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Chapter 4What Should be Done?
Ali distributes freedom. People are in love with Ali and yet, the young
intellectuals are aware of the weaknesses and the decline of Ali'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 choosing or commitment. If the Qoran is read but is not
understood, it is no different from a blank book or white notebook. Ali gives
his followers awareness, greatness, chastity and freedom when they know who he
is. When a book is read in our language which does not correctly give his
character, when a book with his sayings is not given to his longing people,
what effect can loving him, praising and eulogizing him have?
Love and faith follow coming to know something. It is that which moves
the spirit and brings up the nation. This is why the face of Fatima has
remained unknown behind the eternal praise, eulogies, crying and lamentations
of her followers.
In Iranian and other Islamic societies there are three visages of women.
One is the visage of the traditional woman. Another is the visage of the new
woman, European like, who has just begun to grow and introduce herself. The third
is the visage of Fatima which has no resemblance whatsoever to that of the
traditional woman. The visage of the traditional woman which has taken form in
the minds of those loyal to religion in our society, is as far away from the
face of Fatima as Fatima's face is from the modern woman.
The reality which we are facing in the world
today, in the East, and in particular, in an Islamic and Iranian society, the
contradiction which has appeared, the crises, the change, comes from the
breaking down of human qualities. It comes from the creation of a very strong
agitation which affects the way a society behaves and its way of thinking.
Principally, the changing human form has produced a particular type of
intellectually educated man and woman, modernists, who contradict the
traditional man or woman. This contradiction had to come into being. There was
no one potent enough to stop it. It was a compulsion which no power could have
prevented.
This is not to confirm this change or to deny it. That is not within the
scope of this discussion. Rather, we refer to the change in society, the change
in the dress of man, his thoughts, his lifestyle and his direction in life.
Women also follow this change. It is not possible that she remain in her
traditional mould.
In previous generations, a son was inclined to fit exactly into his
father's mould. His father had no fear or apprehension that his son may be
other than him. There was no difference between them. There were such strong
feelings and ties between them that no doubt or indecisiveness could be heard
in their words. But today it is not like this. One of the pecularities of our
generation, whether in the East or in the West, is the distance between the two
generations. From the point of view of 'calendar time', their distance is 30
years, but from the point of view of society's time, 30 centuries.
Yesterday, society was permanent. Values and social characteristics were
incapable of change. In a period of 100, 200, 300 years, nothing changed. The
foundation of society, the forms of production and distribution, type of
consumption, social relationships, government, type of religious publicity,
religious ceremonies, created things, negative and positive values, art,
literature, language, and all other things were the same during a father's and
a grandfather's lifetime as in the time of their children and grandchildren.
The
Worthy and the Unworthy
In such fixed worlds and closed societies, where society's time stands
still, men and women are of a permanent type. It is perfectly natural that a
daughter be an exact copy of her mother. If there is a difference of opinion
between a mother and her daughter, it only relates to extraneous things in
life or it arises from daily conflicts. If it has its roots in the difference
between a forbidden or corrupt personal ethics, it would have been something
which all groups and all social types agree to. They all agree to and accept
the same things as being corruption. It is not the case that one group
considers such and such an action to be proper whereas another group considers
its description alone to be corruption as is the case now.
But in the world today, a girl, without having gone astray, without
having fallen into corruption, creates a distance between herself and her
mother. They are strangers to each other. An age difference of 15, 20 or 30
years separates them into two distinct people, two human beings attached to two
different social cycles, attached to two histories, two cultures, two
languages, two visions and two lives. Their relationship is such that only
their home addresses are the same.
In the external forms of society we see the same contradiction and
historic distance between two generations, two types of visions. Just as we see
flocks of sheep grazing on the asphalt streets of Tehran, with the shepherd
milking the sheep in front of the consumer‑resident of the capital, at
the same time, pasturized milk is available in the stores. Or, you see a camel
standing next to an automatic shift Jaguar sports car. The distance is the same
as that which separated Cain and Abel from the electronic age and automobiles.
We see a mother and daughter, with this distance between them, walking
shoulder to shoulder down the street, one eating a traditional Iranian ice
cream and the other chewing gum.
When you add these two together, you do not get a natural, permanent sum.
