Islam As An Ideal, Modern And Complete Code Of Life

(A Study of Ali Shariti’s Thoughts).

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION

LITERATURE REVIEW

SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

OBJECTIVES

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

METHODOLOGY

ORGANIZATION OF STUDY

NOTES AND REFERENCES

CHAPTER – 01 LIFE SKETCH OF ALI SHARIATI

1.1 LIFE AND EDUCATION

1.2 WORKS ABOUT SHARITI
1.3 BOOKS AND TRANSLATIONS
1.4 SPEECHES AND CONFERENCES

CHAPTER – 02 THE YOUNG INTELLECTUAL AND POLITICAL

ACTIVIST

2.1 SHARIATI’S ROLE IN ISLAMIC REVOLUTION OF IRAN

2.2 SHARIATI IN MODERN IRAN
2.3 METHOD OF THOUGHT

2.4 SHARIATI AND SOCIALISM

2.5 EPISTEMOLOGY
2.6 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
 2.7 ABOUT DEMOCRCY

2.8 OPOSITION

CHAPTER – 03 ISLAM IN THE PERCEPTION OF ALI SHARIATI

3.1 IDEAL ISLAM

3.2 ISLAM IS NOT ONLY A RELIGION

3.3 ISLAM: THE RELIGION OF LIBERATION

3.4 TAUHID: THE FOUNDATION OF LIBERATIVE ISLAM

CHAPTER-04 ISOLATION AND REFLECTION

4.1 ISOLATION

4.2 DEATH

CONCLUSION

BIBLOGRAPHY
ABSTRACT
Ali Shari’ati emerged as an enlightened intellectual figure in the phenomenon of
the authoritarian and oppressive power of the Syah Pahlavi regime. Shari’ati
appeared as a pioneer of radical ideas about Islam and the uprising which stemmed
from the Shi’a tradition that had been grafted into the revolutionary tradition of the
Third World and Marxism. Shari’ati succeeded in establishing a revolutionary
Islamic ideology that became the basis of the mass collective realization against
the regime of the Syah. In Shari’ati’s thought, Islam is an emancipatory ideology
and liberation. The connection between religion and philosophy and the analysis of
tradition and modernity are major constitutive aspects of Shari'ati's deliberation.
Religious concepts should be always studied in relation to concrete creature
problems. By simultaneously criticizing historical religion, machinism and
colonialism, Shari'ati has presented constructive erfan as an another emancipatory
response to the challenging of the modern world.

This research article reexamines Ali Shariati’s view in formatting Islamic, social
order. The discussion is important in lighting discourses on Islamic society which
is now being evaporated but has new challenges in new conditions and time of the
Muslim society. By taking the text translated from Sharait’s Books and Articles
this study describes and psychiatry the formate of sharaiti’s thoughts,what are
being discarded by him, and what is the formulation being proposed by him in
order to extend Islamic community. Finally it also contextualizes Sharaiti’s
thoughts with what being happened in its time in track to task to our time.

Keywords: Shariati, Islamic Thought, Islamic Resurgence.

INTRODUCTION

During the past few decades, Ali Shari'ati's thought has been

approached from different angles. Ervand Abrahamian has analysed
Shari'ati's ideas in relation to the emergence of the new Islamic thought.
He has treated Shari'ati extensively in his book Iran Between Two
Revolutions. According to Abrahamian, Shari'ati has tried to reorient the
younger generation of Iranians towards the teachings of Islam by applying
western methodological tools borrowed from the social sciences. In this
regard, Abrahamian attempts to clarify the relationship between Shari'ati's
teachings and Marxism (Abrahamian 1982).
Shari'ati has also been studied in the context of general Islamic thought.
In his book Islam and Modernity Fazlur Rahman argues that Shari'ati is
one of the major thinkers in modern Islamic history. Shari'ati, however,
ads Rahman, is a member of the movement that has undertaken the second
attempt to modernize Islam; the first attempt having been made in the time
of Al-Ghazali (11th century CE). Rahman's theory is that these two
strands of modernization in Islam have been efforts to form new ways of
educating the Muslim community. The significance of the second strand,
according to Rahman, is challenging the established Islamic teachings that
have made Islamic thought stand on its head« (Rahman 1982, 109). Also,
in a recent work, called An Islamic Utopian, Ali Rahnama refers to
Shari'ati as a thinker who sought a union of opposites  between Islam and
Modernity (Rahnama 1998, ix).
The purpose of my considerations on Shari'ati's thought is to introduce
one of its most novel aspects, namely his dialogue with modern secular
thought from a religious standpoint. By considering the content of his
published works, Shari'ati can be characterised as a modern critical
Islamist. Although every one of the three elements in this characterization
is a fruitful interpretative approach in its own right, yet each one is valid
only in its association and dynamic interaction with the other two.
Therefore, it is the totality of this triad that is meaningful and not each
individual element separate from such totality. As an Islamic thinker,
Shari'ati understood Islam as a source of individual self-discovery and
social emancipation. He, on the other hand, relates to problems such as
›machinism and human alienation, which are essentially modern in origin.
Also, by critical notions such as religion against
religion, es'tehmar (acculturation) and assimilation he has presented a
critical view of both ›tradition‹ and ›modernity‹. As an alternative vision,
however, he has presented constructive erfan as a synthesis of equality,
liberty and mysticism. Dr. Shariati studied and experienced many
philosophical, theological and social schools of thought with an Islamic
view. He was neither a reactionary fanatic who opposed anything that was
new without any knowledge nor was he of the so-called westernised
intellectuals who imitated the west without independent judgmentS
Dr. Shariati wrote many books. In all his writings, he tried to present a
clear and genuine picture of Islam. He strongly believed that if the
intellectual and new generation realized the truth of this faith, attempts
toward social change would be successful.
He began his Islamic revival with enlightenment of the masses,
particularly the youth. He believed that if the masses and particularly the
youth had true faith, they would totally dedicate themselves and become
active and Mujahid elements who would give every thing including their
lives for their ideals.1

LITERATURE REVIEW

Relevant literature can be divided into books, articles and letters. There
are various books which provide brief life history of Ali Sharaiti , A great
work by ALI REHNAMA in his book THE PIONEERS OF ISLAMIC
REVIVAL was first published by Zed Books Ltd, 7 Cynthia Street,
London N1 9JP, UK,
and 165 First Avenue, Atlantic Highlands,New Jersey 07716,
USA, in 1994, in his book he explained the Political revolutions carried by
Muslim Philosophers and thinkers like Sayed Qutb,Hassan-Al-
Banna,Mussa Al Sadder ,and Iqbal.He explained verty well in his book
about Ali Shariti life,education,carrier,his imprisonment period but not his
thoughts and philosophies which influence iran Public.
ERVANID EBRAHMIYAN wrote Article on ALI
SHARITI ;Ideologue of Iranian Revolution in his Article he
explainverywell but didn’t explain the political activities and speeches of
Ali Shariti .
There are various books and research articles which address any specific
aspect or period of his life. This is also an attempt to express Ali’s
contributions to positive change in Iranian Society, his speeches and
philosophy which is the reason behind Iran Revolution . No art writing
do not provide in-depth scholarly research work about Ali Shariti and I
will try my level best to fill this gap in my Research.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Islam As An Ideal, Modern And Complete Code Of Life(A Study of Ali
Shariti’s Thoughts) is important topic in the sense that Sharaiti was
revolutionlist who awakened the people of Iran . He developed feelings
of devotion, sense to choose between wrong and right, among general
masses through his speeches.sThis research will open a new broad area
for the researchers in future. This is an essential project to be undertaken
because before this no scholar has carried out any extensive research in
this area. This research will be helpful for the coming researchers.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY…...

1. To know about Shariti’s life
2. To know the thoughts of Ali Shariti’s
3. To explore how Shariti awakened the people of Iran
4. To analyze critiscism of Ali Shariti on Autocracy
5. RESEARCH QUESTION……
1. How Ali Shariti spend his life?
2. How Ali became an Iranian Revolutionist?
 3. How Ali Shariti involve him in Political Activites?
4. How Ali Shariti’s thoughts influence Iranians ?
5. What is the role of Ali Shariti in Iran Revolution?

ORGANIZATION OF STUDY…….
IntRoduction
1. LIFE SKETCH OF ALI SHARIATI
2. THE YOUNG INTELLECTUAL AND POLITICAL ACTIVIST
3. ISLAM IN THE PERCEPTION OF ALI SHARIATI
4. ISOLATION AND REFLECTION

CONCLUSION

CHAPTER – 01 LIFE SKETCH OF ALI SHARIATI

LIFE AND WORKS OF ALI SHARIATI…..

