Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

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Book Review: Whose Justice? Which Rationality? by AlasdairMacIntyre

Authors(s): Dr. MuhammadLegenhausen

Journal: Vol.14, N.2

Publisher(s):Ahlul Bayt World Assembly

www.alhassanain.org/english

One of the most important issues in Islamic social and political thought since the nineteenth century has been the confrontation of traditional Muslim societies with European modernism, and one of the most important facets of modernism about which Muslim thinkers are concerned is that of political liberalism.MacIntyre's writings are interesting in this context because, like many Muslims, he is very strongly opposed to many aspects of modernism and liberalism for what turn out to be ultimately religious reasons.

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Table of Contents

Book Review: Whose Justice? Which Rationality? by Alasdair MacIntyre 6

Introduction 6

After Virtue 9

Relativism 10

Liberalism 15

Religion 19

History 21

Notes 23

Book Review: Whose Justice? Which Rationality? by AlasdairMacIntyre

University of Notre Dame Press, 1988, 410 pp, index.

Introduction

This is an important book, a book with which Muslims, in particular, need to become acquainted. The author,

AlasdairMacIntyre , is one of the most profound and most controversial moralists and social thinkers of our time.

The book,Whose Justice? Which Rationality? Is not an easy work it requires some familiarity with various details of Western culture, in particular its moral and political philosophies.

So, rather than merely summarize the work, I will try to show why I think it is important for Muslim thinkers to read and criticize it. For thispurpose I begin with a general discussion of the work's importance in the context ofMacIntyre's other writings, and then turn to two of the major topics discussed in the work, relativism and liberalism. Finally, I offer some humble criticisms of my own, and suggestions for further research.

Of all those who have stood against the currents of modernism, AlasdairMacIntyre stands out as the philosopher who has offered the most profound critique. HisAfter Virtue , which was first published in 1981, sent shock waves through the Western intellectual world.1 He committed what for many was an unforgivable sin whenheclaimed that the project of the Enlightenment period of European thought was a failure.

This rejection of modernist thinking was focused upon moral philosophy, but it attracted the attention of a readership much wider than what could be expected for a book in ethics.

There were even articles in the popular press about the revival of Aristotelian thought initiated byMacIntyre's work, and in the article on the history of twentieth century Anglo-American Ethics in the Encyclopedia of Ethics, AlanDonagan predicts thatMacIntyre's attention to Thomistic thought will influence the philosophical work to be done in the Twenty first century.2

MacIntyre's work has also sparked controversy among political theorists and social critics, as well as professional philosophers.3 Conferences have been convened to discuss his ideas, critical studies of his work have been compiled, and several of his books and articles have been translated into foreign languages.

In the field of ethics,MacIntyre has spawned a revival of interest in Aristotelian ethics with such force that it is now generally recognized as a serious rival to the two major strands of moral philosophy that have been dominant in the West since the Enlightenment utilitarianism and Kantianism. Numerous books and articles have been written since the publication ofAfter Virtue proclaiming the advantages of an Aristotelian virtue ethics over utilitarian consequentialism and Kantian deontology.

In political theory, there has been a steady stream of writings in which liberalism is defended againstMacIntyre’s criticisms, or those criticisms are elaborated, often in the form of a communitarian theory whichMacIntyre himself has repudiated.4

In religious thought,MacIntyre's work has prompted a renewed interest in Neo-Thomism, especially as it is related to ethics and social political thought.

MacIntyre's emphasis on the importance of history has also led to heated discussions in which he has often been accused of being a relativist. It was largely in response to this sort of misunderstanding which followed the publication ofAfter Virtue thatMacIntyre was motivated to write the sequel,Whose Justice? Which Rationality?

MacIntyre's rejections of historicism and relativism in this latter work have also contributed to the depth of the discussions of these issues.

So, one reason for readingMacIntyre is because his work has been tremendously influential, even among those who disagree with his positions. Another reason would be interest in the topics he discusses: history, politics, ethics, religion, epistemology, philosophy in general and the relations among them. For Muslims, however, there are additional reasons to readMacIntyre .

One of the most important issues in Islamic social and political thought since the nineteenth century has been the confrontation of traditional Muslim societies with European modernism, and one of the most important facets of modernism about which Muslim thinkers are concerned is that of political liberalism. Muslims who argue that liberal ideals and institutions are compatible with Islam are usually classified as modernists.

At the other extreme are those who would claim that liberal and Islamic thought agree on nothing. The vast majority of Muslim intellectuals and scholars, however, fall somewhere between these extremes. The interesting discussion in contemporary Muslim social thought is not over whether modernists or conservatives hold a more defensible position, but what aspects of liberal thought may be accommodated and what aspects must be rejected.

MacIntyre's writings are interesting in this context because, like many Muslims, he is very strongly opposed to many aspects of modernism and liberalism for what turn out to be ultimately religious reasons. Furthermore, the philosophical perspective he seeks to defend, a form of Neo Thomism with a strong emphasis on Aristotle, is more similar to the philosophical perspective of traditional Islamic thought than are any of the other major tendencies to be found among contemporary Western philosophers.

Of course, there remain important differences between the attitudes of Muslims and those expressed byMacIntyre , to be discussed below, but regardless of our differences, the thought of the most profound critic of modernism and liberalism in the West should be of great interest to those who feel a need to resist the imposition of modernist and liberal thought on Muslim societies, such as those inspired by the warnings of the Grand Leader of the Islamic Revolution against the `cultural invasion.'

Muslim liberals who await a repetition of the European Enlightenment in Islamic culture would also be well advised to readMacIntyre , who has declared the Enlightenment project to be a failure and ultimately incoherent.

Perhaps if Muslim modernists would readMacIntyre they would become more critical of the claims made on behalf of liberalism, and would come to recognize the need to examine the intellectual history of their own traditions, as well as those of the West, to find the way forward. PerhapsMacIntyre's books can serve as a kind of vaccination against the infatuation with Western culture which Persians callgharbzadigi .

After Virtue

The book which initially provoked the great storm of controversy wasAfter Virtue , and in order to understand the true significance ofWhose Justice? Which Rationality? One must understand something about the earlier work.

After Virtue begins with the disquieting suggestion that moral discourse in the West has lost its meaning, that it serves as a disguise for the expression of preferences, attempts to gain power, emotionsandattitudes , but that it has ceased to have any relation to what is truly good or right.

MacIntyre pins responsibility for the collapse of Western ethics on the Enlightenment. Much of the book goes on to criticize various aspect of Enlightenment thought in Hume, Kant, the Utilitarian’s, theemotivists , and in contemporary liberal political philosophy, especially as elaborated by John Rawls.5

MacIntyre sees only two ways to pass beyond the errors of modernism and liberalism: either we must accept a Nietzschean nihilism or we must return to an Aristotelian ethics. However, the Aristotelian alternative is not a simple return to Greek or medieval systems of thought. For the Enlightenment criticisms of scholasticism to be successfully answered, the return must be to a reformed Aristotelianism consonant with modern science.

This means that the telos or end of man is not to be understood as determined by biology, rather it is to be fathomed by reflection on history, and the human practices and traditions that have evolved over the course of history. The second half ofAfter Virtue consists inMacIntyre's elaboration of this historically grounded Aristotelianism and its development as a theory of the virtues.

Relativism

Like the Nietzschean critics of the arrogance of the Enlightenment,MacIntyre accepts that there is no absolute standpoint from which we can arrive at absolute moral truths. Each of us must view the world from his own position in history and society. It is this admission that led many critics ofAfter Virtue to accuse him of relativism or historicism, and it is largely in response to this criticism thatWhose Justice? Which Rationality? Was written.

Unlike the Nietzscheans, or genealogists asMacIntyre refers6 to thoseoften called post- modernists,MacIntyre does not accept the claim that because we are bound to our finite perspectives conditioned by history and social position, we are barred from certainty or absolute truth.

