Coordinates: 33°26′42.13″N 36°20′28.98″E / 33.4450361°N 36.3413833°E
Doctor Ali Shariati |
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Native name | علی شریعتی |
Born | Ali Shariati Mazinani 23 November 1933 Kahak, Iran |
Died | 19 June 1977 Southampton, United Kingdom |
(aged 43)
Resting place | Damascus, Syria |
Nationality | Iranian |
Alma mater | Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Sorbonne |
Occupation | Sociologist, writer |
Years active | 1952–1977 |
Religion | Shia Islam |
Spouse(s) | Pouran Shariat Razavi |
Children | Ehsan, Sousan, Sara and Mona |
Parent(s) | Mohammad-Taqi Shariati Zahra Amini |
Ali Shariati (Persian: علی شریعتی, 23 November 1933 – 19 June 1977) was an Iranian revolutionary[1] and sociologist who focused on the sociology of religion. He is held as one of the most influential Iranian intellectuals of the 20th century[2] and has been called the 'ideologue of the Iranian Revolution'.[3]
Contents
Biography
Ali Shariati (Ali masharati) was born in 1933 in Kahak (a village in Mazinan), a suburb of Sabzevar, found in northeastern Iran.[4] His father's family were clerics.[5] His father, Mohammad-Taqi, was a teacher and Islamic scholar, who opened in 1947 the 'Centre for the Propagation of Islamic Truths' in Mashhad, in the Khorasan Province,[6] a social Islamic forum which became embroiled in the oil nationalisation movement of the 1950s.[7] Shariati's mother was from a small land-owning family.[5]
In his years at the Teacher's Training College in Mashhad, Shariati came into contact with young people who were from the less privileged economic classes of the society, and for the first time saw the poverty and hardship that existed in Iran during that period. At the same time he was exposed to many aspects of Western philosophical and political thought. He attempted to explain and provide solutions for the problems faced by Muslim societies through traditional Islamic principles interwoven with and understood from the point of view of modern sociology and philosophy. His articles from this period for the Mashhad daily newspaper, Khorasan, display his developing eclecticism and acquaintance with the ideas of modernist thinkers such as Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal of Pakistan, among Muslims and Sigmund Freud and Alexis Carrel.[8]
In 1952, he became a high-school teacher and founded the Islamic Students' Association, which led to his arrest after a demonstration. In 1953, the year of Mossadeq's overthrow, he became a member of the National Front. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Mashhad in 1955. In 1957 he was arrested again by the Iranian police, along with 16 other members of the National Resistance Movement.
Shariati then managed to obtain a scholarship for France, where he continued his graduate studies at Sorbonne University in Paris. He worked towards earning his doctorate in sociology, leaving Paris after getting a PhD certificate in sociology in 1964 from Sorbonne University. During this period in Paris, Shariati started collaborating with the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) in 1959. The next year, he began to read Frantz Fanon and translated an anthology of his work into Persian.[9] Shariati would introduce Fanon's thought into Iranian revolutionary émigrée circles. He was arrested in Paris during a demonstration in honour of Patrice Lumumba, on 17 January 1961.
The same year he joined Ebrahim Yazdi, Mostafa Chamran and Sadegh Qotbzadeh in founding the Freedom Movement of Iran abroad. In 1962, he continued studying sociology and history of religions, and followed the courses of Islamic scholar Louis Massignon, Jacques Berque and the sociologist Georges Gurvitch. He also came to know the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre that same year, and published in Iran Jalal Al-e Ahmad's book Gharbzadegi (or Occidentosis).
He then returned to Iran in 1964 where he was arrested and imprisoned for engaging in subversive political activities while in France. He was released after a few weeks, at which point he began teaching at the University of Mashhad.
Shariati then went to Tehran where he began lecturing at the Hosseiniye Ershad Institute. These lectures proved to be hugely popular among his students and were spread by word of mouth throughout all economic sectors of the society, including the middle and upper classes where interest in Shariati's teachings began to grow immensely.