The coming back of the West to be politically involved in Muslim regions such as
Tunisia, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Pakistan has made the
pillars of the civil establishment in such Muslim countries shaken. It remains us of
the emergences of freedom movements in the early modern time in the Muslim
countries which had achieved their freedom life out of the Western occupation. At
that time Muslim intellectuals dig their reference to Islam concerning the statecraft.
Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Muhammad Abduh, Muhammad Iqbal, and Muhammad
Asad were the pioneers of this intellectual movement. Followed by Sayyid Qutb
and Abu al-Maududi, and Ali Shariati among others, this enterprise was
strengthened. To this, reopening our intellectual storage of the reconstruction of
Islamic order in the modern world is extremely needed today, that is, the time of
restructuring Islam as the ideology of the Muslim community (ummah). In this
case, referring back to Shariati as a leader of intellectual movement calling for
going back to Islam in the 20th century in the Iranian frame could be a relevant
thing to study.

'Ali Shari'ati was born on November 23, 1933 in Kahak ( ‫)کاهک‬, a

village in Sabzevar, Iran. His father, Muhammad Taqi Shari'ati was the founder of
the Center of Publication of Islamic Truths (Kanun Nashr-i Haqayiq-i Islami) and
he was a modernist exegete of the Qur'an. Akhund Mulla Qurban'ali was the
paternal grandfather of Shari'ati who was a prominent student of Mulla Hadi
Sabziwari. Shari'ati studied elementary and secondary schools in Mashhad.

He became a teacher in 1952. Shari'ati studied Persian literature in the University

of Mashhad in 1958 and after a year he was granted scholarship. Shari'ati
continued education in Paris where he was given Ph.D. degree in 1963.
"Translation and Gloss on Manuscript of Fada'il al-Balkh Safi al-Din" was the title
of Ph.D. thesis of 'Ali Shari'ati.

Shari'ati returned to Iran in 1964 and he was imprisoned for six months because of
his overseas political activities against Pahlavi Regime. He started teaching in
University of Mashhad in 1966 as associate professor in history of Islam; Shari'ati
taught Islamic studies in that time. He was among the main speakers
in Husayniyya Irshad in Tehran whose speeches attracted a large number of the
young and university students.In 1972 when Husayniyya Irshad was closed,
Shari'ati hid for a while. After some time he introduced himself to the police and
he was imprisoned accordingly. When Shari'ati was released, he was living under
supervision of SAVAK (Organization of Intelligence and National Security)
agency for three years and he was not allowed to have political activities, give
speeches and publish books.'Ali Shari'ati passed away in Rajab 2, 1397/June 19,
1977 in London. Iranian newspapers declared he died because of heart attack in
London where he travelled to cure his eyes and heart problems. Relatives of
Shari'ati claimed that he was not suffering from any heart problems at all. Also a
number of revolutionary groups claimed that he was martyred in London and they
called him Shari'ati the martyr.Eventually, Shari'ati was buried in June 26, 1977
in Damascus near the holy shrine of Lady Zaynab (a); Imam Musa al-Sadr and
Shari'ati's relatives attended the funeral ceremony.2

WORKS ABOUT SHARITIS

About two hundred and ninety six books about 'Ali Shari'ati were published in
Farsi and Arabic in Iran until 2011. Also about 538 books had a part about Shari'ati
as well.In addition about thirty books were written on rejecting Shari'ati's theories,
the majority of them were written after the Islamic revolution of Iran'Ali Shari'ati
had numerous speeches, books and written works which were published during his
lifetime and also after his demise. In addition, a large number of works and books
were written on praising and criticizing him

BOOKS AND TRANSLATIONS

1. Civilization and modernization, (Aligarh, Iranian Students Islamic

Association, 1979).
2. Man and Islam, Trans, Ghulam M.Fayez (University of Mashhad Press,
Mashad, Jahad Publications, 1982).
3. Art Awaiting The Saviour , Trans, Homa Farjadi (Shariati Foundation and
Hamdami Publishers, Tehran 1979).
4. Capitalism Wakes UP?!, Trans Mahmoud Mogscni, (The Ministry of
Islamic Guidance, Tehran, 1981).
5. Culture an Ideology, 1980, p.23.
6. Fatima is Fatima, Trans, Laleh Bakhtiar (Shariati Foundation and Hamdami
Publishers, Tehran, 1980).
7. From Where Shall we Begin and Machine in the Captivity of Machinism,
1980, p.52.
 8. Red shiism, Trans, Habib Shirazi (The shariati Foundation and Hamdami
Publishers, Tehran, 1979).
9. Hajj, Trans, Ali Behzadnia and Najla Denny.
10.Islamic View of Man, Trans, Ali Behzadnia and Najla Denny.
11.Martyrdom, Arise and Bear Witness, Trans, Ali Asghar Ghassemy (Ministy
of Islamic Gudance, Tehran, 1981).
12.Marxism and Other Western Fallacies: An Islamic Critique, Trans, R.
Campbell (Berkely, Mizan Press, 1981).
13.One Followed By An Eternity of Zeros , Trans, Ali Asghar Ghassemy (The
Hosseiniyeh Ershad and the Hamdami Publishers, Tehran, 1979).
14.On The Sociology of Islam, Trans", Hamid Algar (Berkely, Mizan Press,
1979).
15.Selection and of Election, Trans, Ali Asghar Ghassemy (The Hosseniyeh
Ershad and Hamdami Publishers, Tehran, 1979).
16.The Visage of Mohammed, 'Trans, A. A. Sachadin (Nor. Oqalam
Publications, Lahore, 1983).
17.Ye Brother, That's The Way it Was, Trans, Nader Assaf (Shariati
Foundations and Hamdami Publishers, Tehran, 1979).
18.Awaiting the Religion of Protest Translated by: Shahyar Saadat.
19.What is to be done? Edited & Anotated by: Farhang Rajaee/ Forword by:
John L. Esposito.
20.Martyrdom, Trans, lale Bakhtiar and Hossein Saleh, (Abowzar faundation,
Tehram, Iran).
21.Hajj, trans, S.M.Farough, (Islamic faundation, India, 1989)
A large number of Shari'ati's works have been translated into different languages.
Eighteen books were translated into Arabic and fifty nine books into Turkish. Also
some books were translated into Kurdish, Urdu, Indonesian, Albanian, Tamil,
Thai, Bengali, German, Italian, French, and Spanish.3

TRANSLATIONS
'Ali Shari'ati translated a number of books between 1956 – 1969:

 Translation of the book Salman Pàk et les Prémices Spirituelle de

l'Islam about Salman al-Farsi by Louise Massignon in 1969.
  Abu Dhar al-Ghifari, written by Juda al-Sihar in 1955 which was translated
and published as "Abu Dhar-i Ghifari awwalin khuda parast-i susialist"
(Abu Dhar al-Ghifari, the first Socialist God-Worshipper" in Mashhad.
 "Fi l-Naqd wa l-Adab" written by Muhammad Mandur; it was translated in
1959 as About Critic and Literature.
 Translation of the book Prayer by Alexis Carrel in 1960.
 Articles of Frantz Fanon about Guerilla Warfare between 1960 – 1963
translated in Iran-e Azad Newspaper.4

SPEECHES AND CONFERENCES

Ali Shari'ati gave speeches in both private meetings and public gatherings in
Husayniyya Irshad, Tehran University, the university of Shiraz and the university
of Abadan between 1968 to 1976 which involved sixty six subjects including
studies of Islam, the history of religions, and Hajj. His speeches were also given to
people in audio formats which are available now as well. About one hundred
pamphlets and books were published before the Islamic Revolution of Iran in
1979.After the demise of 'Ali Shari'ati his works were published in collection
forms which are available now in 36 volumes; each volume contains a number of
handwritten works, speeches and pamphlets from him. For example, his speeches
and works on Hajj are published in the sixth volume and his works on the history
of civilization are published in the eleventh and the twelfth volumes and his works
on Imam al-Husayn (a) and martyrdom are published in the 19th volume 5
REFERENCE
1. Iran chamber society ‘DR Ali Shariti’ Iranian Personalities
Thursday03.2021
2. Bazargan and Ayatullah Mutahhari mentioned it in their letter read after the
death of Shariati. Chehabi, H. E., Iranian Politics and Religious Modernism:
The Liberation Movement of Iran Under the Shah and Khomeini, London:
I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 1990, p. 70.
 3. Najibullah Lafraie, Revolutionary Ideology and Islamic Militancy: The
Iranian Revolution and Interpretations of the Quran, I.B.Tauris (2009), p.
127
4. Charles W. Scott, Pieces of the Game: The Human Drama of Americans
Held Hostage in Iran, Peachtree Publ (1984), p. 118

5. Morrow, John Andrew (15 March 2012). Religion and Revolution: Spiritual

and Political Islām in Ernesto Cardenal .p. 145. 