Rather, he holds that man has the ability to understand rival perspectives even when one cannot be translated into the idiom of the other. On the basis of this understanding, rational evaluation and judgment can be made with regard to the strengths and weaknesses of the rival world views and ideologies.

MacIntyre extends this discussion inWhose Justice? Which Rationality? Beyond ethics, which was the focus of his attention inAfter Virtue , to the very principles of rationality, thus bringing the insights of his ethical thought to bear on epistemology.

There are two major themes developed in Whose Justice? WhichRationality?: first, there is a continuation of the critique of liberalism found inAfter Virtue coupled with an affirmation of a religious perspective and second, there is a rejection of relativism coupled with an insistence on the significance of historical considerations for the adjudication of disputes across traditions.

When two traditions of thought are so different that what is considered self-evident or obvious in one tradition is considered dubious or incomprehensible in the other, the very principles of reason come under question. In contemporary Western thought, what are often considered to be principles of reason are those which have proven indispensable to the natural sciences and mathematics.

If one wants to judge whether this view of rationality is correct or that, for example, found in the works of Muslim philosophers, one must be very careful to avoid begging the question by using the very principles in one's evaluation that are under dispute. Relativists have considered such controversies to be irresolvable.

They claim that we are stuck inside our own world views, unable to make judgments on any of them.MacIntyre distinguishes two forms of relativism, which he terms relativist andperspectivalist . The relativist claims that there can be no rationality as such, but only rationality relative to the standards of some particular tradition.

Theperspectivalist claims that the central beliefs of a tradition are not to be considered as true or false, but as providing different, complementary perspectives for envisaging the realities about which they speak to us.MacIntyre argues that both the relativist and theperspectivalist are wrong. They are wrong because they fail to admit the absolute timeless character of the truth, and would replace truth by what is often called warrantedassertibility .

Instead of truth, they hold that the best we can attain is the right or warrant to assert various statements in various circumstances. Macintyre’s solution to the problem of how to reach absolute truth from a historically limited position is that attention to history itself may reveal the superiority of one tradition over another with respect to a given topic.

To have passed through an epistemological crisis successfully enables the adherents of a tradition of enquiry to rewrite its history in a more insightful way and such a history of a particular tradition provides not only a way of identifying the continuities in virtue of which that tradition of enquiry has survived and flourished as one and the same tradition.

But also of identifying more accurately that structure of justification which underpins whatever claims to truth are made within it, claims which are more and other than claims to warranted assertibility.7 The concept of warrantedassertibility always has application only at some particular time and place in respect of standards then prevailing at some particular stage in the development of a tradition of enquiry.

And a claim that such and such iswarrantedly assertible always, therefore, has to make implicit or explicit references to such times and places. The concept of truth, however, is timeless.8

MacIntyre argues that since a tradition can fail to pull through an epistemological crisis on its own standards, the relativist is wrong if he thinks that each tradition must always vindicate itself.MacIntyre further argues that there are cases of cultural encounter in which one must come to admit the superiority of an alien culture in some regard, because it explains why the crisis occurred and does not suffer from the same defects present in one's own culture.

It is in this way that the people of Rome could come to accept Christianity, and the people of Iran, Islam.Eachpeople saw that their own traditions had reached a point of crisis, a point at which further progress could only be made by the adoption of a new religion. The relativist claims that there is no way in which a tradition can enter into rational debate with another, “But if this were so, then there could be no good reason to give one's allegiance to the standpoint of any one tradition rather to that of any other.9

To the contrary,MacIntyre claims that the question of which tradition to which one is to give one's allegiance is far from arbitrary, and the intellectual struggle of all those who have changed their minds about the correctness of an intellectual or spirit” tradition is more than ample evidence that the question, “Which side are you on?” is one which requires rational evaluation, however much other factors may come into play.

PerhapsMacIntyre is reflecting here on his own brief membership in the Communist Party and subsequent rejection of Marxism and conversion to Catholicism. One who adopts an intellectual position must always ask himself if it can adequately respond to criticism, criticism which can mount to produce what may be termed an epistemological crisis. “It is in respect of their adequacy or inadequacy in their responses to epistemological crises that traditions are vindicated or fail to be vindicated.”10

MacIntyre also argues that the position of the relativist is self-defeating. The relativist pretends to issue his challenge from a neutral ground where different traditions may be compared and truth may be proclaimed relative to each of them. But this is as much a claim to absolute truth as any other.

This argument and others similar to it which are to be found inWhose Justice? Which Rationality? Have provoked penetrating criticism. John Haldane has argued that one need not assume that there is some neutral ground from which to issue the relativist claim.11 Within an intellectual tradition, one may observe that there are other incommensurable traditions and decide that relativism best explains this.

MacIntyre accepts Haldane's point, admitting that the case against relativism inWhose Justice? Which Rationality? Needs to be amended at the same time, 'he points out that within every major intellectual tradition, various claims are presented about morals and rationality as absolutely true. The problem is then raised as to how this anti-relativistic commitment to truth can coexist with the recognition of rival intellectual traditions with their different standards of rationality and morality.

MacIntyre's solution is that common standards are to be sought, even where none exist, by dialectical interchange between the rival viewpoints. One tradition of inquiry will be in a position to uphold the truth of its claims against rivals in which those claims are not recognized when it develops the intellectual apparatus to explain the rival viewpoint, and why the disagreement has arisen, and why the rival is incorrect.

In other words, through intellectual conflict between traditions, a tradition can vindicate itself only when it can enrich its own conceptual resources sufficiently to explain the errors of its rivals. This kind of conflict and progress is only possible when there is a commitment to finding the truth.

With relativism there can be no intellectual advancement, because there is no attempt made to adjudicate among different theoretical viewpoints, and without the attempt to reach a more comprehensive position in which truth and falsity can be distinguished, traditions cannot evolve rationally, nor can they maintain their previous truth claims.

MacIntyre sees relativism as tempting those who despair of intellectual advancement, and for the sake of intellectual advancement, he sees it as a temptation that must be avoided.

MacIntyre dismisses the perspectivist position with the rebuff, “theirs is not so much a conclusion about truth as exclusion from it and thereby from rational debate.”12 Theperspectivalist , like the reductive religious pluralist, states that rival traditions provide different views of the same reality, and none can be considered absolutely true or false.

MacIntyre objects that the traditions really do conflict with one another, and the fact that they are rivals itself bears testimony to their substantive disagreements over what is true and false. The claim that there is no ultimate truth of the matter is really just a way of avoiding the work that needs to be done in order to determine exactly where and in what respects in each of the rival traditions.

The truth lies, and when the differences in the rivals is so deep that the very principles of rationality are called into question, the rivalry produces an epistemological crisis, but even here, the need and duty to provide a rational evaluation of the rivals remains.

MacIntyre contends that epistemological crisis occurs when different traditions with different languages confront one another. Those who learn to think in both languages come to the understanding that there are things in one language for which the other does not have the expressive resources, and thereby they discover a flaw in the deficient tradition.

In this way he shows how rational evaluation of different traditions is possible, although this evaluation itself must begin from within a specific tradition. His emphasis on the fact that the starting point of our inquiry is tradition-bound is comparable to a common theme among writers in the hermeneutic tradition, such as Gadamer.

The fantasy of universal standards of reason to which all rational beings must submit by virtue of being rational has been abandoned. This separatesMacIntyre from traditional writers, as Thomas McCarthy has observed,Even arguments like AlasdairMacIntyre's for the superiority of premodern traditions are not themselves traditional arguments but the traditionalistic arguments ofhyperreflexive modems.13

What distinguishesMacIntyre from others who share his sensitivity to context dependency is his robust sense of the truth. The incommensurability of competing traditions, according toMacIntyre , is not as absolute as some have imagined.

Logic retains authority, even if its principles are disputed, and what is sought is truth, and although he rejects correspondence theories of truth that would pair judgments to facts (because he considers the concept of fact to be an invention of seventeenth-century European thought), the theory of truth to which he gives his allegiance is still a correspondence theory.14

In response to a sympathetic comparison between his position and views current among certain philosophers of science,MacIntyre objects.