Shariati's continued success again aroused the interest of the government, which arrested him, as well as many of his students. Widespread pressure from the populace and an international outcry eventually led to his release after eighteen months in solitary confinement, and he was released on 20 March 1975.
Shariati was allowed to leave the country for England. He died three weeks later in a Southampton hospital under 'mysterious circumstances' although in Ali Rahnema's biography of Shariati, he is said to have died of a fatal heart attack. Shariati is buried next to Sayyidah Zaynab, the granddaughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the daughter of Hazrat Ali in Damascus, Syria, where Iranian pilgrims frequently visit.
Views
Shariati developed a fully novel approach to Shiism and interpreted the religion in a revolutionary manner.[10] His interpretation of Shiism encouraged revolution in the world and promised salvation after death.[11] Shariati referred to his brand of Shiism as "red Shiism" which he contrasted with clerical-dominated, unrevolutionary "black Shiism" or Safavid Shiism.[12] His ideas have been compared to the Catholic Liberation Theology movement founded in South America by Peruvian Gustavo Gutierrez and Brazilian Leonardo Boff.[13]
Shariati was a prominent Islamist philosopher who argued that a good society would conform to Islamic values; he suggested that the role of government was to guide society in the best possible manner rather than manage society in the best possible manner.[14] Shariati believed that the most learned members of the Ulema (clergy) should play a leadership role in guiding society because they best understand how to administer an Islamic value system based on the teachings of the Prophets of God and the 12 Shia Twelver Imams.[15] He argued that the role of the clergy was to guide society in accordance with Islamic values to advance human beings towards reaching their highest potential—not to provide/serve the hedonistic desires of individuals as in the West.[15]
Shariati's works were highly influenced by the Third Worldism that he encountered as a student in Paris—ideas that class war and revolution would bring about a just and classless society—from one side, and the epistemic Decolonization thinking of his time from the other side. He is said to have adopted the idea of Gharbzadegi from Jalal Al-e Ahmad and given it "its most vibrant and influential second life."[16]
He sought to translate these ideas into cultural symbols of Shiism that Iranians could relate to. He believed Shia should not merely await the return of the 12th Imam but should actively work to hasten his return by fighting for social justice, "even to the point of embracing martyrdom", saying "everyday is Ashoura, every place is Karbala."[17] Shariati had a dynamic view about Islam. His ideology about Islam is closely related to Allama Iqbal's ideology; for example, according to both intellectuals, change is the greatest law of nature and Islam.
Legacy
Shariati's most important books and speeches
- Hajj (The Pilgrimage)[18]
- Marxism and Other Western Fallacies : An Islamic Critique
- Where Shall We Begin?[19]
- Mission of a Free Thinker[19]
- The Free Man and Freedom of the Man
- Extraction and Refinement of Cultural Resources
- Martyrdom (book)
- Ali
- An approach to Understanding Islam
- A Visage of Prophet Muhammad[19]
- A Glance of Tomorrow's History[19]
- Reflections of Humanity
- A Manifestation of Self-Reconstruction and Reformation
- Selection and/or Election
- Norouz, Declaration of Iranian's Livelihood, Eternity
- Expectations from the Muslim Woman
- Horr (Battle of Karbala)
- Kavir (Desert)
- Abu-Dahr
- Islamology
- Red Shi'ism vs. Black Shi'ism
- Jihad and Shahadat
- Reflections of a Concerned Muslim on the Plight of Oppressed People
- A Message to the Enlightened Thinkers
- Art Awaiting the Saviour
- Fatemeh is Fatemeh
- The Philosophy of Supplication
- Religion versus Religion[20]
- Man and Islam - see chapter "Modern Man and His Prisons"
- Arise and Bear Witness[21]
See also
- Intellectual Movements in Iran
- Islamic Marxism
- Islamic revival
- List of Islamic scholars
- Philosophy in Iran
- Red Shi'ism vs. Black Shi'ism
- Religious Intellectualism in Iran
- Jalal Al-e-Ahmad
- Hamid Algar
- Geydar Dzhemal modern philosopher of Politic Islam, revolutionist and social activist
- Abdulaziz Sachedina, a student of Shariati
References
- ^ "30th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Islamic Republic". Qantara. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
- ^ Gheissari, Ali. 1998. Iranian Intellectuals in the Twentieth Century. Austin: University of Texas Press.
