{"id":231,"date":"2002-01-01T16:06:06","date_gmt":"2002-01-02T00:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/doctorsoroush.com\/english\/?p=231"},"modified":"2012-09-26T16:08:07","modified_gmt":"2012-09-26T23:08:07","slug":"the-saviour-and-religious-revival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/drsoroush.com\/en\/the-saviour-and-religious-revival\/","title":{"rendered":"The Saviour and Religious Revival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published under the title \u201cMahdaviyat va Ehya-ye Din<\/em>\u201d in the now-banned journal Aftab<\/em>, No. 12, Jan-Feb 2002.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 The concept of the saviour [mahdaviyat<\/em>] is a subject about which our religious community can reflect at length.\u00a0 The idea is woven into the warp and woof of our people\u2019s religious lives; whether today, when we claim to have a religious and Islamic state, or before the revolution, when the state was not religious and the ulema and religious leaders sat in their own places in strength and had followers and adherents.\u00a0 In both situations, the presence and evocation of the Hidden Imam were plainly discernible.\u00a0 The pious people of our country see religious leaders as the deputies of the 12th<\/sup> Imam and esteem them for this reason.\u00a0 The people pay a part of their assets and revenues to them each year, and believe that these funds belong to the Hidden Imam by right.\u00a0 They believe that a fifth of their assets belongs to a person who is not observable in society today – but who is really present in the world \u2013 and that his deputies take these funds from the people in his name and by his command and spend them on causes that have his approval.\u00a0 [The Mahdi <\/em>(saviour) or the Hidden Imam is the 12th<\/sup> Shi\u2019i Imam, who is believed to be in occultation and is to return one day to establish the reign of justice on earth.]<\/p>\n

The Shi\u2019i community has lived with and been enlivened by this belief for centuries. And the belief continues to be held firmly today.\u00a0 The rulers of the Islamic state, for their part, believe this of themselves; they believe that they are sitting in the 12th<\/sup> Imam\u2019s place, that they are ruling in his name and that they command the people as his deputies. They base their entire legitimacy on the legitimacy of the Hidden Imam.\u00a0 They believe that, just as Shi\u2019is submitted to the Imams when they were present, so too must they submit to their deputies now and consider their words to be the words of the Hidden Imam.\u00a0 And, in order to prove their case, they present arguments based on Islamic jurisprudence [henceforth fiqh<\/em>] and religious narratives.<\/p>\n

In the light of this presence and influence, studying the concept of the saviour is an obvious duty for thinkers, sociologists and theorists of religion.\u00a0 No idea has been as influential and potent in our society as that of the occultation of the Imam.<\/p>\n

If you look at the political theories of Shi\u2019i jurists [henceforth faqihs<\/em>], you will see the question of the occultation very clearly.\u00a0 After the demise of the 11th<\/sup> Imam, the Shi\u2019is were afflicted with bewilderment for a time.\u00a0 The theory of the Imamate told them that there must always be an Imam present in society and that they basically existed to run society and to guide people to the right path.\u00a0 Hence, as far as they were concerned, an Imam who was in occultation was an unknown and undefined notion.\u00a0 This is why, for about a century, a situation existed in the Shi\u2019i community that Shi\u2019i historians and historians of Islam have described as the period of bewilderment.\u00a0 During this period, a new theory of the Imamate gradually grew in the Shi\u2019i community.\u00a0 The main substance of this new theory was that there was no need for the Imam to be physically in the midst of the people;\u00a0 it is enough for him to keep an eye on them and assist them.\u00a0 This was how the idea of the Hidden Imam was born.\u00a0 The Hidden Imam is in fact a hidden guardian [wali<\/em>] who is with the people and among the people.\u00a0 He has a real presence in the minds of believers and Shi\u2019is.\u00a0 Without showing himself to the people, he acts as the mediator of divine grace. And one day he will appear.<\/p>\n