I had hoped that what I had said about truth in enquiry in Chapter 18 ofWhose Justice? Which Rationality? Would have made it adequately clear that I regard any attempt to eliminate the notion of truth from that of enquiry as bound to fail. It is in part for this reason that I regard the Nietzschean tradition as always in danger of lapsing into fatal incoherence.15

MacIntyre's solution to the problem of relativism is especially important for Muslims because it offers a way to break the deadlock between Muslim intellectuals who, over impressed with the intellectual traditions of the West, deny that Islam asserts any absolute truths that man is capable of grasping, and those `Mama' who insist on theself evidence of the fundamental troths of their own traditions.

Without seeing that such claims are ineffective against rival systems of thought in which there are profound

differences about what, if anything is to be considered self-evident. The solutionMacIntyre offers is one in which there is hope that the absolute truths of Islam can be rationally defended against opponents as certain, butonlyby developing the Islamic intellectual traditions to the point that they are able to explain the successes as well as the failures of their rivals.

Liberalism

MacIntyre's disappointment with liberalism is more extensive and more profound than that of other Western critics more extensive because it applies to the political theories of both the left and the right, more profound because it traces the failings of liberalism to its origins in the Enlightenment, and traces the injustice of the modern nation-state to its very essence.

As RonaldBeiner observes what makesMacIntyre unique is that for him the problem is not merely individualism or liberalism but modernity as such.Therefore he includes even Marxism within the scope of his critique.16

In some ways,MacIntyre's rejection of liberalism is similar to his rejection of relativism. Just as the relativist contradicts himself if he would proclaim the absolute truth of the proposition that there are no absolute truths, the liberal contradicts himself by proclaiming neutrality between all ideologies, when, in fact, liberalism itself is an ideology.

Liberalism is an intellectual tradition as ideological as any other, and it allows for scholarly inquiry only after initiation into accepted modes of appraisal which deny the worth of serious challenges to liberalism itself.

Just as Haldane argued that the relativist need not claim that relativism is absolutely true, independent of any tradition, defenders of liberalism have responded toMacIntyre's criticism of liberalism by admitting that liberalism is an ideology, that it is not absolutely neutral.17

Whose Justice? Which Rationality? MacIntyre responds that liberalism is a defective and ultimately incoherent ideology. His insight into the defects of liberalism is one which was first expressed in his first book, Marxism an Interpretation, which was written when he was onlytwenty three years old.

In the revised edition of this workMacIntyre emphasizes the need for an ideology on the scale of Christianity or Marxism that can offer an interpretation of human existence by means of which people can situate themselves in the world and direct their actions to ends that transcend their own immediate situations. He argues that liberalism is an ideology that cannot function effectively as such.

The axis about which the failure of liberalism turns is its assertion of the fact/value gap.18 Liberalism fails as an ideology because it does not permit one to discover one's own identity and appropriate ends by gaining knowledge of nature and society, or by understanding human existence in relation to al-Haqq, the Exalted.

In liberalism, all values are personal except the value of respecting personal values, and this is simply not sufficient to orient one's life. Modernism inhibits orientation because from the point of view of modern liberalism, religious traditions seem irrational.

The standards of rationality to which the religious traditions of enquiry appeal are so different from those which dominate the natural and social sciences in the West today that traditional and modernist ways of thinking have become nearly mutually incomprehensible.

Nevertheless, a tradition may come to be rationally accepted by those who live within the horizons of Western liberal culture once they come to recognize themselves as imprisoned by a set of beliefs which lack justification in precisely the same way and to the same extent as do the positions which they reject but also to understand themselves as hitherto deprived of what tradition affords, as persons in part constituted as what they are up to this point by an absence, by what is from the standpoint of traditions an impoverishment.19

The impoverishment of whichMacIntyre speaks here is one which Islam excels at eradicating. What the individual posited by liberal theory lacks is an effective ideology to provide understanding and purpose on the basis of which communities can be established.

Modern liberal thinkers imagine themselves to be independent, butMacIntyre charges that from an Aristotelian point of view they have refused to learn or have been unable to learn that “one cannot think for oneself if one thinks entirely by oneself,” and that it is only by participation in rational practice-based community that one becomes truly rational.

MacIntyre admits that this kind of recognition amounts to a sort of conversion. Individuals at the point of conversion will invite a tradition of enquiry to furnish them with a kind ofself knowledge which they have not as yet possessed by first providing them with an awareness of the specific character of their own incoherence and then accounting for the particular character of this incoherence by its metaphysical, moral, and political scheme of classification and explanation.

The catalogs of virtues and vices, the norms of conformity and deviance, the accounts of educational success and failure, the narratives of possible types of human life which each tradition has elaborated in its own terms, all the invite the individual educated into self-knowledge of his or her own incoherence to acknowledge in which of these rival modes of moral understanding he or she finds him or herself most adequately explained and accounted for.20

Not only doesMacIntvre explain how someone in a liberal society may evolve to the point of being able to convert to a religious tradition, his astute observations regarding the logic of liberal thought also helps to illuminate the West's failure to understand the current Islamic movement and its hostility towards it. The liberal's moral analysis is one which begins by abstracting the claims to be debated from their contexts in tradition, and then proceeds with an evaluation of rational justifiability which is supposed to convince any rational person.

The liberal fantasy of universal progress implies that the most rational standards are those which dominate the most recent trends of its own thought. To the extent that Muslims are unwilling to adopt the standards of modernism, they are thought to be irrational. Islamic intellectual traditions are taken to be more or less the same as what the West progressed beyond when it abandoned medieval scholasticism.

The caricature of Islam drawn by the liberal West requires neglect of the particularities of character, history, and circumstance. This makes it impossible to engage in the kind of rational dialogue which could move through argumentative evaluation to the rational acceptance or rejection of a tradition. Thus, the kind of debate which is enforced in the public forums of enquiry in modern liberal culture for the most part effectively precludes the voices of tradition outside liberalism from being heard.

Materialistic consumerism is a direct result of the liberal's pretense of neutrality. Since all the citizens of the liberal state are supposed to be free to pursue their own happiness, and since despite their differences about what ultimate happiness is, the vast majority seem to be in agreement on the idea that its pursuit is aided by ever increasing acquisition and consumption, which goes by the euphemism of economic development,

It becomes nearly self-evident that it is in the national interests of the liberal state to pursue economic development.21 MacIntyre explains that those who adhere to the standpoint dominant in peculiarly modern societies recognize that acquisitiveness is a character trait indispensable to continuous and limitless economic growth, and one of their central beliefs is that continuous and limitless economic growth is a fundamental good.

That a systematically lower standard of living ought to be preferred to a systematically higher standard of living is a thought incompatible with either the economics or the politics of peculiarly modem societies. But a community which was guided by Aristotelian norms would not only have to view acquisitiveness as a vice but would have to set strict limits to growth insofar as that is necessary to preserve or enhance a distribution of goods according to desert.22

From the Aristotelian point of view advocated byMacIntyre , the problem with the modern liberal state goes way beyond its worldliness. There is no way,MacIntyre insists, for those who rule in a modern state to avoid doing injustice.

Modern nation states which masquerade as embodiments of community are always to be resisted. The modem nation state, in whatever guise, is a dangerous and unmanageable institution, presenting itself on the one hand as a bureaucratic supplier of goods and services, which is always about to, but never actually does, give its clients value for money, and on the other as a repository of sacred values, which from time to time invites one to lay down one's life on its behalf it is like being asked to die for the telephone company. To empower even the liberal state as a bearer of values always imperils those values.23

His criticism of the liberal state is so harsh that it could be mistaken for a form of anarchism was it not for the fact that he explicitly advises his readers to cooperate with the state by paying their taxes.

