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1)An Approach to the Relationship between Religion and Politics Secularism or theory of separation of religion from politics is a well-known theory shared by two groups. The first group wants by this means, to prevent religion from interfering with and having any influence on political and social affairs while the second group has accepted this theory just to safeguard religion and prevent it from being altered on account of political and social changes. The first group who for the most part were and still are colonialists and their agents view the divine rules and commands as an obstacle to preventing them from reaching their goals, namely, the gratification of their carnal appetites and putting into practice their ideas of politics and management of society. Moreover, since they realize that religion also has a blueprint for the social affairs of man and as this blueprint is not compatible with what they want and need and because of their opposing and oppressing religion should it become clear to al people, so they would either be thrown out of power or at least they would run into lots of problems and obstacles when implementing their programs. Therefore, they decided on separating religion from policy and restrict rely on to individual acts of worship such as prayer and fasting. As for the religious social precepts they want to have them either eliminated or brought in line with their needs and wishes. Another thing which helped in realizing this idea and carrying out this objective was the supervision and control the church had over all the aspects of life of European societies for hundreds of years and the subsequent revolt and uprising by these societies against the limitations and restrictions imposed on their lives within the framework set by the church which we will also discuss. Prior to what Europe regards to be the Scientific Renaissance, the church had dominated, shaped and controlled all aspects of individual and social life. Everything was connected to the church, from the government- whose kings were in a way connected to the church and its lords, to other affairs of people such as scientific subjects of the time that had many branches because of such control by the church. The priests brought individual and social life under their control by spreading ideas which made for monastic and hermitic life in the name of spirituality and based on misconception of the asceticism of Christ and over the centuries they ruled over people's ideas with such intolerance that any deviation from this intellectual framework was deemed an act of heresy and atheism and was punished even by execution. Many researchers whose discoveries or speeches were not in line with the Knowledge system of the church were either sentenced to death or imprisonment. If in natural sciences, biology and astronomy, slightest reference was made to the creation of the universe and man and to the stages of existence and position of the earth in relation to the rest of the heavenly planets and differed from the distorted assumptions of the altered version of the Bible of the pain, men of church, torture and wrath would be brutally executed like being burnt alive. Medicine was practiced like it was practiced by the primitive tribes of Africa. Diseases were put down to hidden factors and causes most of which were thought to have come into being as a result of the enmity of Satan and demons and the wrath of deities and so some belief like that of Augustine and the great pope of Europe sprang into being where physical treatment and medicine could not eliminate the causes of diseases which were thought to be supernatural. Thus, with this kind of attitude, physicians who engaged in physical treatment or research in this domain were accused of magic and even chemistry that did not seem to have anything to do with the lords of the church came under attack and opposition and in the year 1317 AD, the Pope declared chemists as being criminals and sinners. The beliefs of the church had a similar influence on art, and works of art at the time were conducted in special contexts. For instance painting and sculpture, which were some of the arts of that period, clearly exhibited the principles and teachings of the church. Paintings, scenes or sculptured statues depicted human as a heavenly beings and thus draw the viewer towards spirituality, that too in the form of monasticism. All this pressure, constraints and chains of the church on peoples mind and body set in motion a vehement reaction, which is known as scientific renaissance. Many people who ran out of patience with the authority of the church and the extent of its eliminating material things, engaged in different kinds of disobedience to shake off the shackles and to open up new ways. For instance; despite the tradition of the church which set constraints on creative works of art, some painters and sculptors depict man as a totally physical being; and although statues of prophets and godly men were sculptured, the message these statues conveyed to the viewers was that of an excessive inclination towards the mundane world with its physical pleasures so much so that these statues, all skills of an artist, so to speak, went into the making of these statues to show human being in the ultimate form of beauty with perfect body and face. Eventually, this revolt against the church culminated in a set of events such as breakthrough in new scientific fields, many innovations, new industrial inventions, the discovery of a new continent, the stirring up of material emotions and sentiments in people and widespread social movements. In turn, these led to the separation of spirituality from materiality and the extension of the influence of the priests to the church with this backing, the theory of separating religion from politics was fixed in the mind of the people and because there was other way of relating religion to social affairs, values to knowledge and philosophy to science, thus whenever this relationship was mentioned, it would bring back images of the hegemony of the church and the bigotry of that era which is known as the middle ages in their minds. The westerners took one-step backwards from it, which on the other hand brought about its downfall and by restricting spirituality to individual ethics and confining religion temples they fell into the quagmire. Today, we see how revolving social affairs around an orbit of materiality has drawn the ethics of the individual in that direction and has weakened the society. This perverted though which arose out of the strictness and non-divine restrictions of the leaders of the church based on radical misconception of the life of Jesus Christ, spread to the Islamic countries as well through orientalists, European armies tourists and the contact of statesmen and the educated of the Islamic communities with the West. Some modernists and so-called enlightened, without taking into account which religion is inconsistent with social life, welfare of human being, reasonable development of material potentials, humanity and elevation of human thought and without considering from where the attitude of separating religion from politics, had come, restored to questioning religion and attributing it to their straying away from Islam. They considered religion as a chief stumbling block to civilization. So it was said that the latest theory which attempts to resolve the conflict between religion and civilization