CHAPTER – 02 THE YOUNG INTELLECTUAL AND POLITICAL

ACTIVIST

SHARIATI’S ROLE IN ISLAMIC REVOLUTION OF IRAN

A large number of researchers believe, Shari'ati's ideas and theories played

important role in formation of Islamic revolution of Iran in 1979. In addition some
believed the intellectual and literal atmosphere in 1970s in Iran was influenced by
Shari'ati's ideas. As a result sometimes 'Ali Shari'ati was regarded as the "Teacher
of Revolution" in Iran.

SHARIATI IN MODERN IRAN

In modern Iran, Shariati is acknowledged as one who brought young generation to
Islam.6 Next to Khomeini, Shariati was the most influential figure in Islamic
movement carrying Iranian Islamic revolution of 1979.He was even called as the
initial ideologue.7Ali Shariati (1933-1977) was born in Mashad, Iran, from a
modern preacher family. He studied in Mashad and Paris, where he got titles of
B.A., M.A., and doctorate in the fields of Persian literature, sociology, and history
of religions. He was the founder of The Liberation Movement of Iran Abroad and
the main figure of Husayniyah Irshad Institute in Tehran. He was jailed by Shah’s
regime in 1970s and, then, he moved to London where he passed away
mysteriously with a perception that there was shah’s secret Police (SAVAK)s
involvement. Among his writings translated and studied throughout the Muslim
world are What Is To Be Done?, On the Sociology of Islam, Man and Islam,
Marxism and Other Western Fallacies, The History of Religions, Existentialism,
and Martyrdom.8Shariati was a modern Muslim thinker. He uttered his own
conviction about Islam in modern terms for the modern audience. And he had his
own heroes. The Muslim modernists being modeled by Shariati are Jamal al-Din
al-Afghani (d. 1897), the influential ideologue of anti Western imperialism;
Muhammad Abduh (d. 1905), the force behind the religious reformist movement of
Egypt in the early 20th century; and Muhammad Iqbal (d. 1938), the great reformer
of Indian Muslims standing for activism and creative selfrealization.9

METHOD OF THOUGHT

To know closer on what Shariati persuaded at his time we should identify, firstly
his way of thought. There are some characteristics in Shirit’s method of thinking:
Islamic humanism, class struggle, dialectical, radical, and wise (hikmah). Shariati
has an idea of Islamic humanism. Here, Islam should speak of mankind as a God
creature living in order to develop civilization. He says that “therefore it was
necessary that religion should speak in images and symbols that would become
comprehensible with the development of Human thought and Science” 10A dyadic
view of society is also Shariati’s method of thinking .His view is social, historical
and class struggle.11
SHARIATI AND SOCIALISM
It seems that his eagerness to explore socialism began with the translation of the
book Abu Zarr: The God-Worshipping Socialist by the Egyptian thinker Abdul
Hamid Jowdat-al-Sahar (ar:‫)عبد الحميد جودة السحار‬. According to this book, Abu Dhar
was the very first socialist.Then, Shariarti's father declared that his son believed
that the principles of Abu Dhar are fundamental. Even some thinkers described
Shariati as the modern day Abu Dhar in Iran.Of all his thoughts, there is his
insistence on the necessity of revolutionary action.12 Shariati believed
that Marxism could not provide the Third World with the ideological means for its
own liberation. One of his premises was that Islam by nature is a revolutionary
ideology. Therefore, Islam could relate to the modern world as an ideology.
According to Shariati, the historical and original origin of human problems was the
emergence of private ownership. He believed that in the modern era, the
appearance of the machine was the second most fundamental change in the human
condition. In fact, private ownership and the emergence of the machine, if
considered one of two curves of history, belong to the second period of history.
The first period is collective ownership. However, Shariati gave a critique of the
historical development of religion and the modern philosophical and ideological
movements and their relationship to both private ownership and the emergence of
the machine.13
EPISTEMOLOGY
Shariati developed the idea of the social, cultural and historical contingencies of
religious knowledge in sociology. He believed in the earthly religion and in the
social context in which the meaning of society is construed. He also emphasized
that he understood religion historically because he was a sociologist. He said he
was concerned with the historical and social Tawhid, not with the truth of the
Quran or of Muhammad or Ali14
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
Completely contrary to Hegel and his philosophy of history, Shariati believed that
it is not true that the civilized human is less consciousness than modern people but
rather there is a difference between them. The civilized man could talk on himself
more than universe and the new people are so concerned with reality and universe
that there is no place for himself and mysticism and religion. Of course he knows
the movement of soul in Hegel's philosophy and history in one sense as right15

ABOUT DEMOCRCY

Shariati also denies blind democracy. He says that democracy is good for a society
which should be administered, but it is totally dysfunctional for societies which
should be reformed and changed. He also mentions that even in industrial
countries, democracy is not in line with its ideals, but becomes the play of the
capitalists. In Islamic history, the principles of bay’ah(public allegiance) and shura
(free election), did not appropriately work because the hereditary system had
forced its power, so that bay’ah only meant Support and Submission 16It is here,
then, he proposes an ‘engage democracy’ led by qualified group of revolutionary-
progressive people the aim of which is to realize the ideology.To the structure of
Muslim society itself, Shariati negates quiet. ‘ullama’ According to Shariati, most
of the religious scholars (ullama)in Iran in his time were the representatives of the
Safawi Shi’ism , characterized as their quiet-cooperation with the despotic regime
of Shah.17

OPOSITION

Before proposing his own thinking about social order, Shariati was doing denial
first. The things to be denied by him are: polytheism, destructive Europe, blind-
democracy, and quiet-ulama (religious scholars). Shariati refuses all kinds of
polytheism whether it is old or new; in a form of thought, feeling, action, or
culture. Here is his statement, as addressed to the common Muslims: Your enemy
is not always armed or an army. It is not necessarily a known outsider. It may be a
system or a feeling, a thought or a possession, a way of life or a type of work, a
way of thinking or a working tool, a type of production or a way of consumption,
culture, colonisation, religious brainwashing, exploitation, a social relation or
propaganda. It can be neo-colonialism, bureaucracy, technocracy or automation. At
times it is exhibitionism, nationalism and racism while other times it is Nazi-
fascism, bourgeoisism and militarism. It may be love for joy (Epicureanism), love
for ideas (idealism), love for matter (materialism), love for art and beauty
(romanticism), love for nothing (existentialism), love for land and blood (racism),
love for heroes and central government (fascism), love for individuals
(individualism), love for all (socialism), love for economy (communism), love for
wisdom (philosophy), love for feeling (gnosticism), love for heaven (spiritualism),
love for existence (realism), love for history (fatalism), love for art and Beauty
(romanticism) , love for instincts (biologism), love for the hereafter (faith),
superstitiousness of idealism, gluttony of economics These are the idols of the new
polytheism. The new civilization is like LAT (uzza) Asif ,Nail’ah of the new
Quraysh!18

Shariati blatantly refuses Europe with its destructive behavior, for it “always
speaks of humanity , but destroys human beings wherever it finds them”
.Comprehensively, he describes Europe as a structure of Cainian system: kings,
riches, and clergy supporting each other in order to rule the world.