What sort of politics doesMacIntyre advocate?MacIntyre suggests that the focus of the political life of an Aristotelian of the sort he lauds should be “the family, the neighborhood, the workplace, the parish, and the school, or clinic, communities within which the needs of the hungry and the homeless can be met.”24

Are we then to leave the state to “the barbarians” mentioned at the close ofAfter Virtue ?25 And what are we to do about thehungey and homeless who live outside our parish? Is it not incumbent upon a religious society to take the reins of state power out of the hands of those who are driving it to ruin, even if the nation-state of its own momentum will not readily change course?

A more realistic political Aristotelianism than the one advocated byMacIntyre would not shun the need to shoulder the burden of the modern state in full recognition of its deficiencies and in the hope that it could be transformed into something better.MacIntyre does not see this as a live option because he seems to be thinking of Europe and the U.S.

Whereas the prospects for anything better than liberal government are unpromising, because the major alternative there to liberalism is nationalism, and nationalism easily degrades into fascist rage we have witnessed in the attempt to exterminate the Muslims of Bosnia. Within Muslim societies, however, there is an alternative to both nationalism and liberalism which is not taken seriously by Western theorists?

MacIntyre's retreat to the local takes the punch out of his critique of liberalism. Liberals do not oppose local associations with substantive ideologies, values and purposes. Liberal political theory is a theory ofgovernment , not of local voluntary associations. IfMacIntyre had announced at the start of his book that his quarrel with liberalism was over how local associations are to be organized, and not about government, it would not have attracted the attention it has.

Indeed, if one were to readWhose Justice? Which Rationality? from the start with the assumption that the

critique of liberalism was not to extend to liberal theories of government, much, of whatMacIntyre says would not make any sense. Consider the passage quoted above in which limits to economic growth are advocated.

What is at issue here is how whole societies conduct their economic affairs, and no matter how large and thriving the private sector of any society is, the role of governments in directing the economic affairs of the societies they rule is undeniable. So, whatMacIntyre is objecting to is the flaws of liberal governments and of liberal theories of how governments should conduct their affairs.

Here again,MacIntyre's work should be helpful for those engaged in the development of Islamic political theory. If we acceptMacIntyre's critique of the modern form of nation state, the creation of Islamicrepublics cannot be the ultimate goal of Islamic political activity, but only an intermediary stage in a development leading to more perfectly Islamic forms of governance, culminating in the governance of the Wali al-`Asr (ajtf ), may his emergence be hastened.

Religion

Muslims share a common cause with Western critics of liberalism, such asMacIntyre and others who have launched their criticisms from a religious standpoint. By examining thiswork it may even be discovered that this sort of criticism is more appropriate from an Islamic standpoint than from a Neo-Thomist one.

The alienation expressed byMacIntyre is a social one, but there are deeper forms of alienation, which from the religious point of view have their source in distance from God. The sort of communityMacIntyre seeks is one whose rival paradigms are those of the Christian Church and the Muslim ummah. But the source of the cohesion of these communities is their harmony with the divine order.

If the methods of evaluation of rival traditions as outlined byMacIntyre are to be employed to compare Christendom and the ummah, it will be necessary to examine the ways in which the intellectual traditions within the two communities have responded and continue to formulate responses to the challenge of liberal modernism.

For his own part,MacIntyre concludes that the Thomistic synthesis of Augustinian and Aristotelian thought has been confirmed in its encounter with other traditions. But the analysis he offers is not specific to the defense of Catholicism, but rather may be used to support various forms of traditional thought against the secular liberal scientism which prevails in the West.

Indeed, a major flaw in all ofMacIntyre's writings is that it fails to pay any attention to Islam at all. WhenMacIntyre compares competing traditions of liberal, Marxist and religious thought, the term religious can always be replaced by Christian without altering the intended meaning.26

Prior to his conversion to Neo-Thomism, which occurredsome time between the writing ofAfter Virtue andwhose Justice? Which Rationality? MacIntyre could be scathingly critical of Christianity, even if, at the very same time, appreciative of its strengths.27

The weaknesses of Christianity to which he drew attention in his first book were its dogmatism and otherworldliness its inherent tendency to disown its own revolutionary vision, to circumscribe itself within the spiritual and to accommodate itself to the status quo, even if this meant tyranny Nothing inWhose Justice? Which Rationality? Explains how these criticisms are to be answered.

Islam, on the other hand, has not disowned its revolutionary vision, nor has it had an episode comparable to Galileo’s encounter with the Inquisition. This is not to deny that terrible injustices have been and continues to be perpetrated in the name of Islam, nor that fanatical intolerance has not marred doctrinal disputes among Muslims.

Nevertheless, it must be admitted that the dogmas accepted by Muslims have not prevented them from accepting the natural sciences or technology, nor from the adoption of Western social institutions when it has appeared (rightly or wrongly) rational to do so. It must also be admitted that the call for justice issued by Islam, particularly in its Shia version, retains its ability to inspire revolutionaryfervour .

The hope for a just society in this world has not been abandoned by Muslims. Because it began as a political no less than spiritual movement, Muslims cannot deny that Islam demands them to seek justice in the here and now. Because of the priority of the spiritual, however, Islam is able to provide the moral basis and orientation lacking in secular ideologies.

MacIntyre's failure to answer his own criticisms of Christianity have left at least one-Muslim reader with the impression that his work provides a better defense of Islam than it does for the Christianity he himself professes.

THE FIRST INFALLIBLE: THE PROPHET OF ALLAH THE MESSENGER OF ISLAM (S.W.A) "AND FORTY DISCOURSES" FROM HIM

THE FIRST INFALLIBLE PROPHET OF ISLAM(PBUH and His Family)

Name: Mohammad, Ahmed(P.B.U.L.T) Famous Title Apostle of Allah. Sub Title: AbulQasim.

Father & Mother: Abdullah, Amina

Time & Place of Birth: Dawn of Firday the 17th of Rabi ul .wal year 571 A.D (forty years before the mission of )rophet hood), in Mecca.

Time & place of Death & holy shrine.

Passed away on Monday 28th of the month of safar, the rear, 11 th Hijrah, In Medina at the age of 63 years. His Holy ;hrine, is situated besides the Prophet's mosque, in '1edina.

Life Duration Three Phases

1. Before Prophet hood (40 years).

2. After Prophet hood in Mecca. (13 years)

3. Post migration from Mecca to Medina &. the 'foundation laying of Islamic state (approx 10 years).

اربعون حديثاًعن النبي الاکرم صلی الله عليه وآله و سلم

1- يا عِبادَ اللهِ أَنتُم کَالمَرضَی وَرَبُّ العالَمِينَ کَالطَّبيبِ، فَصَلاحُ المَرضی فيما يَعلَمُهُ الطَّبيبُ وَتَدبِيرُهُ بِهِ،لا فيما يَشتَهِيهِ المَريضُ وَيَقتَرِحُهُ، أَلا فَسَّلِّمُوا لِلّهِ أَمرَهُ تَکُونُوا مِنَ الفاِئزِين.(مجموعة ورّام ج 2 ص 117)

2- مَن اَصبَحَ لا يَهتَمُ بِاُمُورِ المُسلِمِينَ فَلَيسَ مِنهُم  وَمَن يَسمَع رَجُلاً يُنادِي يا لَلمُسلِمِينَ فَلَم يُجِبهُ فَلَيسَ بِمُسلِمٍ .(بحارالانوار ج 74 ص 339)

3- إِن النَّبِيَّ بَعَثَ سَرِيَّةً،فَلَمّا رَجَعُوا قالَ: مَرحَباً بِقُومِ قَضَوَُا الجِهادَ الأَصغَرَ وَ بَقِيَ عَلَيهِمُ الجِهادُ الأَکبَرُ فقيلَ: يا رَسُولَ اللهِ مَا الجِهادُ الأَکبَرُ؟ قالَ:جِهادُ النَّفسِ.(وسائل الشيعة ج 11 ص 122)

4- اِذا ظَهَرَت البِدَعُ في اُمَّتي فَليُظهِرِ العالِمُ عِلمَهُ فَمَن لَم يَفعَل فَعَلَيهِ لَعنَةُ اللهِ. (اصول کافی ج1 ص54)

FORTY DISCOURSES FROM HIM

1. Oh servants of Allah! you are like patients &. the lord of mortals is like a physician. So the rectitude &. wel being of the ailment of patients lies in the rule (formula) which the physician knows &. administers with that rule, not in that one which the patient desires. There fore, obey the commands of Allah so that you get to become among the attainers &. vicorious ones. (MAJMOO.A-WARRAM, VOL 2, P 117)

2. One who starts a morning in a condition that he does not make effort about the affairs of the muslims is not one of the muslims.

