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The Methodology of Ali Shari'ati: a Comparison with Durkheim's and Weber's Sociology of Religion

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The Methodology of Ali Shari'ati: a Comparison with Durkheim's and Weber's Sociology of Religion IIUM Journal of Human Sciences Vol. 1. No. 2, 2019, 30-42 ISSN 2682-8731 (Online) The Methodology of Ali Shari’ati: A Comparison with Durkheim’s and Weber’s Sociology of Religion Younus Ahmed Mushtaq Ahmed1 and Zulqernain Haider Subhani International Islamic University Malaysia ABSTRACT Ali Shari‟ati was an ideologue par excellence, who through his writings and fiery speeches, was able to attract the young intelligentsia of Iran and prepare them for the cataclysmic movement that took place in 1979. The methodology adopted by Ali Shari‟ati in his study of religion was different from two classical sociologists. The objective of this paper is to highlight how Ali Shari‟ati differed in his sociology of religion from sociologists, such as Emilé Durkheim and Max Weber. Through thematic content analysis, the works of the authors were reviewed to understand their methodology. The findings of this paper outline the methodology adopted by Ali Shari‟ati, which was different, both, in its approach and the tools used to analyze religion. Though there was a shift in methodology when compared to classical sociologists, this paper agrees that the methodology of Ali Shari‟ati was the best suited to study a deeply religious Asian society such as Iran. Keywords: Ali Shari‟ati, Methodology, Sociology of religion, Muslim Thinker, Emilé Durkheim, and Max Weber. INTRODUCTION Ali Shari‟ati, a prominent Iranian intellectual, is considered by many as the „ideological father of the Iranian revolution who through his writings and fiery speeches was able to reach and communicate with the Iranian youths in way that both the religious class and the secular government of the Mohammed Reza Shah were never able to communicate (Abedi, 1986; Dabashi, 1993; Rahnema, 2000; Sachedina, 1983). He is widely regarded as the Voltaire of the Iranian Revolution (Mahdavi, 2014) who lived during a tumultuous period in Iranian history during which the Shah‟s Government was determined to undermine the traditional religious culture of Islam and move towards establishing a secular society to achieve social, economic, cultural and political change, especially among the youth. Iran was and has been a deeply traditional society, but when the modernization reforms started to take place in Iran, “the younger generation were being driven to self-alienation, and, in turn, to a superficial and, at times, distorted comprehension of their role in the society” (Sachedina, 1983, p. 191). The ulama felt the urgency to communicate with the youths who were living under the false message of modern living – their role in contemporary social conditions – however, they were ill- equipped to communicate with the youths as their methods were „traditional‟ – not to mean backward but rather unaltered throughout their history. On the other hand, the secularly educated Iranian intellectuals who could have stepped up to guide the youth were complacent and preoccupied with 1 Corresponding author email: [email protected] The Methodology of Ali Shari‟ati: A Comparison with Durkheim‟s and Weber‟s Sociology of Religion 31 their materialism even to comprehend the existing predicament of the youth (Sachedina, 1983). This task was reserved for Shari‟ati for which he must be reserved a special place in the history of modern Iran. Ali Shari‟ati was trained in both the traditional teachings of Islam and in the western social sciences. He endeavored to integrate the modern social sciences with that of the traditional beliefs of Islam and thus evolved a new paradigm of Islamic idiom capable of securing the allegiance of the securely educated in Iran and other Muslim societies. Shari‟ati demonstrated this in a series of lectures delivered by him and complied into two books: „On the Sociology of Islam‟ and „Marxism and Other Western Fallacies‟ (Shari‟ati, 1980; Shariati, 1979). Shari‟ati was among the furious intellectual elites in Iran to be very vocal about the Shah‟s policies and on the current state of Iranian society. Hamid Dabashi made a keen observation on the convictions of Shari‟ati towards the reconstruction of Iranian society based on his understanding of Shi‟ite Islam, He charted his energy, the revolutionary fury he so consciously and decidedly tapped, with a clear, however tacit, political agenda, all mobilized towards a massive ideological reconstitution of the status quo. The ultimate target of this conscious sublimation of raw energy was political, leading to a tangible social transformation of private pieties into public virtues. (Dabashi, 1993, p. 106) We do not wish to overhype the role of Shari‟ati in the Iranian revolution, as individuals such as Al-e Ahmad, Ayatollah Morteza Motahari, and Ayatollah Khomeini probably had a more central role to play when compared to Shari‟ati. Having said that we could not deny the