Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Lecture 11: All Proceed towards Absolute Ideal

Surely you, O men, are striving hard toward your Lord and so you are going to meet Him. (Surah al Inshiqaq, 84:6)

This Qur'anic verse sets a very high target for human society. It says that humanity endeavours on every level to meet its Lord. In this verse the word, 'kadh' has been used, which means persistent movement and tedious and irksome progress. The whole human society has to work hard to move forward, for this is not an ordinary movement. It is an ascending movement representing development and evolution. It may be compared to the serious effort the mountaineers have to make to get on the top of a mountain. They have to cross many heights to reach the summit. Their movement is irksome and requires great effort. The same way humanity endeavours to reach Allah. Only by making a persistent effort it is possible to climb the ladder of perfection, to make evolutionary progress and to proceed to the high position that befits humanity.

It is evident that this persistent movement requires a way along which man marching towards perfection should move till he reaches his destination. This way has been described in several verses of the Qur'an as the way of Allah or the path of Allah. These expressions of the Qur'an indicate the existence of a way along which man must move. As a way is necessary for movement, similarly movement is a necessary corollary of a way. When the above quoted verse says that man is striving hard, it speaks of an actual fact and an existing reality.

This verse is not a call to the people to follow Allah's way. It is not meant to urge people or to encourage them to take any action. Unlike some other verses it does not express a command. It does not ask people to come to Allah's way or to repent in Allah's House or to do any other such thing. Instead it says: Surely you, O men, are striving hard towards your Lord and so you are going to meet Him. Thus it mentions an actual fact that man's every movement in his long historical march is towards Allah. Even the groups which have chosen from themselves inferior ideals and false gods and are called polytheists by the Qur'an, take steps towards Allah, when they are found advancing in their long journey. Their advancement towards Allah depends on the motivating power of their ideals. If these ideals push them forward, that means that they become nearer to their Lord. But there is a difference between the progress which creates a sense of responsibility and the progress which, as we shall explain, does not have this characteristic. When humanity makes progress while fully conscious of its ideals, it is said that worship has been performed. It is a characteristic of worship that all along it is analogous to the world and in complete harmony with world conditions. Yet even an unconscious advance in relation to an ideal is a movement towards Allah, though as we pointed out, irresponsible.

Hence every advance is a movement towards Allah, even the advance of those who go after a mirage. As it is inferred from the above quoted verse, those who tend to proceed social mirages and choose inferior ideal for themselves, when reach these mirages, they notice that there is nothing there and find in place thereof Allah who pays them their due. It is evident from this verse that, Allah is the end of their journey, yet He is not a geographical and like the end of a geographical route. For example, if we take into consideration the route between Tehran and Isfahan, Isfahan is the terminal point, that is the end of this geographical route.

In other words, Isfahan is situated at the end of the route, not in between. If a person travels towards Isfahan and stops somewhere on his way, he cannot be called to have reached Isfahan, which is the terminal point and which we call the end of the route. Anyhow Allah is not a geographical end in this way. Allah is Absolute. He is Self-existent. There is no place where Allah is not present. His existence has no limit. He is the end of the journey, but He is all along the way also. The person who traverses only the half way - he who reaches a mirage, stops at it and discovers that it is only a mirage - what does he find? We observe that according to the Qur'anic verse, he finds that Allah is there and that Allah pays him his due, for the Absolute is present at every point on route also. As man advances on his way, he realizes his ideal in proportion to his progress.

He finds Allah as much as he advances along his way. As Allah is Absolute, the way to Him also has no end. Therefore a journey to Him means only to come near to Him. The more man advances, the nearer to Allah he comes, but this nearness is always relative. Man only can take some steps along the line of march, but he cannot traverse the whole route, for a limited being can never reach the Absolute. A limited being cannot reach the unlimited one. Therefore in this case there exists an unlimited field between man and his ideal. In other words, man has an unlimited field of action. He can make unlimited progress. The scope of his development is unlimited, for the way before him is indefinitely long and limitless.

Quantitative and Qualitative Changes

Two changes, one quantitative and the other qualitative appear in man when he regards his real ideal as the indicator of his route to humanity and reconciles his reason and understands with the universal truth ensuing from the ideal which he holds to be the true reality. In other words when man's conscious advance is reconciled with the cosmic reality of his advance, quantitative and qualitative changes appear in him, for man and the world both are advancing towards Allah.