And a person who hears the voice of a man who calls the muslims to his help but he does not respond him, is not a muslim.  (BIHARUL ANWAR, VOL 74, P 339)

3. The Prophet of IslamfP.8.tI./fJ sent a group of muslims to the battle front against the enemies. When they returned to the court of Apostle of Allah he said to them ',Well done, bravo, the group who performed the small jehad (holy war) &. the big jehad has (yet) to be performed by them.' They said 'oh Prohet of Allah what is the great jehad?'

The Prophet replied, 'jehad &. war against the passions. (of ego).' (WASAIL U SHIA, VOL, P 122)

4. When the innovations &. heretical practices become evident in my ummah it is necessary for the scholar to make his knowledge manifested &. open (with regards to making the innovations public) so, curse of Allah be upon the scholar who does not do it.' (USOOL-E .KAFI, VOL, P 544)

5- أَلفُقَهاءُ أُمَناءُ الرُّسُلِ ما لَم يَدخُلوا في الدُّنيا، قيلَ يا رَسُولَ اللهِ : وَما دُخُولُهُم  فِي الدُّنيا؟ قالَ: اتّباعُ السُّلطانِ فَإذا فَعَلُوا ذلِکَ فَاحذَرُوهُم عَلی دينِکُم. کنز العمال،الحديث 28952  (اصول الکافی ج1 ص46)

6- اِنّي لا اَتَخَوَّفُ عَلی اُمَّتی مؤمِناً وَلا مشرِکاً، فَامَّا المُؤمِنُ فَيَحجُزُهُ اِيمانُهُ واَمّا المُشرِکُ فَيَقمَعُهُ کُفرُهُ، وَلکِن اَتَخَوَّفُ عَلَيکُم مُنافِقاً عَليمَ للّسانِ يَقُولُ مَا تَعرِفُونَ وَيَعمَلُ مَا تُنکرُونَ. ( بحارالانوار ج2 ص110)

7ـ اِذا کانَ يََومُ القِيامَةِ نادی مُنادٍ اَينَ الظَّلَمَةٌ وَاعَوانُهُم؟ مَن لاقَ لَهُم دَواةً، اَورَبَطَ لَهُم کِيساً، اَومَدَّ لَهُم مَدَّةَ قَلَمٍ،فَاحشُرُوهُم مَعَهُم.( بحارالانوار ج75 ص372)

8ـ فَوقَ کُلِّ بِرًّ بِرٌّ حَتَّی يُُقتَلَ الرَّجُلُ فی سَبيلِ اللهِ فِاِذا قُتِلَ فی سَبيلِ اللهِ عَزَّوجَلَّ فَلَيسَ فُوقَهُ بِرٌّ. ( بحارالانوار ج100 ص10)

9ـ شَرُّ النّاسِ مَن باعَ آخِرَتَهُ بِدُنياهُ، وَ شَّرٌّمِن ذلِکَ مَن باعَ آخِرَتَهُ بِدُنيا غَيرِهِ. ( بحارالانوار ج77 ص46)

10ـ مَن اَرضی سُلطاناً بِما يُُسخِطُ اللهَ خَرَجَ مِن دينِ اللهِ. (تحف العقول ص57)

11ـ مَن أَتی غَنِيّّاً فَتَضَعضَعَ لَهُ ذَهَبَ ثُلُثا دينِهِ. (تحف العقول ص8)

5. Jurspudents are the trustees of the Prophets (trust worthy & dependable representatives) till such time they have not entered the world (affairs)? one of those present asked ',what is their entery into the world (affairs)? The Prophet said in response to him, 'Following the king, so when they do that beware of them about your religion (gaurd your religion from them). (KANZAL AMAL AI Hadieth 28952, USULE KAFI, VOL, P 46)

6. I do not have the fear of neither the faithfull nor polytheist about my ummah. However, the faith of the faithfull refrains him from harming the

ummah, more over the infidility of the polytheist will become the cause of his abjectness & repression. But I am afraid about you (being harmed) from the glib tongued hypocrite. He utters by his tongue what you believe is good & practically he does what you consider bad (vices). (BIHARUL ANWAR. VOL 2, P 110) ,

7. When the resurrection day sets in, a herald (of Allah)

calls out, Where are the cruel ones, where are the friends of the cruel ones? And those who put a flake of cotton in their inkpots or tied up a bag for them or mended their pen. so, resurrect them all, together with the tyrrants.' (BIHARUL ANWAR, VOL 75. P .327)

8. There is a good deed above each good deed, to the extent that a man is slain on the way of Allah. so when he is slain on the way of Allah then there is no good deed above (better than) it. (BIHARUL ANWAR, VOL 100, P 10)

9. The worst of all men is the one who sells his here after (dooms day) for his world (life), & worse than him is the one who sells (bargains) his ressurection day for the world (benefits) of the others. (BIHARUL ANWAR, VOL 77, P 46)

10. The one who pleases a ruler with something which is the cause of Allah's fury has gone out of Allah's religion. (TUHFUL AQOOL, P 57) 11. One who comes to a rich man & shows humbleness to him (for the sake of his wealth has lost two third of his religion. (TUHFUL AQOOL, P 8)

12- أَمّا عَلامَةُ البارِّ فَعَشرَةٌ : يُحِبُّ  فِي اللهِ وَيُبغِضُ فِي اللهِ وَيُصاحِبُ فِي اللهِ وَيُفارِقُ فِي اللهِ وَيغضبُ فِي اللهِ. وَيَرضی في اللهِ وَيَعمَلُ لِلهِ، وَيَطلُبُ إِلَيهِ وَيَخشَعُ لِلهِ خائِفاً، مَخُوفاً،طاهِراً،مُخلِصاً، مُستَحيِياً،مُراقِباً، وَيُحسِنُ فِي اللهِ. (تحف العقول  ص21)

13- سَيَأتي زَمانٌ عَلی أُمَّتي لا يَعرِفُونَ العُلَماءَ إلاّ بِثَوٍب حَسَنٍ، وَلا يَعرِفُونَ القُرآنَ إلاّ بِصَوٍت حَسَنٍ، وَلا يَعبُدُونَ اللهَ إلاّ في شَهرِ رَمَضانَ.فَإذا کانَ کَذالِکَ سَلَّطَ اللهُ سُلطاناً لا عِلمَ لَهُ وَلَا حِلمَ لَهُ وَلا رَحمَ لَهُ. ( بحارالانوار ج22 ص454)

14- اِذا کانَ يَومُ القِيامَةِ وُزِنَ مِدادَ العُلَماءِ بِدِماءِ الشُّهَداءِ فَيَرجُحُ مِدادُ العُلَماءِ عَلی دِماءِ الشُّهَداءِ. (لثالی الاخبار ج2 ص272)

15- مَثَلُ اَهلِ بَيتي کَمَثَلِ سَفينَةِ نُوح مَن رَکِبَها نَجاوَمَن تَخَلَّفَ عَنها غَرِقَ. (جامع الصغير ج2 ص533 حديث8162)

16- مَلعُونٌ مَن اَلقی کَلَّهُ عَلَی الناسِ.