is the theory of the separation of religion from state which saw the solution for the existing incompatibilities of the eastern and western systems with Islamic values and Knowledge as lying in limiting the scope of the religious rules to individual relations and management of the community. It maintains that “religion has nothing to do with politics and that basically any expectation of religion to solve social problems would be misplaced”. Therefore, though the colonialists who fear Islam and Muslims’ movement also present the theory Known as the “separation of religion from politics” as a political and colonial slogan, it has various intellectual roots, which on the surface takes on the form of preserving and protecting religion and divine rules. Generally speaking, the intensity of the western and eastern cultural and civilization onslaught on the Islamic countries especially after the European scientific renaissance can be seen as one of the chief causes of the separation of religion from state. An attack which has been unleashed on different logical, philosophical, economic, political, cultural, artistic and technological levels and in all aspects of Muslims’ life has affected many facets of life in a way that has inevitably reduced the scope of religion to individual acts of worship and to affairs of the hear and has given rise to theories such as “The Separation of religion from state”. Theories which defeatism in the face of western and eastern advancements have completely ignored the role of religion in socio-political relations. By adopting political, economic, managerial, cultural and technological models of today’s materialistic function beyond individual acts of worship. The different reasons and premises that are put forward by the exponents of the theory of separating religion from state can be explained in several stages and we will explain each one of them by studying and analyzing them. A number of proponents of this theory see the constant changes in the conditions, social relationships and the discovery and the creation of various things such as the invention of new industries or substantiation of hypotheses and theories or the creation of new theoretical and scientific schools and they notice the effects of these things on the changes in the relationships of human communities. Similarly, they see such things as the only way and factor for the development, happiness and progress of humanity. Also, they think that this civilization and culture clashes in a big way with divine canons such that the foundations of this civilization along with its concomitant changes hinge on limiting the scope of implementation of Divine Canons and in its wake it about relations that are inconsistent with Divine commandments. Therefore, they thought that if the scope of the tenets included all social relations, there had to be a new revelation for each one which is obviously not possible or they were to device a new rule based on the same evidence of revelation and the authority everyday and every hour to cope with the world changes in which case they realized that revelation would be a plaything for the constant changes of rules to keep up with social conditions and events. For this reason they concluded that it was best to narrow the scope of religion to individual act which they saw as consisting of individual worship and a thing of the heart which they imagined could remain constant in the context of a variable category. Consequently, they entrusted thinkers and intellectuals with the task of setting social rules and relations and they thought that by disentangling religion from politics, they could maintain their religion and were free to benefit from the accomplishments of human thinking and experiments and its resultant development and welfare so to speak. The exponents of the theory of separating religion from state came up with evidence to prove the validity of their claim. For example, they say. “Today it has become clear to everyone that politics in its broader sense, has lots of subsections with various scientific branches and that every social act and reaction is bound up with numerous factors where before it was to some extent possible to he studied, scrutinized and investigated”. They also add, “Basically following the European scientific renaissance, there occurred wide changes in politics and management of society and this was greatly intensified by the industrial revolution. Lots of thinkers and scientists engaged in investigating and thinking on this subject and the result was tremendous efforts being exerted in the context of scientific laws regarding administration of the society. Thus, today, not only European and American countries that have benefited from this and have founded their own social relations based on these formulas but also other countries including the Islamic countries and basically, the political and social establishments of all countries are based on these laws and formulas. Not only their political organization but also their cultural and economic organizations are based on these establishments. With the development of communication it has become easier for the effects of any new change, discovery, new law and etc… to spread all over and it is realistic, scientific and logical for everyone to make use of this so that more perfect and more comprehensive formulas emerge on the basis of which a better life can he built. It is clear to everyone that changes in these formulas and laws are always accompanied by development of human information and humanity believes that in none of the scientific fields the ultimate perfection has been reached and that the road to development has not reached its end.” They also maintain that: changes in societies and social conditions open up new vistas for studies and knowledge. Just like in the period prior to the industrial revolution where the majority of people of a given society lived in villages and rural areas—something which had its own consequences—with the industrial revolution the percentage of people living in cities increased tremendously and the centers of population in big cities came into being which had its own corollary problems and brought about new studies on management and political institutions and relations. This the reason why in such big social gatherings everything moved in the direction of social institutions and the role of countless elements and factors in bringing about a certain event or even a social production came to the fore. Therefore, for preventing inappropriate social patterns which sometimes start from one or a few small factors and due to the expansion of society and communication they became a problem, special studies were initiated on the basis of which new sciences took shape and on which the existing social institutions are built. It is evident that with the passage of changes of conditions and the emergence of historical events and new social changes, not only these sciences become complete and as a result will be starting-point for social relations but also new scientific fields will spring up so as to respond to the needs of the time”. They conclude that: considering these explanations, how can religion be related to these issues? Is it possible to relate a fixed thing to an invariable thing? For these two to connect either these things should be made invariable and static which means society is to stop developing, or this thing should be made compatible with those things, that is to say that religion should change and the implausibility of both (changing religion and constancy of society) is quite obvious. Therefore we must separate the two and consider a special domain for each one so that when social aspects are in a constant state of flux, religion can maintain its stability”.’ In summary, the proponents of separation of religion from politics hold that since the religion of God is fixed while social conditions are changing, these two can never connect together and maintain their distinct entity at the same time. Thus, we cannot help but say that religion has something to do with individual matters only which are mostly moral and emotional whereas other individual and social matters must be taken care of by human science and philosophy so as to be tune in with conditions of time and place and thus find solution for them. In response it must be said that the above talk about limiting religious rules to individual and moral matters is only possible when we disown any relation of “cause and effect” between individual matters and social conditions and the environment; otherwise if we believe that it is not possible to disown the relation between social and individual matters, we must concede that morality and emotional relations will also be affected by social conditions and environment. Moreover, if socio-political system is grounded in things which are in conflict with divine revelation, individual morality and behavior will also gradually gravitate towards materialism. In other words, by taking into account the connection between social relations and individual matters, it cannot be acceptable for such things as social matters of individuals to be regulated by anything but revelation. Thus individual and moral matters can be completely brought in line with revelation and it must said that even though the ability to choose in human beings will not be absolutely taken away by the effects of social conditions, it is axiomatic that on a large scale it can eliminate any room for the growth of faith and narrow down the scope of worship of God in people. Therefore, it should be noted that the claim made by proponents of separating religion from politics and who say that by restricting the domain of divine rules to individual matters, religion can be persevered is not easily viable and social conditions can gradually affect the behavior of’ individuals and change them. Secondly, if the argument of the proponents of the “separation of religion from politics is rooted in the fact that the unchanging quality of laws of revelation is inconsistent with the changing feature of social conditions and relations. Based on this, it is not possible to apply Laws of Revelation even to individual matters because the morals, spiritual and emotional conditions of individual behavior are also in a state of flux and are developing and maturing at different stages and it is not that they are absolutely fixed and in a stare of peace. To give an example, attaining a good behavior is a gradual process that is attained over a period and as days go, by it becomes perfect and lofty and it is not that it comes into being all at once and always remains the same. However, if the reasoning lies in the fact that as a rule fixedness and change don’t mesh and there can never be any kind of relation between what is changing and what is unchanging, then this view besides repudiating the necessity for the revelatory laws, it renders useless any kind of experimental and scientific law which is also affected by changing social and natural conditions. This is because at least experimental and scientific laws can be useful over time and in different conditions. For instance, a chemist claims that the formula of synthesizing “chlorine” and “sodium” to make “food salt” holds true in different conditions, times and places or an economist believes that his economic theories hold true over time despite the change in conditions and various factors. In other words, thinkers also claim that their theories and laws are complete and take into consideration various circumstances and at least have the ability to be realized in one period of time and they never claim that they demonstrate the laws the “static” and “unchanging things” rather, they claim to discover the relations governing changing phenomena which despite their changes can not step outside the context of scientific laws. Thus, if we repudiate any kind of relation between changing affairs and fixed ones and take political and social relations out of jurisdiction of the fixed divine rules, we must say that experimental and scientific laws also cannot play such a role because the purpose of human beings from acquiring scientific and experimental knowledge is to study the governing and fixed causes of variable phenomena. For this reason, the claimants of the theory of separating religion from politics are forced to deny any kind of law such as natural, social, historical etc… and to deny any kind of cause and effect relationship with respect to changing phenomena and objects. Denying the laws governing changes is in fact, denying the quality and reason for the change and disowning the reason for change. Initially, it indicates a lack of order and harmony in phenomena and ultimately is a repudiation of motion and change itself. For example, if there is law governing the change of water into vapor in the sense that under normal conditions and by boiling water it will turn it into stone, fruit or other things. Meaning the proportion of change in all aspects has become equal for a given quality, it means the repudiation of change and motion. Similarly, if we concede that there is no way for the fixed things to become variable and that there is no real connection between these two, it won’t be possible to acquire any kind of knowledge, experiment, skills, specialization and comprehension because all of them will be realized provided that in fact, subject and phenomenon, despite their variable and varied aspects, posses a real common aspect or various times and places. When there is nothing in common between yesterday’s childhood and today’s adulthood, we cannot consider these two as two stages of a person’s lifetime. If bread and water in place “A” have nothing in common with that of place “B” it can not be said that bread and water are essential foods for all people in different places. If people did not have any common concepts, regardless of the difference in perceptions and bases of people, there would not be any kind of understanding and it would not make sense to make use of other people’s past experiences. So long as there is not any common or fixed aspect of things in different periods, no experience will prove useful for other periods. Similarly, it will not be possible to acquire skills because this occurs over period and takes place because of repetition. Based on theory, there must not be any common aspect and relation among the different stages of’ a changing subject and the intermittent phases will not reveal any maturity and development towards perfection in a particular manner. Even though demonstrating the relation between the variable and the fixed is one of the basic and most important philosophical discussions of motion whose effects are manifested in all the different domains of visual, sensual and emotional perceptions. However, it is necessary to rely on this summary and to conclude that the exponents of the theory of separating religion from politics want