Who Is He

by Ali Shariati

  “During the time he was teaching, the College of Arts and Sci­ences was formed at Mashhad University. He applied for his M.A. and was ac­cepted.“

  In pursuance of the ideas that Ali Shariati had developed on the social views of Islam, he published one of his first articles in June/July, 1955 entitled “The Egalitarian School of Islam—the History of the Evolution of Philos­ophy.”4

  He wrote, “The movements of Muslim nations seeking indepen­dence will only attain victory when they follow clear intellectual principles and when they understand the maktab (school of thought and action of Islam) as a school of thought in which philosophical, economic, ethical, rational, social, polit­ical, etc. issues are clearly expressed. The important point to note is that the structure of this school is built with material provided to us by lslam. Inspiration for its recon­struction must come directly from the salvation-bringing, sacred teachings of the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet..

  “If one day the Muslim nations, that is, those very men and women who are now struggling for the great reconstruction of Islam, gather around the axis of one thought and have clear and determined social goals, there is no doubt they will easily re­move the obstinate and merciless rivals from their lands and guarantee their movement against decline forever, at­tain outstanding progress and reconstruct their civilization with its past greatness.

  “The bases of this movement have been placed on the shoulders of each and every individual among the Muslim peoples. It is these very simple people who must regain the lost supremacy of Muslims because it was these very people who strengthened the Islamic movement in the world with their self-sacrifices.

  “Fourteen hundred years ago a few slaves, date sellers, camel herders and wage earners followed the religion of Muhammad and brought about the world movement of Islam. Today it is the work­ers, farmers, merchants, office employees, university and high school students who must revive it. Yea! Movements always arise from among the people because it is the aristocratic and ruling class who most often refuse to limit conservatism in order to preserve their own position. Their efforts are inevitably di­rected towards preventing any social change for change could endanger their interests. If there are a few people from this class who have believed in the movement of the deprived and strugglers upon the way, they are very exceptional. Many scholars and ulama also take on the color of the aristocrats either because of the fame and success they thereby attain or because the aristocrats hire them to preserve their interests.

  “Thus, there is no choice but that we ourselves must get to work. We must seek our inspiration from God alone. We must endeavor to revive the salvation-giving religion of Islam and the flourishing civilization that we lost by bringing about a change which will transform the to­tal present lslamic society. Then we will have once again found the way of truth and the right way to guarantee our well-being in both this life and in the life that is awaiting us. In order to do this, we must first arm ourselves with education and knowledge and put forth the progressive school of thought and action of Islam.

  “The school of Islam is a median school which humanity has once put into practice and from which outstanding results were attained. This is not a method that we have initiated. Rather, it is a way which, with the blossoming of Islam, carried the caravan of civilization dur­ing the golden centuries on its way to well-being and progress. The program of the ‘middle-way’ or median school of Islam can be summarized in the fol­lowing three points:

  “First, as opposed to the schools of materialism and idealism, Islam has a method particular unto itself and this method can be called ‘realism’.

  “Second, the social and economic system of Islam is a practi­cal socio-economic system based upon a belief in God and located in the middle be­tween the two corrupt systems of capitalism and communism.

  “Third, the political method of Islam (from the international point of view) is between the two blocs of the East and the West. The base of Islam is a median bloc which cannot be affiliated to either of the oth­er two. It is a natural tree which is neither of the East nor the West but rather, a third between the two contradictory poles. This bloc is composed of all Islamic countries.”5

  Then in September/October, 1957, he and his father, among others at the Cen­ter for the Propagation of lslamic Truth were arrested in Mash­had and flown by military plane to Tehran. When his father was asked about this arrest, he said, “Ali was active in the National Front which had been begun by Mosaddeq. Later when the religious faction of the National Front separated and Mehdi Bazargan formed the National Resistance Movement, Ali joined them. He liked Mehdi Bazargan very much. He went to the meetings of the movement in Mashhad. They did some things, but it was mostly just keeping busy.

  “In 1957, there were sixteen of us in the center who were accused of participating in the publication of a booklet disclosing the oil situation and, because of this, they tried to tie us into the movement. It was basically because of their dislike of the work of the center because of its connection with the National Front. Ali was always involved in political activities, whether they be in the National Front, the National Resistance Movement or whatever.”6

  As Shariati was the youngest among those arrested, only 23 at the time, he received the brunt of the torture. They shaved his head and beat him severely. During the eight months imprison­ment, Ali became familiar with the torture of the regime. From his small, dark cell, he opened a win­dow onto the world and onto history. He sensed the oppression and tyranny of the criminals and oppressors of history. A deep union was formed between him and all of the prisoners and oppressed of his­tory as a result of his anguish and torture.

  Ali Shariati bore all the blows of prison and all his bitter experi­ences with the power of his faith, with patience and trust in God. He left prison with a spirit full of hope and an iron will to continue his struggle against oppression, kufr and igno­rance. He returned to Mashhad to continue his education where he received his M.A. from the College of Arts and Sciences in 1958, finishing first in his class. The legal commitment of the university was to send the one who graduated first in his class to Europe to continue his studies. His po­litical record, however, was a barrier to the rule automatically being carried out. He taught in the Mashhad area, married Pouran Shariat-Raza­vi and was finally given permission to leave and to study in France. He was then allowed to take advantage of the scholarship he had won. 7

  3.

