Ali Shariati Research Articles

Humanity and the People Power: A Tribute to Dr. Ali Shariati

Humanity-orientation is an essential dimension of Islam. Late Dr. Ali Shariati was one of the outstanding exponents of that humanity-orientation. This brief essay introduces to the readers some of the highlights of his thoughts in this regard.

FILSAFAT MANUSIA ALI SHARI'ATI

The philosophy of man, according to Ali Shariati, covers several ideas. He explains the philosophy of man by stating that the verses of the Qur'an much more use the symbolic language. The symbols stated in the Qur'an are then interpreted by Ali Shariati to express his concept on the philosophy of man.The history of the creation of Adam telling that Adam is able to mention the names of several objects around him is a symbol of the intellectual ability of man. Performing the angels bow because of Adam's intellectual capability shows us the appreciation of Islam to humanism. The statement of the Qur'an that human spirit is created from a part of God's spirit is interpreted that human is endowed power (at a certain levels) by God in which it is, as a matter of fact, a manifestation of the attributes of Allah. Due to his intellectual capability and his power, man is, then, appointed to be His khalifah in the World.Ali Shariati states that human is two-dimensional beings. This conclusion constitutes an interpretation of several verses of the Qur'an stating that man is made of loam ( as a symbol of lowness) and a part of God's spirit (as a symbol of holiness). In order not to be fell into one of the extreme poles, man needs religion, God, holy book and prophet that have two-dimensional aspects, the mundane and the beyond. The only religion that has both of these aspects is Islam.

Preoperative oral dextromethorphan does not reduce pain or morphine consumption after open cholecystectomy

Background:Dextromethorphan, the D-isomer of the codeine analog levorphanol, is a weak, noncompetitive N-Methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist. It has been suggested that NMDA receptor antagonists induce preemptive analgesia when administered before tissue injury occurs, thus decreasing the subsequent sensation of pain.Materials and Methods:The study was conducted in the Dr. Ali Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, between February 2005 and December 2006. In this study, 72 patients scheduled for elective cholesyctectomy were randomized into three groups to receive either oral dextromethorphan 45 mg (Group D45 = 24), dextromethorphan 90 mg (Group D90 = 24), or placebo (Group C, n = 24), as premedication, 120 minutes before surgery. A visual analog scale (VAS) for pain of each patient was measured at arrival in the ward and six and 24 hours after surgery.Results:The demographic characteristics of patients, ASA physical status class, duration of surgery, and the basal VAS pain score were similar in the two groups. There was no significant difference in the mean of the VAS pain scores measured over time or morphine consumption among the three groups.Conclusion:Dextromethorphan 45 mg and 90 mg, administrated orally, two hours before surgery, had no effect on postoperative morphine requirement and pain intensity.

Muslim Elites and Ideologies in Portugal and Spain

This article reports the results of interviews with Muslim leaders in Portugal and Spain. The main finding of the article is that key Muslim leaders and principal Islamic organisations are seeking to spread views about how Islam and western democracy ought to thrive together. The political belief systems of Muslim leaders reveal a diverse set of influences, including universalist syntheses of Islam with liberalism, as some claim to find in the work of Tariq Ramadan, but also anti-modernist political Islamism and notable figures such as Hassan Al Banna, Yusef Al Qaradawi, and Ali Shariati. The research finds that the views of Muslim elites are shaped by the national political context, especially partisan polarisation vs. consensus over the political regulation of religion, and the cultural and educational resources within Muslim communities. The large majority of European citizens from Muslim descent share core European values, but they are not spreading their views on the religious market of ideas as such. This leaves that field rather open to people with a more radical vision. (Gilles Kepel – quoted in Knapp 2004)

The Changing Approach to the Text: Iranian scholars and the Quran

My points of departure for this study are the following questions: how have Shiite scholars been reading the text that is, the Quranic text during the past 50 years? Is it possible that they were guided by a particular cognitive interest? Can it be assumed that they may have projected certain intentions onto the text? Is there a chance that the point of view chosen by them as interpreters has predetermined the outcome? And, last but not least: has the approach to the text changed since the revolution of 1979? I will argue that it has changed a lot. Having experienced a theocratic system some scholars intend to give the Quran another standing in life and society.