It is obvious that the mother is beginning the last years of her life. She is
pulled and preserved by habit. The daughter, on the other hand, is just
beginning the first days of her life's journey. It is clear that the days of
the traditional ice cream will set in tomorrow's mother, but she will never
return to the type who eats traditional ice cream.
The mother and daughter will eventually become identical. The distance in
terms of social time will become one. It will be exactly the same relationship
that her mother had to her grandmother. Her daughter will be a 'worthy' child,
a copy similar to the original.
The change from the traditional type of 'mother' to the new type of
'daughter' is inevitable. Face to face with this reality (whether it be the
truth or an erroneous reality, it is certain), beginners who think and begin to
write about this phenomenon of change, just hit the tip of the issue. They have
not sensed the abusive language, accusations, aspersions, anger, fighting,
pressure, punishments, inflictions and deprivations. They have not sensed the
chains and irons around their necks; they have never screamed or cried out in
pain; they have never fainted from loss of strength.
While these observers of change in society are just beginning to touch
upon these issues, and predict them, they occur. The work has been done. They
are wasting their efforts. As the change is swift, their results are worth less
than zero. The opposition's front is strengthened.
Those who act as guides, who give explanations, and suppositions in the
name of faith; belief, religion and charity are also mistaken in trying to
save each type of form which has been inherited from the past. They try to preserve
old traditions and habits, and are referred to in the Qoran as 'tales of the
ancients', the ancients,' legends of the ancients', 'legends of the
ancients', 'fathers of old', 'fables of the ancients', 'stories of yore.'
These words all refer to the first traditions, first myths and first
fathers. But they see old as being synonymous with tradition. As a result,
they call every change, including even change in dress or hair‑do,
'infidelity'. They mistakenly believe that the spiritual source and the belief
in submission (Islam) can only be preserved through the worship of tradition
and anything which is old. They turn away from anything new, from any change
and from any re‑birth.
Woman, in their view, must also remain as she is today because, simply
enough, her form exists in the past and has become part of social traditions.
It may be 19th century, 17th century or even pre‑Islamic, but it is considered
to be religious and Islamic, therefore it must be preserved. They accept this
view because it has become part of their way of life or because it suits their
interests. They try to remain the same and hold onto things of the past
forever. They say, 'Islam wanted it to be this way. Religion has taken this
form. It should remain like this until judgment Day.'
But the world changes. Everything changes. Mr. X and his son change. But
a woman must retain her permanent form. In general terms, their point of view
is that the Prophet sealed women into this form and she must retain the
inclinations which make Haji Agha, [her husband], happy. He has moulded her.
This type of thinking tends to lead us astray. If we wish to keep the
forms because of our own inexperience, the inconsiderate speed of time itself
will run us over. We must realize that destruction is also a reality. The insistence
upon keeping these forms will bear no fruit because society will never listen.
It cannot listen because these are mortal customs.
They try to explain social traditions, which have come into being through
habit, in religious terms. Ancient customs cannot be retained by the force of
religion for if this were so, it would mean that religion is mortal. When we
equate religion and social traditions, we make Islam the guardian of declining
forms of life and society. We mistake cultural and historical phenomena with
inherited, superstitious beliefs. Time comes along, and as it moves in haste,
it changes habits, forms of life, social relationships, indigenous, historical
phenomena and ancient, cultural signs. We mistakenly believe the Islamic
religion to be these social traditions. Aren't these great errors being
committed today? Aren't we seeing them with our own eves?
Three
Clear Methods of Problem Solving
There are three well‑known methods of problem solving:
Conservatism is the method of approach used by the traditionalists and
the guardians of the Traditions. It is used by a leader who guards society,
preserving a phenomenon with his or her total being. Knowing all the superstitions
of society, he or she still preserves them because of the more important role
of guardian.
The logic of the conservative is this: If we change the customs of the
past, it is as if we had separated the roots from the body of a tree. The
social relationships which are preserved in that custom are connected to the
body of society like a hierarchy of nerves. That society will suddenly fall
into anguishing difficulties which are very dangerous.
It is exactly because of this that after a great revolution, anguish and
confusion and/or dictators come into being. They are the binders and the bound
of each other. Hastily digging out the roots of social, cultural and traditional
phenomena in a quick, revolutionary manner, will cause society to face a sudden
void. The results of this void will be made apparent after the revolution
subsides.