  To France and Back

  ALI’S FATHER described Ali’s departure in 1959 from Iran and his chosen field of study. “As he was leaving for France for graduate studies, his mother and I ac­companied him to Tehran. When we were saying good-bye at the air­port, I said to him, ‘Ali, when you had asked me what I thought you should study abroad, I realized that I was not experi­enced enough to suggest a field to you. I told you to wait until we got to Tehran to ask our friends. We discussed it with Mehdi Bazargan and others. They said you showed a lot of promise in the area of soci­ology, and since there was no professor trained in this at Tehran Uni­versity, you should study that which you liked best.’

  “I then recited the prayer for a safe journey in his ear and said, ‘I have a favor to ask of you. Please do not bring us a gift of anti-reli­gion from Europe. Do not lose your faith. You will be in touch with great professors who believe in religion. You can bring us the gift of new issues and approaches in regard to lslam.” Then (in order to show that he had accepted what I had said) he sent us the translation of Alexis Carrel’s work called Prayer af­ter just a few months while his mother and I were still in Tehran.

  “After seven or eight months abroad, he wrote me saying, ‘Father, we thought once I came to Europe to study, I would be free to study what I wanted, but the dry rules and regulations of our country dictate certain things so that we are not free even here. It has become clear that I must choose a field of study for my Ph.D. which follows the field I studied for my M.A.—otherwise I cannot be hired a
s a pro­fessor at a university and my credentials will not be accepted. I will take the exams for Persian liter­ature so that there will be no problem in my getting hired in Iran, but l will not put aside the study of sociology which I have begun and which I am very strongly inclined towards. That is, I will also study sociology.’ He did this. He also studied Islamic history and Persian literature, which he had to study, and the sociology of religion, which he loved.” 1

  It is the general opinion among his friends that Shariati had not gone to Europe to get a degree so much as to become familiar at close hand with the way of thinking in the contemporary Western world. Full of ideas on Islam, having studied and applied them to his life from an early age, his familiarity with other ideas was not ob­tained in the corners of quiet libraries or in such and such academies of study. Rather, it was in the social arena itself that he learned of the prevalent ideas among Westerners, just as he had learned about Islam.

  During the first few years Shariati was in France, new resis­tance activities began in Iran and abroad by communists and na­tionalists. In Iran, it was the continuation of the efforts of the Na­tional Resistance Movement which grew into the Second National Front and then became the Freedom Movement of lran. In response to this movement, patriotic young Muslim students abroad became active.

  Shariati joined this group as soon as he arrived in France. The Na­tional Front and Freedom Movement had still not been fully formed in Iran when he formed a group of Muslims called the Young Nation­al Movement of Iran in Europe. They began to work actively once the Na­tional Resistance Movement in Iran was fully organized. On February 25, 1962 the National Movement of Iranians in America was formed. He played a leading role in the movement abroad. The first Congress was held in Weisbaden, West Germany in August, 1962. A newspaper was published of which Shariati agreed to act as editor. The first issue of the monthly “ Iran-i-Azad” (“Free Iran”) appeared on November 15, 1962. Before Shariati resigned as editor, it was among the best and richest political papers. It was the only publica­tion which reflected the struggle of the Iranian people in the best way in all dimensions. His analyses, which he sometimes signed with the name Sham (candle), were among the best.

  His migration to Europe also coincided with the peak of the Alge­rian Liberation Movement. He was hopeful that this movement would help in freeing Iran from monarchial rule. Instead of just sitting and writing in support of the Algerian Mus­lims, he joined the Movement for the Liberation of Algeria and was actively involved. He was put in prison in Paris for six months in 1961 and, in prison, got to know others who shared his opposition to colonialism and imperial­ism, among whom was Franz Fanon, a man who sought out struggles of liberation but who knew little about Islam. Shariati told him about Is­lam.

  During the last days of his life, Fanon wrote Shariati saying, “Islam struggled against the West and colonialism sooner than Asia and Africa....these two ancient enemies of theirs. Even though I may not share your feelings in regard to lslam, I stress what you have said perhaps recognizing its importance more than you do, concerning the fact that in the Third World, Islam has a greater anti-colonial capacity than all other powers, social possibilities and ideologies and that Islam is anti-West­ern by nature.

  “I hold the hope that this spirit of Islam will again find life within the dying Muslim form through your genuine intellectuals. I hope that they will succeed in giving consciousness to their people and mobilizing them in the defensive battle against the assault of thoughts, occupations and poisoned and questionable European solu­tions, that they will be able to exploit the great and powerful spiri­tual, cultural and social resources hidden in the depths of their spirit; and that they will help Muslim societies to save humanity and lay the foundation for another kind of human being and civilization. This is a mission which to the same extent that I am unable to play a role in it, I believe that you and those who think like you are appointed to. Of course, I know that your efforts upon this way—as opposed to what they may first seem to be—will not contradict my dreams for the formation of a united people with common interests in the countries of the Third World. That which unites you and I now makes me be­lieve that this is a great and wise step in growing closer to this dream of mine.