Be that as it may, the idea of the saviour is not unique to Shi\u2019ism and Islam;\u00a0 it is one of the mysterious concepts and notions of religions in general.\u00a0 True, the concept of the saviour plays a fundamental and pivotal role in Shi\u2019i culture, but it is by no means confined to this creed.\u00a0 In particular, if we view the concept of the Imamate as the manifestation of divine guardianship, it will be seen to have a much longer history and record.\u00a0 In general, mystics consider \u201cwali<\/em>\u201d to be one of God\u2019s names or attributes;\u00a0 hence, this divine name has always been present and manifest in the world.\u00a0 \u201cNabi<\/em>\u201d [prophet] is not one of God\u2019s names, but \u201cwali<\/em>\u201d is one of God\u2019s names and always has a manifestation in the world.\u00a0 At times, there have been prophets in the world and, at times, there have not.\u00a0 But wilayat <\/em>[guardianship] cannot cease;\u00a0 it is eternal and historical.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Despite the longevity of the concept of the saviour in the history of religious ideas, the subject of my discussion is specifically the concept of the saviour in Islam.\u00a0 I must begin by explaining some of the assumptions and premises of the discussion.<\/p>\n

The first point is that I do not intend to deal with the theological questions pertaining to the notion of the saviour.\u00a0 Questions such as, \u201cHow can anyone live so long?\u201d,\u00a0 \u201cHow can an individual single-handedly bring about tremendous events in the world?\u201d,\u00a0 \u201cWhy does an individual with a global mission of this kind belong to the Muslims alone?\u201d, etc. do not concern me here.\u00a0 They are all considered to involve intra-religious debates.\u00a0 My stance in discussing the concept of the saviour is an extra-religious stance.<\/p>\n

Secondly, I will try to examine the notion of the saviour from a specific perspective and in the light of a specific issue.\u00a0 The specific issue is the relationship between this notion and the subject of religious revival.\u00a0 On this basis, the framework of my discussion here is the historical context of religious revival and religious matters, including the saviour.<\/p>\n

We know that, in our times, some religious intellectuals have tried to give a different meaning to the idea of the saviour and to look at it from another angle. One of these angles was the one that the late Dr Shariati chose and espoused.\u00a0 His famous speech \u201cAwaiting:\u00a0 The Religion of Protest\u201d was the marker to his thinking on this subject. Shariati said that one of the most important reasons and motivations for a revolution is dissatisfaction with the status quo.\u00a0 If someone is satisfied with the way things are, they will not opt for change and revolution.\u00a0 The late Shariati wanted to present Islam as a revolutionary religion.\u00a0 He therefore used religious teachings, including Shi\u2019i teachings, to this end.\u00a0 Shariati believed that awaiting the saviour meant precisely protesting against the status quo. If you are waiting for a saviour, it means that you long to see a rescuer and redeemer who will change the way things are.\u00a0 This rescuer also has the backing and approval of God, so he cannot go wrong.<\/p>\n

As you can see, Shariati\u2019s reading set aside and absolutely dispensed with all the theological questions about the saviour\u2019s personality and all the true, half true and false stories and myths that are told about him.\u00a0 Instead, a single notion is extracted from it and placed in the service of a revolution. It is clear that, in studying the concept of the saviour, Shariati is interested in its practical and functional aspect.\u00a0 However, my research into this concept can be understood in the framework and context of religious revival.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 The work and path of prophets have a particular feature that essentially distinguishes them from their followers\u2019 work and path.\u00a0 Of course, this difference is inevitable and cannot be remedied.\u00a0 The difference is that prophets and founders of religions start at the top and then descend, whereas their followers have to start at the bottom and gradually work their way upwards.\u00a0 In other words, prophets and founders of religions first attain the cause and, then, this cause gives birth to and produces certain effects.\u00a0 But their followers encounter the effects and try to attain the cause via these effects.\u00a0 In order to clarify the distinction I must draw on Mowlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi.\u00a0 He says:\u00a0 \u201cYou are joy, we are laughter \/ the product of an auspicious joy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Joy is the cause and laughter is the effect.\u00a0 Sorrow is the cause and tears are the effect.\u00a0 A person is filled with joy and elation;\u00a0 then, he breaks into laughter helplessly and unaffectedly.\u00a0 But there are times when a person makes himself laugh so that he can eventually become joyful and elated.\u00a0 He goes to a happy get-together and sits among gleeful people so that a little bit of the joy and elation can seep into him.\u00a0 But, in these circumstances, even if he becomes truly filled with joy, the movement has been from effect to cause;\u00a0 that is to say, starting from the bottom and moving upwards.\u00a0 However, becoming joyful and elated and, then, laughing is to start from the top and move downwards;\u00a0 it is movement from cause to effect. This holds true of prophets.\u00a0 Prophets first attained an experience.\u00a0 God, the hidden world and the truth of this world appeared to them in a mysterious way, and they suddenly found themselves facing an invasive, boundless truth.\u00a0 Thereafter, the prophet\u2019s prophetic personality was born.\u00a0 The encounter was astounding and character shaping.\u00a0 Prophets have reported that they suddenly found themselves before an incredibly skillful, penetrating and engulfing teacher. Not only have they been transformed themselves, but they have felt compelled to share this light with others.\u00a0 Prophets have undergone this situation to varying degrees.\u00a0 But the basis, nature and essence has more or less always been the same.<\/p>\n