Revolutionarism is a method used by a leader who strongly and
unconsciously tears out the roots of a phenomena because it is a custom based
on old superstitions thereby making it reactionary and rotten.
The reasoning of the revolutionary runs like this: By retaining out‑dated
customs, we keep society outdated, living in the past. We will preserve
stagnation. Thus a revolutionary leader says that we should do away with all
forms we inherited from the past which clamp themselves like chains around our
wrists, feet, spirit, thoughts, will and vision. We should suddenly break away
and face everyone. All of our relationships to the past which were the least
bit despotic or which were simply habit should be done away with. New rules
should replace them. Otherwise, society remains behind, fanatic, and stagnant,
bound to the past.
Reformism is a method put into effect by a person who believes in
gradually changing a tradition. This person lays the groundwork for a gradual
change in social conditions. This is a middle way between the other two.
The reasoning of the reformer is just as weak as that of the other two
methods. He takes a third way believing that changes should be quiet and gradual.
This method saves society from the stagnation of customs. Changes should be
very gradual so that the different factions do not oppose each other.
If change is gradual, the foundation of that society, their thoughts,
will not take on a revolutionary form but rather will change over a long period
of time. Programs should be phased to reach this end.
But the method of reformism and gradual evolution usually faces the
difficulty of negative, strong reactionary forms ‑in the hands of
internal and external enemies which occur during the long time period required
by this method. The goal and purpose gradually changes. These forces either
stop it or destroy it.
If, for instance, we wished to change the ethics of our youth, or if we
wanted to enlighten the thoughts of all people, we would be destroyed before we
could reach our goal. Or, perhaps, corrupt, provocating circumstances would
dominate and deceive society and would paralyze us. A leader who tries to
gradually bring about change in society through a relatively long period of
time, believes that he used logic in calculating his programs but that which he
does not take into account is the program of a neutralizing power which is
against the changes. This force does not always give the time necessary in order
to leisurely implement the gradual changes. The factors which were considered
minor, are seeking an opportunity to make themselves manifest. Then the
conciliation begins to slowly spin the roots and the tables are turned.
The
Particular Method of the Prophet Stemming from his Traditions
The Traditions of the Prophet, which are so important in Islam, consist
of the words which he spoke, the laws he brought, his conduct in relationship
to the deeds he performed, things he remained silent about or did not disagree
with and deeds he actually performed in his lifetime without telling others
that they should perform them. The Traditions of the Prophet, then, are his
words and his conduct. These become the rules of Islam which are divided into
two groups: First, that which existed before Islam which was confirmed by the
Prophet (signed rules); second, that which had not existed previously and
Islam established (created rules). Other than these two, in other words, signed
and created rules, or the words and deeds of the Prophet, the principle of a
third one can also be understood. It is my belief that it is the most
sensitive. It is the method' that the Prophet uses.
The Prophet preserves the form, the container of a custom which has deep
roots in society, one which people have gotten used to from generation to
generation, and one which is practiced in a natural manner, but he changes the
contained, the contents, spirit, direction and practical application of this
custom in a revolutionary, decisive and immediate manner.
He is inspired with. a particular method which he uses in social combat
as a leader of society. Without producing negative results, without containing
any of the weak points of the other methods, his method contains the positive
characteristics of the other three. Through the customs of society which apply
the brakes, he quickly attains his social goals. His method is this: He
maintains the container of a social tradition but inwardly changes the
contents, that which it contains, in a revolutionary manner.
He uses this method in reconciling social phenomena. He adopts a process
and method which is a model for all problem solving. The method can be applied
to two problems or two phenomena which in no way resemble each other.
Recognizing how important this is, we cannot fully develop it here. We can only
clarify it by a few examples.
Before Islam, there was a custom of total ablution which was both a
belief and a superstition. The pre‑Islamic Arabs believed that when a
person had sexual intercourse, he or she incarnated the jinn [spirits which
inhabit the earth] and their body and soul would be made unclean. Until they
found water and performed a total ablution, they could not rid themselves of
the jinn.
Take as another example, for instance, the pilgrimage to Mecca. Before
Islam, it was an Arab custom, full of superstitions ancestor worship. It was a
glorified type of idol worship which. held economic advantage for the Qoraish
tribe. It had gradually come to assume this form from the time of Abraham.