to limit the scope of religion to individual, moral and emotional states on the false pretext of a lack of any relation between changing affairs and unchanging ones. With such a hypothesis, nothing can be interpreted including individual affairs and all phenomena and objective, theoretical and emotional subjects. It must be said that by making change absolute and by denying constancy in changes even ii only in respect of social matters, this is incompatible with the very essence of change and motion. Basically, on the strength of Islamic beliefs it should be conceded that laws and commands of revelation are conducive to growth, development and elevation of the individual and society (and not “laws of static”) and the wise God, being awareness of all the different stages of and conditions development of the individual and society, ensures development and elevation by acting on these laws. In other words, the comprehensive Divine commandments which take into consideration all individual affairs and provide guidelines for social system and the dos and don’ts, incorporate all interpretations and various subjects concerning the process of development and perfection of the individual and society. Based on the comprehensiveness and finality of the clear religion of Islam, it is not possible to accept that there are issues about which Islam does not have any rule. Of course, how is it possible to apply enlightening individual and social Islamic laws to all the different times and places, is a very important question, which should be addressed. Therefore, based on the Islamic beliefs, it can not be possible to only limit the revealing Islamic rules to individual relations rather fixed commands of revelation must be a firm criteria for sound development and a lofty movement in the direction of social, political and cultural conditions of society. They are also regarded as movement towards change of social issues that are attained within the context of divine rules and in congruity with them. Otherwise, any program towards social change and any project in the name of development, which are incompatible with the right divine rules, will not only not lead to social progress and development rather, the unchanging divine will, it will facilitate the downfall and deviation of individuals of society. As far as the issue of separating religion from politics is concerned, so far it has been said that two groups share this theory; some have chosen this theory just to preempt the influence of religion on politics and they view the implementation of social religious rules as running counter to their own aspirations. Basically, they present religion as an impediment to human development, scientific advancement and human thought. Others have subscribed to this theory in order to safeguard religion from socio-political changes and they claim that: “Basically, religion is not responsible for laying down rules with respect to social issues and problems and it should operate only within the limits of individual relations.” In the above lines we set out to explain the first stage of the claimants of the above-mentioned view and we said that they hold that, “relating religion to politics will either render static all social aspects or it should change religion to keep up with social changes” and they concluded that: “in that case we should limit the scope of the fixed divine laws only the current issues, for they are fixed and don’t change”. For this reason they restricted the divine laws to individual matters and they entrusted social issues to science and human experience. In response to this point we said that this analysis would not just confine religion to individual affairs because the morals and emotional relations and individual conditions are also developing and changing rather, basically, repudiation of any relation between changing and fixed affairs would refute any concept, skills, specialty and knowledge. We concluded that the basis of the divine laws are the laws of development and change and not the laws of stagnancy and that the Divine commandments are the criteria and measure of any sort of change and transformation in the outside world. In this part we will engage in the second stage of explaining the views of the proponents of separating religion from politics who claim that basically religion does not have directives for the complicated socio-political relations of today’s world, for the way to manage these societies, and for the question of planning and its quality and quantity; that it is the human knowledge and experiment over the last few centuries which have been able to address these issues by making lots of breakthroughs not to mention the fact that various political doctrines plus different methods of management were innovated taking into account social conditions and the real and tangible issues of societies. All of these have been recorded in the form of accurate laws and disciplines of social and human sciences such as sociology, economics, psychology and law. Today, the scientists and intellectuals undertake to tackle social problems on this basis and they base their social relations on such basis and in this regard, nothing short of “common sense and experiment” plus reasoning based on them are involved.” They add that; “When we carefully look at the social, economic and cultural institutions and issues of today’s societies we can realize that such things have nothing to do with religion”. For example, what does religion have to do with managing a country and how it should be run? What powers are needed to run the affairs of a country? I low do these powers relate to each other? Are they inclusive of each other or is it desirable to safeguard them? If it is necessary to have all the three-judiciary, executive and legislative powers like everywhere, how should they be organized’? How many are ministries necessary for the executive power? How many assistants and advisers should each minister have’? How should the organization chart look like? how should a minister relate to the last rung of the organization? how should the budget of every ministry be allocated and what is its significance and role in running the country’? how should the budget of the whole country be regulated? On what basis should the quality and quantity of the budget be decided upon? How should the legislative structure look like? What conditions should apply La the jurists of the country? Should they be elected or appointed? If appointed who is to appoint them and on what basis should they be appointed? How many jurists are needed? What are the stages of ratifying a law etc...? All questions for which religion does not have answers, because it is not responsible for this domain; whereas all the different sciences established by human beings answer these questions and although many schools of thoughts came into being to answer these questions, none of them are related to religion and the selection of one way from among others is solely done with a view to the social conditions, intellectual analyses and reference to own experiences and those of other societies. It is clear that when we make a choice from among the experiences, sciences and industries and base our societies or, them, we open up doors for the development and progress of all aspects of society and we close other doors and create special relations in society. The economy takes on a special form and is thus based on special formulas and rules. Culture, science and