We cannot penetrate any further into this event.\u00a0 It is merely by seeing its products and external results that we understand that a rare occurrence of this kind has happened to some very exceptional individuals in the course of history.\u00a0 Once this pupil rises to his feet after the encounter with that skillful teacher and finds himself transformed, he feels that his previous life has become impossible.\u00a0 A person\u2019s life is in keeping with their inner state.\u00a0 When someone is altered essentially, existentially and intrinsically, their demeanour naturally changes.\u00a0 This changed life is the product of those experiences that the individual has undergone.\u00a0 Changed conduct is the result of change in a person\u2019s psyche.\u00a0 Every prophet or mystic has spent time awake in the dead of the night.\u00a0 Conduct of this kind has never been dutiful.\u00a0 This is movement from cause to effect.\u00a0 Hafez says:\u00a0 \u201cPrayer beads and ascetic\u2019s robes will ne\u2019er inebriate you \/ pray to the wine master for perseverance to this end.\u201d<\/p>\n

These great men used to go to the wine master first and, once they had sipped from that jug and become inebriated, then they acquired an inebriated demeanour.\u00a0 This inebriated demeanour was totally natural and unaffected.\u00a0 All the words, injunctions and acts that they presented were a product of their new personality.<\/p>\n

But when prophets entrust their religion to their followers, the situation changes.\u00a0 As I said, this change is inevitable and no one can remedy it.\u00a0 For the Prophet, things would begin from causes and then arrive at effects. But when he imparted his teachings to people and, for example, told them that they should perform their prayers, fast, not drink wine, not overeat, to rise in the dead of the night, etc., it was so that people would have those spiritual experiences, understand the truths of the other world and ascend the ladder of closeness to God.\u00a0 The Prophet first attained certain states of being and, after attaining those states of being, these injunctions issued forth from him.\u00a0 But he called on his followers to carry out these injunctions in the hope that they could attain those states.\u00a0 In other words, we step onto the ladder of effects in the hope that, one day, we can reach that cause.<\/p>\n

Religions began from the kernel for prophets and the outer shell was laced around the kernel.\u00a0 But when the religions reached their followers, they began from the outer shell and tried to pierce the shell in the hope of reaching the kernel. And in most cases they never did reach it.\u00a0 This is what religion\u2019s shell, which is mentioned so often by mystics, means. From the start, religion\u2019s shell was meant to protect the kernel.\u00a0 It basically had a protective role.\u00a0 But when the kernel was forgotten and the shell became the principal thing, even the shell lost its value.<\/p>\n

4. As I have said elsewhere, there are three types of religiosity:\u00a0 utilitarian-pragmatic religiosity, gnostic religiosity and experiential religiosity.\u00a0 Each of these types of religiosity has its own particular approach to and interpretation of religious matters, such that when we step beyond the realm of pragmatic or utilitarian religiosity, our definition and interpretation of religion changes.\u00a0 For example, in dealing with Ashura [10th<\/sup> day of the month of Muharram on which Imam Hussein\u2019s was martyred], Shi\u2019is\u2019 mythical, mystery-ridden utilitarian religiosity was of the view that Imam Hussein was an otherworldly being and that the events in Karbala occurred on the orders of hidden forces.\u00a0 On Ashura, when people lifted stones off the ground, they would find fresh blood underneath and angels came to Imam Hussein\u2019s aid.\u00a0 And anyone who weeps over Imam Hussein, is bound for heaven.\u00a0 And so on and so forth.<\/p>\n

All of this placed Imam Hussein in a halo of mysteries and otherworldly and mythical forces, which is extremely attractive to the myth-loving type of believer.\u00a0\u00a0 Our fathers and mothers wept over this Imam Hussein for centuries, saw him surrounded by a halo of mysteries and envied God\u2019s affection for him.<\/p>\n