Islam 'keeps the pre‑Islamic custom within the context of the Abrahamic
tradition, for at the same time that the pre‑Islamic pilgrims had used it
for their idol worship; they believed that Abraham, the Friend of God, had
built it [that is, the house'; Ka'ba, which held their idols] .
The basis of the pilgrimage had been twofold : To protect the economic
interests of the Qoraish merchants in Mecca, and to create an artificial need
among the Arab tribes for the Qoraish nobility. It was revealed to the Prophet
of Islam to take the form and change it into the largest, most beautiful and
deepest rite founded upon the Unity of God, the oneness of mankind.
The Prophet, with his revolutionary stand, takes the rite of the
pilgrimage of the idol worshipping tribes and changes it into a custom
completely contrary to, and opposite of, its original use. It is a
revolutionary leap and notion. As a result, the Arab people undergo no anguish
nor separation by going back to the time of Abraham, no loss of having their
values thrown together, no loss of their beliefs, but rather, they sense the
revival and truth or cleansing of their eternal customs. They move easily from
idol worship to unity whereas centuries of history exist between them.
Suddenly, and more unexpectedly than any cultural or intellectual revolution,
society does not realize that it had left the past; it is not aware of the fact
that the buildings and foundations of its idol worship have been torn down.
This leap, this social method found within the Traditions of the Prophet is a
revolution within a custom which preserves the outer form but changes the
content. [That is, maintaining the container as the permanent element while
changing and transforming that which is contained].
Thus the conservative, at whatever cost and in whatever form, tries, to
the last bit of his strength, to keep his customs, even if , it means
sacrificing himself and others. The revolutionary, on the other hand, wants to
change everything into another form at one time. He wants to. annihilate
everything and then suddenly jump, whether or not society is prepared to leap
in their direction and move from phase to phase. But if they bear up under it
all, and the only possibility is that of a revolution, they must turn to anger,
dictatorship, judgment and extensive public murders not only against a person
who opposes the power of the people but also against the people themselves. A
reformer always gives a corrupter the opportunity to destroy. The Prophet,
through the inspired method of his work, shows us that if we understand, and if
we put his method into action, we will have accepted a most enlightened and
correct way.
A clear‑visioned intellectual, who is confronted by unused customs,
ancient traditions, a dead culture and an unbelievable metamorphosis in their
religion and social order, takes up the mandate of the Prophet rather than
submit to the prejudices and beliefs which remain from the past and which put
one to sleep. It is with this method that one can reach revolutionary goals
without forcibly bearing all the conclusions and customs of a revolution and
without opposing the basis .of faith and ancient social values. By doing so,
one does not remove oneself from people, nor does one become strangers to them
so that people then turn around and condemn one, because the Prophet received
knowledge from the Divine Infinite and asked for the help of revelation and
made use of it.
Realism:
A Means of Serving Idealism
One of the peculiarities of. Islam is that it accepts both beliefs which
are identical to it as well as coercive beliefs of society. It admits to the
existence of both. Here the perception of Islam is special.
The idealistic schools of thought lean upon the highest values, the
absolute and most desirable ideologies. Each and every reality is categorically
rejected if it does not suit them. They have no patience. They deny realities
and dig out the roots of anger. Anger, violence, the seeking of pleasure and
lovers of wealth are realities which exist. Moral idealism or religious
idealism (i.e. Christianity) ignores them and denies their existence. They are
condemned in any form.
On the other hand, schools of thought which are based on realism accept
all things as the basis of reality. For instance, sodomy is accepted in England
or in Christianity, due to religious idealism, not reality, divorce is
prohibited because of not wanting to destroy family order and believing that
marriage is an ideal, sacred link.
But reality is other than this. Some human beings cannot preserve the
first, sacred marriage and remain loyal to each other. It so often happens that
human beings grow apart during their lifetime. They become strangers. They live
together like two pitiful people. That which has joined them is' not love, it
is the ties of the law. They are two inflicted people. They might even become
lucky with someone else. This is a reality which has existed in the past,
exists in the present and will exist in the future. Civilized and uncivilized
people, the religious and the nonreligious have felt it and continue to feel
it. Statistics show it, but Christianity denies the reality. They bind marriage
to the sacred. They force a family to stay together even when there is a real
hell behind the doors and the family has become a center of murder, adultery
and corruption. The door of divorce has been closed but thousands of windows of
swindle and illegality have been opened.Concubines: Foreign siqehs
Social realities are such that if we do not open doors to them, they will
spring out from the windows. Forbidding divorce brings about a type of
concubinage. That is, a man who cannot live with his legal wife, actually separates
from her, without being able to get a divorce. The same is true for a woman.