REFERENCE
1. Morrow, John Andrew (15 March 2012). Religion and Revolution:
Spiritual and Political Islām in Ernesto Cardenal p.71
2. Ibid., 187.
3. Shahrough Akhavi, Religion and Politics in Contemporary Iran: Clergy-
a. State Relations in the Pahlavi Period, Albany, New York: 1980, pp.
144-7.
 4. Akhavi, op. cit., 146 quoting Shariati, Chih Bayad Kard? (What is to be
Done?), (Tehran: HusaSyniyah Irshad, n.d.), pp. 3242.
5. Akhavi, op. cit., 146 quoting Shariati, Chih Bayad Kard? (What is to be
Done?), (Tehran: Husayniyah Irshad, n.d.), pp. 3242. 6 Shariati, Ali,
On the Sociology of Islam, tr. by Hamid Algar, Berkeley: Mizan Press,
1979, p. 7
6. Akhavi, op. cit., 152 quoting Shariati, Intizar-i Madhhab-L ,I’Tiraz
(Tehran: Husayniyah Irshad, 1971), p. 25
7.  Abrahamian, Ervand (21 July 1982). Iran Between Two Revolutions.
Princeton University Press. p. 465
8. Ervand Abrahamian (1989). Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin.
I.B.Tauris. p. 106
9. Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, Abdolkarim Soroush, The Oxford Handbook
of Islam and Politics, Edited by John L. Esposito and Emad El-Din
Shahin, online pub date: Dec 2013
10. Ahmad Rasekhi (1198). "Shariati and the hegel's philosophy of
history". Keyhan Farhangi (142). p. 41.
11.Shariati ,Ali , “ SAHADAT” in Gary Legenhausen and Mehdi Abedi
(eds.), Jihad and Shahadat: Struggle and Martyrdom in Islam, Houston,
Texas: IRIS (The Institute for Research and Islamic Studies), 1986, p.
203
12.Chehabi, op. cit., 205.
13.Chehabi, op. cit., 71 quoting Shariati, Emmat va emamat (The umma
and imamhood), 1977, pp. 161-21

CHAPTER – 03 ISLAM s IN THE PERCEPTION OF ALI SHARIATI

IDEAL ISLAM

Having negated the existing social life, Shariati, affirms the ideal social life of
Islam, which can be characterized as: tawhid, ideological Islam, median school,
imam as the leader Harmonious society ,peoples independency, ummah (Muslim
community) as the ideal society, and ancient Medina as a model for an Islamic
state. For Shariati, this life should be based on tawhid. And this tawhid is
universal, addressed to all races, nations, groups, families and social classes. As the
world-view, this tawhid brings humanity into one powers, impels humans “to
revolt against all lying powers, all the humiliating fetters of fear and of greed” 19
Here we can see that for Shariati, tawhid is a gigantic energy for the revolution,
something which is very rare to hear from other Muslim writers. And Shariati also
guarantees that besides upholding equality between humans, tawhid also means
that there is no conflict in society.

ISLAM IS NOT ONLY A RELIGION

To Shariati, Islam is not only a religion, it is also an ideology. According to

Arjomand, the meaning “ideology” in shariatis work corresponds with Durkhim’s
“ collective Conciousness” So, this Islamic collective consciousness can answer all
human problems.20And that because Islam at Shariati time was an oppressed
religion, he affirms that islam “suggests the negotiation of aristocracy, class
antagonism, and exploitation of labor by money, with a super-structure of the
imamat [leadership], which suggests the negation of despotism, of individual rule,
of aristocracy, of oligarchy, and of the dictatorship of an individual Family,class or
race . Shariati also states that Islam is a median school. To compare with the West,
Islam is a median school between the Communism and Capitalism. It combines the
good of the two schools but has no inadequacies of both. 21But the good of Islam
cannot be existed without an ideal leader, the Imam (the religious leader). Here
Shariati confirms that apart from a Prophet, Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) was an
Imam.Therefore, for Islamic society, the ideal leader is an Imam, the inner quality
of which is different from the mass, and one who leads them not only to
“maximize their happiness” as believed by utilitarianists, but more to reform and
improve the mind. It is the duty of the Imam to guide the people from “what they
are” to “what they should be” But Shariati mentions that the Imamah is a system
of meritocracy, not merely hereditary.22Shariati also believes that history is ended
in a harmonious society to him Shi’ism perceives the movement of the history is
going to a peaceful, free of conflict society.for Shi’ism has a concept of intizar
(waiting for the messiah). But this concept of waiting should be positive, action-
oriented, and voluntary. It should not be passive, lazy, and fatalistic.23
Islam: the religion of liberation
The understanding of Islam offered by Shari’ati was different from the
mainstream’s understanding at the time. Islam understood by many in Shari’ati’s
time was Islam with its simple ritual and fiqh that did not touch upon social and
political issues. Islam was just a collection of dogmas to govern the way
individuals worship God; it did not provide the most effective way to uphold
justice, a strategy against tyranny, or guidance to defend the oppressed
(mustad’afin). Such an Islam greatly benefits the ruling authorities and induces
injustice on many occasions, for it can take refuge behind the dogmas that have
been made in such a way as to protect their interests.24

In the context of the political situation in the era of Shari’ati, this mainstream
Islamic discourse was used by most scholars to support the regime’s power. When
the Syah’s regime oppressed its people, these regimes ulamas were incapable of
doing anything for the benefit of the people. Instead, the ulamas were forced to
continually provide religious justification for the Syah’s policies. Shari’ati viewed
such Islam as a rulerstyle Muslim (the Islamic way of Uthman, the third Khalifa of
Islam). On the other hand, authentic Islam, as Shari’ati states, is the Islam of Abu
Dzar, the Prophet’s companion of social thought. Abu Dhar was watching these
shameful scenes and because he could no longer bear it, could no longer remain
silent, he rebelled, a manly and wonderful rebellion; an uprising which caused
rebellion in all the Islamic lands against ‘Uthman; an uprising from which the
waves of enthusiasm can still be felt until the present day in the situations of
human societies. Abu Dhar was trying to develop the economic and political unity
of Islam and the regime of ‘Uthman was reviving aristocracy. Abu Dhar believed
Islam to be the refuge of the helpless, the oppressed and the humiliated people and
‘Uthman, the tool of capitalism, was the bastion to preserve the interests of the
usurers, the wealthy and the aristocrats.25

According to Shari’ati, liberation Islam is Islam inherited by Imam Husayn; His

martyrdom at Karbala was a source of inspiration for the oppressed to preserve the
authentic Islam. Thus, such Islam is the earliest Shi’a Islam. The revolutionary
Shi’a Islam was personified by Abu Dharr al-Ghifari with his hermit and Imam
Hussein with his martyrdom. Both are symbols of the eternal struggle of the
oppression against unjust rulers. This revolutionary Shi’a Islam then experienced a
“taming” in the hands of the upper classes - political rulers and ulama who gave
legitimacy to “Islam” in the ruler version. For Shari’ati, the true Islam is
revolutionary, and true Shi’a is revolutionary Islam. However, in the course of
time, Islam has turned into a trap of prayers and rituals that are completely
meaningless in life. Islam is only a religion that deals with how people die, but it
does not deal with the aspects of how people can survive in life in the midst of
discrimination, exploitation, and oppression of unjust rulers. Unfortunately, as
Shari’ati had been disquieted, this revolutionary Islam soon became hard to status
quo. Islam is laden with feudalism and the ulama are supporting the accustomed
establishment. They wrote more books on ritual rules and spent their time to
discuss furu’iyah matters in shari’a, and completely undermine the meaning of
Islamic elan vital by creating active social justice and Islamic awareness of weak
and oppressed groups (Mustad’afin). They identify themselves as mustakbirin
(strong and arrogant people). Shari’ati’s major contribution to the society change is
their ability to reconstruct the idea of revolution based on local culture. Shari’ati
used Red Shi’ite language as a symbol that the idea of the revolution did not
come solely from Western theory, but the idea of revolution existed in the Shi’a
tradition run by the Iranians. Shari’ati used the term Red Shi’a to distinguish Shi’a
from rituals without taking the wisdom behind the ritual. Ali Shari’ati criticized the
Shi’a scholars who commemorated the tragedy of Karbala as an annual event
without interpreting the basic spirit of the event. Shari’ati perceived the event of
Karbala as a symbol of persistence of the leader of the people against the truth.26

