Stands >2006 Stands >The Stand of Rabih `1 13 1427H /April 11, 2006 A.D.
Isalam and civilization
Sayyed Fadlullah: We should not rush to the conclusion that the counter projects, especially the Israeli and American projects, in the region have failed. We should continue to besiege these projects that have come to rely on committing the largest number of massacres on the one hand and igniting civil strife on the other hand. The nation, with all its potentials and resources, religious men, thinkers political leaders and parties, youth …etc, have to deploy all its forces to undermine this project before it burns what is left of our causes wealth and potentials.
Asked in his weekly seminar the following question: How does Islam view the role of man in building civilizations
The Religious Authority, Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah, said
There is no doubt that for a nation to develop its civilization and reach a high position among other nations, it needs to have a project that is based on a comprehensive vision of life and the role of man in it. As evident from historic experience, any nation that does not have such a project had turned into a marginal one.
Because Islam is the last message, it laid down the basis of a Divine civilization project, and took significant steps to realize it, which came to complement the efforts, of the previous Heavenly Messages. Islam, in our view, did not come to challenge what other Prophets had built. It came to complete their international civilization project. That is why, we do not find in the Holy Quran any mentioning of different religions, but rather one religion with different laws depending on the developments and the change in time and place.
The Islamic project is similar to any other project in that it should be built on certain pillars. The Islamic civilization project is built on the following:
Firstly: Man is the maker of change and civilization, as well the one as running this project. That is why the Quran has concentrated on considering man the caliph of Allah on earth, in the sense that he has a role in change and not merely awarded an honorable medal. Being a caliph means that you have to build the universe both morally and physically.
Secondly, the Islamic project has relied on multiple sources of knowledge and civilized creativity. There is firstly the revelation as a major source that links man with God to acquire guidance and the force needed to carry on his mission of building civilization on earth. The mind too is another source, being an internal force Allah gave to man to think, judge and balance his moves. Then there is experimentation as another element of progress and knowledge. These elements of creativity are complementary, and Islam does not see any conflict between any of them, and therefore it refuses any unilateral dimension in building the civilizational project of the nation.
In the light of this, the major characteristics of the Islamic project are
1- Godliness: meaning that Allah will continue to oversee man's movement in building life. The Islamic project is not a materialistic one in which life on earth is its goal and objective. It is a Divine project that wants life to inspire the image of God, justice, mercy and love.
B. rationality: It is a project, that depends on the mind as a tool of creativity, just as it is a tool for knowing God and believing in the Prophets and the Hereafter.
The religious text itself is subject to the mind's reading and judgment. The Islamist reliance on the text does not mean the appropriation of the mind since the mind identifies with the text and complements it.
C. Realism: The Islamic project is neither rash nor adventurous. It does not reject the human nature, which made man a mixture of the intellect and passions. It, therefore, inches forward slowly and knowledgably. It does not ask man what he cannot do nor overburden him. But it provides him with hope and urges him to move forward on the road of knowledge and action in what benefits the people.
This is, in our view, what made the Islamic religious text characterized with a flexibility that enables it to accompany the new developments and qualify Islam to be the last prophecy.
It is natural that, in addition to relying on these elements, the most important condition for the success of this project is to resort to planning and objective study as a fundamental means of achieving goals. In addition, it should concentrate on being just and respect women and their role in the heart of the society being an independent, social. political and cultural entity. Moreover, builders of this project should open up on the achievement of others, since Islam does not close the door in the way of benefiting from others.
All this leads us, one way or the other, to monitor the counter – project, especially the American Israeli one that aims at subjecting the region and force it to play the role of the costumer on all scientific economic and cultural levels. This explains the mounting offensive on several fronts, especially on the Islamic Republic of Iran to prevent it from turning into a productive industrial power, which will enable it to become politically and economically more independent.
The Israeli project has reached a critical stage in its strive to put an end to the Palestinian question to the benefit of its settling project. The American support we witness nowadays for all escalating Israeli moves and for all the atrocities committed against the Palestinians aims at executing plan of emptying the Palestinian cause from its popular and political content and turning it into a security issue. Therefore, we consider the European decision of stopping the aid to the Palestinians as a direct war against the Palestinians and their choices. Although this war seems economic, it wants, in the final analysis to end the talk about a people that have been dislocated and kicked out of their lands and that the least thing to do is to stand by their side to establish their free and independent state.
We should not rush to the conclusion that the counter projects, especially the Israeli and American projects, in the region have failed. We should continue to besiege these projects that have come to rely on committing the largest number of massacres on the one hand and igniting civil strife on the other hand. The nation, with all its potentials and resources, religious men, thinkers political leaders and parties, youth …etc, have to deploy all its forces to undermine this project before it burns what is left of our causes wealth and potentials.