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School of
Thought or Ideology
Definition and Necessity of Ideology
What is ideology and how is it to be defined? Is it necessary for a
man as an individual and as a member of society to adhere to a school and
believe in an ideology? Is the existence of an ideology necessary for an
individual or a society? Before answering these questions some introductory
remarks are necessary.
There are two kinds of human activity: enjoyable and politic.
The enjoyable activities are those simple activities which man undertakes
in order to secure some pleasure or to escape from some pain under the
direct influence of his instinct, nature or habit, which is also a second
nature. For example when man feels thirsty he stretches his hand to a water-container,
when he sees a biting animal he takes to his heels, and when he feels an
urge to smoking, he lights a cigarette.
Such acts are in keeping with man's own yearnings and have a direct
bearing on pleasure and pain. A pleasurable act pulls man towards it and
a painful act repels him.
Politic activities consist of the acts which in themselves are neither
attractive nor repulsive. Man's instinct or his nature neither pulls him
towards them nor pushes him away from them. Man performs these acts or
avoids them of his will because he thinks that it is in his interest to
do that. In other words, in this case the root cause and the force which
drives man to do or not to do something is his interest and not pleasure.
Pleasure is determined by nature and interest by reason. Pleasure stimulates
desire and interest arouses will. As for enjoyable acts man takes pleasure
in them while performing them. But as for politic acts, he does not take
pleasure, though he may feel happy because of the idea that he is doing
something that is right and good for him in the long run. There is a difference
between a pleasurable and enjoyable act and an act which does not give
pleasure and even may cause some pain and hardship, although man may be
performing it willingly and happily. Politic acts are not pleasurable because,
they do not produce immediate results. Anyhow they give satisfaction. Pleasure
and pain are common to man and animals. But happiness and unhappiness and
satisfaction and dissatisfaction are peculiar to man. Similarly to desire
something is also peculiar to human beings. Satisfaction, dissatisfaction
and desiring are mental functions. They lie within the sphere of human
thinking, not within the area of sense perception.
We have said that man performs his politic acts with the help of his
intellect and his will-power. On the other hand, the enjoyable acts are
performed by him at the command of his feelings and inclinations. That
an act is done at the command of intellect means that the calculating intellectual
power perceives some remote benefit, pleasure or perfection, discovers
the way of attaining of it, which occasionally may be a tedious one, and
then plans to attain it. The accomplishment of an act with the help of
will-power means that man has a faculty, the role of which is to execute
the actions approved by intellect. These acts may sometimes even be opposed
to his natural tendencies and inclinations.
The young nature of a student calls him to eat, drink, be merry, and
to enjoy sleep and sex, but his calculating mind warns him against the
evil consequences of these acts and urges him to keep awake, do hard work
and shun indulgence in luxurious living and the lusts of the flesh. At
this time man prefers to obey the command of intellect, which is to his
advantage and ignores the command of his nature which implies pleasure
only. Similarly a patient dislikes to take a bitter medicine of bad taste,
but he still takes it at the command of his rightly directing intellect
or by the force of his will which can overpower his natural inclination.
The stronger the intellect and the will, the better they can impose
their command on nature, despite its tendencies to the opposite.
In the course of his politic activities man at every stage puts into
practice some theory or plan. The more a man is developed from the angle
of his intellect and will, the more his activities are politic rather than
enjoyable, and the more he is close to the horizon of animality, the more
his activities are rather enjoyable than politic, for the enjoyable activities
are mostly animal activities.
Among animals also we see certain activities directed to achieve a remote
object, such as making nests, migration, mating and reproduction. But the
animals do not carry out these activities consciously and of their own
choice after determining what they want to achieve and how it should be
achieved. On the other hand, they carry out these activities as a result
of a compulsory and instinctive inspiration from beyond.
It is possible that the scope of man's politic activities gets so expanded
that it may include some enjoyable activities also. Therefore all human
activities should, as far as possible, be so planned that pleasure-giving
activities also become useful and beneficial besides being pleasurable.
Every natural activity while responding to the command of nature, should
obey the command of intellect also. If politic activity takes the enjoyable
activity under its cover, and if the enjoyable activity becomes a part
of the general politic plan of life, nature will become compatible with
intellect and the desire with will.
As politic activity revolves round a set of remote objects and aims,
it naturally requires a plan, a method and the selection of means to secure
the object. As this activity has an individualistic aspect, for it is planned
by an individual for himself, it is individual intellect which determines
its method and means. The choice, of course, depends on one's knowledge,
information and power of judgement.
Though politic activity of man is essential for his humanity, it alone,
whatever be its quality, is not enough to humanize all his activities.
