Ashura: Reformative Thought as the Basis of a Humane Education and Social Order
Ahmad Aakuchakiyan
Obright perspective of God
To life,
And to death!
We live with you,
We die with you.
Ashura is the embodiment of the highest of sublime human and social values and ideals which has always summoned the people to the understanding of those values and ideals and to commit themselves to them and to live in accordance with them. Ashura is the everlasting scene of manifestation of the bond of life and justice, epic and mission, faith and fortitude, liberality and dignity, belief and jihad, prayer and justice, piety and humanity, objectivity and gnosis in all eras and throughout human history.
The content of the Movement of Husaynid Ashura is an objective manifestation of a guiding model for the revival of religion at the level of thought, spirit and life, as well as for a human education, man-making, and the ordering and reconstruction of society.
Whenever this content is properly expounded with a proper understanding of the current social, cultural, political and economic realities of human life and implemented on the basis of correct principles within the framework of a practical model for the achievement of a desirable religious life, it would lead to the education and ordering of individual and social life.
The culture of Ashura is the sum total of the insights, values and norms derived from the episode of Ashura which expand to constitute an intellectual, spiritual and behavioral model and to form a cultural, social and political model of society.
The analysis of the internal structure of the culture of Ashural guides us to the principle of fromative thought as the basic principle and theoretical basis of philosophical analysis, as well as to the objective of the Movement of Ashura and the formative consequences of this thought in individual and social spheres. On the basis of this view, all the ideals of Ashura can be found and explained in the framework of three principles:
•First, the principle of reforming thought in the sphere of the understanding of religion, man, and society.
•Second, the principle of human education.
•Third, the principle of directing social changes.
The present research, within the scope of this short article, is aimed to propound the author's viewpoint concerning the culture of Ashura and the said principles. The research consists of a prelude and three sections.
The prelude expounds some select theoretical grounds involved in the analysis of the culture of Ashura.
•In an epistemological analysis of the episode of Ashura, a special notice is taken, as far as speech comprehensibility and social discernment permit, of the Movement of Ashura.
•In the analysis of the methodological basis of the research, the application of systems logic in model-making on the basis of an understanding of Ashura and the special characteristics of the method of historical understanding are analyzed to some extent.
•The culture of Ashura is presented as a cultural model of human and social development and its intellectual content as the essence of the culture of Ashura.
At the conclusion a macro-framework is suggested for the analysis under consideration.
In the First Section reformative thought is examined as the macro-framework for the analysis of the Movement of Ashura and the theoretical basis of the culture of Ashura. In this section, at first, the thought directed at reform is studied in a religious perspective based on Shi'ite Imamate and the reformative mission of Shi'ite Imamate. Then the structure of reform thought as constituted by the ideals of Ashura is examined. In the sphere of reform, the Movement of Imam Husayn ibn Ali(A) is recognized as an agent of reform of religious thought as well as that of social reform. In the domain of reform of religious thought, the two main contributions of the Ashura consist of the purification of religious thought and its rejuvenation directed to the formation of a religious intellectual current on the level of human and social reality. In the domain of social reform, the two principles of legitimacy and effectiveness of a social order have been reviewed.
Education and the reconstruction of social order are two principles based on the formative thought of the culture of Ashura. A reference to the responsibility of the people vis-a-vis the mighty culture of Ashura is a last point dealt with in the first section.
The Second Section is entitled "With Ashura in the field of man-making and human education." On the basis of the reformative thought derived from the culture of Ashura, the principle of human education is the first educational product of the culture of Ashura. In this section, the teachings of Ashura in the domain of human education are studied. The intellect, spirit and behavior arc considered three dimensions of man's being and accordingly, the impact of the teachings and ideals of Ashura are examined in these spheres.
From the intellectual aspect, the higher dimensions of human understanding -the knowledge of God, the understanding of man, the world and society- have been examined in the light of Ashura and its ideals.
From the spiritual viewpoint, the value of the educative ideals of Ashura in such spiritual domains as those relating to morality, love, faith and fortitude have been pointed out.
From the behavioral point of view also, some of the teachings of Ashura relating to human conduct in relation to God (behavior relating to worship and devotion), to oneself (ethics), to others (with relatives, with the deprived, and with enemies, from a legal viewpoint) have been analyzed to some extent.
The last point in this section relates to the mystical dimension in the culture of Ashura, which is the innermost and most humane aspect of this culture. It is the stage where the process of man-making reaches the sublimest and the purest station of tawhid. With Ashura, the process of man-making and the development of the individual culminates in the mighty process of the growth and fruition of society and the inner factors of this dynamic process lead to social blossoming.
The Master of the Martyrs (A) and his companions have given embodiment to this model with their speech, conduct and character.
The Third Section is entitled "With Ashura in the field of social leadership." This section at first refers to the inner content and structure of social thought. The enduring inner relations of social structure and social thought as well as the process of thought in the domain of social reality has been studied to some extent. This introductory study gives the author the opportunity to suggest a macro-model of social thought based on a perspective of the culture of Ashura. The main layers and the inner structure of the said model have been briefly analyzed in this section. At first the theoretical basis of the religious social thought is considered from the viewpoint of the culture of Ashura. Then on the foundations of this basis, a desirable model of social order (a desirable model of society, a desirable political, economic and cultural order) has been suggested. An analysis of the descriptive perspective of Ashura in relation to the conditions of the society contemporaneous with the event of Ashura, together with a desirable model suggested by this Movement, allow us to understand the guidelines presented by the Master of Martyrs in channeling the social changes of his times and those of the subsequent era and generations which face similar macro-social parameters. The episode of Ashura is the very embodiment of this suggested perspective.