Man's movement towards Allah produces a quantitative change in him, because as we said earlier, the way towards his true ideal has no limit. In other words, there always exists for him an opportunity for self-construction, self-development and progress and the door for his going forward is ever open, for the ideal can remove from his way every false god, every idol and every idol-like impurity that may become a barrier between him and his Allah.

Hence the monotheistic religion constitutes a constant struggle and a continuous war against all false gods and low and repetitious ideals, for an ideal other than Allah always requires man to confine his movement up to a particular point only. The false gods want him to stop in the middle of his journey. All over history the monotheistic religion has borne the standard of opposition to all false gods and low ideals. That is why the true ideal brings about a quantitative change in man's movement, unties his shackles and liberates him from the bonds of artificial limits and thus enables him to continue to march forward.

As for the qualitative change in the man's movement, it is brought about by the true ideal through providing a basic solution of human contradictions and controversies. Man gets a sense of responsibility as the result of his faith in this ideal and a consciousness of his universal limits. This consciousness creates in him a deep sense of responsibility. Unlike all other motivating ideals over human history, it is only to this ideal that man feels responsible. Why so? It is so because this ideal has a concrete reality and in no way depends on man. It is from here that the logical condition of responsibility materializes, for a true responsibility two sides are required: a responsible person and to whom he owes responsibility. If there is no higher side or the man responsible does not have faith in it, no sense of responsibility can be produced at all.

For example take low and inferior ideals into consideration. These important gods and abject deities have done over human history nothing other than creating dissensions and undue discriminations among mankind. These ideals along with man form one whole and are reckoned as a part of a total. Man cannot feel to have a sense of responsibility towards something which he has set apart from himself and which he himself has shaped and developed. The Qur'an says: They are but names which you have named. (Surah an Najm, 53:23)

These ideals cannot create a sense of personal responsibility. Owing to them laws may be framed and habits and customs may be framed but all such things remain superficial and seeming. Man can throw off these habits and customs at the first opportunity available to him.

On the contrary the ideal which has been presented as the monotheistic religion of the Prophets, having all over history a concrete reality independent of man and fulfills all the necessary conditions in this respect.

Why have the Prophets brought about the most intensive revolutions in human history? Why have they been the soundest revolutionaries in the world? Why have the Prophets on the historical stage been above all personal consideration? Why have they not agreed to any compromise? Why have they never wavered in their mission?

Why have the Prophets been like that? We find many revolutionaries in history who changed their doctrines, but it has never been heard that a Prophet ever wavered in his mission or faltered in his compliance with the teachings of his revealed Book. The Prophets always remained steady because they had an ideal which was independent of man and superior to him. This ideal gave them a glimmer of the sense of responsibility. This sense is not a matter of secondary importance in man's spiritual journey. It is the basic condition of his success in this respect. It is the sense of responsibility which resolves man's inner conflict and contradictions. According to his creational scheme man always lives in a state of contradiction, for according to the Qur'an he has been created of clay as well as of a flash of divine spirit.

The Qur'an says that man has been created of clay. It also says that a breath or a flash of divine spirit has been breathed into him. As such man is a combination of two things. His clay (origin) draws him to the earth and calls him to base desires, material tendencies and all that is low, vile and becoming of the earth. At the same time the breath of divine spirit breathed into him calls him to high and noble qualities and lifts him so much that he comes near to the divine qualities and adopts them. Divine spirit invites him to Allah's endless knowledge, His endless power, His endless justice, His generosity and magnanimity, His mercy, His retribution and His other attributes and qualities.

Man finds himself in the midst of the contradiction. He had fallen into this conflicting situation as a result of the nature of his psychical content and his inner structure. It is man's inherent nature which has given rise to this conflict and contradiction, as we shall elucidate by explaining the story of Adam, the first man. The only way of resolving this contradiction is the creation of a sense of responsibility. Mere perception of this inner conflict can identify this conflict, but cannot do away with it. Nothing can create a sense of personal responsibility in man except his choice of the supreme ideal.

It is this lofty ideal that makes man realize that he is accountable to his Lord, Who is Omnipotent and Omniscient and who recompenses him for all his good and bad deeds. Therefore a sense of inner responsibility which is a sort of a qualitative change in man's behaviour, is the only way of resolving the contradiction and conflict having their roots in man's nature.

The role of the monotheistic relation is to facilitate the adoption of this solution and with the growth of its quantitative and qualitative effect to remove the obstacles in the way of human progress. While supporting this solution the monotheistic religion carries out an incessant and intensive struggle against artificial, low and repetitious ideals which stop man's progress on the one hand and make him devoid of the sense of responsibility on the other.