Tauhid: the foundation of liberative Islam

The progressive and revolutionary view of Shari’ati stems from a belief system of
tauhid. In Shari’ati’s hands, the traditional technical term was transformed into a
radical and Jacobin-impressed, socialist, idealist, and trans historical. He
establishes tauhid as a sword to combat religious divisions, knowledge sharing,
separation of God from humans, and the erroneous historical events. 27Tauhid in
this case is a mystical-philosophical world view of the universe as a living
organism without dichotomy, all unity in the trinity between three hypotheses:
God, men, and the nature. For Shari’ati, tauhid reflects that the nature is a totality
of harmony creations. The responsibility of Muslims is to recognize and accept the
rumination and to mobilize it massively: My world-view consist of tauhid. Tauhid
in the sense of oneness of God is of course accepted by all monotheist. But tauhid
as a worldview in the sense I intend in my theory means about the whole universe
as a unity.28Tauhid is not only the oneness of God, but also the unity of mankind.
The concept of unity of liberation is very close to the concept of universal
humanity that aspires to justice and virtue. The true concept of tauhid is to create a
structure which is free of exploitation and elevate basic human rights. Submission
to God does not mean eliminating to do good deeds and prevent evil. The meaning
of submission to God is historical activism. This means humans have an obligation
to show their existence as a creature with reason and conscience. 29Tauhid views the
world as an empire. On the other hand, Shirk views the world as a feudal system.
With this view, then the world has the will, self-awareness, responsiveness, and
goals. Relying on this belief, Shari’ati rejected polytheism, dualism, and
trinitarians. He only believed in tauhid, monotheism. Monotheism rejects all
confessions and human beliefs over false Gods. While in the days of Jahiliyyah,
the false Gods were manifested in the form of idols, in this modern age, according
to Shari’ati, false Gods are manifested in many aspects and fields that are wider
and more complex than just idolatry worships. The Gods are more a tyrannical
system full of oppression, or the glory of the world that when it comes to seizing, it
must seize the rights of others.After tauhid has been standardized into a world-
view, Shari’ati reinforces its revolutionary idea by demonstrating the need for the
totality of engagement, outpouring, and any potential to accumulate the power of
society. For that purpose, Shari’ati refers to one of the most basic and fundamental
doctrines of Islam - moreover in the Shiite tradition of Iran - the martyrdom
doctrine (shahadah). The doctrine of shahid refers to the death of Husein in the
field of Karbala by the armies of Yazid, the ruling regime at the time. With this
doctrine, Shari’ati invited the whole Iranian society to give themselves to the
totality of the ultimate sacrifice of dying in the way of God. For Shari’ati, the
shahid is the heart of history that always demands the faithful to be ready to
sacrifice both with their soul and body, willing to die for a victorious purpose. The
theological conception of tauhid is actually a conception of noble principles or
values that preserve human life on this earth: truth, compassion, sincerity,
kindness, equality, and human fraternity. Muhammad, the messenger, devotes his
life to declare the truth and establishing a social order based on these noble
principles and values. The Prophet fought against these forces, the forces that
divide humanity into rival factions, classes and groups, where one class oppresses
another. They struggle against class discrimination, injustice, tyranny, and
oppression. The Prophet, Muhammad, fought valiantly and courageously to
liberate mankind from slavery by oppressors, exploiters, nobles, slave-owners and
religious scholars. They elevated human dignity from superstition, weakness and
imperfection caused by shirk, fear, wild passions, egotism, arrogance and material
desires.30

Religion,Humanism,and Emancipation

According to the vision presented by Shari'ati, religion, as ethical awareness,

allows man to move from the
instinctive heaven to the promised paradise, to ascend (me'raj) from an
earthly to a divine being. Such an ascent is in fact an existential responsibility,
a Divine Trust (lmana) imposed on man. Such characteristic is the core of what
Shari'ati calls Islamic Humanism. As such:
Islam bases its divine humanism on tawhid; on the scientific level it
defines man as of the earth while on the level of existential analysis it
raises him from dust toward God and absolute transcendental values. 
Based upon such a conception of human existence, and deriving his ideas
from the notion of the »forbidden fruit of awareness«, Shari'ati introduces his
view of Islamic humanism. According to him, human authenticity is rooted in
»the pain of existence«, a pain that is the outcome of human awareness:
To the degree that one attains this fruit, one finds oneself more and
more contained by the earthly life. It is out of this pain and the need
for that which is ›absent‹ that man comes to rebel against the ›will of
God‹, the will that is manifested, through the ›four prisons of man‹ in
the natural, historical, social, and physiological laws. 
Human revolt against these »prisons« would ultimately lead man to unity
with God. As man frees himself more and more from these »prisons«, the
world declines more and more for him. Transcending these »prisons« creates
higher and more sublime needs, needs which in man's loneliness would be met
only in his return (tawba) to God, a ›return‹ which is the realization of man's
becoming. The Quranic humanism, hence:
 resembles a reciprocal relationship between God and man. A
relationship which accounts values as the emanation of divine
attributes in the human sphere and defines man's self perfection as the
self aware return to God. We see that in the philosophy of Islam …
self-knowledge and knowledge of God come to be synonymous, where
the former functions as a preliminary to the latter; as the Iranian
Aref [Bayazid Bastami] puts it in a profound remark: For years I
sought God and found myself; now that I seek myself, I find God. So,
quite to the contrary [of the materialist philosophy of Feuerbach], it is
not humanity that has made God, reposed its proper values in Him,
and worships Him; it is rather God Who has made humanity, reposed
His proper values in it, and praises it. 
Such a perspective, Shari'ati then notes, stands in opposition to both materialist
and providentialist determinism. While it avoids materialist determinism by
conceiving of free will as an essential facet of human existence, it
simultaneously remains free from providencialism by attributing to man the
character of rebellion. In explaining these dimensions of Islamic humanism,
Shari'ati argues that in Islam:
The society possesses ordering principles, and the continuous
evolutionary movement of human history is based upon scientific
laws. But because it considers the human will to be a manife
station of the universal will of being (and not an unwitting product of
the exigencies of production or of society), Islam never hurls into the
terrible pit of materialistic determinism. Likewise, by proclaiming the
principle of ›assignation‹ or ›descent‹ [huboot], it frees mankind from
the bond of divine determinism in which the Eastern religions are
caught. … In this way, by presenting man as an aware being
possessed of a will and freed from the captivity of heaven and earth
alike, [Islam] arrives at true humanism. 
Therefore, in Islam, Shari'ati adds, man carries the divine responsibility of
making his own self and the world as an ontological axio-praxis. 31
REFERENCE

1. On the Sociology of Islam, p.87.

2. Islam and its role in mans social progress, self-consciousness,
movement, responsibility, human ambition and struggle for justice
.Islam realism and naturalness, creativity, adaptability with scientific
and economic progress and orientation toward civilization and the
community.The Hajj, xi.
3. Chehabi mentions this based on Sharaitis first book “ Maktab-se
vaseteh”(The median school) (1955). Chehabi, op. cit., 188.
4. Shariati, Ali, Man and Islam, tr. by Dr. Fatollah Marjani, Houston,
Texas: Free Islamic Lit., Inc., 1981, p. 90
5. “one who is waiting for the return of the Imam is one who is prepared;
so that at any moment it is possible for the trumpet to sound, and he
will see himself responsible in participating in this divine law; and he is
automatically ready, both engaging himself and equipped, every Shi’i
steps forward with the hope of hearing the call of the Imam. Shariati,
Intizar, p. 42 as quoted by Akhavi, op. cit., 153
6. Ali Shari’ati, What Is To Be Done: The Enlightened and Thinkers and
Islamic Renaisance, Houston: IRIS, 1986, 1-2. Compare with William
Cosgrave, “The Theology of Liberation”, The Furrow, Vol. 37, No. 8
(August, 2007), 505-516.
7. Ali Shari’ati, “And Once Again Abu-Dhar”,
http://www.iranchamber.com/personalities/ashariati/works/once_again_
abu_dhar.

8. Azyumardi Azra, Pergolakan Politik Islam: Dari Fundamentalisme,

Modernisme, Hingga Post-Modernisme, Jakarta: Paramadina, 1996, 77-
78.
9. Robert D. Lee, “Ali Shari’ati”, in Mencari Islam Autentik: Dari Nalar
Puitis Iqbal, Hingga Nalar Kritis Arkoun, trans. Ahmad Baiquni,
Bandung: Mizan, 2000.p:150
10.Ali Shari’ati, On the Sociology of Islam, Berkeley: Mizan Press, 1979,
82.
11. Nurcholish Madjid, Islam Doktrin dan Peradaban, Sebuah Telaah
Kritis Tentang Masalah Keimanan, Kemanusiaan, dan Kemodernan,
Jakarta: Paramadina, 2000,p.110
12. Ali Shari’ati, What Is To Be Done: The Enlightened and Thinkers and
Islamic Renaissance, Houston: IRIS, 1986,p.106-107.
13. Lamin SANNEH:Between East and West: Confrontation and
Encounter.In: The Christian Century (13 November l99l). Article
CHAPTER…4
ISOLATION AND REFLECTION
The last period in Shariati’s life in Iran began with his freedom from prison. It
was not until March 1975, that Shariati was released, without ever having been put
on trial. It is said that at the 1975 OPEC meeting in Algiers, Abdel-aziz Bouteflika,
the Algerian minister of foreign affairs at the time, who had known Shariati from
his Paris days of involvement with the FLN, had requested Shariati’s release. Even
though he was freed, Shariati was placed under tight surveillance. By this time,
Shariati’s books had been banned and anyone possessing them could have been
arrested. The ban on his books further increased their readership, as is the natural
reaction in all dictatorships. Shariati’s imprisonment had also enhanced his
reputation and bolstered his militant stature among his supporters and even those
revolutionary activists who had maintained that he was more of a romantic
reformist than a real revolutionary. Shariati’s refusal publicly to recant constituted
a considerable setback for the security forces, who considered their laborious
efforts as incomplete and fruitless. They, therefore, tried to discredit him by
demonstrating that even though he would not participate in any act of public self-
condemnation, he had given up his socialist ideals and become an anti-Marxist and
an anti-revolutionary before leaving prison. To this end, one of Shariati’s early
(1967) and relatively unknown lectures, Ensan, Eslam va Maktabha-ye
Maqrebzamin (Man, Islam and Western Schools of Thought), was serialized in the
popular afternoon newspaper Keyhan. When the first part of what seemed to be an
article appeared, no reference was made to the date at which it was spoken or
written, giving the impression that it was written in prison and wilhngly submitted