Reason, Freedom and Democracy in Islam

While the public role of intellectuals in North America, and perhaps in theWest more generally, is declining, one may hazard to say that their roleremains significant in the Muslim world, judging by the number of intellectualswho have been censored in Muslim societies. Iran, in particular,has a strong tradition of public intellectuals, the latest of whom isAbdolkarim Soroush, a vocal critic of the post-revolutionary clericalregime. An official in the early years of post-revolutionary Iran, he hassubsequently been harassed and censored for arguing that secularism is the best way to guard against the abuse of power. Since Soroush hasquickly gained a following both inside and outside Iran, the editors are tobe commended for editing and translating his wide-ranging ideas andmaking them accessible to the English reading public.The editors’ introduction contextualizes Soroush’s work by locatinghim within a current of Iranian enlightened-religious intellectuals, and,more generally, in a current of Muslim reformist thought that includes thelikes of Muhammad Iqbal and Ali Shariati. Chapter 1, an interview withSoroush, reveals the major influences on the development of his thought,while the remaining 11 chapters are a collection of his essays, lectures,and speeches. Most of this material consists of lectures that he deliveredin the early 1990s. Chapters 2, 4, and 6-9 represent the core of his ideason the limits of religious knowledge, secularism, and the mutual dependenceof freedom and critical reason. The remaining chapters nicelyround out the book with topics ranging from a defense of critical reason,science, and freedom to the differences between the educational model ofthe traditional religious seminary versus the modern university.Chapter 2 presents Soroush’s theory of the contraction and expansionof religious knowledge. Here, he makes the controversial (at least in thepost-revolutionary Iranian context) argument that while religion andsacred scriptures may be flawless and constant, the interpreters of religionare not. Hence, Soroush argues that traditional Islamic knowledge needsto be treated like any other branch of knowledge, “as incomplete, impure,insufficient, and culture-bound” (p. 32) ...

Methodological Problems in the Study of Islam, and Ali Shariati's Proposed Methodology for the Study of Religions

This paper intends to describe some of the problems involved inthe methodological study of Islam, as well as the measures suggestedby scholars (Muslims and non-Muslims) to correct and solve suchproblems. It then presents the methodology developed by Ali Shariatifor the study of religions, and its application to Islam. The paperconcludes by assessing Shariati's proposed methodology vis-a-vis theaforementioned problems and corrective measures.

A Muslim Theory of Human Society

l11e book is composed of an introduction, five chapters, a bibliography, andan index. In the first chapter, the author presents Malik Bennabi's understandingof religion and its pace in human life. The second chapter outlines his viewsas to why human beings associate with each other and form societies. The thirdchapter deals with the constitution and dynamics of society as conceived byBennabi. The fourth chapter is devoted to culture which features prominentlyin his writings. The final chapter discusses his cyclical theory of human socioculturaland historical development.The author informs us that he was introduced to Bennabi's thoughts by readinghis Le Phenomene Coranique (The Qur'anic Phenomenon). He was soimpressed with Bennabi's writing that when he contributed an article on theprospects of an Islamic theory of human society, he referred not only to theworks of Ali Shariati, Muhammad Baqir as-Sadr, Murtaza Mutahhari, but alsoto Bennabi. An international seminar on Malik Bennabi held at the Universityof Malaya in Kuala Lumpur in 1991 gave him the opportunity to read a paperdealing with Bennabi's contribution to social theory, in addition to inspiring ...

The Near and Middle East - Ali Rahnema: An Islamic Utopian: a political biography of Ali Shariati. xiii, 418 pp. London: I. B. Tauris, 1998. £39.50.