That is why, as already mentioned, the fight of the Prophets against false gods has throughout history been incessant and intensive. Every low ideal on completion of its incubation period assumed the form of an idol and gains supporters. It is but natural that those whose material interests and worldly position depend on such ideals, keenly defend them.

That was the reason why those whose interests depended on the low ideals or idols tooth and nail opposed the Prophets and fought against them in defense of their own material and worldly interests and the luxurious life which they led.

The Qur'an has revealed a norm of history when it states that there has been a continuous clash between the Prophets, because they were the people who were benefited by the false ideals. When these ideals assumed the form of idols, they were against those given to easy life and enjoyment who reaped all the benefits and justified their own existence by the existence of their idols.

Therefore it was but natural that the people living at ease who had vested interests were always in the front line of those who were hostile to the Prophets. The Holy Qur'an says:

We did not send a warner before you to any township but its luxurious ones said: 'Surely we found our fathers following a religion and we are following their footprints' (Surah az-Zukhruf, 43:23)

We did not send to any township a warner, but it's pampered ones declared: 'No doubt we are disbelievers in what you bring to us' (Surah as-Sabah, 34:34)

I shall deprive them of the blessing of My revelations those who are arrogant in the earth, and if they see any sign, they do not believe it and if they see the way of righteousness, they do not choose it as their way, and if they see the way of error they choose it as their way. That is because they deny Our revelations and are used to disregard them. (Surah al-A'raf, 7:146)

And the chieftains of his fold, who disbelieved and denied the meeting o f the Hereafter, and whom We had made prosperous in the life of this world, said: 'He is only a human being like you, who eats like you eat and drinks like you drink' (Surah al Mu'minun, 23:33)

Therefore in order to exterminate their false gods the monotheistic religion has taken steps to neutralize the interests of these luxurious people. In the beginning these false gods were only ideals, but subsequently their statues were made and thus they were converted into idols. The monotheistic religion severs man's relation with these low and abject gods. Yet is it possible to sever the relation of humanity with these abject ideals and bury their heads under ground simply to allow them to raise their heads again in a different godless form, as has been the case with the dialectical-materialistic revolutionaries who take inspiration from historical materialism and from what they call the materiality of history.

They also like us fight against false gods and call a belief in them the opium of the nations. Yet the difference between our thinking and theirs is that we do not fight against the false gods to convert man into an animal or to sever man's relation with his spirit of lofty love and adoration. We do not fight against them to drag humanity to a lower course. We sever man's relation with inferior ideals to establish his relation with his real and supreme ideal, to guide him back to the course of humanity and to attach him to his Almighty Allah with a view to bring about in him the desired quantitative and qualitative changes in the course of his development.

Now it must be understood clearly that the march of humanity towards this supreme ideal depends on certain prerequisite conditions which are as under:

(i) Clear Intellectual and Ideological Approach to the Supreme Ideal: To have a clear idea of the supreme ideal prevailing over history and which depended on monotheism. This belief co-ordinates and unifies all ideals, goals, aspirations, desires and all human knowledge in the Person of the Supreme Ideal, who is all-Knowledge, all-Power, all-Justice, all-Mercy and all-Retribution.

The doctrine of monotheism gives us a clear idea of this ideal who has realized all aspirations and goals in His Person. This doctrine teaches us that we should regard all Divine attributes as concrete facts, but dissimilar to our own qualities and characteristics.

We should regard the Divine attributes as a model, as a practical guide, as a goal for our practical advance and as mile-stones on our long route to the Almighty. The doctrine of monotheism fulfils the condition of providing a clear ideological and intellectual approach to our ideal.

(ii) The existence of a psychological force emanating from this ideal so that it may serve as a permanent asset and a motivating force for human will over history. This spiritual force which we call the motivating force of will, is inspired by our faith in Allah. This faith crystallizes in the belief in the Doomsday and the Day of Resurrection, which are a continuation of the life of this world. A belief in resurrection and the life after death teaches man that the small historical field in which he plays his role in this world, has a strong link with other fields or worlds called barzakh (purgatory) and the hereafter. Man's condition in those great and perilous worlds depends on the role he plays in the historical field of this world. This belief equips man with a spiritual force that brings his will into action and fortifies it for successfully performing his role in the other worlds.