- ^ Abrahamian, Ervand. 1993. 'Ali Shariati: Ideologue of the Iranian Revolution'. In Edmund Burke and Ira Lapidus (eds.), Islam, Politics, and Social Movements. Los Angeles: University of California Press. First published in MERIP Reports (January 1982): 25–28.
- ^ Rahnema, Ali. 1998, 2000. An Islamic Utopian. A Political Biography of Ali Shari'ati. London: I.B. Tauris, p. 35.
- ^ a b Rakel, E.P. (2008). The Iranian Political Elite, State and Society Relations, and Foreign Relations since the Islamic Revolution. University of Amsterdam.
- ^ An Islamic Utopian, p. 13.
- ^ An Islamic Utopian, pp. 13–18.
- ^ An Islamic Utopian, pp. 61–68.
- ^ «La jeune génération est un enjeu», interview with Gilles Kepel in L'Express, 26 January 2006 (French)
- ^ Ostovar, Afshon P. (2009). "Guardians of the Islamic Revolution Ideology, Politics, and the Development of Military Power in Iran (1979–2009)" (PhD Thesis). University of Michigan. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
- ^ Abbas Milani (31 July 2010). The Myth of the Great Satan: A New Look at America's Relations with Iran. Hoover Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-8179-1136-2. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
- ^ Ali Shariati, "Red Shi'ism vs. Black Shi'ism".
- ^ Nasr, Vali, The Shia Revival, Norton, (2006), p. 129
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0evSkdzXF_4
- ^ a b https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RjiWLcuyQA
- ^ Mottahedeh, Roy, The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran, p. 330
- ^ Nasr, Vali, The Shia Revival, Norton, (2006), pp. 128–9
- ^ "Hajj - Dr. Ali Shariati". Al-islam. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
- ^ a b c d "Ali Shariati علی شریعتی". Shariati. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
- ^ "Shariati, Ali". Ezania. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
- ^ "Martyrdom; Arise and Bear Witness - Ali Shariati". Scribd. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
Further reading
- Rahnema, Ali. 1998. An Islamic Utopian. A political biography of Ali Shariati. London: I.B. Tauris.
- Gheissari, Ali. 1998. Iranian Intellectuals in the Twentieth Century. Austin: University of Texas Press.
- Hosseini, S A. 2000 "[Ali Shariati's Islamic-Critical School of Thought (1)] مکتب انتقادی دکتر علی شریعتی (1)", Farhang-e-Tose'eh, 9, 44, [1][dead link]
- Hosseini, S A. 2000 "[Ali Shariati's Islamic-Critical School of Thought (2)] مکتب انتقادی دکتر علی شریعتی (2)", Farhang-e-Tose'eh, 9, 47. [2][dead link]
External links
- The Official WebSite of Dr Ali Shariati
- 'Ali Shari'ati: Between Marx and the Infinite' A review essay of Ali Rahnema's biography of Shari'ati with an extensive discussion on the philosopher's political significance by Nathan Coombs
- Humanity and the People Power: A Tribute to Dr. Ali Shariati by Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq
- 'Ali Shari'ati: Islamic Fundamentalist, Marxist Ideologist and Sufi Mystic by David Zeidan
- Critical Religious Reason: Ali Shari'ati on Religion, Philosophy and Emancipation by Abbas Manoochehri
- The forgotten revolutionary: Ali Shariati by Lawrence Reza Ershaghi
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