But utilitarian religiosity\u2019s approach to Imam Hussein gradually gave way to gnostic religiosity\u2019s way of thinking.\u00a0 In the present age and century, religious thinkers and intellectuals have gradually set aside that former approach to Imam Hussein\u2019s uprising and have turned to the gnostic interpretation.\u00a0 Inevitably, new questions also arose:\u00a0 Who was Imam Hussein and what caused his opposition to the Umayyads?\u00a0 Why did he not make peace with them?\u00a0 Why did he not make peace with Yazid as his brother had done with Mu\u2019awiyah?\u00a0 Why did he enter into war?\u00a0 Why did he go to the desert of Karbala?\u00a0 Why did he not accept their proposals?\u00a0 What preceded this act?\u00a0\u00a0 What were its consequences?\u00a0 What did it mean politically?\u00a0 What was Imam Hussein\u2019s motive?\u00a0 And so on.<\/p>\n

In the gnostic interpretation of Imam Hussein\u2019s uprising, there is absolutely no mention of where the angels were and what the jinn did.\u00a0 Instead, there is a totally historical interpretation of a political act and it is analysed and examined.\u00a0 This process has continued since the time of Ibn Khaldun in the 14th<\/sup> century to our day, when Shi\u2019is have engaged in historical-political analyses of that uprising.<\/p>\n

As to experiential religiosity\u2019s way of dealing with Imam Hussein\u2019s uprising, we can see it in Mowlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi\u2019s approach.\u00a0 Rumi considered Imam Hussein\u2019s act to be a pure act of devotion and love.\u00a0 In Rumi\u2019s reading, Imam Hussein was someone who broke through the cage of the body to achieve the flight of the soul.\u00a0 Far from seeing Imam Hussein\u2019s fate as a cause for mourning, he believed it was pure felicity and joy;\u00a0 far from being a misfortune, it was salvation itself.\u00a0 This was why he called on the followers and devotees of Imam Hussein to look at this event and see how a sultan and a king had escaped captivity and attained the heaven of freedom.\u00a0 What Rumi is saying is:\u00a0 Look at this act of love and participate in it with him.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 The subject of the saviour has also been approached in three different ways by the three types of religiosity.\u00a0 That is to say, this idea, too, has been dealt with in a utilitarian, mystery-ridden way; in a gnostic way; and in an experiential way.\u00a0 The mystery-ridden, utilitarian approach \u2013 whether otherworldly or this-worldly \u2013 is the one that is still in force in our society today.\u00a0 In this approach, the mythical aspects of the concept of the saviour are preserved and, in the context of analysis or explanation, the concept is always viewed in terms of its celestial aspect and everything gains its meaning in this celestial light.\u00a0 This kind of approach generates certain rites and rituals in practice, and the manifestation of these rites and rituals can still be seen in the beliefs of the bulk of the people.\u00a0 Although some of the observable manifestations have declined, others still exist.<\/p>\n

In my opinion, the Hojjatieh Society is a manifestation of the mythical interpretation of the concept of the saviour and the 12th<\/sup> Imam.\u00a0 Their presentation of this subject centred wholly around the mystery-ridden interpretation of the saviour and the occultation.\u00a0 Even faqihs<\/em>\u2019 approach to the subject of the saviour and the Imam\u2019s occultation can be viewed as that same kind of utilitarian, mystery-ridden and mythical interpretation.\u00a0 People who consider themselves the deputies of the 12th<\/sup> Imam, interfere in the affairs of Shi\u2019is in his name and believe that they have certain prerogatives consider themselves to have these rights in view of the fact that they are his deputies.\u00a0 It would be appropriate for me to point out here that, if the mysteries and myths are removed from the sphere of religion, religion would turn into a human, rational, secular and this-worldly school of thought, and ultimately lose its celestial aspect for its devotees.\u00a0 Hence, this element will never cease to be.\u00a0 At the same time, clerics are basically considered to be the protectors and guardians of the mythical elements of religion.\u00a0 In general, when believers turn to clerics, they do not expect to hear gnostic or experiential explanations;\u00a0 in the main, they expect to hear about the mystery-ridden and mythical aspects of religion.\u00a0 Moreover, no religion can be wholly reduced to its non-mythical elements.\u00a0 Every part of religion, whether it is ethics, theology or even fiqh<\/em>, is mystery-ridden to some degree and cannot be made absolutely conventional and demystified.<\/p>\n

Of course, by myths, I do not mean nonsense, superstition or fairy tales; what I mean is precisely those parts of religion that cannot be completely understood, unravelled or proved by analytical or empirical reason.<\/p>\n