fact that Ali Shari‟ati has been recognized as the theorist who “did the most to prepare the Iranian youth for revolutionary upheaval” (Dabashi, 1993, p. 106). It should be noted that “events made this Muslim sociologist, shortly after his death, the ideologist of the revolt” (Keddie, 1981, p. 215). Shari‟ati was an ideologue par excellence, who guided the youth when his country was in a state of continuous flux and sought to return to the original teachings of Shi‟ism, exemplified in the teachings of Imam Ali and Husayn (Sachedina, 1983). Shari‟ati has left behind a vast body of literature, which includes works on the revival of Shi‟ism, sociology of religion, and Marxism among others. We will limit our scope of analysis on the works which are pertinent to the sociology of religion, especially his main work, “On the sociology of Islam (1979).” METHODS The main objective of this paper is to highlight the methodology adopted by Shari‟ati in his sociology of religion and to understand how it differs from the methodology of the classical sociologists – Emilé Durkheim and Max Weber. This paper also seeks to explain the reasons behind Shari‟ati‟s methodology. The objectives of this study were achieved through thematic content analysis on the works of the authors. The main works of the Ali Shari‟ati are in Persian. The translated works of the authors in English are used and constitute the primary sources in this context, which is a limitation of this paper. Other secondary sources, including books and journal articles, are also utilized to understand the thinker‟s methodology, including Durkheim and Weber. Ali Shari‟ati‟s book „On the Sociology of Islam‟ is the primary source through which the methodology of Ali Shari‟ati is understood. IIUM Journal of Human Sciences 32 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ALI SHARI’ATI Ali Shari‟ati was born on 24th November 1933 at Mazinan, a small village on the edge of the desert in Khorasan. Shari‟ati came from a family of scholars; his grandfather Akhond Molla Qorban- Ali was the principal religious authority of the region (Rahnema, 2000). Shari‟ati was initially educated under his erudite father, Mohamed Taqi, a foremost Iranian scholar of Islam. Mohamed Taqi broke the long-standing family tradition when he shifted from Mazinan to Mashhad, where he established his „Centre for the Propagation of Islamic Truths‟ (Rahnema, 2000). It was here that Shari‟ati‟s early education began under his father. Mohamed Taqi was involved in a relentless struggle to bring back the modern-educated youth into the fold of Islam, an effort which was carried out later by Ali Shari‟ati (Sachedina, 1983). Ali Shari‟ati credits his father for teaching him the art of thinking and being his teacher during his formative years (Rahnema, 2000). Ali Shari‟ati studied to be a teacher at the teacher's training college in Mashhad and later got his degree from Mashhad University in 1959. As a young student at the teacher's training college, the political, social and intellectual struggle of Shari‟ati began when the Coup d‟état of the first democratically elected president of Iran, Mohammed Mosaddeq, took place in 1953 (Rahnema, 2000). After the fall of the democratically elected government, the secular reforms were undertaken by the Shah‟s government like monitoring the traditional centers of Islamic learning (madrasas) and the closure of his fathers „Centre for the Propagation of Islamic Truths‟ in 1957, all of which profoundly affected Ali Shari‟ati. Ali Shari‟ati received a scholarship from the Iranian government to study in Paris for his exceptional performance at the University of Mashhad. He later went on to complete his Ph.D. from Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines of Sorbonne University in 1964, specializing in sociology (see Rahnema, 2000, p. 131). While in Paris, he actively participated in many political movements, particularly in the Algerian liberation. During these formative years, he was influenced chiefly by Franz Fanon, who left a lasting impression on him both intellectually and politically (Dabashi, 1993). Franz Fanon was an influential critical thinker of the post-colonial studies and played an active role in the Algerian liberation. Shari‟ati knew Fanon personally and is credited for translating his works in Persian and introducing it to the Iranian audience. In Paris, apart from Fanon, Shari‟ati was also influenced by Louis Massignon, George Gurvitch, Jacques Berque and Jean-Paul Sartre (Rahnema, 2000). On his return from Paris, he was imprisoned for six months for his participation in the anti- government protests (Sachedina, 1983). Ali Shari‟ati managed to get a teaching position at the Mashhad University during 1966 – 1970, but as his popularity and fame began to rise, the university deemed his lectures to be dangerous and forced him to retire early (Dabashi, 1993). His sociological approach to history and his free methods of teaching brought him into conflict with the university officials who forced him out (Sachedina, 1983).
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