàleh, First Edition, Nashr Dàr Al-°ijrah

3. A group of writers under the supervision of Makàrim Shiràzi, Tafsir-e- Namuneh, Eleventh Edition, Dàr Al-Kitàb Al-Islàmiyah, 1372

4. Jawàdi Amu-li, Abdullàh, Deh Maqàleh Piràmu-n Mabda' wa Ma'àd, First Edition, Inteshàràt Farhangi Raja

5. °usaini Tehràni, Syed Muh^ammad °usain, Ma'ad Shanàsi, Inteshàràt °ekmat

6. Howaizi, Juma'h Al-A'rusi, Tafsir Nu-r At-Thaqalain, Fourth Edition, Qum, Inteshàràt Ismailiyàn, 1374

7. Khorramshàhi, Bahà Ad-Din, Qur’àn Pazhohi, First Edition

8. Subhàni, Ja'far, Manshu-re Jàvid (Vol. 9), Inteshàràt Mu’assaseh Sayyed As-Shohadà, 1374

9. Saifi, ‘Ali Akbar, Burhan Qate' Piràmu-n Qiyàmat, First Edition, Inteshàràt Daftare Tablighate Islàmi, 1365

10. Shafi'i Kodkoni, Doctor Muh^ammad Re¤a, Guzide Ghazaliyàt Shams, Seventh Edition, Tehràn, Inteshàràt Shirkat Sahàmi Kitàbe Jaibi, 1367

11. Saduq, Ibn Babwaih As-Sadu-q, Muh^ammad ibn ‘Ali ibn Al-°usain, Ma'ani Al-Akhbàr, First Edition, Inteshàràt Jàme' Mudarrasin, 1361

12. Tahiri, °abibullàh, Sairi Dar Jahàn Pas az Marg, Second Edition, Daftare Inteshàràte Islàmi, 1376

13. Tabà§abà’i, Muh^ammad °usain, Al-Mizàn Fi Tafsir Al-Qur’àn, Fourth Edition, Dar Al-Kutub Al-Islàmiyah. 1362

14. Tabà§abà’i, Muh^ammad °usain, Rasàil Al-Tauhidiyah, Edition - °ekmat, Publisher - Bunyad 'Ilmi wa Fikr Adliyah

15. Falsafi, Muh^ammad Taqi, Ma'ad Az Nazre Ru-h wa Jism, Fifth Edition, Offset - Marwi, 1360

16. Qirà'ati , Muhsin, Ma'ad, Muassaseh Dar Rah-e-°aq, 1373

17. Qurbani, Zain Al-Abedin, Be Suey Jahane Abadi, Second Edition, Muassaseh Matbuaati Tabatabai, 1387 A.H.

18. Peterson, Michael, and others, ‘Aql wa I'teqàde Dini, Translation – Ah^mad Naràqi and Ibràhim Sultàni, First Edition, Tehràn. Publisher - Tarhe Nu-

19. Majlisi, Muh^ammad Bàqir, Bihàr Al-Anwàr (Vol. 8, 70,73) Second Edition, Inteshàràte Islàmiyah

20. MiSbàh Yazdi, Muh^ammad Taqi, Ma'arife Qur’àn, Muassasah Dar Rah-e-°aq, 1373

21. Mutahhari, Murta¤a, Zindagie Jàved Ya Hayàte Ukhrawi, Inteshàràte Sadra, 1360

22. Mazàhiri, °usain, Ma’ad Dar Qur’àn

23. Shiràzi Makàrim and a group of writers, Payàm-e-Qur’àn (Vol. 5,6), 4th Edition, Qum, Madresah Amir Al-Mu’minin, 1374

24. Maulavi, Jalal Ad-Din Muh^ammad, Mathnavi Ma'nvi, Corrected by - Reynold Nicholson, First Edition, Tehràn, Inteshàràte Quqnu-s, 1376

Notes

[1] Ya Sin (36):81

[2] Isra (17):51

[3] Yà Sin (36):78-79

[4]حكم المثال في ما يجوز و ما لا يجوز واحد

[5]It is apparent that, these words or terminologies, possess meanings, with respect to us, the finite creations and humans but are devoid of any meaning or concept with respect to Allàh, the Infinite. Hazrat ‘Ali (‘a) referring to this fact that Allàh was not in need of any reflection or experience for creating his creations says :“Allàh created the things and the creations and started without reflecting or investigating or seeking benefit from experience.” Nahjul Balaghah, Speech. No. 1

[6] Fàtir (35):9

[7] Qiyàmat (75):37-40

[8] Yà Sin (36):78-80

[9] Extract from Payàm-e-Quràn, Vol. 5, Pg. 194

[10] Qiyamat (75):3-5

[11] Naml (27):67-68

[56] Sajdah (32):11

[57]Zariyat (51):56

Of course, in our traditions, this worship has been compared to recognition of Allàh, because worship with awareness is a consequence of recognition

[58] Mulk (67):2

[59] Kahf (18):110.

[60]Baqarah (2):156

[61]Sajdah (32):11

60 Ma’anil Akhbàr, Pg. 289

[62] Ma'anil Akhbàr, Pg. 289

[63] Ma'anil Akhbar, Pg. 289

[64] Ma'anil Akhbàr, Pg. 290

[65] Ma'anil Akhbar, Pg. 289

[71] Muh^ammad Taqi Falsafi, Ma'ad az Nazar Rùh wa Jism, Vol. 1, Pg., 24.

[72] Nahjul Balàghah, Short sayings, Wisdom 138

[73] Ma'un (107):1-3

[74] Muddassir (74):43-46

[75]Nahjul Balàghah, Subhi Saleh, Letter No, 41

[76] Nahjul Balàghah, Subhi Saleh, Sermon No. 224. Translation by Doctor Syed Ja’far Shahidi.

[77] Mutaffifeen (83):4-6

[78] Taubah (9):52

[79] Baqarah (2):249-251

[80] Anfàl (8):49

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