At any rate, belief in the supernatural factor is one of the pillars of religious thought.\u00a0 It may even be the case that the distinguishing feature between religion and human schools of thought is that, in religious thought, belief in facets beyond sensory ones is assumed and the existence of non-sensory layers and levels, which are mystery-ridden, is definite and certain.\u00a0 Of course, identifying which mysteries and myths in the realm of religion are true and correct and which are superstitions is another matter which falls under first order knowledge and I do not intend to discuss this now.<\/p>\n

With the arrival of modern times and Iranian society\u2019s entry into the modern age, changes came about in our society\u2019s religious and intellectual climate, including interest in the scientific-historical view of religion and religious teachings.\u00a0 In this way, the gnostic interpretation and approach replaced the mystery-ridden, utilitarian approach.\u00a0 It goes without saying that the concept of the saviour also came under scrutiny from the gnostic standpoint.\u00a0 To this end, in explaining the idea of the saviour, Shi\u2019is do not rely only on religious narratives and accounts; they try instead to render this idea pleasing and acceptable to reason; to extract a political and social message from it;\u00a0 and to turn it into a concept that has a resonance for human beings today.<\/p>\n

As I said earlier, Shariati\u2019s efforts at reinterpreting the concept of the saviour is a prominent example of the gnostic approach to religious subjects.\u00a0 Shariati tried to present a cohesive analysis that was in keeping with his own intellectual framework and modern wisdom.\u00a0 He was of the view that the latent message of the idea of the saviour is that we must always protest against the status quo.\u00a0 This was in fact an alternative version of the theory \u2013 propounded by faqihs<\/em> – that, during the time of the occultation, the state constitutes usurped power.\u00a0 However, Shariati increased the revolutionary implications of the theory.\u00a0 Faqihs<\/em> saw others as usurpers but they did not take any action themselves.\u00a0 But, on Shariati\u2019s reading, having decided that others are usurpers, it becomes necessary for us to depose them.\u00a0 Hence, it is possible to extract the message of \u201crevolution\u201d from the concept of the saviour.<\/p>\n

In effect, what Shariati did was to carry out a kind of social and religious pathology, because one of the ills that Shi\u2019i society had become afflicted with was inaction.\u00a0 The general belief was that believers\u2019 problems and difficulties would be resolved with the appearance of that spiritual redeemer;\u00a0 a belief that led to passivity.\u00a0 In order to address this affliction, some reformers used the gnostic approach to present a reason-pleasing reading of the idea of waiting for the saviour.\u00a0 In gnostic religiosity, there is absolutely no engagement with mythical issues and historical, theological details;\u00a0 more than anything, the aim is to present the concept in a modern, rational and fruitful guise that bears a message for human beings today.<\/p>\n

But what then is the experiential approach?\u00a0 I consider it imperative to explain something by way of a preface to this question in order to shed light on the foundations of the experiential approach. The concept of the saviour is a kind of a philosophy of religious history.\u00a0 We can have a religious or a non-religious view of history.\u00a0 The religious view of history in fact interprets history as if everything comes from the hidden world and returns to the hidden world.\u00a0 The design, planning and supervision of all its events are undertaken by God and nothing occurs without plan or purpose.\u00a0 In effect, the entire course of history is like a scroll that is gradually being unravelled.\u00a0 Religious history is a history that is only examined because and to the extent that God is manifested within it and other historical issues remain entirely outside the sphere of research and investigation.\u00a0 The bulk of our history books written before the modern age of historiography have this quality.\u00a0 Stretching from Tabari\u2019s History <\/em>to Nasekh al-Tavarikh<\/em>, this can be seen plainly and clearly.\u00a0 In these books, history begins with a prophet, viz. Adam, and, thereafter, too, it is always prophets who are the heroes and masters of historical events.\u00a0 Each historical era begins with the appearance of a prophet.\u00a0 That is to say, historical eras are defined by the appearance of prophets.\u00a0 Hence, on this interpretation, history is the history of prophets and a celestial history.\u00a0 History is of interest because it is in the hands of God, totally under His power and a manifestation of his involvement in affairs.\u00a0 This is exactly the type of historiography that was set aside by Ibn Khaldun, who introduced a different type of historiography.<\/p>\n