(تحف العقول37)

17- إِذا کانَ يَومُ القِيامَةِ لَم تَزِلَّ قَدَما عَبدٍ حَتّی يُسأَلَ عَن أَربَعٍ: عَن عُمرِهِ فِيمَ أَفناهُ.وَ عَن شَبابَهِ فِيم أَبلاهُ، وَعَمَّا اکتَسَبَهُ مِن اَينَ اکتَسَبَهُ وَفِيمَ أَنفَقَهُ. وَعَن حُبَّنَا اَهَلَ البَيتِ. (تحف العقول / ص56)

12. However, there are ten signs of the pious. I. He makes friend for the sake of Allah (pleasure). 2. He makes enemy for the Almighty Allah. 3. He enters companionship for Allah. 4. He gets seperated for Allah. 5. He becomes angry for the sake of Allah. 6. He gets happy for Allah. 7. He acts for the sake of lord. 8. He asks Allah for the fulfillment of his need. 9. He shows humility &. humbleness for Allah, where as, he possesses the virtues of fear from Almighty &. has sincerity modesty, vigilence &. carefulness. 10. He performs good deeds for Allah.

(TUHFUL AQOOL. P21)

I3.An age will come upon my ummah so that people will not recognise the scholar but those wearing beautiful dress, &' will not recognise the Quran but when recited in a melodous tone &. will not serve Allah except in the month of Ramadan. So when the condition of people will becomesuch, Allah will appoint &' set a ruler over them who shall not have knowledge, forbearance &. mercy. (BIHARUL ANWAR. VOL 22. P 454)

14. When the resurretion day will come, the ink of the pen of scholars will be weighed against the blood of martyres, so as a result of weighing the ink of the pen of scholars will get superiority over the bloods of the martyres. (LYALlAL EKHBAR. VOL 2. P 272)

I5. The example of my house hold (Hazrat zahraf.fA.) &. the twelve Imamas) is like that of the Noah'sfA..f) ship. Who so ever boards it will get rescued (salvation) &. the one who opposes the boarding of it, gets drowned. (JAMIASAGHIR VOL 2. P 533 Hadith, 8162)

16. Cursed is the one who puts the load of his life responsibilities upon the shoulders of the people. (TUHFUL AQOOk P37)

17. When the dooms day will come about, man will not move one step from his place till he is questioned about four things.

1. The way how he spent his life? 2. As to how did he wear out his youth? 3. About the wealth, as to where he got it from &' in what way he spent it? 4. And about the love of us the house hold of Prophet. (TUHFUL AQOOk P56)

18- قالَ شَمعُونُ : فَأَخبِرني عَن أَعلامِ الجاهِلِ، فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صَلَّی اللهُ عَلَيهِ وَالِهِ: إِن صَحبتَهُ عَنّاکَ، وإِن اعتَزَلتَهُ شَتَمَکَ، وَإِن أَعطاکَ مَنَّ عَلَيکَ،وَإِن أَعطَيتَهُ کَفَرَکَ، وَإِن أسرَرتَ إِلَيهِ خانَکَ وَإِن أَسَرَّ إِلَيکَ اتَّهَمَکَ وَإِنِ استَغنی بَطِرَ، وَکانَ فَظّاً غَليظاً وَإِنِ افتَقَرَ جَحَدَ نِعمَةَ اللهِ وَ لَم يَتَحَرَّج،وَ إِنِ فَرِحَ أَسرَفَ وَطَغی،وَإِن حَزِنَ أَيِسَ، وَإِن ضَحِکَ فَهَقَ، وَإِن بَکی خارَ،يَقَعُ فِي الأبرارِ، وَلا يُحِبُّ اللهَ وَلا يُراقِبُهُ، وَلا يَستَحيي مِن اللهِ وَلا يَذکُرُهُ، إِن أَرضَيتَهُ مَدَحَکَ،وَقالَ فيکَ مِنَ الحَسَنَةِ ما لَيسَ فيکَ،وَ إِن سَخِطَ عَلَيکَ ذَهَبَت مِدحَتُهُ، وَوَقَعَ فيکَ مِنَ السُّوءِ ما لَيسَ فيکَ، فَهذا مَجرَی الجاهِلِ. (تحف العقول ص18- 19)

19- قالَ النَّبِیَّ(صَلَی الله عَلَيهِ وَالِهِ) يا عَلِيُّ تُريدُ سِتَّ مِئَةِ اَلفِ شاةٍ اَوسِتَّ مِئَةِ اَلفِ دِينارٍ اَوستَّ مِئَةِ اَلفِ کَلِمَةٍ؟ قالَ يا رَسُولَ الله سِتَّ مِئةِ اَلفِ کَلِمَةٍ فَقالَ: اَجمَعُ سِتً مِئَةِ اَلفِ کَلِمَةٍ في سِتِّ کَلِماتٍ يَا عَلِیُّ:اِذا رَأَيتَ النّاسَ يَشتَغِلُونَ بِالفَضائِلِ فَاشتَغِل اَنتَ بِإتمامِ

الفَرائِضً،وَ اِذا رَأَيتَ النّاسَ يَشتَغِلُونَ بِعَمَلِ الدُّنيا فَاشتَغِل اَنتَ بِعَمَلِ الآخِرَةِ، وَ اِذا رَأَيتَ النّاسَ يَشتَغِلُونَ بِعُيُوبِ النّاسِ فَاشتَغِل اَنتَ بِعُيُوبِ نَفسِکَ، وَ اِذا رَأَيتَ النّاسَ يَشتَغِلُونَ بِتَزيينِ الدُّنياء فَاشتَغِل اَنتَ بِتَزيينِ الاخِرَةِ،وَ اِذا رَأَيتَ النّاسَ يَشتَغِلُونَ بِکَثرَةَ العَمَلِ فَاشتَغِل اَنتَ بِصَفوَةِ العَمَلِ، وَ اِذا رَأَيتَ النّاسَ يَتَوَسَّلُونَ بِالخَلقِ فَتَوَسَّل اَنتَ بِالخالِقِ. (المواعظ العددية،الباب6 الفصل4 الحديث1)

18. Shamoon (the grandson of Judah. one of the disciples of Essa (christ)(S.W.A) submitted to the Prophet of God (P,S.U.H):Describe to me the signs of ingnorant?'

The Prophet(P,B,U,N) said. 1. If you become his companion he will offend &: grieve you. 2. And if you avoid him he will revile &: vilify you. 3. And if he gives some thing to you he will hold you under obligation. 4. If you give him some thing he will be ungrateful. 5. If you tell him a secret he will commit dishonesty with you (by revealing &: opening it). 6. And if he tells you a secret he will blame you (about it's opening). 7. And if he becomes wealthy he will get proud &: show insolence &: petulence. 8. And if he becomes poor he will refuse the blessings of Allah &: will not care about committing sin. 9. And if he gets glad &: happy he commits insolence &: inordinacy. 10. And if he is grieved he gets disappointed. 11. And if he laughs his laughter is a burst (loud laughter). 12. And if he cries he laments &: wails. 13. Attacks &: assaults the pious ones. 14. He does not love Allah &: does not observe His law. 15. And he does not feel ashamed before Allah. 16. He does not remember Allah. 17. If you please him he admires you &: exaggarates in admiring you &: falsely attributes the things (virtues) which you do not possess.

18. If he gets angry with you all his admiration (for you) finishes up, &: he attributes unworthy things to you. This is the programme of the ignorant. (TUHFUL AQOOL, P 18/19)

19. The Prophet of Allah(P,B.U.H) said to Ali(A.S) 'Oh Ali do you want six hundred thousands sheep or six hundred thousand dinnars or six hundred thousand words (of admonition).