knowledge will also find special ground for improving themselves and society will pursue specific issues, and in this way discover new things or will in experience. Therefore, it must be said that, “Religion should be kept within the confines of individual affairs, mainly emotional relations, worship, morals and the relationship of the individual with his creator. As for the relationship between human beings and human beings with nature, man will devise it by means of the power of science and the authority that God has granted to him” Likewise, about the technological relationships in a society they cite an example and say that, “This issue is clearer in technology and experimental sciences because no matter how these techniques and sciences in the fields and preliminaries that have been provided by human sciences and social relations develop, but applying each of these rules and laws of human sciences does not play a role in the quality of the experience and feeling; because feeling and experience taken place on the material world that has a single reality and leave a distinct mark and feature. Hence understanding this dimension of the world and acting upon the basis of that research, program and reasoning requires special experts who should be armed with the new sciences and this has nothing to do with religion, religious texts and its canons and laws. For instance, there is no mention of how technological structure should be like in any religious order. Should the program of production be centralized and linked and should industry be driven more towards a centralized system? On the other hand, is it necessary to prevent the movement of industry from taking this course? Similarly, they say it should not be thought that the separation of religion from politics has something to do with recent years or after the advancement of science and technology of today’s world. Rather, these two subjects have always been separate: except that in the past because sciences were not advanced and their dimensions were not known, and the general knowledge of the people and the knowledge of the sages at the time was not vast and to an extent, was static. This issue which was supposed to be resolved by the convention of society or by the intellectuals and specialists, was not very palpable (although they were acted upon) and mainly, the difference in managerial and executive methods was seen as a difference in taste, inclinations and talents, whereas today, policies, relations and the way of conducting various social undertakings have been investigated and researched thoroughly and as a result, different conclusions have been arrived at which can be applied in different places depending on conditions. Therefore, in advanced societies social policy do change much with a change in managers, because specialists make their decisions on the basis of particular sciences, rules and laws and with further development of these sciences, the partial differences will be ironed out and everything will be put in the context of scientific and experimental laws. For this reason, today the separation of religion from politics has become clearer. In other words, political sciences and other social sciences because of having developed tremendously and come into their own have accentuated their differences with religion and its resultant and necessary knowledge. In response to the above ambiguities it should be said that if it is expected of religion to come tip with specific and separate interpretations applicable to various conditions and details before it intervenes in social affairs, it is not achievable, because it would necessitate sending new prophets to convey divine rules with respect to every’ singe case just to cope with the changing social conditions and emerging issues. In this case, every individual should either be a prophet himself or should he in constant contact with a prophet so as to have a divine verdict concerning every issue, situation and stage which for many reasons is out of the question; or that the honorable prophet of Islam and the Infallible Imams mention laws within the context of verses and narrations for every contingency so as to fit in with various issues at different times and places. These rules must encompass government laws, management, planning, organizing the budget, plans for the individual and family, in such a way that for instance, the Islamic republic of Iran for the year 1366 AHS and with respect to organizing the budget should act in such and such way or that Mr. (A) on such and such day and hour and minute perform act (B) in dealing with such an issue. It’s obvious that such a thing is not viable for a number of reasons. However, as we know, all the rules necessary for human life up to Day of Judgment have been revealed in the context of verses, narrations and traditions as comprehensive rules and are interpreted by the theologians in the same form that is mentioned in traditional jurisprudence. Even though conforming general subjects of the general divine canons to the secondary interpretations or determining whether an external secondary subject is the interpretation of which general subject so that its verdict becomes clear is undertaken easily on all issues and is not always the norm. In fact, some issues require particular expertise but this does not mean that religion is separate from politics or from management of social affairs in all its various aspects and this kind of things are of pure intellectual nature and are unrelated to religion. However, the illuminating religion of Islam has laws for every issue and situation that human encounters and the application of the divine laws are not designated just for the morals of the society and special customs; rather, it also, considers the form of social life and the issues afflicted by them are different from other societies and the Muslim in this society reflects on issues and subjects that have no place in other societies. We can notice this by simply contemplating the way Muslims lived and related to each other in the past. The influence of Islamic rules is clearly indicated and proven in architecture, housing and urban construction, economic and commercial ties, market, industry and agriculture, ways of eating and clothing. Of course, as we said before, due to the fact that societies were small and the issues were, simple, applying the rules was much easier; but now for different reasons, such as the tremendous expansion of societies and the way Muslims were erroneously influenced, on some issues, by atheistic societies and the emergence of issues which some of them are by-product of non Islamic social relations, implementation cannot be carried out easily and applying divine rules to political issues, management of society and other affairs is not possible without a special method and raison d’être except for the geniuses land the exceptional. This issue can he studied from another angle: Generally speaking, in a social system and in a development program that scrutinizes changes and transformation in different dimensions of a system, the aims and where the manner of classification of issues in that system and determining of specific quantitative ratios that is assigned to which of the subjects and relationships are instances that in relation with one another bring about a social movement. All in all it can be said that there are three specific points in planning and in any social change: quality, quantity, and logic and methodology