In the religious view of history, history has a beginning and a conclusion.\u00a0 Nothing in it is left to accident.\u00a0 In fact, the divergence between will and accident is the exact divergence between the religious and the non-religious views of history.\u00a0 In the non-religious view, people have come into this world by accident.\u00a0 No one had drawn up a plan for the birth and creation of human beings.\u00a0 No one was waiting for them.\u00a0 This is why, in the non-religious view, history may lead anywhere.\u00a0 The end of history depends on the way human beings behave, how they think and what they want.\u00a0 Nothing is determined.\u00a0 Whereas in religious history, the beginning and end and the dynamism of history are the product of a specific will.\u00a0 This specific will is the will of God.<\/p>\n

In the light of these two types of historiography, the idea of the saviour can be seen as a kind of religious view of history.\u00a0 I am of the opinion that any attempt to explain this question with the aid of non-religious historical concepts is condemned to failure.\u00a0 This religious view of history cannot be reduced to a non-religious view of history.\u00a0 A phenomenon cannot be taken out of its context and still be expected to be effectual and resonant.\u00a0 The concept of the saviour makes sense within a specific system and world-view;\u00a0 outside this aggregate, it loses its meaning, vitality and force.\u00a0 Hence, the experiential view of or approach to the question of the occultation and the saviour intends not to rob this concept of its mystery, but purely and simply to explain what it means.\u00a0 The experiential view explains that all the religious indications suggest that the idea of the saviour is firmly linked to the notion of religious revival; and the revival of experiential <\/em>religion at that.<\/p>\n

In all religions, the figure that is introduced as the saviour is not a political leader, a scholar, a historian, a faqih<\/em> and so on.\u00a0 It is a celestial figure, a \u201cman divine\u201d.\u00a0 A friend [wali<\/em>] of God.\u00a0 This is a shared feature that exists in religions\u2019 promises and it is enough to show that there is something supernatural and mystery-laden about the concept of the saviour.\u00a0 This divine and prophet-like figure must do something prophet-like.\u00a0 Prophets were first and foremost prophets.\u00a0 The things that you see in their lives that are of the nature of governance, politics, economics, etc. were incidental.\u00a0 Put more simply (and of course this simpler version may on occasion distort the meaning), these kinds of activities were imposed on prophets. That is to say, these activities were external to them.\u00a0 First and foremost, prophets addressed people\u2019s hearts and souls.\u00a0 They neither brought a new rationality for people nor constructed new livelihoods for them.\u00a0 Of course, as a consequence of prophets\u2019 actions, the level of knowledge and the livelihoods of people were transformed, but, inherently, prophets neither willed nor did this.<\/p>\n

The Prophet of Islam, the history of whose life is clearer and better documented than that of any other prophet, primarily sought to introduce a new focal point and pivot into people\u2019s lives.\u00a0 The level of people\u2019s earnings was absolutely not altered by the prophet\u2019s call.\u00a0 The level of people\u2019s learning did not alter either.\u00a0 The prophet did not challenge the scientific and philosophic theories of his time, because he had essentially not been sent to this end.\u00a0 In fact, these matters have been left to the people.\u00a0 What prophets did was to lend meaning to people\u2019s lives.\u00a0 Presenting God as the focal point of the meaning of human life and its true pivot was the essence of prophets\u2019 mission.\u00a0 \u201cMy prayer, my ritual sacrifice, my living, my dying \u2013 all belongs to God, the Lord of all Being.\u201d\u00a0 (Al-An\u2019am, 162)\u00a0 The Prophet\u2019s key message has been expressed in this moving verse.\u00a0 Prophets\u2019 most important task is to identify and introduce that ultimate truth which lies at the spiritual focal point of this world.<\/p>\n

Of course, the message of prophets was addressed to people\u2019s hearts and souls.\u00a0 But a transformation in people\u2019s soul and inner identity will inevitably lead to a transformation of their collective demeanour and outer life.\u00a0 As Allama Iqbal put it: \u201cOnce it penetrates the soul, the soul is transformed \/ once the soul is transformed, the world is transformed.\u201d<\/p>\n

On this same basis, the person who is to appear at the end of the history will do something prophet-like.\u00a0 What he will do is neither of the nature of what politicians do, nor what faqihs <\/em>do, nor poets, nor scholars.\u00a0 These people are all dear and esteemed in their own right, but the Prophet and the saviour act on a different level and plane. They move different levers and leave more extensive traces in the different dimensions of people\u2019s lives.\u00a0 The main aim of the one who will come at the end of time is to realize, define and reform human beings\u2019 relationship with God.\u00a0 Prophets were very successful in fulfilling this aim.\u00a0 But if this relationship starts to weaken, if veils of forgetfulness start to dim believers\u2019 eyes,\u00a0 if people gradually turn away from the direction of guidance and if the flame that was lit in people\u2019s hearts starts to die, a divine figure is needed to make it blaze again.<\/p>\n