Ali(,4,.f,) submitted 'Or Prophet of Allah I want six hundred thousands of words.' 1. The Prophet(P,B,U,N) said I gather all the six hundred thousands of words into six words. oh Alii When you see that the people are busy with recommended &: desirable good deeds, you get busy with the completing of obligatory (services). 2. And at a time when you see the people busy with the wordly activities, you get busy with the deeds for the here after. 3. And when you see people mentioning ill of others (slandering &: back bitting) you get busy with your own faults (In rectifying them). 4. And at times when you see that the people are busy in decorating of world. get busy with decorating &: beautifying your' resurrection day. 5. While you see people getting busy with (procuring) abundance &: plentifulness of practice get busy in achieving (out standing place) the purity of practice Concentrate upon the quality of Practice). 6. When you see people imploring creature (people) for help, supplicate to Allah. (ALMAWAIZ UL ADADIA, ALBAB, 6, ALFASL, 4 ALHADIETH, 1)

20- مالي أَری حُبَّ الدُّنيا قَد غَلَبَ عَلی کَثيرٍ مِنَ النّاسِ،حَتّی کَأَنَّ المَوتَ في هذِهِ الدُّنيا عَلی غَيرِهِم کُتِبَ، وَکَأَنَّ الحَقَّ في هذِهِ الدُّنيا عَلی غَيرِهِم وَجَبَ هَيهاتَ هَيهاتَ أَما يَتَّعِظُ آخِرُهُم بِأَوَّلِهِم؟ (تحف العقول ص 29)

21-اَوصانی رَبَّي بِتِسعٍ: اَو صاني بِالأخلاصِ فِي السَّرَّوَالعَلانِيَةِ، وَالعَدلِ في الرَّضا وَالغَضَبِ، وَالقَصدِ في الفَقرِ وَالغِنی،وَ اَن اَعفُو عَمَّن ظَلَمَنِي،وَاعطِيَ مَن حَرَمَنِي وَ اَصِلَ مَن قَطَعَنِی، وَ اَن يَکُونَ صَمتي فِکراً  وَمَنطِقي ذِکراً وَنَظَري عِبَراً. (تحف العقول ص 36)

22-يَا عَلِیُّ لا تَغضَب، فِإذا غَضِبتَ فَاقعُد،وَتَفَکَّر في قُدرَةِ الرَّبِّ عَلَی العِبادِ،وَحِلمِهِ عَنهُم. (تحف العقول ص14)

23- ما مِن عَبدٍ يُخلِصُ العَمَلَ لِلّهِ تَعالی أَربَعينَ يَوماً إِلآظَهَرَت يَنابِعُ الحِکمَةِ مِن قَلبِهِ عَلی لِسانِهِ. (جامع السادات ج2 ص 404)

24- يا عَلِيُّ کُلُّ عَينٍ باکِيَةٌ يَومَ القِيامَةِ إِلّا ثَلاثَ أَعيُنٍ:عَينٌ سَهَرَت في سَبيلِ اللهِ وَعَينٌ غُضَّت عَن مَحارِم اللهِ، وَ عَينٌ فاضَت مِن خَشيَةِ اللهِ. (تحف العقول ص8)

25- اَنَا مَدينَةُ العِلمِ وَ عَلِیٌّ بابها فَمَن اَرادَ العِلمَ فِليَأتِ البابَ. (جامع الصغير ج1 ص415 حديث2705)

20. Why do who I see that the love of World has overwhelmed most of the people to such an extent as if death has been written (made binding) only for the others? And as if the observing of right has only been made obligatory for others than them? Far from it, Far from it, why do the next ones not take lesson from those in the past. (generations) (TUHfUL AQOOL, P. 29)

21. The Lord has recommended nine things to me:

1. Sincerity, secretly and apparently (both in solitude &. public)

2. Observing of justice &. equity in contentment, consent &. anger. 3. Acting moderately in poverty &. wealthy condition. 4. Forgiving the one who comitted excess upon me. 5. Granting that person who deprived me. 6. And to join &. connect with the one who got seperated &. denounced relations with me.

7. And meditating while silent. 8. And rememberance of Allah while conferring.  9. And taking lesson while seeing.  (TUHfUL AQOOL, P .36)

22. Oh Ali! do not get furious &. when you (happen to) be enraged then sit down &. meditate about the power (authority) of Allah over His slaves &. His fore forbearance about them. (TUHfUL AQOOL, P 14)

23. There is no servant who practices sincerely forty days for Allah, but the springs of wisdom get apparant (now) from his heart over his tongue. (JAMIA SMDAT, VOL 2, P 404)

24. Oh Ali! all the eyes will weep on the resurrection day  except three eyes. (1) The eye which remained waking in the night till morning on the way of Allah (for the defence of Islamic system). &. the eye which refrained

from seeing the things Prohibited by Allah, the eye which shed tear from the fear of Allah. (TUHfUL AQOOL, P 8)

25. I am the city of knowledge &. Ali is it's gate so who so ever intends to acquire knowledge must come through the gate. (JAMIA SAGHIR VOL 1, P 415, Hadieth 2705)

26- يا أَباذَرّ،إغتَنِم خَمساً قَبلَ خَمسِ:شَبابَکَ قَبلَ هرَمِکَ، وَصِحَّتَکَ قَبلَ سقمِکَ وَ غِناکَ قَبلَ فَقرِکَ، وَفَراغَکَ قَبلَ شُغلِکَ وَ حَياتِکَ قَبلَ مَوتکَ. (بحارالانوار ج7 ص75)

27- إنَّ اللهَ تَبارَکَ وتَعالی لَا يَنظُرُ إِلی صُوَرِکُم وَلا إِلی أَموالِکُم وَلکِن يَنظُرُ إِلی قُلُوبِکُم  وَأَعمالِکُم. (بحارالانوار ح77 ص88)

28- يا أَيُّهَا النّاسُ إِنّي تَرَکتُ فيکُم مَن [ما] إِن أَخَذتُم بِهِ لَن تَضِلوُّا:کِتاب الله وَعِترَتي أَهلَ بَيتي. (سنن الترمذي،الحديث:4036)

29- قالَ (صَلَّی اللهُ عَلَيهِ وَالِهِ): قالَ عيسَی بنُ مَريَمَ لِلحَوارِّييِنَ:[جالِسُوا] مَن يُذَکِّرُکُمُ اللهُ رُؤيَتُهُ، وَيزيدُ في عِلمِکُم مَنطِقُهُ، وَيُرَغّبُِکُم في الآخِرَةِ عَمَلُهُ. (تحف العقول ص44)

30- اَربَعٌ مَن کُنَّ فيهِ فَهُوَ مُنافِقٌ، وَ اِن کانَت واحِدَةٌ مِنهُنَّ کانَت فيهِ خِصلَةٌ مِنَ النِّفاقِ حَتَّی يَدَعَها:مَن اِذاحَدَّثَ کَذِبَ، وَاِذا وَعَدَاَخلَفَ، وَاِذا عَاهَدَ غَدَرَ،وَاِذا خاصَمَ فَجَرَ. (خصال الصدوق ج1 ص254)

31- أَلا إِنَّ شَرَّ أُمَّتي الَّذينَ يُکرَمُونَ مَخافَةَ شَرِّهِم، أَلا وَمَن أکرَمَهُ النّاسُ اِتّقاءَ شَرِّهِ فَلَيسَ مِنّی. (تحف العقول ص58)

32- لا يُلدَغُ المُؤمِن مِن جُحرٍ مَرَّتينِ. (مسند احمد ابن حنبل ج2 ص115)

26. Oh Abazar! do value &: esteem five things before five others (to happen).

1. your youth before your old age. 2. your health before your ailment. 3. your wealth before your poverty.4. your leisure time before getting busy. 5. your life before your death. (BIHARUL ANWAR. VOL 77. P 75)

27. Allah does not look at (value) your faces &: nor your wealths but He looks at your hearts &: your practices. (BIHARUL ANWAR. VOL 77. P 88).