She cannot get a divorce but she lives separately. They each live for years
separated from each other with another man or woman. The children which are
born out of this situation are natural but illegal. They have sick beliefs and
complexes. They become frightening murderers. Their spirit is anti‑social.
A woman and her legal husband become strangers. They begin opposing each
other. They reach the same conclusion. Their relationship of husband and wife
is not just sleeping together. It cannot continue. They cannot even live as
neighbors. It is natural that they separate. The man leaves the household and
goes looking for the type of woman he always wanted. Love, the need for a
family life, and the pull of sex, one way or the other, helps him to find a
natural tie. They find a place and live together. The wife's life takes exactly
the same pattern and the same fate. As a result, we see that nature and reality
builds two new families, two incompatible types who are replaced by another
two.
But Christian ideology does not accept this reality. Therefore, no one,
including that man and woman, is responsible. They close their eyes so as not
to see it. As a result, it accepts , in legal terms, a decomposed house which
has no external existence. Its materials have all been used to make another
house. It is the former house which they know as official and they deny these
two natural families.
Here we see the distance between common law, civil law and religious law
and how natural forces, realities and oppositions arise. As a result, families,
which are religious or Christian, do not actually exist and families which are
real and natural are considered to be corrupt and sinful. Christianity, by
denying this reality, causes the family which comes into being to be illegal.
The children which are born out of this union of concubinage are also illegal.
From the point of view of a religious society, they are criminals and
murderers. They do not have a share in the kindness of the family nor the
purity of society. Society looks upon them as sinners. Complexes arise within
them. They suffer an anger and an anguish which is beyond the imagination. They
take their revenge on society.
All these crimes which occur in Europe and, in particular, in America,
do not exist in backward and underdeveloped countries. The reason is that in
these Western societies, even though they have civilizations in the sense that
they have culture, ethics, nourished minds, freedom of thought, the individual,
society and religion, there is also something born into this generation which
fills up their beliefs and makes them take revenge‑upon society in the
worst of forms.
An Englishman had built something which resembled a very small bow and
arrow. ‑He had attached this to a box upon which he had displayed
cigarettes, selling them along the streets and at movie houses. He shot a tiny
poison tipped arrow into a group of people which either blinded or killed
them. The police could not find the killer. They were looking for a motive
connecting the murderer and the murdered. But the murderer had no particular
reason for murdering those people. He murdered simply because they were
accepted by society and he was not.
Such a murder can be explained according to the principles of society. It
is the effect of complexes which the church refuses to accept and closes its
eyes to. It has had a hand in bringing it about. Fortunately, we have not yet
seen such complexes because there is divorce in our society, there are no
illegal families and because there is divorce there is no family which is a non‑entity
because families are not forced to live with each other through common law.
They do not bind them together through the force of law.
A child wanted to go out of a room, but a samavar, a teapot and various
dishes were in the way. He closed his eyes and tried to pass through. He
thought all the obstacles were gone. Idealism is like a child who does not see
reality. It does not want to see reality. It closes its eyes to that which it
does not want to see. Because it does not see them, it thinks they do not
exist.
The opposite of idealism is realism. Its followers see everything, no
matter how ugly or unpleasant, simply because it has an external existence.
They accept a thing, attach their hearts to it and find faith. They oppose and
reject, however, all beauty, truth and correctness, simply because these do not
agree with existing realities. They reject them because these are ideal and
through this rejection, they become unbelievers.
One of my students, who was among the pseudo-enlightened of this
country, drew only one conclusion from our conversations. As he was a supporter
of dialectic materialism and l was religious, a believer in Islam, he rejected
whatever I said because of his pre‑conceived notions. Even if I said
something which agreed with Marxism (and which he too should have agreed with)
as I didn't explain to him whose idea it was, he rejected it.
One day I was speaking about the murders committed by the Omayyids and
the disagreements which existed between the classes. They had a political
dictatorship which dominated religion in order to explain their situation.
