Imam Al-Mahdi (as) and opponents: The dialectic of complementarity and contradiction

Ali. H. Al-Hakim, Institute of Islamic Studies - London

Since ancient times, two forces have been struggling to gain control over the globe; the forces of good and evil. The struggle between these two poles will continue until the Day of Judgment. However, this point may appear controversial and should, therefore, be fully discussed and concretely established before delving into the details of the theoretical propositions of this paper.

The Establishment of Conflict and Complementarity

The conflict between evil and good may be traced back to ancient times. Some may presuppose that the struggle between these two poles cannot be tracked to the ancient epochs as it is based, for the main part, on the production tools of the industrial society, as espoused by the Marxist material dialectic; however, it would be more reasonably realistic to accept that it certainly has existed since the earliest days of the human species on this earth and shall continue until the Day of Judgment. It may assume different forms, represented by outwardly different figures, but what counts is the essence of these forces rather than their various external manifestations. Also, what we mean by evil is that party which opposes Divine will and the rightly guided party of Almighty God (swt). Some think this might be summarized in one characteristic, i.e. possession or otherwise of the fear of Allah.

The conflict between good and evil is established in the majority of sacred books, albeit with dissimilar references and terms. The Qur'an has emphasized the existence of this distinction as well as the fight in the story of Adam's sons after the first division took place between them when Abel, the potential victim, upon hearing his brother's pronouncement of intention to kill him, strongly despising such an act – and despite being fully aware of the risk of being killed for doing so - declared:

“.لئن بسطت إلي يدك لتقتلني ما أنا بباسط يدي لأقتلك إني أخاف الله رب العالمين”

“Even if you stretch forth your hand towards me in order to kill me, I will never stretch out a hand towards you to kill you. I fear God, Lord of the Universe!” Qur’an 5:28

By the end of this paper we shall refer to the Qur’anic verse which is both linked to the Imam Al-Mahdi (as) and his opponents and to the status of fearing Allah. The only difference is that the conflict was manifested here in individual representation, while our discussion topic goes beyond, extending the matter to communities, groups and, ultimately, various societies. However, the essence is contradiction between two totally different forces. This shall lead us to a thorough discussion of contradiction and its philosophical definition within the social arena.

Contradiction as a General Concept

One studies contradiction in Aristotelian formal logic in simple concepts, particularly in the propositional. The definition and the conditions are different compared to the social field and political philosophy. It is clearly obvious that the logical definition of contradiction – within Aristotelian frameworks - is not applicable to societies and the principles governing them, as both the concepts and compounds within the formal logic never claimed to apply such rules to the societal field. We, therefore, face two concepts with totally different connotations yet dissimilar meaning. As this discussion necessitates the study of contradiction and dialectic throughout the latest philosophical discussions, we are forced to discuss the Marxist and the Hegelian models of contradiction, paving the way for analyzing the recent brainchild of Huntington and his clash of civilizations.