on the basis of which issues are identified and classified. In fact “determination of quality” can he considered to be the issues, goals and relations which are raised in a given social system. For instance, if we look at the entire classifications and issues in a given social system, we will see that besides being related to each other the cultural, political and economic systems are also made up of especial issues and relations. Likewise, in a given economic order alone, we can see different issues, aims and relations, which are dissimilar to the issues of a political order. What is important is the direct compatibility of issues and phenomena of a given system with human goals and relations in that system so that it cannot be claimed that human relations and the governing goals of a given system are inconsistent with the issues and phenomena of that system. For example, it is noted that there are multinational companies, consortium of oil companies, trustees, stock market, and monetary system and credit based on interest rate and other corollary small and big issues and issues related to the social system of capitalism in which the private legal relations everywhere are attuned in favor of maximizing wealth and capital. It is natural that the model of consumption, production, and distribution and all issues and technology associated with this model will be influenced in some way by these legal relationships. Tying human relations with the issues and problems of a given society in socialist systems can be examined in another way. For instance, basically things such as stock market in those systems are not available and money and monetary system take on adherent form. Likewise, management. form of organization, the mode of’ selecting and appointing managers have diverged from the western parliamentary method and emerged in the form of ruling proletariat party where all these changes in management style and administration of the system occur in compatibility with human relations and specific right which, is given importance and worth in a Marxist doctrine. In other words, the dependence on government relations and the repudiation of private ownership in socialist systems has changed the form of the system as well as the way these issues relate to each other and has given birth to special problems and issues of its own. This same issue can be viewed from the perspective of accepting human relations based on revelation and by noticing the effects of divine canons in bringing forth issues existing in one system and one civilization. For instance, it is clear that by repudiating the principle of capitalism and multiplication of wealth, in Islamic social systems there will never be business companies and organizations in the form of consortiums and trustees as in capitalism or a particular ruling class and the realization of a completely government-oriented system. The pattern of consumption of society will never be a luxury and consumption-oriented as in the west, or clichéd and government-oriented as in the east, where following that many of the Islamic community will be different from those of the west and cast. Prohibition of alcohol will be necessary and the resources of the community will never go into the making of factories and in research on formulas of various kinds of alcoholic existing in atheistic systems. Basically, the technology of making alcoholic drinks will be repudiated. Instead the focus will be on a lot of new issues that are prerequisites of worship and bandage of God and human civilization will be directed towards proximity to Allah. In other words, when we want to establish particular social relations, we will also need special reasons and material conditions because anyhow the purpose of planning the Islamic social affairs or even planning individual affairs is implementation of divine laws, creating grounds for and facilitating the implementation of the divine rules or resolving problems on the basis of canons. Naturally, there will emerge special issues in these societies and it is necessary to identify them. Therefore, the quality of planning will also in this sense will be related to religion and ideology. As for determining quantity, the budget amount or cost and value will be proportionate to the quality of the program and in a holistic view it will definitely be related to religion, because if a government is asked for instance, why does it back up one commodity or a social issue or earmark budget for it and develop it and in exchange, it levies a tax on quality on other commodities or why it earmarks less budget for it, with regard to the laws and equations will show to us that such a determination of quantity is such that in future, it will facilitate the social conditions and it concludes “every quantity cannot be assigned to every quality and when determination of—as (we mentioned earlier) is determined in the Islamic programming, quantity will also follow suit. Anyway as we wrote earlier, that these kinds of affairs require special expertise and familiarity with rules, laws, and specific methods of summarization similar to the logic and method of recognition of external objective subjects and classification of sense and experience. in fact, logic in practice, accurate observation of how quantities and qualities are related in a given system or project and social program on the basis of which, the right movement can be made from the status quo to the desired situation and also the right communication of subject in every section of the route should be identified and studied. This is an essential thing and one of the most important features necessary for the Islamic social program and certainly, it is related to Islam and Islamic laws in a specific way and how they relate and their features and characteristics must be scrutinized in the subject of recognition and establishment of Islamic order. The proponents of the theory of separating religion from politics may claim that: Basically, considering that there is no real relationship between values and dos and don’ts on the one hand and the issues related to the natural and social world on the other, for this reason it cannot be expected for the mind or feeling in the spheres of values or vise-versa revelation to have a relationship by explanations external issues’ and subjects and the reason for not having any true relationship between issues and values and facts of existence is that dos and don’ts are consistent with the purposes and aims of the makers of dos and don’ts and it is not that they are compatible with the facts of existence and external issues. For instance, if we consider the maker of the law and contract to be human beings, this law or contract is in line with the purposes and aims of these very human beings who see it as a duty and necessary to follow these laws in order to get what they want. For this reasons we can notice the proportional difference in the purposes and objectives of laws, contracts and the various dos and don’ts in human life. Sometimes, some people also follow the sublime laws and dos and don’ts to achieve their lofty objective, but sometimes man sees his ugly deeds as necessary to attain his indecent goals. In other words, as far as motivations and objectives make sense only in relation to humans, proportionate the worth of these objectives and ends dos and don’ts find meaning and value. It is important to know that the world cannot he in line with a special end and even though God has