They wanted people to believe that whatever happened was God's will. This,
they said, was particularly true about their own government. ‑1 spoke
about the people who opposed them and resisted the situation. I saw how my
student suddenly became unhappy. I was opposing the Omayyids and praising Ali,
Fatima, Abuzar, Hojr and Hosein as leaders of a movement for justice and human
freedom, and against prejudices, oppression and ignorance. What could this
first class enlightened thinker do? He yelled out, The despot is history!'
That is, according to the Marxist philosophy of history, society must move
through historic phases and it had to reach this stage in order for it to be a
historical reality. Ali, Hosein and Abuzar were ideologists who opposed the
despotism of history. I said, The Mercy of God be upon this enlightened one.'
I see that I was right in re‑iterating the fact that when the level
of thought and vision of a society is transformed, the religious, non‑religious,
enlightened, reactionary and ignorant scholar are all the same. When a
religious view prevails, when it comes upon an unknown and uncomprehended
fact, it calls it fate and destiny, meaning the Divine despot. It believes that
whatever occurs is the Will of God.
When a society becomes Marxist, it believes in the despotism of history.
It believes that whatever happens is beyond human will. Whatever exists, is
accepted because it is a reality which results from the despotism of history
the despot. of society. I said, 'No. look my friend, the sword is the despot
here, not history.'
We see that realists believe that whatever exists should be as. it is!
The members of the Parliament in England defend the laws of homosexuality
because it is an objective reality which exists in society. Therefore, it must
be made legal.
To oppose this
realism is to worship idealized fantasies which form the basis of politicians
and pseudo intellectuals. You do not hear them argue that Israel is a reality
(Yes! It is ). But the settlement of the Palestinian people in lands occupied
by Israel shows the manifestation of someone who worshipped the ideal. Even
though it i? wrong, it is a reality which must be accepted. Although it moves
against the grain of humanity, although it is murder, it exists. Politicians
and intellectuals accept it and officially recognize it.
A magazine entitled This Week' has recently been published for young
people. All the articles, translations, news items and photographs are the
total writings of two or three well‑known writers using pen names. These
writers visit whore houses and then, damn them. They write for our young people
giving them a point by point description of events which take place. One of the
top writers, who is knowledgeable, is a politician who officially represents Islamic
culture! He advises women who are overweight and unhappy because of it, in
order to develop a better form, become better looking and prevent the growth of
further layers of fat, they should find an illicit lover for awhile. This is
all a reality. Most probably the committee of writers had themselves first
scientifically experienced this and had practically gained from it.
The weakening of the weak by the strong is also a reality. Oppression and
suppression of certain classes is also a reality. Reality seekers are
completely objective viewers. They see the external form which is a scientific
and sensible reality. Then they judge. They face no difficulties with
imagination, ideology and ideas which are not translated into real forms.
We see that an idealist, a thinker, a reformer is called towards mental
desires, ideals and sacred values, goodness and the highest of needs and he
denies or rejects the realities which deviate from his beliefs and act as
existing barriers. It is impossible to negate them. He turns his back on them,
or else, through inexperience, rejects them. He pulls, himself away from
realities. He thinks in terms of imagery. He occupies a sacred place but does
not realize that he is in an idealistic environment. He drowns himself in objective
and sensible phenomena and the existing situation.
A realist, on the other hand, kills flights of thought, mounted spirits,
visions, efforts, longing desires and the seeking of perfection. A realist
keeps everything (as it is). He builds walls around the framework of existing
values and within the existing situation. He paralyzes creative thought,
rebellion and the deep changes of life. The changes in the coercion of history
and social conditions are desensitized along with changing ways of thought,
the type of needs and desires and the present, external purposes of mankind.
They surrender to realities and nourish that which exists.
Neither
Idealism nor Realism: Both
Islam is a pure tree which belongs neither to the East nor the West and
has its roots in the heavens and its branches reaching towards the earth.
Contrary to idealism, Islam ,recognizes the existing realities in life, in the
body, and in the spirit of an individual, as well as in those found in
community relationships, those which reach the depths of a society and can be
seen in the motion of history.