It is true that intellect, knowledge and planning form one half of man's
humanity, but yet they are not enough to make human activity human. Human
activity can be called human only if it, besides being rational and intentional,
is in keeping with the higher tendencies of humanity or at least is not
in conflict with them. Otherwise even the worst type of criminal activities
are sometimes very cleverly planned and executed. The fiendish imperialist
plans bear witness to this fact. In religious terms of Islam any planning
or effort made to secure a material and beastly goal not in keeping with
human and religious tendencies is called abominable and fiendish. Politic
activity is not necessarily human. If it is beastly, it is far more dangerous
than a purely pleasurable activity. For example an animal in order to fill
its belly tears another animal or a man into pieces. But man who can calculate
and plan, to secure a similar object ruins so many cities and puts millions
of innocent people under fire.
We leave aside the question whether the goals suggested by intellect
are or are not enough to meet individual interests. In other words we leave
the question as to what is the limit of the effectiveness of individual
intellect or reason in regard to pointing out the individual interests.
Yet in any case there is no doubt that thinking power is necessary and
useful for making partial and limited arrangements of life. In his life
man faces many problems such as the selection of friends, selection of
an educational line, selection of a spouse, selection of a profession,
travel, behaviour in society, recreation, virtuous activities, fight against
immoral and vicious practices and so on. In regard to all these things
man is certainly in need of thinking and planning. The more he will think,
the more success he is likely to gain. In some cases he even requires the
help of others' thinking and experience also (the principle of consultation).
In all these particular cases man makes a plan and then carries it out.
Anyhow, the question remains whether on a wider scale also man is capable
of making a general plan which may cover all the problems of his personal
life and which may be applicable to all situations, or his ability is limited
to handling some particular cases on a limited scale only and it is beyond
the power of human intellect to cover all situations and to ensure all
round success.
We know that certain philosophers believe in the theory of 'self-sufficiency'.
They claim that they have discovered the way of being happy and unhappy,
and can pass a happy life relying on their own intellectual power and will.
But we also know that no two philosophers can be found who have unanimity
of opinion as to what is this way.
Happiness itself, which is the ultimate goal, is of the most ambiguous
things, although its conception appears to be very clear at first glance.
It is still unknown what happiness is and what factors cause it. Man himself
and his capabilities and potentialities are not known yet. So long as man
himself is unknown, how is it possible that we may be able to find out
what his happiness is and how that is to be obtained?
Furthermore, man is a social being. His social life creates thousands
of problems for him which he has to resolve. His duty in every case should
be clear. As man is a social being, his happiness, his aspirations, his
standards of good and evil, his way of life, his selection of the means
of leading his life are inter-linked with the happiness of others, their
aspirations, their standards of good and evil, their way of life and their
selection of the means. Man cannot select his way independently of others.
He should seek his happiness on the road which leads society to happiness
and perfection.
If we take into consideration the question of the eternity of soul and
the inexperience of reason in regard to the life Hereafter, the problem
becomes far more difficult.
Now, here appears the need of a school, an ideology, a general theory
or a comprehensive and harmonious system whose fundamental aim is the human
perfection and the happiness of all. This system should specify the fundamental
principles, methods, do's and don'ts, good actions and bad actions, aims
and means, requirements and their solutions, responsibilities and obligations.
It should be the source of the inspiration of duties for all individuals.
From the very beginning or at least from the time the developed social
life has led to so many dissensions,[9]
man has been in need of an ideology or in the Qur'anic terminology, Shari'at.
As the time passed and man became more developed, this need also became
more intense. In the past, racial, national and tribal tendencies ruled
over human societies like a collective spirit. This spirit in its turn
brought into existence a series of ambitions (though inhuman) which united
each society and gave it a particular orientation. Now scientific and intellectual
progress has weakened these bonds. It is a characteristic of science that
it tends towards individualism, weakens sentiments and dulls the bonds
based on sentiments. It is only a consciously selected rational philosophy
of life or in other words, a comprehensive and perfect ideology which may
unite the humanity of today or rather of tomorrow, give it an orientation,
a common ideal and a common standard to judge what is right and what is
wrong.
Today more than ever man requires such a philosophy of life, a philosophy
capable of attracting him to the realities beyond the individual and individual
interests. There is no longer any doubt about the fact that a school or
an ideology is one of the necessities of social life.
Now the question is: who can lay down such an ideology? Undoubtedly
the intellect of any single individual cannot do so. Can the collective
intellect do that? Can man with the help of his total experience and his
past and present information lay down such an ideology? If we admit that
man does not know himself, then how can we expect him to know human society
and social weal. Then what to do? If we have a right conception of the
universe, and believe that the world has a balanced system and there is
nothing wrong or absurd in it, we must admit that the great creative machinery
has not left this big question unattended and has already specified the
fundamental outlines of an ideology from a horizon above the horizon of
human intellect, that is from the horizon of revelation (the principle
of Prophethood). The job of intellect and knowledge is to move along these
outlines.
