Fatima is Fatima, By Ali Shariati - Part 5/5

I do not know what to say about her or how to say it? I wanted to imitate the French writer who was speaking one day in a conference about the Virgin Mary. He said, “For 1700 years all of the speakers have spoken of Mary. For 1700 years, all philosophers and thinkers of various nations of the East and West have spoken of the value of Mary. For 1700 years, the poets of the world have spent all of their creative efforts and power in their praise of Mary. For 1700 years, all of the painters and artists have created wonderful works of art showing the face and form of Mary. But the totality of all that has been said and the efforts of all the artists and thinkers throughout these many centuries have not been able to better describe the greatness of Mary than the simple words, ‘Mary was the mother of Jesus Christ.”‘

And I wanted to begin in this manner with Fatima. I got stuck. I wished to say, ‘Fatima was the daughter of the great Khadija,’ but I sensed this would not fully describe Fatima. I wished to say, ‘Fatima was the daughter of Mohammad,’ but I sensed this would not fully describe Fatima. I wished to say, ‘Fatima was the wife of Ali,’ but I sensed this would not fully describe Fatima. I wished to say, ‘Fatima was the mother of Hassan and Hussein,’ but I sensed this would not fully describe Fatima. I wished to say, ‘Fatima is the mother of Zaynab,’ but I still sensed this would not fully describe Fatima.

No, these are all true, and none of them is Fatima.

Fatima is Fatima, By Ali Shariati - Part 4/5

CHAPTER TEN

The Confinement
The black and difficult years of hunger began in the valley of Abu Talib. The Hashimi and Abd al-Muttalib families were imprisoned-with the exception of Abu Lahab who has joined the enemies. Men, women and children were placed in this hot, dry valley. A notice was written by Abu Jahl, in the name of all the wealthy people of the Quraysh, and it was placed on the Kabah wall: aNo one should have any contact with the Hashimi tribe. All relationships with them are cut-off. Do not buy anything from them. Do not sell anything to them. Do not marry any of them.”

Fatima is Fatima, By Ali Shariati - Part 3/5

CHAPTER SIX

What Role Did Women Play In The Attack?
Women in Islamic countries held a power whereby they could have changed the traditions, social relationships, ethics, spiritual values and, most important of all, the pattern of consumption in the same way that they held a power to preserve all this. Why? Because of the sensitive spirit of the East. It tends to accept the luxuries of civilized life and new products quickly more easily. This is especially true when confronted by bright, new, eye-catching things of beauty especially when opposed to these, they find nothing but ugliness.

Fatima is Fatima, By Ali Shariati - Part 2/5

CHAPTER FOUR

What should be done?
Islam distributes freedom. People are in love with Islam and yet, the young intellectuals realize the weakness and decline of Islam’s followers. The main reason for this contradiction is ‘not having come to know’. It is coming to know which has value. Love and faith have no value if they precede coming to know and precede chose or commitment. If the Quran is read but not understood, it is no different from a blank book. The Prophet gave his followers awareness, greatness, chastity and freedom when they came to know who he was. When one reads a book miss understating the Prophet’s character or when a book of his sayings is not given to his longing people, what effect can loving him, praising and eulogizing him have?

Fatima is Fatima, By Ali Shariati - Part 1/5

The words you are about to read are from a lecture I gave at the Husseiniyeh Irshad. To begin with, I had wanted to comment upon the research of Professor Louis Massignon concerning the personality and complicated life of Fatima. I had wished to refer to the deep and revolutionary influence her memory evokes in Muslim societies and the role she has played in the breadth of Islamic transformations. These remarks were intended particularly for my university students participating in ‘History and Knowledge of Religions’, ‘The Sociology of Religions’, and ‘Islamology’.

As I entered the gathering, I saw that, in addition to the university students, many others had come. This spoke of the need for a more urgent response to the problem. I agreed to answer the pertinent question of womanhood so extremely important today for our society.

Women who have remained in the ‘traditional mould’ do not face the problem of identity while women who have accepted the ‘new imported mould’ have adopted a foreign identity. But in the midst of these two types of ‘molded women’, there are those who can neither accept their hereditary, traditional form5 nor surrender to this imposed new form. What should they do?

They want to decide for themselves. They want to develop themselves. They need a model, an ideal example, a heroine. For them, the problem of ‘Who am I? and who do I become?’ are urgent. Fatima, through her own ‘being’, answers these questions.

Muhammad Iqbal, By Ali Shariati

If one were to reconstruct the form of Islam, which has been made to degenerate over the course of history, re-assemble it in such a way that its spirit could return to a complete body, and transform the present disorientated elements of Islam into that spirit, as if the trumpet of Israfil were to blow in the 20th century over a dead society and awaken its movement, power, spirit, and meaning, it is then that exemplary Muslim personalities like Muhammad Iqbal would be reconstructed and reborn.

My Lord, Grant Me . . .

My Lord, grant me the grace that my Faith (Iman) will not provide me with fame and wealth. Grant me the power to give away my wealth as well as my fame for the sake of my Iman. So that I may be of those who take the money from the world and work for Deen, nor of those who take the money from the Deen and work for the world.

Ali Shariati

Interview with Parsin, By The Pakistani Spectator

The Pakistani Spectator made an interview with me and published it today in here. I would like to appreciate them and particularly Ghazala Khan for giving me this chance. It was a wonderful experience for someone like me who is new to English blogs.

————————-

Would you please tell us something about you and your site?
Yes, the site is called Persia, and it is mainly about politics, life, and religion as I understand them. I am a Muslim from Iran, and I have lived in US for more than a decade. I was a university student and have been into many places in US. I found Americans one of the most religious people in the world. They are mostly nice, kind, and honest people. However, I must say that the politicians are completely different. In my belief US politics, and in specific its foreign policy, is mainly in the hands of Jewish Lobby. They push US government into problems that are not even in the interest of US people. One of my purposes in this blog is to discuss these issues.

Religion vs Religion, By Ali Shariati /Book Review

Reflecting on his experience as an engraver, William Blake once remarked that, in art as in life, the decisive factor is how you draw a line. “What is it that distinguishes honesty from knavery, but the hard and wirey line of rectitude and certainty in the actions and intentions? Leave out this line, and you leave out life itself; all is chaos again, and the line of the almighty must be drawn out upon it before man or beast can exist.”

It is a long way from Blake, the eighteenth century English artist and poet to Ali Shariati, the twentieth century Iranian sociologist and Islamologist; yet not impossibly far. For, despite their differences, the two share a moral passion leading them to draw lines in their writings calling for religious and social reform. A reader may not like where or how a line cuts, but there it is, bold and uncompromising, leaving one no choice but to stand on one side or the other.

Reflections of Humanity, By: Ali Shariati / part II

The machine emerged and developed during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries in Europe in the hands of the capitalists and the rich. The machine has the characteristic of the need for constant increase in production when it is working. This is the machine’s coercion. If it does not increase its production with 10 or 11 years, it will die out, it cannot continue to function and cannot compete with other machines. Why? Because if it does not increase its production, other machines, producing the same merchandise on a larger scale, can sell it cheaper. Therefore, the production of the obsolete machine stagnates. The machine must produce more and more to be able to pay more to labor and to put products in the market more cheaply than its competitors. Science and technology have contributed to the development of the machine and improved its efficiency. This development has changed the face of humanity today. We should not consider it as one of the problems emerging in the world today; rather, strictly speaking, there is no other problem but this, which has been before us for the last two centuries. From it grow all the other problems facing the world today.