The history of religions points to the assumption that, in their historical context, religions decline and lose their initial power, majesty, impact and influence.\u00a0 This is exactly where the need for the revival of religion stems from.\u00a0 Religious reform movements essentially come into being to address this problem.\u00a0 The dynasty of religious revivalists, starting from Seyyed Jamal to the present day, were solicitous about this: to present an authentic, mystery-ridden and, at the same time, rational definition of religion in a \u201cdemystified\u201d world.\u00a0 Of course, the direction followed by the revivalist efforts of our religious reformers have generally and mainly been from effect to cause.\u00a0 Not only people who have been keen to revive religious law and fiqh<\/em>, but also those who have sought an ethical revival of religion, those who have pursued a knowledge-based revival, and those who have harboured dreams of a revolution and an ideological revival of religion have all moved from effects towards causes in the process of their revivalist work.\u00a0 But what the Prophet did and what the one who is to come at the end of time will do is to start at the top and from the causes, and to show that, first, in the modern world and in the heart of modern life, authentic religious experience and powerful contact with the other world is possible. Secondly, to allow others to share and participate in his spiritual experience.\u00a0 Prophets did not start from the injunctions of canon law, nor even from ethical injunctions;\u00a0 instead, they would create a blazing focal point of religious experience and warm their followers around it.\u00a0 Rumi explains:\u00a0 \u201cWithin them there is ferment vast \/ a trace suffices to inebriate anyone close at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

A vast ferment existed within prophets such that anyone who was in their company would feel it and experience it.<\/p>\n

Rumi says that people once asked the Prophet when the day of upheaval [doomsday] would be: \u201cThey\u2019d ask him about the day of upheaval \/ saying, How long is it from your rise to the resurrection? \/ Be silent! he would reply \/ Why ask upheaval to tell you when upheaval will be?\u201d<\/p>\n

He told them that he was ferment and upheaval himself; why do you ask me when the day of upheaval will be?\u00a0 Do not imagine that this was meant metaphorically.\u00a0 It is the truth.\u00a0 The Prophet was saying, I have created upheaval.\u00a0 Look at yourselves and see how when you come close to me and my breath touches you, you turn into someone else and, when you turn into someone else, your morality and conduct change.\u00a0 This is movement from the top.<\/p>\n

Prophets passed away.\u00a0 Thereafter, their followers had no alternative but to occupy themselves with the effects and to base their conduct on these in the hope that they could reach the causes.\u00a0 But one day these effects will have become so hollow and ineffective that another person of the same fibre as prophets must come to re-ignite the movement from the cause and from the top; to create an upheaval that will light a new blaze in hearts and souls, so that the flames will show that religiosity is possible in the modern world.\u00a0 Then, the believers who have had new life infused into them will rebuild their conduct and morality anew.<\/p>\n

When there were prophets, by virtue of their novel personalities, they exuded a new morality and conduct.\u00a0 Today, we stand before the traces of what they exuded; traces which can no longer suffice and grow dimmer with every passing day.\u00a0 The promised redeemer is someone who will revive the attainment of faith from above.\u00a0 Today, we need a person who can teach us that religiosity is possible in the modern world and this person is not a faqih<\/em>, he is not a theologian, he is of the same fibre as saints.\u00a0 With the warmth that such a person generates around him, he can both draw others into the glow and teach them morality and conduct.\u00a0 Modern religiosity will be born in the light of the appearance of this new wali<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The concept of the saviour and its relationship to the revival of religion can only be explained in this way.\u00a0 The meaning of this theory is that the authentic revival of religion in our disturbed times must take place through the repetition and renewal of the experience of prophets;\u00a0 that is to say, we must arrive at the effects again by starting at the causes.<\/p>\n