How nicely has Avicenna put this question when, while describing the
need of mankind to the Divine law (Shari'at) revealed through a
man, he said in his book, Najat: "The need of a Prophet and exponent
of the Divine law and human ideology for the continuity of human race and
man's attaining perfection of his human existence is far greater than the
growth of hair on his eyebrows, the concavity of his soles or other such
things, which are at the most useful for the continuity of human race,
but not essential".
In other words, how can the great creative machinery which has not left
small and superfluous needs unattended, leave the most essential need uncared
for?
But if we lack the right conception of the universe and creation, we
may accept the idea that man has been condemned to bewilderment and error
and any human ideology is no more than an interesting pursuit or pastime.
The above discussion not only makes the need of the existence of a school
or an ideology clear, but also shows the necessity of an individual's adhesion
to it.
The true adherence to an ideology means to have faith in it, and evidently
a true faith cannot be imposed by force nor can it be acquired as a matter
of expediency. One can be made to submit to a thing by force, but ideology
does not demand submission. It demands faith. It is to be accepted and
assimilated.
A useful ideology, on the one hand, must be based on a sort of world
conception that may convince reason and feed thinking, and on the other
hand, must be able to derive attractive goals from its conception of the
universe. Conviction and zeal are the two basic elements of faith which
go hand in hand and remould the world.
However there are some questions which we must discuss briefly. Their
detailed discussion we leave to a better opportunity,
Kinds of Ideologies
I. There are two kinds of ideologies: human ideology and class ideology.
Human ideology is that which is addressed to all mankind, not to any
particular class, race or community. The proclaimed aim of a human ideology
is the emancipation of human race, not of any particular group or class.
Its plan covers all strata of society and does not remain confined to any
particular stratum or group.
Class ideology, in contrast, is addressed to a particular class, group
or a stratum of society, and its proclaimed aim is the emancipation or
supremacy of a particular group. The plan that it puts forward is confined
to that group only, from which alone it recruits its supporters and defenders.
Each of these two kinds of ideologies is based on a particular conception
of man. Every general and human ideology like Islamic ideology has that
attitude towards man which may be called natural. From Islamic point of
view man has been created to be superior to historical and social factors.
He has a special existential dimension, and has been endowed with high
qualities which distinguish him from animals. According to this view, man's
creative design is such that all human beings have been endowed with a
sort of consciousness and intuition, which makes them fit to be addressed
and enables them to respond to a call. Human ideologies base their preachings
on the natural intuition peculiar to mankind and infuse a spirit of action
in man.
Some ideologies have a different view of man. According to them, the
human species is not fit that a call be addressed to it, nor can it respond
to a call. They maintain that the consciousness and the tendencies of man
are determined by the historical factors of his national life and the social
factors which fire his class status. Should we overlook historical and
social factors, then man in the absolute sense has neither consciousness
nor any intuitive power nor is he fit to be called upon to perform a mission.
In that case he will not be a concrete man and his existence will be merely
conceptual. Marxism and similarly national philosophies are based on such
a view of man. These philosophies aim at class benefits or are based on
national and racial sentiments or at the most on national culture.
There is no doubt that the ideology of Islam is of the first kind, and
is based on true nature of man. That is why Islam addresses its message
to the 'common people',[10]
and not to a particular group or class. Islam was able to draw its supporters
practically from all groups, even from those to fight against which it
had risen, namely the groups which it termed the luxuriously living. It
was a great achievement of Islam that it was able to draw recruits from
a class to fight against that very class and from a group to fight against
the interests of that very group, and even to arouse the individual to
fight against himself. This is a deed which Islam has performed and is
still performing. Islam being a religion which relies on the innate nature
of man and infiltrates into the inmost traits of his existence, can arouse
the individual to fight and bring about a revolution against himself. This
revolution is called penitence. The revolutionary power of a class or group
ideology is limited to the instigation of an individual against another
individual or a class against another class, but it cannot persuade an
individual to revolutionize himself, nor can it put the inner sentiments
and passions of man under his own control.
Islam, being a religion, and for that matter the final religion, has
come, more than any other religion, to set up a system of social justice.[11]
Naturally it aims at the emancipation of the oppressed and the underprivileged.
But it does not direct its message to the oppressed and the underprivileged
alone. Islam has not recruited its supporters from this class only. As
history bears witness to it, relying on the force of faith and the innate
nature of man, Islam has been able to draw its supporters even from among
those classes to fight against which it had risen. Islam presents a theory
of the triumph of humanity over animality, of knowledge over ignorance,
of justice over tyranny, of equality over discrimination, of virtue over
depravity, of piety over sensuality, and of monotheism over polytheism.