to Keyhan, Hardly anyone knew that the article was the transcription of an old
lecture and that it was being published without Shariati’s consent or even
knowledge. The fact that Shariati was permitted to have books and to write in
prison made it seem even more plausible that this was in fact what he had been
writing there. In this article, like many others, Shariati hammered at the inability of
‘western liberalism’, and ‘eastern communism’ to provide conducive conditions
for the ‘free development of human nature’. But in this piece he had taken his
arguments to extremes by arguing that both Marxism and Islam were integrated,
complete and perfect ideologies, in contradiction and at odds with one another.
Shariati had further argued that neither could be decomposed or deconstructed and
reconstruc ted with features of the other ideology. Therefore if one construction
borrowed an aspect of another and applied it to its own, such a reconstruction
would lead to the complete breakdown of that ideology. The impression that the
regime wished to convey was that in prison Shariati had ‘matured* and abandoned
his attempt at reconciling revolutionary sociahsm with Islam; opting for the
traditional Islam of private rites and quietism. The sub-title ‘Marxism against
Islam’, which was added to the original title, by the security forces, clearly
demonstrated the object of the sudden and unprecedented publication of one of
Shariati’s works in a semi-official newspaper.32

The stunt worked to a large extent because Shariati could neither deny having
made the speech nor publicly declare that in spite of the ideas he had expressed in
1967, he continued to believe that socialism and revolution were integral parts of
his conception of Islam. Shariati responded to his government imposed isolation
and the intellectual smear campaign conducted against him in the only way
available to him. Once again, he started to write and talk to small groups of friends,
old students and relatives. Weary of being under permanent surveillance, once out
of prison, Shariati usually slept during the day and worked through the night. After
long hours of writing, discussions or monologues during the night, Shariati walked
the quiet and empty streets of Tehran in the early hours of the morning. Between
March 1975, when he was released from prison, and May 1977, when he left Iran,
Shariati was freed from the hectic tempo of the Hosseiniyeh Ershad period. His
post-prison life constituted a period of reflection and stock-taking. On 10 January
1977, in an interesting conversation with the future Islamic Republic’s second
spiritual leader. Ayatollah Khamenei, its ideologue. Ayatollah Motahhari and one
of its renowned figures, Fakhreddin-e Hejazi, and in the presence of a group of
students, Shariati explained the pressing issues of this period. He argued that given
the achievements of the recent Islamic movement, it was necessary to address the
issue of sustaining the movement and protecting individual Muslims in it from the
constant attack of two hostile camps. He,maintained that Islam was posing a threat
to other ideologies since it had adopted a clear anti-imperialist, anti-dictatorial and
anti-capitalist ori entation. According to Shariati, Islam’s contradiction with
imperialism and capitalism was of an antagonistic nature, incapable of
reconciliation, whereas Islam’s contradiction with Marxism was of a non-
antagonistic nature. For Shariati the imperialist camp constituted an enemy, while
the Marxist camp constituted a rival. Under these conditions, Shariati called for the
development and presentation of an ‘Islamic manifesto’ based on an Islamic
ideology, the components of which he believed to be available. He placed the
preparation and presentation of a ‘reconstituted Islamic world outlook’ on the
agenda of the day.It was essentially to this task that he turned his attention during
the rest of his life. Shariati’s writings during this period were clearly marked by his
growing concern and preoccupation with three important themes. He argued that if
one were to analyse all movements, ideologies, philosophies, religions and
revolutions in the history of mankind, one Avould identify three primary currents:
1) love and mysticism; 2) freedom; and 3) the quest for social justice. Shariati
presented this trinity also under the title: mysticism, freedom and equality.
Mysticism, he argued, was a natural manifestation of the human essence. Man’s
curiosity condemned him to reflect on what was not materially existent in this
world. Mysticism allowed him to reach out into the metaphysical. It guided the
individual beyond the mundane and enabled him to develop towards divine
spiritual perfection. After his imprisonment, Shariati came to appreciate freedom
and eulogized it in his poetic narrative ‘Freedom, blessed Freedom’. In the
tradition of classical anarchists, he wrote: ‘O freedom, I despise governments, I
despise bondage, I despise chains, I despise prisons, I despise governments, I
despise dictation, I despise whatever and whomever enchains you. Despite his
adoration for political freedom, Shariati’s concept of individual freedom continued
to remain rigid and non-liberal. He upheld freedom only in contrast to dictatorship,
imperialism and exploitation and rejected ‘freedom without criteria or orientation’.
Remaining a prisoner of his original notion of ‘directed democracy’, he believed
that freedom had to be ‘planned and goal oriented’. Freedom needed socio-political
prerequisites. To prepare for the perfect stage of freedom, awareness and political
maturity, Shariati remained loyal to the Leninist concept of the revolutionary
leadership. To free society from ‘ignorance and injustice’, Shariati expected the
ideal revo lutionary leader to engage in ‘the revolutionary purification of his
environment and the revolutionary education of the people’. Like all traditional
Muslims he argued that individual liberty constituted partial freedom, while goal-
oriented Islamic freedom secured felicity (falah) or total emancipation from all
possible bonds. Shariati’s later writings expressed his open disdain and animosity
towards capitalism and the bourgeois values and mores that accompanied it. For
Shariati, capitalism had to be destroyed. Capitalism was not only unjust,
inequitable and exploitative, but it was immoral, destroying all real values and
perverting the vicegerents of God on earth. According to Shariati, capitalism
prevented man from becoming God-like.33 The system which could deliver
equality and social justice in his opinion was socialism. Shariati’s socialism,
however, was primarily an ethical one. Socialism was laudable because it freed
man, ‘the retainer of God’s spirit,’ from the bondage of exploitative private
property ownership and ‘infested bour geois’ values. Shariati maintained that if a
classless post-capitalist society were to usher in the socialization of moral
decadence and corruption,- through the spread of ‘pornographic magazines and
films, night clubs, discotheques, brothels and immoral television programmes’, he
would support the system.34

DEATH OF ALI SHARAITI….

On 16 May 1977, Shariati left,Iran. Once Shariati’s absence from home became
prolonged, SAVAK became suspicious. On 6 June, knowing that he would not be
allowed to leave the country under the name of Ali Shariati, SAVAK officially
requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to check whether someone under the
name of Muhammad Ali Mazinani had left Iran during May. 35 Some three weeks
after his departure, assuming that he must have fled the country, the Iranian
security service was still guessing, incorrectly, at the precise date. On 8 June 1977,
SAVAK issued circular to its agents abroad, informing them that Shariati had
illegally fled the country and that he was to be located and placed under close
surveillance.36

Shariati’s wife, Pouran, had applied for a passport for Ali Mazinani, which was the
surname indicated in Shariati’s birth certificate. At the Mehrabad airport, the
authorities failed to make the association and Shariati fled the country. He went to
Brussels and from there to London. On 18 June of the same year, Pouran
accompanied by her three daughters, Soosan, Sara and Mona, was to join Ali
Shariati in London. This time, the authorities caught on and refused Pouran and
six-year-old Mona, who shared her mother’s passport under the name of Shariat-
Razavi, permission to leave the country. Soosan and Sara were allowed to leave.
Pouran immediately called Shariati and informed him of the new development.
One can only speculate as to what went on in Shariatils mind.