Islam, as with the realists, admits to their existence, but as opposed to
realism, it does not accept the status quo but changes them. It ch4nges their
essence in a revolutionary way. It carries realities along with its ideals. It
uses realities as a means to reach its idealistic goals, its real desires,
which are non‑existent by themselves. Unlike realists, Islam does not'
submit to realities, but rather, it causes the realities to submit to it. Islam
does not turn away from realities as idealists do. It seeks them out. It tames
them. Through this means, Islam uses that which hinders the idealists as a
composite for its own ideals.
Take concubinage, for instance, which in Europe is considered to be an
illegal, abhorred and an unclean marriage. But it exists. It exists throughout
Europe and America and in very religious societies and groups as well. But
Islam accepts divorce, a new marriage contract and temporary marriage in
certain very exceptional cases. Islam accepts divorce in certain social
circumstances. If it did not accept divorce, divorce would still exist, but it
would be outside its control. By accepting an unavoidable, natural reality, it
makes it into a legal form. As a result, one can conquer the sense of guilt one
has in the eyes of God and society. Thus, their contract is based upon ethical
principles and religion is preserved. These people can nourish their
environment. Society does not look upon them as sinners or at their children as
illegal and impure.
Islam succeeded the day it admitted the existence of these social and
human realities. Because of this, it can control its results. It can give
realities a legal form. It can correct their form. It can give them an ethical
and religiously accepted form. By confirming and admitting the existence of a
reality, Islam gains strength. It can then control, guide and dominate the
reality within a framework.
If we deny realities, they will dominate us. Without knowing it, we will
be pulled wherever they want us to go. As can be seen, realism is drowned in
existing realities, whether good or bad. On the other hand, realism can be seen
running away from those very same realities. Idealists sacrifice more as they
are imprisoned in the chains of useless customs. Realists move along with
realities and accept them, whereas idealists, who do not recognize them, do not
see them and deny them through their ignorance and their attachment to
imaginary ideals. Idealists then face an attack; they fall on their knees
because they are defenseless, inexperienced and weak. They will be destroyed.
We don't see the form that girls who are raised in very strict religious
homes take. We don't see her when she covers her face so that, God forbid, the
fish in the courtyard pool do not see her. What happens when she enters the
ocean of society? She vigorously swims but she is so afraid that she loses
control of herself and drowns. In order to make up for what she lacks now, she
pays her fine a thousand times over.
The same is true for young men who grow up in a pious society. The
nouveau riche have just moved from the former world of their idealistic pseudo‑religious
environment. There they were prohibited from learning physics or chemistry, or
studying, at the university. The women are forbidden to have a high school or
college education. The men do not shave their beards; they sit in coaches instead
of in buses or in taxis. They wear no neck‑tie; they do not let their
hair grow long; they do not change the form of their clothes or their hair‑style.
They neither buy radios nor do they spread the word of the Qoran through a
microphone! Suddenly, these young people face the new world of realities, full
of twists and turns.
You see what confusion it has caused. He sees the pretense. He has
learned certain airs through having had them translated in films into Persian.
He learns about showing off luxury and being silly. He sees the exaggeration
of it all. It is so exaggerated that even foreigners laugh about it. Why?
Because they exist side by side with reality whereas we deny them before we
even come to know them. This is why we have been captured.
This new civilization has attacked all boundaries and watch‑towers
of the world. They have been made to fall down. The new generations have been
caught by the speed of the wind of the Renaissance, the intellectual movements,
the great French revolution and the industrialized life styles as they blow
continuously. These changed the weather of the world. The changing of the
atmosphere of our, country is also a reality. It is a most certain reality. It
is clear that sooner or later the lightening will strike. V1hen it does,
machines, printing presses, universities, democracy, radios, television,
movies, newspapers, books, schools, women's education, new techniques, new
sciences, and many other new things will come and will change them.
The leaders of the people, those. responsible for their ethics, those who
have been given the responsibility of guiding their lives and thoughts, those
who stand face to face with unavoidable realities, have closed their eyes. They
have given their hearts to mental ideologies and to their ancient thoughts.
They have tried to preserve their horse drawn carriages side by side with
taxis.