Most of our reformers began their work from the effects.\u00a0 They had no choice, because as ordinary, average human beings, we have no alternative but to follow this course and to begin from the bottom rung of the ladder.\u00a0 This method has its own particular ills, shortcomings and limitations, and this is unavoidable.\u00a0 And if we view things through the eyes of the founders of religions, all these paths fall short of taking us to the desired, final destination.\u00a0 The promised redeemer, who is to put to rights the gone–wrong situation, is someone who will take the course that was followed by prophets.\u00a0 He will have a prophet-like personality.\u00a0 In order to reform religion, he will neither take the path of reforming religious laws and fiqh<\/em>, nor the path of reforming rites and morality, nor the path of tampering with outer layers and effects.\u00a0 He will start at the top, not from the bottom.\u00a0 But this can only be done by someone who has experienced the focal point and kernel of religion for himself.\u00a0 This person is a \u201cwali<\/em>\u201d.\u00a0 He is a believer who will appear in the modern age and, with his appearance, demonstrate how one can be a believer in modern times.\u00a0 All other revivalists want to remain believers and to show others how to be believers by relying on religion\u2019s outer layers and shell.\u00a0 These efforts are all laudable, but the idea of the saviour promises us that, with the appearance of a wali<\/em>, people can benefit from profound religious experiences once again.<\/p>\n

The theory of the saviour claims that temporary, passing, incomplete, piecemeal, short-term revivals will not make the world religious; this demystified world would remain demystified and its overwhelming tenor would continue to be a non-religious tenor.\u00a0 This world will only shed its skin and change when a first rate religious figure, of the calibre of prophets, appears.\u00a0 He has religious experience and, based on this experience, he builds a new world.\u00a0 New religious regulations, ethics and fiqh<\/em> will be written. Layers will be laced around the religious experience and people will find themselves facing a newly-born religious world.\u00a0 The darkness that has cast a shadow over the world and is the product of the occultation of truth and justice will start to recede in the light of this wali<\/em>\u2019s radiant personality.\u00a0 Then, we will once again see a world in which being a believer is natural and religious people will no longer feel out of place.\u00a0 The saviour will help reform religion by creating a kernel, not by repairing the shell.\u00a0 This is the nature of the relationship between the saviour and religious revival.<\/p>\n

It seems evident that, in order bring about a religious revival in modern world, more than striving for a theoretical, theological, jurisprudential, ethical, scholarly or revolutionary revival of religion, religious reformers and well-wishers must strive for an elemental and spiritual revival of religion.\u00a0 This mode of revival in the modern world is a historical imperative.\u00a0 Relying on the effects, secondary principles and outer layers of religion and trying to revive them will draw us into the vortex of \u201cIslam of identity\u201d and open the way to modern fundamentalism.<\/p>\n

Fundamentalism means relying on the Islam of identity instead of the Islam of truth; relying on an element that gives a person a this-worldly identity and draws a line between them and others; trying to define oneself through the existence of others who are unlike oneself.\u00a0 But these kinds of boundaries do not exist in the Islam of truth.\u00a0 Identities are always at war but truths can coexist, communicate and concur.\u00a0 When truths arrive on the scene, they always adjust a person\u2019s personality and demeanour, but identities come onto the scene without corresponding to any truth and they only flaunt themselves with antagonism or even with a deliberate quest for enemies.<\/p>\n

If we seek to revive religion in the modern world we have to answer this question:\u00a0 How is it possible to \u201clive\u201d religiously in the world today?\u00a0 Faqihs<\/em> reply:\u00a0 Fiqh <\/em>can be so updated as to bring it into harmony with modern life.\u00a0 Ethicists are of the view that ethics can be codified in such a way as to make an ethical religious life possible in the world today.\u00a0 But the saviour-oriented religious perspective holds that only through the appearance of the righteous walis<\/em> of God is a religious life possible in the modern age.\u00a0 This wilayat <\/em>will define human conduct and morality anew and, consequently, lead to an authentic revival of fiqh<\/em>, theology, ethics and religious teachings.\u00a0 The religious reading of history and the concept of the saviour considers the appearance of the saviour to be a great religious venture;\u00a0 not a political or theological venture.\u00a0 The appearance of the saviour is a great historical venture of the same fabric as the venture of prophets.<\/p>\n

Translated from the Persian by Nilou Mobasser<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Published under the title \u201cMahdaviyat va Ehya-ye Din\u201d in the now-banned journal Aftab, No. 12, Jan-Feb 2002.   1.\u00a0 The concept of the saviour [mahdaviyat] is a subject about which our religious community can reflect at length.\u00a0 The idea is woven into the warp and woof of our people\u2019s religious lives; whether today, when we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/drsoroush.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/drsoroush.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/drsoroush.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drsoroush.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drsoroush.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/drsoroush.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/drsoroush.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drsoroush.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drsoroush.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}