The Near and Middle East - Ali Rahnema: An Islamic Utopian: a political biography of Ali Shariati. xiii, 418 pp. London: I. B. Tauris, 1998. £39.50.

Islam, politics and society in the thought of Ayatullah Khomeini, Ayatullah Taliqani and Ali Shariati

(1988). Islam, politics and society in the thought of Ayatullah Khomeini, Ayatullah Taliqani and Ali Shariati. Middle Eastern Studies: Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 404-431.

Ali Shariati: The Architect of the 1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran

Ali Shariati was born in Azar 2, 1312 (November 23, 1933) to a deeply religious family in the provincial capital of Khurasan, Meshed. His forefathers were all important local religious scholars in the suburb of Sabzavar, one of whom, Allamah Mahmanabadi, received a royal invitation from Naser al-din (1848-1896) to move to Tehran to teach Islamic philosophy in Sepahsalar theological center, which he did for a short period. His father, Muhammad Taqi Shariati, still living, is a well-known religious scholar of national fame and an expert on Quranic exegesis. Muhammad Taqi broke two traditions: he moved to the city for good at the age of 20 and he stopped weaving, as he had been the traditional garb of the ulama. Ali attended modern schools, entered Teachers Training College, the newly founded University of Meshed, and finally left for Paris to study at the Sorbonne on a government scholarship.

Shariati and the Reconstruction of Social Sciences

Ali Shariati was a Muslim reformer who laid much of the intellectualgroundwork for the Iranian revolution of 1979. His inspiring speechesand written works aroused the people, particularly the students, to thestate, where they were easily mobilized by Khomeini and his co-workers.Killed by the Shah’s agents in London in 1977, he is still remembered as agreat martyr to their cause. His ideas on the nature of Islam are ofinterest to us today.Ali Shariati was born in 1933 in the village of Mazinan near Sabzawarin Khurasan, Iran. He came from a family whose members were knownfor their scholarship, knowledge, and righteousness. He attended theTeacher’s Training School, and taught in high school for some yearsbefore pursuing graduate work in Europe. He was also active in hisfather’s Center for the Propagation of Islamic Truth.Shariati’s views were greatly influenced by his learned father who wasfortunate enough to acquire a personal library of nearly two thousandbooks. He was also influenced by the political events in Iran, especiallyduring Dr. Muhammad Mosaddeq’s premiership, and by the variousunderground movements after the fall of Mossadeq in 1953.Particularly important was the Muslim Socialist Movement founded inthe early 1940’s in Tehran. This group believed in Islamic ideals butemphasized the socialistic tendencies of its economic system. In themanner of Amir Ali, the author of Spirit of Islam, Shariati wanted toemulate the lives and ideas of early Muslims whom he admired. He oftenreferred to Prophet Muhammad, Abu Dhar al-Ghaffari, Ali, Husayn,and others as men who ought to be followed as examples.In his formative years, he was influenced by many people includingFrantz Fanon, al-Afghani, Taleqani, and Muhammad Iqbal. In myopinion, Shariati was more influenced by Iqbal than any other’ scholar,whether in the East or the West. I have pointed out this influence in mybook, Ideological Revolution in the Muslim World ...

Women and the Islamic Revolution

Defining the role of women in Islamic society has been an issue for debate in post-revolutionary Iran, particularly in light of recent rulings affecting women. This is not merely a theoretical debate but a crisis situation where some women who participated in the revolution alongside men now find themselves in a peculiarly difficult position in relation to society and the current government. Ali shariati (d. 1977), through his publihsed works and transcribed lectures during the 1960s and 1970s, has had a tremendous impact on the direction of this debate. Completely rejecting the role of women in both western and traditional societies, Shariati offers a third alternative: the figure of Fatima, daughter of the Prophet Mohammad and wife of Ali, the first Imam of the Shi'is as the personification of women's role.

Resisting the Pharaohs: Ali Shariati on oppression

Resisting the Pharaohs: Ali Shariati on oppression