And they still light lamps, having electricity. They are aware. They even
correctly predict this truth. They predict the phenomenon of the rush to the
inferior world. They know it will bring about the decline of much of the
beliefs, faith, piety, health and independence. They know that corruption will
find a home deep within people's brains. But face to face with this coercion
and this rush towards a new phenomenon, knowing the order and relationship
which it imposes when it reaches the furthermost points and the most backward
tribes of society, even those in the depths of the desert, they only say one
thing and one thing only: Forbidden! Radios? Don't buy one. Movies? Don't see
them. Television? Don't watch it. Loudspeaker? Don't listen. University? Don't
go. The new science? Don't study it. Newspapers? Don't read them. Vote? Don't
give it. Office work? Don't do it and ... women? Shhh ... Don't mention that
word!
Face to face with the flood of industry which covers the world and the
changes which have taken place in .the world order, seeing a civilization which
sells refrigerators to the Eskimos, they stand to prevent it from coming about
by completely defending the past. Their total army and defense consist of two
things only, a word along with a negative command: Forbidden!' and NO!'.
What is the result? What we see is what happens. Events and realities
break the barriers and tear down the watch‑towers. Realities tear down
the bricks of the walls and destroy the defenseless defenders of the past who
are hidden behind them with their eyes closed or who have turned their faces
away as a sign of their disapproval.
The force of these realities ruins everything at once. They attack the
city's inhabited areas, the bazaars, mosques and even our homes like wild
bulls, wolves and chained dogs. They plunder everything. But they do not
leave. They come, they kill, they burn and they take, but they do not leave as
the army of Ghengis Khan had done. Why?
Because no one even sees them. Our border guards, our watchmen, don't
like them. They are so exasperated that they don't even bother to look at them.
They don't want to go and separate the good from the bad and correct them. They
don't want to adapt them to the climate and the people of our country. They
don't want to choose among them. They don't want to shame, control and dominate
them. They stand in the middle of the road facing a driverless car. They are
run over and crushed.
They is why veiled women who want to give birth to their children,
scream, Why men physicians? Why should women not be treated by women
physicians?' She wants her child to go to school and to the university. Her
cries increase ‑ is this the faculty of literature or a fashion show? Is
this an Islamic university? Is this an Islamic society? Does this school smell
just a bit of Islam? Does it contain a bit of ethics and meaning? Is this the
radio of a religious country or just a noise box? What kind of a translation
is this from one culture to another ‑ this television, this publication,
this gathering, these laws which act as balancing scales, these banks? What
film is this? What theater? What art? What craft? Really, what kind of a
civilization is this? But then again, as Hafez [the great Iranian poet] has
said,
As our destiny has been made in our absence
if just a little bit is not according to our wishes, don't worry
And, in our case, we
have to say:
if all of it is not according to our wishes
don't worry!
When these realities come and find a place for themselves, when they
begin to work, you are absent. You have run away. When you, a pious man, a
religious, ethical Moslem, sensitive to people's feelings, responsible for the
spirits and thoughts of society, preserver of the Islamic culture, sulk and
retire into a corner, you allow a Khan, [Reza Shah] to bring and to put a new
civilization into effect and employ a new industry and science for your
society.
It takes great effort to effectively interfere in events which unfold.
Yet it is only through this effort that you can guide the determined motion of
society. People who believe we should preserve that which is incapable of being
preserved, and that which is dying, and who are in a position to advise those
who inspire, those who appease and those who give condolences, do not recognize
the dangers. They create believers from among those who accept the
unacceptable. They delude the majority of society. They keep them in a state of
bending forward, silent, weak and submissive.
Those who seek a flowing and active society and want a better human life,
acknowledge realities. They know pain. They take their strength from these
realities in order to heal their wounds. This does not include those who, as
demigods, defend that which is incapable of being defended, nor those who take
the public into their own hands, nor those who follow the styles of the day,
nor those who praise according to what is fashionable, nor those who try to
attach themselves to something.
Those who acknowledge realities are people who know time moves. They know
that society has a skin which it sheds. They feel that the strong forces of the
world have turned to us to make us change. Neither are they sufficiently
without pain to sit down and watch, nor are they without shame to be able to
take. whatever job is handed to them. They are not so stupid as to react in
such a way that when they see a flood has come to cover their town, they should
try to protect only their wife and children, keep them safe and pull their own
carpet from the water, because they know it is a wrong and useless act. They
know that today is not like the past where families were living in a closed
society. Now, even if you hide your daughter in the back room of your house,
national and international television will follow her, find her and show her
the attractions and shows of the outside world.