(iii) This supreme ideal of which we are talking differs from inferior ideals because it is outside the existence of man. It is not a part of man detached from him. The supreme ideal has its own separate and independent existence. It is everywhere and is not a part of man. Its separation from man makes it necessary that there be a link between man and this ideal. Other ideals have a human aspect and they have been detached from man. As such it is not necessary that man should have any link with them. Of course the devils and the Pharaohs have over history tried to establish links of some sort between man and the so called gods of the sun and the stars. But such links are false, for these gods are imaginary and fictitious. They are only a mental concept detached from man and given a concrete shape.

In contrast the supreme ideal has no existence absolutely separate from man, and hence there should be genuine link between man and this ideal. It is this genuine link that has found full expression in the role of the Prophets. Every Prophet has pointed out the existence of this link, for a Prophet is the person who fulfils in himself the first and the second conditions of arranging the progress of humanity to this ideal by the Will of Allah. He has a clear ideological vision of this ideal and at the same time his psychological force is fully saturated with this belief in Allah and the Day of Judgment. These two elements combined in his person help him play the role of a Prophet, and the link between the supreme ideal and humanity expressed in this combination makes the Prophet a warner and bringer of good tidings.

When humanity arrives at the stage called by the Qur'an the `Decisive' stage, the significance of which we shall explain in our forthcoming lectures, things so develop that the coming of a warner and bringer of good tidings becomes insufficient, for this is the stage when the low ideals or false gods block the road of man's development. At this stage it becomes necessary to remove the obstacles and pull down the barriers which prevent man from proceeding towards Allah - the Almighty. At this stage it is necessary for humanity to launch a campaign and fight against the false gods, vicious and malignant beings and low ideals which regard themselves as the guardians of humanity but actually are a sort of highwaymen, for they block the way of humanity and prevent it from continuing its onward historical movement. For this purpose a leader is required. Such a leader is called Imam and his role is known as Imamat. An Imam is the leader who guides and supervises human combat against falsehood. At a stage of Prophethood the roles of the Imam and the Prophet are amalgamated. The Qur'an has spoken of this feature and we shall discuss it shortly. Most probably this amalgamation began with Prophet Nuh.

The role of the Imam is though amalgamated with that of the Prophet, yet it continues even after the role of the Prophet has come to an end. This happens when a Prophet quits the field while the fight is still on and it is necessary in the interest of his mission that the struggle for crushing the false gods be continued. In such a case the period of Imamat maintains the continuity of the role of Prophethood even after its coming to an end

This was the fourth condition of arranging the way of human progress to the supreme ideal. In its light we can have a clear idea of what we call the five cardinal principles of religion. Now we shall see how sound these five principles are and how they determine man's historical course.

The five cardinal principles of religion are as under:

(i) Monotheism: The role of monotheism lies in the fact that it provides us with a clear intellectual and ideological point of view. Monotheism attaches all human aspirations and goals to the supreme ideal, that is Allah.

(ii) Divine Justice: Justice is just another dimension of monotheism. From social point of view knowledge, power and other attributes of Allah are not His distinguishing features, but justice is, for justice is the quality which can give many things to society and can make it independent of others. In the course of our social progress we need justice more than any other quality. Justice has appeared as the second cardinal principle of religion, because from social point of view it has a guiding and instructional aspect.

We have said earlier that Islam teaches us not to regard the Divine attributes as mere metaphysical realities having no connection with us. We should look at them as sign-posts which guide us to pursue a certain way of life. From this point of view, justice is the biggest concept that can guide humanity, and for this very reason it is distinguished from other attributes. Otherwise justice lies within the framework of total monotheism. It is an essential quality of a perfect ideal.

(iii) Belief in Prophethood: It is the third cardinal principle of religion. It establishes a genuine link between man and his ideal. As said earlier humanity needs this link when it marches toward its ideal, that is Allah who is independent of man, and has neither been detached from him nor produced by-him. It is a Prophet who ensures the establishment of this link. Throughout history the Prophets have satisfied this real need.

(iv) Imamat: It is that leadership which amalgamates with Prophethood. A Prophet is an Imam also. He performs the functions of Imamat as well as Prophethood. Yet Imamat continues if the struggle is not over even after the end of the period of a Prophet, and a leader is still required to carry out his mission. In such a case an Imam shoulders this responsibility and during the period of his Imamat supervises the unfinished work of the Prophet. Thus Imamat is the fourth cardinal principle of religion.