His bitter previous experience must have immediately dawned upon him. When the
security forces arrested his father and brother-in-law as hostages to coerce him into
surrendering himself, the plot proved to be effective. This time, Shariati had no
reason to doubt that the authorities would exert as much pressure as possible on his
wife, who remained trapped in Iran, to get him back. The agonizing and awesome
thought of Pouran, under pressure, in the Komiteh prison and the probability of his
own return to the same prison must have caused him a great deal of anguish. The
possibility of physical damage resulting from such a psychological shock cannot be
ruled out. Once Soosan and Sara arrived at Heathrow, Shariati accompanied them
to a house that he had rented in Southampton. The next day, early in the morning
of June the nineteenth, Shariati’s body was found dead on the floor. The sudden
and mysterious death of Shariati at the age of forty-four, made the Iranian security
services the prime suspect. It was argued that the Shah’s regime was the prime
beneficiary of the silence of a prolific and charismatic speaker, who had become an
idol of the Islamic Iranian youth. If the trauma of the events of 18 June is
considered to be the prime cause of his death, then the Iranian government of the
time should be held responsible. Otherwise, one would have to accept the
coroner’s report, issued on 21 June in England, that Shariati died as the result of a
heart attack.37

On 26 June 1977, Shariati’s body was flown to Damascus, where he was buried
close to the shrine of Zeinab, Imam Hossein’s daughter. In a bold and defiant
speech, at the peak of his confrontation with the Shah’s regime, Shariati had
argued that every revolution had two apsects: blood and the message. Imam
Hossein was the symbol of martyrdom and blood, while the grave responsibility of
communicating and disseminating Imam Hossein’s revolutionary message, after
his martyrdom, was left to Zeinab. Without the preacher of the message, history
would have forgotten the blood and the sacrifice. Shariati’s role was thus similar to
that of Zeinab. He was not the man of blood, he was the teacher and the preacher.
38

SHARI‘ATI AND PRESENT-DAY IRAN……..

During the Islamic Revolution, Shari‘ati emerged unchallenged as the most
popular writer of modern Iran. Tapes of his lectures were widely circulated even
among illiterates. His works were frequently republished. His slogans were often
seen in street demonstrations. And his ideas were freely discussed by the
revolutionaries, especially radical high school students. In fact, his ideas were far
better known than those of Ayatollah Khomeini. Shari‘ati, therefore, can truly be
characterized as the ideologue of the Islamic Revolution.
Because of this unprecedented popularity, Shari‘ati’s name has now become a
major prize, fought over by rival political groups.
 The clerics heading the dominant
Islamic Republican Party eulogize him, write sermons about his life, and often cite
his works concerning Shi‘i roots, cultural revolutions, shortcomings of communist
movements and the need to struggle against foreign imperialism. Not surprisingly,
they often censor his anti-clerical views and deny that he was ever influenced by
the West.39 The Mojahedin, on the other hand, emphasize his call for a social
revolution and deemphasize — especially after Mojahedin leader Masoud Rajavi
fled to Paris — Shari‘ati’s stress on national unity against the ever present
imperialist danger. We cannot know where Shari‘ati himself would stand if he
were alive today. Many of his admirers have joined the Mojahedin, but many
others, despite reservations, continue to back the Islamic Republic. This support of
the regime is motivated by several important factors: the need to consolidate the
anti-imperialist revolution; the fear of a military counter-revolution; the aggression
of neighboring Iraq; and, finally, the mystique that still surrounds Khomeini and
influences large segments of the population40

REFERENCE

1. Later, Shariati referred to the issue as the ‘outrage o f the likes o f

 a. Keyhan* (Shariati, C.W . 1, p. 257).
2. Ibid., p. 27.
3. Ibid., p. 80.
4. An official letter dated 16/3/36 figm SAVAK; the Prime,Minister’s
5. Office, the third Bureau. {Nakhostvaziri, Edareh~e Kol-e Sevom) to
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs {Vezarate Omur-e Kharejeh). Signed
by Sabeti. The following snumbers appear on the letter: 312-1780 and
17588.
6. An official letter dated 18/3/36 from SAVAK; the Prime Mimster’s
Office, Center 337, to all agencies {KoUyeh Namayandegiha). Signed
by Sabeti.sFrom Dr Ali Shaiiati’s file in the 312th Office.
7. Nehzat-e Azadi-e Iran, 1356, p. 69.
8. Khamene, Hashemi-Rafsanjani, Taleqani in Saeedi, 1370, pp. 48,
57,64.
‘Ali Shari‘ati, Islamology, Lesson 13, pp. 7-8
Ervand Abrahamian "Ali Shariati: Ideologue of the Iranian Revolution," Middle East
Report 102 (January/February 1982)

CONCLUSION

As a religious thinker, Shari'ati has regarded abstract acceptance or rejection of

the divinity as essentially alike. It is, he believed, the social and historical
significance of these two that distinguish them from each other. Shari'ati
defines religion in terms of awareness, morality, responsibility and free will.
He refers to two types of awareness,human and social. Human self-awareness
regards a unique existential sense of being in the world:According to Shari'ati,
religious concepts should be studied in relation to concrete human problems,
and instead of reducing present problematic to the conditions of the revelation,
those revelations should be extended to one's own time. In his view, the
historical contexts of revelations would lose their relevance unless they share
their significance with us. Otherwise, to define problems in terms of the
historical past would only make revelation irrelevant.
As an intellectual living in modern
situation, learning about modern notions of reason, freedom, existence, while
experiencing modern forms of despotism, colonialism and assimilation,
Shari'ati came to have particular understanding of tradition, modernity and
emancipations. Any form of speculation, be it theological, philosophical, or
scientific, he believed, which does not challenge domination and oppression is
a mere scapegoat for ignorance. Accordingly, with an intra-paradigmatic
critique of tradition and a paradigmatic critique of modernity, he opened a way
for exchange between the two. He, therefore, can be considered to be a
forerunner for the dialogue between religious and secular thought.
Shariati has also demonstrated that Islam is able to be an
outstanding efficacy of political ideology, superior to that Socialist-
Communism and Liberal-Capitalism. To this, the Islamic Republic of Iran is
the praxis example. In its triumph of revolution, Iranian Muslims showed
Shariti’s formulation that the weak (Mustada-afn) symbolized as Abel could
win against the power of evil ruler symbolized as Cain. This confirms that
political struggle between the power of secular ruler in the one hand and the
social power in the other is not always that the ruled is defeated by the ruler.
The above explanation shows that an academician like Shariati could bear an
intellectual movement. And this intellectual movement is a catalyst for the
sssbigger political force. It explains that the position of intellectual movement
is not a pure political movement, but merely a moral force and agent of social
change. According to George Rude, a Sociologist, in his book Ideology and
Popular Protest (1995), a socio-political movement or a revolution will only be
succeeded if it is a kind of collaboration or a strong merger between inherent
ideology of common people. Hence, in order that a socio-political movement is
succeeded inherent ideology of the people had to be supplemented by a more
structured radical ideology, and therefore political possibilities depended
heavily on the capacity of radical intellectuals to articulate their own
aspirations and ideas in conjunction with those of the common people .
finally, Shariti thoughts followed by the victory of Islamic Revolution in Iran is
a symbol of the triumph of Islamic political power against the power built by a
secular regime, even though backed up by the Western power such as the
United States of America.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrahamian, E., Radical Islam, London, I.B. Tauris, 1989.
Ansari, M .A ., Defa az Eslam va Ruhaniyat, Pasokh be Doctor Ali Shariati,
Qum,
Chape Mehr-e Ostovar, 1351.
Ansari-e Zanjani, I., Eslamshenasi dar Tarazoy-e Urn va Aql, Qum, Chape
Hekmat, 1351.
Bakhtiar, L. and Saleh, H., (Translators) Shariati: Martyrdom, Tehran, Abu
Dharr Foundation, n.d.
Bozorgdashte Doctor Shariati dar Beirut, n.p., n.d.
Eslami, Q ., Sokhani chand ba Aqay-e Ali Shariati, Tehran, Chape Heydari,
Shaval-e 1392.
Kasravi, A., Baha'egary, Shi*igary, Sujigary, Koln, Mehr Verlag, 1989.
Moazen, Dah Shab, Tehran, Amir Kabir, 1357.
Moqimi, M ., Hatj o Marj, Tehran, Chape Shams, 1351.
Nehzat-e Azadi-e Iran, Yad Nameh Shaheed-eJaveed Ali Shariati, 111. USA,
n.p. 1356.

NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS

Darshd’y az Maktab Eslam, Shomareh Aval, Sale 13, Bahman 1350.
Ganj-e Shayegan, Sale 1, Shomareh-e 1-3, Khordad, Tir, Mordad, 1332.
Iran-eAzad, no. 10, June 1963.
Keyhan, 19 October 1977.
Keyhan-e Farhangi, Bahman-e 1363.
Mardom-e Iran, Organ-e Jamiyat-e Azadi-c Mardom-e Iran (Khoda Parastan-e
Sosialist), no. 22. Sunday 30 Farvardin 1332.
 1
Iran chamber society ‘DR Ali Shariti’ Iranian Personalities
Thursday03.2021
2
Bazargan and Ayatullah Mutahhari mentioned it in their letter read after the
death of Shariati. Chehabi, H. E., Iranian Politics and Religious Modernism:
The Liberation Movement of Iran Under the Shah and Khomeini, London:
I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 1990, p. 70.
3
Najibullah Lafraie, Revolutionary Ideology and Islamic Militancy: The
Iranian Revolution and Interpretations of the Quran, I.B.Tauris (2009), p.
127
4
Charles W. Scott, Pieces of the Game: The Human Drama of Americans
Held Hostage in Iran, Peachtree Publ (1984), p. 118

5
Morrow, John Andrew (15 March 2012). Religion and Revolution: Spiritual
and Political Islām in Ernesto Cardenal .p. 145. 
6
Morrow, John Andrew (15 March 2012). Religion and Revolution: Spiritual
and Political Islām in Ernesto Cardenal p.71
7
Ibid., 187.
8
Shahrough Akhavi, Religion and Politics in Contemporary Iran: Clergy-
a. State Relations in the Pahlavi Period, Albany, New York: 1980, pp. 144-7.
9
Akhavi, op. cit., 146 quoting Shariati, Chih Bayad Kard? (What is to be
Done?), (Tehran: HusaSyniyah Irshad, n.d.), pp. 3242.
10
Akhavi, op. cit., 146 quoting Shariati, Chih Bayad Kard? (What is to be
Done?), (Tehran: Husayniyah Irshad, n.d.), pp. 3242. 6 Shariati, Ali, On the
Sociology of Islam, tr. by Hamid Algar, Berkeley: Mizan Press, 1979, p. 7
11

11.Akhavi, op. cit., 152 quoting Shariati, Intizar-i Madhhab-L ,I’Tiraz (Tehran:
Husayniyah Irshad, 1971), p. 25

12.  Abrahamian, Ervand (21 July 1982). Iran Between Two Revolutions.

Princeton University Press. p. 465
12

13
Ervand Abrahamian (1989). Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin.
I.B.Tauris. p. 106
14
Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, Abdolkarim Soroush, The Oxford Handbook of
Islam and Politics, Edited by John L. Esposito and Emad El-Din Shahin,
online pub date: Dec 2013
 15
Ahmad Rasekhi (1198). "Shariati and the hegel's philosophy of
history". Keyhan Farhangi (142). p. 41.
16

16. Shariati ,Ali , “ SAHADAT” in Gary Legenhausen and Mehdi Abedi (eds.),
Jihad and Shahadat: Struggle and Martyrdom in Islam, Houston, Texas: IRIS
(The Institute for Research and Islamic Studies), 1986, p. 203
17

17. Chehabi, op. cit., 205.

18

18. Chehabi,op. cit., 71 quoting Shariati, Emmat va emamat (The umma and
imamhood), 1977, pp. 161-2.
19

19. On the Sociology of Islam, p.87.

20

20. Islam and its role in mans social progress, self-consciousness, movement,
responsibility, human ambition and struggle for justice .Islam realism and
naturalness, creativity, adaptability with scientific and economic progress and
orientation toward civilization and the community.The Hajj, xi.
21

21. Chehabi mentions this based on Sharaitis first book “ Maktab-se

vaseteh”(The median school) (1955). Chehabi, op. cit., 188.
22

22.Shariati, Ali, Man and Islam, tr. by Dr. Fatollah Marjani, Houston, Texas:
Free Islamic Lit., Inc., 1981, p. 90
23
“one who is waiting for the return of the Imam is one who is prepared; so that
at any moment it is possible for the trumpet to sound, and he will see himself
responsible in participating in this divine law; and he is automatically ready,
both engaging himself and equipped, every Shi’i steps forward with the hope
of hearing the call of the Imam. Shariati, Intizar, p. 42 as quoted by Akhavi,
op. cit., 153
24
Ali Shari’ati, What Is To Be Done: The Enlightened and Thinkers and
Islamic Renaisance, Houston: IRIS, 1986, 1-2. Compare with William
Cosgrave, “The Theology of Liberation”, The Furrow, Vol. 37, No. 8
(August, 2007), 505-516.
 25
Ali Shari’ati, “And Once Again Abu-Dhar”,
http://www.iranchamber.com/personalities/ashariati/works/once_again_abu_
dhar.
26

26. Azyumardi Azra, Pergolakan Politik Islam: Dari Fundamentalisme,

Modernisme, Hingga Post-Modernisme, Jakarta: Paramadina, 1996, 77-78.
27

27. Robert D. Lee, “Ali Shari’ati”, in Mencari Islam Autentik: Dari Nalar Puitis
Iqbal, Hingga Nalar Kritis Arkoun, trans. Ahmad Baiquni, Bandung: Mizan,
2000.p:150
28

28. Ali Shari’ati, On the Sociology of Islam, Berkeley: Mizan Press, 1979, 82.
29

29. Nurcholish Madjid, Islam Doktrin dan Peradaban, Sebuah Telaah Kritis
Tentang Masalah Keimanan, Kemanusiaan, dan Kemodernan, Jakarta:
Paramadina, 2000,p.110
30

30. Ali Shari’ati, What Is To Be Done: The Enlightened and Thinkers and
Islamic Renaissance, Houston: IRIS, 1986,p.106-107.
31
Lamin SANNEH:Between East and West: Confrontation and Encounter.In:
The Christian Century (13 November l99l). Article
32
Later, Shariati referred to the issue as the ‘outrage o f the likes o f
Keyhan* (Shariati, C.W . 1, p. 257).
33
Ibid., p. 27.
34
Ibid., p. 80.
35
An official letter dated 16/3/36 figm SAVAK; the Prime,Minister’s
36. Office, the third Bureau. {Nakhostvaziri, Edareh~e Kol-e Sevom) to The
Ministry of Foreign Affairs {Vezarate Omur-e Kharejeh). Signed by Sabeti.
The following snumbers appear on the letter: 312-1780 and 17588.
36
36.An official letter dated 18/3/36 from SAVAK; the Prime Mimster’s
Office, Center 337, to all agencies {KoUyeh Namayandegiha). Signed by
Sabeti.sFrom Dr Ali Shaiiati’s file in the 312th Office.
37
Nehzat-e Azadi-e Iran, 1356, p. 69.
38
Khamene, Hashemi-Rafsanjani, Taleqani in Saeedi, 1370, pp. 48, 57,
64.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrahamian, E., Radical Islam, London, I.B. Tauris, 1989.
Ansari, M .A ., Defa az Eslam va Ruhaniyat, Pasokh be Doctor Ali Shariati, Qum,
Chape Mehr-e Ostovar, 1351.
Ansari-e Zanjani, I., Eslamshenasi dar Tarazoy-e Urn va Aql, Qum, Chape
Hekmat, 1351.
Bakhtiar, L. and Saleh, H., (Translators) Shariati: Martyrdom, Tehran, Abu
Dharr Foundation, n.d.
Bozorgdashte Doctor Shariati dar Beirut, n.p., n.d.
Eslami, Q ., Sokhani chand ba Aqay-e Ali Shariati, Tehran, Chape Heydari,
Shaval-e 1392.
Kasravi, A., Baha'egary, Shi*igary, Sujigary, Koln, Mehr Verlag, 1989.
Moazen, Dah Shab, Tehran, Amir Kabir, 1357.
Moqimi, M ., Hatj o Marj, Tehran, Chape Shams, 1351.
Nehzat-e Azadi-e Iran, Yad Nameh Shaheed-eJaveed Ali Shariati, 111. USA, n.p.,
1356.

NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS

Darshd’y az Maktab Eslam, Shomareh Aval, Sale 13, Bahman 1350.
Ganj-e Shayegan, Sale 1, Shomareh-e 1-3, Khordad, Tir, Mordad, 1332.
Iran-eAzad, no. 10, June 1963.
Keyhan, 19 October 1977.
Keyhan-e Farhangi, Bahman-e 1363.
Mardom-e Iran, Organ-e Jamiyat-e Azadi-c Mardom-e Iran (Khoda Parastan-e
Sosialist), no. 22. Sunday 30 Farvardin 1332.
Nabard-e Khalq (Zamimeh), Sazeman-e Cherikhay-e Fada’ie Khalq, Esfand
1353.
Name-ye Parsi, Dowreh-e Dovom , Shomareh-e Aval, December 1962, Azar 1340
39
‘Ali Shari‘ati, Islamology, Lesson 13, pp. 7-8
40