in line with the ends, established dos and don’ts, however, this does not mean that the world and the facts of existence are in proportion to these dos and don’ts; rather, another objective can be taken into consideration and values proportionate to them can be established (in the same way that the materialists undertake). Both of these sets of dos and don’ts have the probability of occurrence and realization of these “existences”. This means that and indecent values have the likelihood to materialize. Here it shows that there is no real connection between the facts of world of existence and the values of dos and don’ts because in the world of realities and existences, whatever is present is in harmony with existence and it does not make any sense to say, for example, fire is bad or water is good, but good and bad make sense only find meaning when a purpose and objective is valid so that in line with that objective a specific do and don’t becomes necessary and makes sense. Based on Islamic beliefs God set the purpose and law and Muslims can only get at the dos and don’ts by understanding the revelations and by learning from it, while “existentials” are another thing which is related to reality and knowing it is the responsibility of the mind aided by the five senses. They conclude that: Now if we look at the existing world we can clearly notice that man has accumulated worthwhile wealth for himself by employing the mind, sense, experiences and varied and repeated experimentation and which cannot be substituted with anything else. Technology, civilization, and sciences which show how to live and show how to develop and make progress politically, culturally, economically and militarily and acquaint humanity with the facts of the world are precious gems, that no matter they are sometimes mixed with atheistic material values, but because this contamination is not intrinsic it can easily be cleansed and purified. By putting them beside revelation, morality and spirituality derived from religion, a complete set of revelation, feeling, and intellect will he obtained which will ensure happiness in this world and the hereafter. Therefore, to sum up the above issue, that in order to make a choice and goal to be compatible, (here are necessary preliminary steps and whatever happens in the world has no precedent and there is nothing to be said about “what ought to be” because values are nominal and they depend entirely on the choice of the maker of the goal and they have nothing to do with what is true has happened in the world. In response it must be said: Firstly, no conclusion can be drawn about a given aim based on the preliminaries and relations of that aim while at the same time retaining all of them (goals), meaning that for example, in a given journey the destination will be as much affected by the dos and don’ts along the way as the starting point and similarly their qualities will he affected by the route the journey takes. If we want to travel to London from Tehran there will be dos and don’ts that suit such a journey and which won’t necessarily be the same as the dos and don’ts for a journey from Tehran to Qom. Likewise, in order to prove a specific subject to the same extent that the characteristics of this subject are effective in the trend of reasons, the accepted preliminaries that are on the route to the dos and don’ts are also effective. It is clear that if from every preliminary and with every kind of reasoning one can prove any subject then reasoning will become meaningless. Or if it is possible to get to every destination from any starting point or by any kind of movement, movement will become impossible. Therefore, no matter what is said that dos and don’ts essential for a particular movement entails determining the goal but to the same extent that these canons are in line with the goals it must be in line with preliminaries. If this happens to be the case it is definitely so. Thus from the view point of religion the Almighty God who is the maker of laws and only his commands are to be obeyed and to the same extent that these laws are compatible with the purpose of creation of man and whatever ought to he resonates with what is and as well as with the objective conditions and background of the universe, and needless to say the connection among each other is compatible. Therefore, the communicated value by religion is inconsistent with the facts of world of existence; and aside from this, no matter how in tune is ii. with the aim of the makers, but is incompatible with the essence, fact and existence of the world, or in other words, the legislative creation is in tune with the formative creation and the discrepancy between these two for various reasons is not compatible with Islamic beliefs. Secondly, if we separate “is” from “ought” in this way, we won’t have values because “dos and don’ts” and “good and bad” in a given program, depend on the choice of the aim of that program and the “good and bad” of an aim and the “dos and don’ts of choosing that aim is up to the one who makes the choice. On this basis, “necessity and ought” in following the commands of God will also be valid and therefore it won’t make sense because the world especially human beings are limited and needy creatures. They must obey the Creator of the Universe, that’s the “delegation of this world has not had a “must” for following the Creator of the Universe and does not declare it. If it is said that the necessity of following the divine orders is something which a sane mind or an aware conscience can perceive and there is no need to observe “is”, it is clear that in this speech also, the manner of relationship of “is” and “must” is accepted, because from this viewpoint it is an aware conscience or a sane mind which spell out the “must” involved in following divine rules or else the mind and the conscience which doesn’t profess and submit to this “must” is defective. Thirdly; if concerning the discussion of movement we arrive at the conclusion that time is- dimension of quality and the future exists in the form of potential in the present and man and the universe have been created to reach a particular aim in harmony with one another (some of the exponents of the above theory believe in it too), “what ought to be” is inherent in “what is” or to put it in a better way, creation without a purpose is meaningless. Based on this the possibility of changing a thing into different things under the same condition of a fixed relationship with other things is evident, meaning either the multiplying of time and object of a thing or absence of a clear identity. Of course this issue does not repudiate human will because the authority to sovereignty governs over relationship and power to choose; rather, than the power to change the results of clear relations. Meaning man can touch fire or not touch it but he cannot touch lire, and will that his hand does not burn while possessing all characteristics required for burning. The human is not such that it can rule over the whole world and be able to change the course of the general events. Like other things in the world, human will is limited and it has special traits and signs. Similarly, we should not make the mistake of relating objects and means of the universe to the values governing them, as it will create the suspicion that law of these objects by understanding them. Hence divine revelation will be out of place; because man is neither capable of recognizing the signs of their deeds