(v) The Day of Resurrection: The fifth principle is the belief in the Day of Resurrection. This principle ensures the fulfillment of the second condition out of the four prerequisite condition of arranging the progress of humanity to the true ideal, as mentioned above. The principle of the Hereafter creates a psychological force that motivates and fortifies human will and guarantees man's responsible behaviour. From the foregoing it is clear that in the final analysis these cardinal principles of religion are the elements which take part in man's adoption of the supreme ideal. They have also determined the social relationship of this ideal over history as we explained in a previous lecture when we discussed the four-fold advantage of religion.

We explained earlier that according to the concept presented by the Qur'an the social relations are four-dimensional and not three-dimensional. We deduced this concept from the word `istikhlaf (appointing a vicegerent) used by the Qur'an. Explaining this word we said that appointing a vicegerent had four dimensions. It required the existence of man, nature, Allah - the Almighty and the person appointed the vicegerent. This combination of four-fold social relationship is another way of expressing the combination of the five-fold cardinal principles of religion for the purpose of the tedious and long journey of man to Allah - the Almighty.

The above mentioned facts explain man's role in determining the course of history. In his historical journey man is the centre of gravity, not as a physical body, but because of his inner content, the meaning of which we have already explained. The basis of man's inner content is the ideal which he himself chooses. The true ideal is only that which can ensure to man all his main and prior goals and objectives, which serve as historical incentives to his activities on the stage of history. Hence the choice of the supreme ideal by man as his ideal lays the strong foundation of his inner content. This shows the importance of the role of this fourth dimension.

Lecture 12: Analysis of Social Elements

Society consists of three elements: Men, nature and the social relations which influence the course of history. In the previous lectures we spoke about man and his basic role in historical field. We also spoke about nature and discussed its characteristics. Now we propose to discuss the social relations so that we may know our position in regard to these relations vis-à-vis what we deduced from the Qur'an in respect of the role of man and nature on the stage of history.

We have already made some comments on this third element, namely the social relations and social ties. Social relations include two kinds of contacts, one being man's contact with nature and the other man's contact with his fellow beings. These are two different and comparatively independent lines of relationship, their reciprocal impact on each other being almost insignificant, as we shall explain.

These two lines are not identical. Each of them is comparatively independent and corresponds to the solution presented in case of each problem.

The first line represents man's contact with nature. Man tries to exploit the natural resources. He wants to bring nature under his control so that he may meet the needs of his life. Here he faces a big problem which we may call the problem of contradiction between man and nature. In other words, nature takes a stand against man and does not respond to his needs. Consequently a clash between man and nature takes place. Nature shows might and does not obey men.

This contradiction between man and nature is the biggest problem of this line. The solution of this problem lies in acting according to a law of nature which is an important norm of history. This law is the law of reciprocal effect between practice and skill. As man's ignorance about nature diminishes and his knowledge of its language and laws increases, proportionately his control over nature to meet his needs, is enhanced. As with more practice he acquires more skill, he makes many new discoveries. The law of reciprocal effect between practice and skill being a sound law, can undertake to resolve this contradiction. Hence the solution of the problem of contradiction between man and nature can safely be left to this law.

In other words it may be said that the more man's ignorance about nature diminishes and the more his acquaintance with it increases as the result of practical experiments, the more fresh skill is gained by him.

The fresh skill thus acquired awards man a power of controlling nature in new fields and with further practice and experiences in new fields, he again acquires more fresh skill. This process continues so long as no unexpected accident occurs to disturb man's relation with nature. The expansion and practical application of this law gradually resolves the problem of contradiction between man and nature. Therefore it may be said that from historical and realistic point of view this problem stands resolved. Perhaps the under mentioned Qur'anic verse is meant to refer to this very solution: And he gives you of all you ask of Him, and if you would count the bounty of Allah, you cannot reckon it. (Surah Ibrahim 14:34)

In this verse asking is not meant to mean any verbal prayer, for this verse refers to all men without any distinction. It does not make any difference between the believers who pray to Allah and the disbelievers who do not. It is also a known fact that it is not always necessary that one gets all that one prays for. There is no doubt that every prayer is heard, but that does not mean that all that is asked is granted. Yet in this verse Allah says: He gives you all you ash o f Him. In other words, in this verse a practical response to every request has been promised. Most probably, the request mentioned in this verse relates to all men over history, during all times, past, present and future. This request lies in man's creational scheme and applies over history to the law of reciprocal effect between practice and skill. As such this verse shows how the problem ensuing from man's contact with nature is to be resolved.