28. Oh people! I have left among you some thing which if you get (hold of) it, you will not go astray: The book of Allah (Quran) &: my progeny, household. SUN NAN AT TRIMZ.I ALHADIETH 4036)

29. The Prophet of Allah(S.W.A) said that ESSA (christ) (S.W.A)said to his disciples sit with some one (keep company with) the seeing of whome makes you remember (mention) Allah &: his logic (learning) adds to your knowledge &: his practice makes you keen (inclined toward) for the here after. (TUHFUL AQOOL. P 44)

30. There are four dispositions &: Peculiarities, who so ever has got those in him is a hypocrite. And if he has one of those four he has got one peculiarity of hypocrisy in him till such time that he removes it from

himself. (Those four are) 1. who ever tells lies while talking. 2. Promises &: goes back upon his word.

3. When makes an agreement (pact) deceives the other side. (breaks &: breaches the pact). 4. When he has enmity with someone, he commits, inequity &: immorality. (KHI5AL SADOOK VOL 1. P 254)

31. Beware, indeed the worst of my ummah are those persons who are respected due to the fear of their evil. Beware One who is respected by the people for the sake of securing &: saving them selves from his evil (harm) is not from me. (TUHFUL AQOOL. P 54, VOL 2, P 115)

33-[ يا ]مَعشَرَ المُسلِمينَ إِياکُم وَالزِّنا فَإِنَّ فيهِ سِتَّ خِصالٍ،ثَلاثُ فِي الدُّنيا وَثَلاثٌ فِي الآخِرَةِ،فَأَمَّا الَّتي فِي الدُّنيا: فَإنَّهُ يَذهَبُ بِالبَهاءِ،وَيُورِثُ الفَقرَ وَيُنقِصُ العُمُرَ، وَأَمَّا الَّتي فِي الآخِرَةِ فَإنَّهُ يُوجِبُ سَخَطَ الرَّبِّ وَسُوءَ الحِسابِ وَالخُلُودَ فِي النَّارِ. (کتاب الخصال للصدوق ج1 ص320)

34- يا عَليُّ: ثَلاثٌ مَن لَم يَکُنَّ فيهِ لَم يَقُم لَهُ عَمَلٌ: وَرَعٌ يَحجُزُهُ عَن مَعاصِي اللهِ عَزَّوَجَلَّ وَ عِلمٌ يَرُدَّ بِهِ جَهلَ السَّفيهِ وَعَقلٌ يُداري بِهِ النّاسَ. (تحف العقول ص7)

35- مَن رَأی مِنکُم مُنکَراً فَليُغَيَّرهُ بِيَدِهِ فِاِن لَم يَستَطِع فَبِلِسانِهِ فَاِن لَم يَستَطِع فَبِقَلبِهِ وَذَلِکَ اَضعَفُ الاِيمانِ. (مسند احمد ابن حنبل ج3 ص49)

36- وَمَن ماتَ عَلی حُبَّ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ ماتَ شَهيداً اَلا وَمَن ماتَ عَلی حُبَّ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ ماتَ مَغفُوراً لَهُ اَلا وَمَن ماتَ عَلی حُبَّ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ ماتَ تائِباً اَلا وَمَن ماتَ عَلی حُبَّ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ ماتَ مُؤمِناً مُستَکمِلَ الايمانِ اَلا وَمَن ماتَ عَلی حُبَّ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ بَشَّرَهُ مَلَکُ المَوتِ بِالجَّنَّةِ ثُمَّ مُنکَرٌ وَنَکِيرٌ اَلا وَمَن ماتَ عَلی حُبَّ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ يُزَفُّ اِلَی الجَنَّةِ کَما تُزَفُّ العَروسُ اِلی بَيتَ زَوجِها. (تفسير الکاشف ج4ص220).

33. Oh community of muslims! definately avoid committing adultary because it has six peculiarities three (will emerge) in this world & three in the here after. More over, those three which appear in this world (consist of): 1. This becomes the cause of getting dishonoured. 2. Causes to bring poverty. 3. Causes the shortening of age.

And those which take place in the hereafter are: 1. It causes the anger of Allah. 2. It causes the severeness & graveness of accounting. 3. It causes the eternity & perpetuity (of man) in the hell fire. (KITAB UL KHISAL LlSSADUK VOL 1, P 320)

34. Oh Alii there are three qualities so that who so ever does not possess these none of his practices will remain constant & firm for him. (His practice will not bring fruit & result)

I. The power of piety which refrains him from committing sin. 2. And the knowledge with which he may repulse the

ignorance of the witless (foolish) persons. 3. Intellect with which he gets along courteously & moderately with the people. (TUHf1JL AQOOL, VOL 7)

35. Who ever of you observes an evil (in society) must change it (object over it) physically with his hand so if he does not have the power of it then he must object over it by his tongue & if he does not have the strength of that, he must object upon it in his heart. (He must not remain indifferent to it) And this is the lowest status of faith. (MASNAD AHMED BIN HANBAL, VOL 3, P 49)

36. Beware! one who died having the love of house hold of Mohammad(P.B.U.H) has died as a martyre. Take heed! One who died with the love of household of prophet has died exonerated & forgiven.

Beware, one who died with the love of Prophet(P.B.U.H) has died, having repented.

Bewarel one who died with the love of house hold of Prophet(P.B.U.H) has died as a faithfull, having a complete faith.

Beware! one who died along with the love of children of Prophet (firstly) the angel of death (Izrael) has given him the glad lidding about Paradise, there after, (two angels) Munkar & Nakeer.

Beware, one who died with the love of the house hold of Prophet(P.B.U.H) has been sent to paradise like the bride is sent to the house of the bridegroom. (TAFSEER UL KASHAF, VOL4, P 2~0)

37- شارِبُ الخَمرِ کَعابِدِ وَثَنٍ  ياعَلِیُّ شارِبُ الخَمرِ لا يَقبَلُ اللهُ عَزَّوَجَلَّ صَلاتَهُ أربَعينَ يَوماً،فَإن ماتَ فيِ الأَربَعينِ ماتَ کافِراً. (بحارالانوار ج77 ص47)

38- إِنَّ اللهَ تَبارَکَ وَ تَعالی لَم يَکتُب عَلَينَا الرُّهبانِيّة،إِنَّما رُهبانِيَّةُ أُمَّتِي الجِهادُ في سَبيلِ اللهِ ...(بحارالانوار ج 70 ص 115/ج82 ص114)

39- مَن سَوَّفَ الحَجَّ حَتّي يَمُوتَ بَعَثَهُ اللهُ يَومَ القِيامَةِ يَهُودِيّاًً أَو نَصرانِيّاً. (بحارالانوار ج77 ص58)

40- ألنَّظرَةُ سَهمٌ مَسمُومٌ مِن سِهامِ إِبليسَ، فَمَن تَرَکَها خَوفاً مِنَ اللهِ تَعالی أَعطاهُ اللهُ ايماناً يَجِدُ حَلاوَتَهُ في قَلبِهِ. (جامع السادات ج2 ص12)

37. Drinker is similar to the idolator. Oh Alii Allah does not accept the service of the drinker (up to) forty days. And if he dies with in forty days, he has died as an infidel. (BIHAR UL ANWAR, VOL 77, P 47)

38. Allah has not (written) ordained the monasticism for us (muslims) Indeed monasticism of my ummah is jehad (holy war) on the course of Allah.

(jehad holy war is the monasticism of muslims). (BIHAR UL ANWAR VOL 70, P 115, &: VOL 82, P 114)

39. One who pospones &. delays the peforming pf Hajj (having got it's capacity) till the time he dies. Allah will resurrect him as ajew or christian on the justice day. (BIHAR UL ANWAR, VOL 77, P 58)

40. Sighting (at stranger men, women) is a poisonous arrow out of the arrows of satan. So one who overlooks &. omitts that due to the fear of Allah, Allah bestows upon him a faith, the sweetness of which he will find in his heart. (JAMIASAADAT, VOL 2, P 12)

F.Note

Looking of the Namehram, a stranger man towards a women &. vice versa has been Prohibited by Islam.