The success of the oppressed people against the tyrants and the despots
is a manifestation of this triumph.
II. In consequence of the foregoing discussion a question arises whether
the genuine human culture is of a uniform character or there exists no
human and uniform culture; and all that exists and will exist in future
is a series of many cultures each of them having national, communal or
class characteristics?
This question is linked with another question. Has or has not man a
genuine and uniform innate nature, giving uniformity to human culture?
If human nature is uniform, it should impart uniformity to human culture
also. Otherwise it will be reasonable to believe that culture is a product
of historical, national and geographical factors or a product of class
financial interests. Islam, because of its particular world conception,
believes in the uniformity of human nature. It supports the idea of the
uniformity of ideology and culture also.
III. Evidently it is only a human, not class ideology, a uniform ideology,
not one based on the division of mankind, and a natural ideology, not one
inspired by profiteering interests, that can be established on human values
and can have human characteristics.
IV. Does the nature of every ideology depend on its time and place?
Is it necessary for man to have a different ideology with every change
in times, circumstances and environment? Is ideology subject to the principle
of a change with a variation in place, and subject to the principle of
cancellation with a variation in time? Is human ideology uniform or multiform?
In other words, is it absolute or relative?
The question, whether an ideology from the viewpoint of time and place
is absolute or relative depends on another question: whether its source
is human nature and its goal is the prosperity of human race, or its source
is group interests and national and class feelings?
From another angle this question depends on what we think about the
nature of social changes. When society undergoes a change and enters a
new era, does its nature change so essentially that it is no longer governed
by the laws by which it was governed previously, as for example, when water
with the increase in its temperature, turns into steam, it is governed
by the laws of gases and not by those of liquids. Or do we believe that
this is not the case with social changes and developments, and that social
changes constitute only a stage in the evolution of society and do not
affect the fundamental laws or the course of evolution, just as we find
in the case of animals that as they develop, their way of life changes,
but the laws of their development remain fixed and constant?
From another angle the question whether an ideology is absolute or relative
to time and place, is dependent on whether its conception of the world
is scientific, philosophical or religious. Scientific conception of the
world being transient, an ideology based on it cannot be lasting. On the
contrary the philosophical conception of the world is based on self-evident
truths and the religious conception on Divine revelation and Prophethood.
This not being the proper occasion, we skip over the discussion of the
pure state of human nature, which is one of the most important topics of
Islamic science. Similarly we skip over the discussion of changes in society.
Anyhow, we propose to take up the question of social changes and their
relation with pure state of human nature when we discuss the topic of history
and society later.
V. Now the question is whether an ideology itself is governed by the
principle of constancy or the principle of change. In the foregoing we
have discussed whether human ideology is different in different periods
and places. There the question was that of the abrogation and cancellation
of an ideology. Now we take up a different question, namely that of the
development of an ideology. Irrespective of the fact whether it is absolute
or relative and whether in regard to its content it is general or particular,
an ideology is a phenomenon. As all phenomena are subject to changes, development
and evolution, naturally a question arises whether the same is true of
the ideology also. Is the reality of an ideology at the time of its birth
different from that during its growth and during the period of its maturity?
In other words, should an ideology be constantly revised, improved and
modernized by its leaders and ideologists, as we find in the case of the
materialistic ideologies of our time? If the modern ideologies are not
constantly revised, they soon lose their vitality and become obsolete and
outdated. Anyhow, the question is whether it is possible to have an ideology,
which may be in complete harmony with the course of the development of
man and society so that there should be no need of its further revision
and improvement. In the case of such an ideology the role of its leaders
and the ideologists will be confined to the interpretation of its meaning
and content, and the ideological development will be in the field of interpretation,
not in the text of the ideology itself.
[9] According
to the Qur'an, these dissensions rose in Prophet Nuh's time.
[10] The
term 'common people' is often misunderstood and considered to by synonymous
with 'masses' as distinguished from higher classes. As Islam addresses
the common people, it is claimed that Islam is the religion of the masses.
Incidentally, this is considered to be a merit of Islam. But we must remember
that Islam does not address its message to the masses only, nor is its
ideology a class ideology. The real merit of Islam lies in the fact that
it advanced with the support of the masses, not that it was addressed to
them only. What is more meritorious is that Islam has worked up the sentiments
of the well-to-do classes among the Muslims for the benefit of the underprivileged
classes.
[11] "Surely
We sent Our messengers with clear proofs, and revealed with them the Book
and a criterion so that people may observe justice."