Basic Contradiction in Man's Existence

In the case of the second line, that is man's contact with his fellow human being, like two brothers, in various social fields including such cases as the distribution of wealth and the clash of different human cultures, we are confronted with another problem. This time the problem is not that of contradiction between man and nature, but is that of contradiction between man and his fellow beings.

This contradiction between men in various social fields has many forms and many names but basically it is a contradiction between the strong and the weak, between the powerful and the powerless. When a powerful being is unable to resolve his own contradiction, that is his inner conflict, his obsession will before long appear in the form of a social contradiction, which may take any shape or form and may be tagged with any law or cultural usage yet in the final analysis will be same form of contradiction between the strong and the weak.

It does not make any difference if sometimes the strong is an individual by the name of Pharaoh, sometimes a class and sometimes a community or a nation. All these are various forms of contradiction and the ruling spirit in each case it that of conflict and exploitation. In each case there is a clash between a weak individual and a strong man whose inner conflict and contradiction has remained unresolved and who consequently tries to exploit a weak individual to satisfy his own vanity.

We observe various forms of social contradiction along the line of man's contact with his fellow man, yet the spirit in each case is the same, and all contradictions spring, as we have just said, from one basic contradiction, that is man's inner conflict or the contradiction between a handful of clay and a flash of the desire to meet Allah. So long as one of these two tendencies does not completely suppress the other tendency, the contradiction will continue to exist in all circumstances. Although both these tendencies are always present, yet one of them is usually predominant according to the actual condition of society and according to the level of the thinking and general education of the individual concerned.

The viewpoint of Islam in regard to the problem of human relations is very vast and deep. No form of contradiction has been ignored by it. It takes into consideration all forms of contradiction, analyses them fully and finds out their common spirit. So it has linked all contradictions to a more deep-rooted contradiction, that is man's own inner conflict. That is why Islam believes that one mission alone can solve the whole problem of human relations. It can simultaneously work on two levels. It can strive in the historical field to remove social contradictions and at the same time or even before it and after it, can resolve man's inner conflict. Thus it can dry up the social contradictions at their very source.

Islam believes that if we leave the source of inner conflict unattended and try to resolve outward social contradictions with the help of some laws and their interpretations, we will be attending to only one half of the problem. The other half, that is the crystallization of the inner conflict, if left unattended, will soon give rise to some other forms of the same contradiction which we have tried to exterminate. Therefore a mission which wants to propose a realistic solution of this problem, while doing so must take into consideration both the inner and outer levels, and believe that to resolve the problem finally it is necessary to carry out the struggle on both the levels. The struggle which is carried out to remove inner conflict and purify the heart is called by Islam major Jihad. The other type of jihad is that which is carried out to do away with every form of social contradiction and to put an end to the exploitation of the weak by the strong. Instead of confining our struggle to any one form of exploitation we should try to remove the root cause which is common to all acts of exploitation.

Short-sightedness of Marx

This is the viewpoint the correctness of which has been proved by human experience over history. In contrast to it, is how the materialistic revolutionaries interpret the social contradiction or the social conflict.

Because of his being a European Marx with all his super intelligence could not go a step further than the limits of the views held by the ordinary Europeans, to whose popular view he considered himself to be indebted. The Europeans think that the world ends where Europe or rather the West ends. Their view in this respect is similar to that of the Jews who maintain that they alone represented the entire humanity. They used to say: What have we to do with the ordinary people (of Makkah or Hijaz). (Surah Ale Imran, 3:75)

The Jews meant that the Arab of Hijaz had no importance. Similarly in the eyes of the Europeans the world is confined to Europe or rather the West. Marx has not been able to set himself free from the European way of thinking, nor could he rescue himself from the pressure of the class factor which plays an important role in his theory of historical materialism. Influenced by this cheap theory he has made a comparatively limited interpretation of the contradiction faced by man. According to him all human contradictions boil down to just one contradiction, that is class contradiction or class conflict, existing between a class that owns all or most of the production instruments and another class that does not own them and works for the interests of the former class and depends on it for the use of the production instruments. When wealth is produced through the sweat of the brow of an exploited worker, it is grabbed by the class that owns the production instruments and the other class gets only a very meagre amount that is only enough to guarantee the continued living of this class so that it may continue to work for the former class. That is the class conflict which, according to Marx, is the basis of every other conflict and contradiction.

