Shariati, The Superficial Depth

“Mysticism, Equality, Liberty” is Shariatist version of French famous slogan “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” which heralded the age of modern humanist values after the French Revolution. Replacing “Fraternity” by “Mysticism” was not because they contradicted each other. “Mysticism” had to be added somewhere to satisfy Iranians long obsession with religion: the realm without which life lacks depth and remains a transitory superficial childish game. Yet, to avoid wordiness, “Mysticism” kicked “Fraternity” out and sat prior to “Equality” and “Liberty” to look like a modern concern.

Shariati has manifested his so-called mysticism in “Descendent”, “Dialogues of Loneliness” and the series of “Desert”. In his perspective, life at the first glance is absurd and disgusting. He finds sex, career ambitions and everyday civil lifestyle very primitive, ordinary and animal-like. Somewhere in his “Descendent”, he blames employees seeking promotion and ridicules them for having such an insignificant life and cheap goal. And the only elixir he finds to transform filthy nature of human and redeem him/her from suffering is “Faith”.

However, Shariati’s “Faith” is such a vague concept. It is a mixture of Mohammad, Imam Ali, Sartre, Marx and some other irrelevant people. His only art is likening compassion of Sartre to Mohammad’s and righteousness of Marx to Imam Ali’s. His “Descendent” is an immature attempt to make up a holistic book. It is immature, because a book cannot be holistic simply by including names of the first men in history – Adam and Eve – and the last ones: Marx and Sartre. The reality of his “modern interpretation of religion” is just putting modern names next to religious saints.

There is no mysticism in Shariati. His so-called mystical writings are nonsense uttered by a negative anti-life mind. It is all confusion; however he has continually tried to hide this negativity and confusion behind words like justice, faith and transcendental ideals.

Unfortunately his discourses widely appealed to 1970’s Iranian religious students, those who were studying in western-style universities but opposed Shah’s modernization project. Youngster revolutionaries whose concern was neither “Liberty” nor “Equality”, but wiping all aspects of american consumer lifestyle off the society and replacing them by transcendental Islamic values. They became founders of Iranian model of Islamic fundamentalism whose Egyptian model had already formed some twenty years earlier.

Mankind is very vulnerable to unclear ideas and dogma. Negative approaches to basic aspects of life will lead to dogma in a quest for deeper meaning of life. Do not trust people who do not celebrate sex and earthy love. Do not follow world-views which preach absurdity of promoting livelihood. Those who encourage you to quit ordinary life and pursue some greater good in Heaven have minds not evolved beyond their teenage obsessions.