  “At the same time, however, I believe the revival of the reli­gious spirit will make the realization of this dream more difficult for the nation which is in a state of ‘becoming’ (i.e. the Third World)....but the particular view that you have of the revival of the reli­gious spirit and your endeavors to give movement to this great power....in order to bring great salva­tion to the human being of today who has fallen into the stagnation of abasement, has been transformed and drawn into imi­tation and personality cults will mean the return to Islam is a return to ‘selfhood’ as you view it.... Even though my way differs from yours and perhaps is even opposite yours, yet I know that we will meet at the end, at the stage where human be­ings live well.... ”2 Ali, in truth, had found a brother in Franz Fanon. Later, giving a lecture called “Knocking on the Door of Truth,”3 he was to describe Fanon’s death and burial.

  Ali also became familiar with Marxism and socialism. While he developed a deep knowledge of both, he always remained a Muslim. He learned Western philosophy and sociology. He also got to know men like Louis Massignon, Schwartz, Jean Paul Sartre and Gurvitch. He helped some of his professors in their research pro­jects. He became familiar with Gurvitch’s complicated thought. They called him a ‘Gurvitchite’ as he was considered to be one of his followers. Students would come to him to have the lessons of Gurvitch explained to them.

  Later, in his classes on Islamology in Mashhad, he spoke about the role of the prophets, as compared with social thinkers and philosophers like Jean Paul Sartre and the success of the former and lack of success of the latter. “What did the prophets do and of what did their victory consist? We know that the most successful reformers of soci­ety have been the prophets. There is no doubt about it whether one approve of prophethood or not. Socrates was one of the greatest geniuses of humanity, but if you compare his success with that of Jesus or our own Prophet...., you see they are incomparable. The prophets guided a society, a culture and a history, whereas Socrates just gave beautiful lectures but did not develop a society.

  “The art of the prophets and other reformers of humanity, which brought them success, was their discovery of social laws. They under­stood their so­ciety very well. Their mission was coordinated with existing social traditions and history. They succeeded whereas ideal­ists and utopi­ans from Plato to Thomas More and many of the contemporary re­formers like August Comte, Saint-Simon, Proudhon, Russell and Sartre failed. Various other contemporary philosophical, social, politi­cal and economic schools have developed philosophies, but have not understood social laws. They have sat in their homes and written about utopias and sacred cities. They have conceived of the best of societies in books alone, in their minds. They have conceived of things that are in­capable of realization. Plato said, ‘Now that my utopia cannot be developed upon the earth, it will be implemented in heaven.’ The prophets did not create laws in the structuring of soci­ety. They dis­covered laws of society and, based upon that, their mission of train­ing and discipline was implemented and realized.... 4

  In a footnote he recalled an experience to explain the lack of success of men like Jean Paul Sartre. “Jean Paul Sartre was sitting in a cafe on St. Germain des Pres in Paris several years ago ex­pressing disgust at the way people had come to understand his school of existentialism and, in particular, the ugly and degenerated reac­tion which his school created in young people. This shows how social thinkers and philosophers such as himself produce a concept to guide people before they even recognize people and their times. As he himself admitted, these ideas not only met with defeat but gave negative results as well. His school of guidance resulted in error and loss.” 5

  Shariati spent the little money that he received while in Paris on the needs of the mo
vement and in purchasing books. He lived on the verge of poverty in one room with his wife and two small chil­dren.

  After completing his graduate studies in 1964 when he was 31 years old, he returned to Iran. He was arrested at the border between Turkey and Iran because of his activities abroad against the regime. He was imprisoned. After six months, during which time he was not able to contact or see his family or his father, he was freed because of objections his professors in France made against his im­prisonment and because of the efforts of friends in international organiza­tions.

  4.

  From the City of Martyrdom to the Husayniyah

  AFTER RELEASING him from prison, the Shah’s regime, in spite of his higher degrees, sent Shariati to teach at a high school in a small town outside of Mashhad, a job he held before going to Europe. Af­ter a time he was also allowed to teach at the Agricultural College in Mashhad. Due to objections raised on his behalf, the authorities had to finally give him a position teaching history at Ferdowsi University in Mashhad in 1966. He taught there until 1972 when he was 39.

  The university was completely transformed and his classes be­came high points for all students. They came from other colleges to hear his lectures. A class of 50 students suddenly had 300, 400 and 500 students until the university announced that no student from any other college could attend classes at the College of Arts and Sciences al­though students from the College of Arts and Sciences could still at­tend classes at, for instance, the Physician’s College.

  They suggested he do research instead: “Do research and collect your pay every month.” They offered him a higher salary for this work. He was offered high positions by the ministers and by lawyers who sat on the train with him between Mashhad and Tehran. Some even offered him their positions, but he did not accept any offers they made. He joined no party or group. He stood alone.