This class conflict from social point of view is the outcome of class war between the proprietor class and the worker class. The clash between these two classes grows in intensity with the development of the production instruments and the progress and complexity of the industrial means, for with the development of the production instruments the standard of life comes down and that gives the capitalist class an excuse to lower the wages of the worker. As we know, the capitalists try not to give the workers more than that on which they can subsist. As production instruments develop and the living expenses come down, the capitalist on the one hand tries to reduce the wages of the workers, and on the other, with the development of the production instruments he gets an opportunity to reduce number of workers gradually and extract more work from a lesser number of them, for an improved industrial instruments can do the job of many workers. Accordingly the capitalists retrench the surplus workers with the result that the conflict and differences between the two classes grow to the extent that they ultimately culminate in a revolution and an explosion.

This revolution is mainly brought about by the working class, which will ultimately put an end to the class conflict and succeed in converting whole society into a unified classless unit, all members of which will form one class only. Only then all contradictions will be eliminated, for the basis of every contradiction is the class contradiction. When this contradiction will vanish, other secondary contradictions will also disappear.

This is a very brief summary of the viewpoint of the materialistic revolutionaries regarding the contradiction or conflict, the solution of which we are seeking. It may be mentioned that this limited and short-sighted theory does not correspond with the reality, nor does it tally with the historical facts. Actually the factor which brings about historical events is neither the class contradiction nor the development of the tools of production. In fact it is man, the maker of the tools, who brings about historical events. As for contradiction the European man himself is extensively responsible for it. The production instruments never set up a capitalist system. It was the European man who when production instruments fell into his hand, established this system to put his own values of life into practice. It is also to be noted that the class contradiction is not the only form of social contradiction. Several other forms of contradiction in the social field also do exist. The class contradiction is not even the most important of these forms. In fact all these contradictions in the social field are the products of a basic conflict in man himself involving a hidden tussle in his inner content which regularly and ceaselessly appears in different forms of contradiction.

Now let us draw a comparison between the short-sighted view of the materialists and the reality shown by human experience, and find out which of the above mentioned two theories more corresponds with the world in which we live, so that we may know what future developments we can expect. Should the theory of the materialists and their interpretation of all contradictions as the class contradiction be correct, would we not be justified in expecting that the class contradiction and conflict between the capitalists and the workers in the industrial societies of Europe having well developed industrial tools, would be going up day by day? Should we suppose that in industrial societies like those of England, America, France and Germany class contradiction has greatly gone up and class conflict is growing in intensity day by day? If that were so, the exploiting system of these countries should be decaying progressively and should be on the verge of collapse and annihilation, for the wealth of the exploiting capitalist class of America, England, France, etc is growing.

We were waiting for such a development and expecting that the difficulties of the capitalist countries would grow, the European and the American workers would come to believe in the necessity of a revolution and would regard it as the only way of resolving class conflict. This was the right conclusion, had the Marxist idea of the interpretation of contradiction been correct. But what has happened in history proves direct to the contrary. Unfortunately we see that the capitalist system in the capitalist countries is being more and more firmly established day by day and there are no signs of its early collapse. All the sweet hopes of our materialist revolutionaries that because of the development of production instruments and industrialization of these countries a revolution would hit England and other industrial countries of Europe, have come to naught. Against all these predictions revolution has taken place in such countries as Czarist Russia and China where production instruments had not developed, industrialization had not taken place and where no class contradiction as defined by Marx existed or should have existed.

On the other hand the position of the workers in the industrialized countries did not diminish. Actually their income increased, they got more advantages and comforts, and their importance grew in the eyes of the exploiting capitalists.

The income of an ordinary American worker is far more than that of any manual worker in any socialist country. The position of workers in the capitalist countries has tremendously improved. The workers and their representatives have organized themselves on semi-democratic lines. They have gained political importance. They neither think of a revolution, nor do they accept its logic. They live hand in glove with the capitalists and believe in obtaining their rights through their representatives and the parliament.

According to our thinking all this has happened in a very short time. Then how has it happened? Was Marx too suspicious of the capitalist exploiters and for that reason he made such predictions, which proved false, without a single one of them having come true even by chance? Was it a sort of mistrust on the part of Marx in these exploiters? Have the capitalists ever been afraid of Marx, Marxism or the liberation movements of the world? Have they condescended to allow a part of their income to pass to the workers because they were afraid of the workers' revolt against them? Has the American millionaire any apprehensions in this respect.

Even the most optimist of those who look forward to a revolution cannot expect a real revolution in America against oppression earlier than a hundred years henceforth. Then how can it be believed that the American millionaires have any apparition of fear before them because of which they have surrendered a part of their profits? Or alternatively can we believe that the American capitalists have become pious all of a sudden? Have their hearts been filled with the light of Islam like the Muslims of the early period of Islam who did not recognize any limits for their cooperation, tolerance and equality with other people and shared the booty gained by them with their Muslim brethren?

Have the capitalists of the west embraced Islam or has their hearts been converted into that of the Muslims? None of these things has happened. Karl Marx was not too suspicious of the capitalists. He held a correct opinion about them. Neither had any fear of the workers gripped the hearts of the capitalists and forced them to surrender a part of their profits to the workers in order to quieten them, nor has the heart of the capitalists been shaken by piety and fear of God. They are not aware of piety and so long as they are absorbed in their pleasures and passions, they will never be. Then what has happened and how should the happenings of everyday be interpreted? Actually what has happened is the result of another contradiction which from the beginning has accompanied the class contradiction but Marx and his comrades failed to discover it. They could only know the contradiction that existed between the American millionaire and the American worker and that existed between the British capitalist and the British worker. But they ignored the bigger contradiction resulting from the conflict and clash between the Europeans and the non-Europeans.

This contradiction, the symbol of which the European himself is, conceals class contradiction and holds its operation in abeyance for a considerably long time. What is the nature of this contradiction? We believe that with a cursory glance we can see this contradiction and put our finger on it, for we do not believe that class contradiction is the only form of contradiction. As we have said, man's inner conflict constantly continues to create new forms of contradiction. There are some forms of it in which American or European capitalism plays no part. There are still other forms in which sometimes the capitalists and the workers or the oppressors and the oppressed join hands to become a party of the contradiction.

In this case they forget all their differences and join together to create a contradiction far bigger than all the contradictions which have existed from the beginning of history until now. Now the question is that if the capitalists and the workers of the West form one party to this contradiction, where is the other party? The other party are we and you, that is the poor countries of the world, known today as the third world, that is the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. These countries form the second pole of this contradiction.

Both the social classes of Europe have agreed to extend their battlefield to the poor countries and to exploit them. They have conspired to create the biggest contradiction. This contradiction has many colonial forms. It begins when the European or the American sets out from his country to explore the underground minerals all over the world in order to snatch the wealth of the poor nations of various countries. This contradiction counteracts the class contradiction and even nullifies it, for all classes get equal interest in grabbing this wealth. The whole or at least the greater part of the immense riches in the hands of the capitalist class of the capitalist countries comes as the war booty obtained through the raids of the white men in the poor countries. The immense affluence enjoyed by the Western countries is not the result of the sweat of the European worker's brow, nor is the result of the class conflict between the capitalist and the worker.

This immense affluence is due to the oil of Asia and Latin America, to the diamonds of Tanzania, to the iron ore, tin, copper and uranium of the various African countries, to the cotton of Egypt, to the tobacco of Lebanon and to the wine of Algeria. Yes, the wine of Algeria, for the colonial non-Muslim power which colonized Algeria converted all its lands into vineyards so that wine might be produced from their grapes. This wine was supplied to the workers also to win their hearts by intoxicating them in order to persuade them to cooperate with the capitalists. The Algerian were allowed to drink Algerian wine and pluck grapes. They are nice things, but obtained from the sources mentioned by us. From these sources they got intoxicated by the Algerian wine.

Thus the bigger contradiction that exists between the two classes of the capitalist countries on the one hand and the poor countries on the other. This contradiction has superceded class contradiction in the western world, and brought it to a standstill. In these circumstances the European and the American capitalists deemed it advisable to grant to their workers a part of the booty they seized by plundering you and me, that is the poor and the weak of the world. They agreed that they and their workers both should enjoy the wine of Algeria and both should bedeck their wives with the diamonds from Tanzania. So we see that as predicted by Marx the life style of the worker has improved. But this change is neither due to the generosity and broadmindedness of the European and the American capitalist nor to his piety, but is due to his feeling that out of his big booty he should give some share, a very small share, to the European and the American worker also to keep him satisfied.

History has recorded only that contradiction which has always existed. This should not lead us to think that there is only one form of social contradiction. It has many forms, but all of them spring from one basic source, which is man's inner conflict, which produces varied forms of contradiction. If man gets rid of one form, he may fall prey to another form. Therefore we should not confine contradiction to the class contradiction between the haves and the have nots. However, if we succeed in resolving this basic contradiction all other contradictions will be resolved automatically. Though social contradictions are innumerable, they all amount to the exploitation of the weak by the strong.