in the after world and their positions, because the after world lies outside the scope of sense, experimental recognition or abstract recognition and apart through revelation, there is no other way to get there, and nor can he understand the relations of an object with other objects and nor is he able to know all the aspects and signs of an object. In other words, the essence of an object can be known by its signs and the signs of an object are attainable through having relationship and friction with other objects and it is axiomatic that man cannot relate an object with other objects and cannot observe its signs at this moment and in the future; rather, always a limited connection of an object can be calculated and it is obvious that we cannot issue a command thought such limited knowledge. In as much as knowing a feature totally changes the position of an object in the system of perception and demands other dos and don’ts. Secondly, in recognizing the same relationship or the dimensions of an object, there is a margin of error no matter how compatible it is with precise standards and tools of knowledge including objective and intellectual tools hut at the same time there exists a reliable modicum of certainty. For instance when measuring something in line with the tools of measurement (weighing scales and other more accurate measuring instruments), we can obtain measurements which will be more accurate in every stage but it is clear that at every stage there is some error. The same is also true about the laws of perception where the more accurate they are the better the knowledge and hence the Fewer the errors. The development of science lies in reducing the errors rather than eliminating them completely, which is out of the question for man who is not infallible. In view of these features, is not possible for man to acquire perfect, accurate and genuine knowledge in order to be able to get at their principles but man should make use of legislative and formative relations in order to organize his knowledge based on values and not vice-versa. Here we set forth more complicated theories of the theory of separating religion from politics which touches upon general conclusions drawn from logical and philosophical discussions with the intent to separate the sphere of divine revelation from that of social issues. Based on this viewpoint, “reason”, “revelation” and “sense” have three separate and distinct functions and each one of them must be placed in a particular category because when each one of them interferes with the other, it results in disruption and problems. The function of revelation is to explicate the values and commands or dos and don’ts. The function of sense—with the various indices that they have—is to obtain and perceive visible signs of creatures well as issues related to the natural and social world and the intellect has four positions as follows: a) General theoretical concepts or proving the principles of beliefs and global view, b) Understanding and drawing conclusion from the commands of Qur’an and traditions, c) Identifying the truism of common sense, d) Identifying the limits, restrictions and conditions of actualizing of general religious commandments. Now, if someone mixes these three different and separate areas together and does not know the proper area of their respective functions he will commit big mistakes. For instance, if someone wants to acquire “logic, philosophy, and the principles of beliefs” “The values, rules and the way man deals with and reacts to problem” also through “sense and experience” and considers himself not needing revelation and reason, he will be mistaken. Also, a person who considers reason to be enough to acquire “values and dos and don’ts” and “figuring out tangibles” and does not think it necessary to use “The texts of revelation” and “sense and experience” he will have made a mistake. If someone wants to substitute revelation for reason, sense and experience, he will have made a big mistake as well. Hence, it is necessary to use each one of these issues in its own context, which is to employ “revelation in the context of values, reason in the context of rationality, and sense in the context of feelings.” The proponents of this attitude state that: Besides the fact that reason, sense, and revelation are responsible for a particular sphere, basically they are not related to each other because if they were related, it would possible to reach one of them through the other. For instance, man by relying on feeling and experience, he could gain ultimate of experience and draw generalizations and attain the result of general theoretical discussions; or he could reach the principles of dos and don’ts (in the same means that some philosophical doctrine claim) where as this matter is impossible because, for instance, if man could acquire the principles of dos and don’ts in this way and rely only on experimental knowledge of subject, then there would be no need to send prophets. Likewise, if it was possible to acquire all the necessary information for living and to know things, though Divine revelation, then considers that revelation is permanent, the information and life of Muslims should have been similar to that at the dawn of Islam and Islam would declare that it has provided you with everything and that there is no need for science or the knowledge of the universe and research of subjects while Islam emphasizes on traveling around the world and learning from it and give great importance to science and knowledge. Therefore, it becomes obvious that the spheres of reason, revelation and sense are separate from each other and there is no relationship among them and mixing them brings about some deviations and mistakes. Hence, one can conclude that recognition of issues, analyzing and planning them is the function of mind and they have nothing to do with religion. 2)Causes of the Backwardness of the Muslim Societies Introduction Research and investigation on finding causes and factors of the East’s backwardness in general, and the Islamic societies in particular, is one of the issues which stems from the previous centuries and ages, and all the time the freeborn thinkers and scientists who have come on the scene of the research, have studied this foremost problem according to the existing circumstances and conditions of their own age. And, sometimes research and investigation goes beyond the domain of the Eastern people’s studies and has driven many Western scientists into discovering these causes. However, what has played an important role in leaving their researches unfinished and their being unsuccessful is the unsuitable atmosphere for following up as well as the authorities’ inattention towards these activities. As witnessed by the history, from among the previous freemen and thinkers there were individuals such as “Sayyid Jamaluddin Asad Abadi’, “Iqbal Lahuri”, “Sadr”... who discovered some of the roots behind the Muslim’s weakness and decline and endeavored to remove these problems; however, governance of the brutal kings and influential agents of foreigners in the society has taken away from them the power for any activity, and for undervaluing their thoughts, they have buried all their endeavors and hardships under a great deal of unvalued historical events. While, at present that many years have passed from their lofty thoughts and ideals, the world’s freemen are admiring them yet. When colonialism faced with the Islamic thoughts and struggles in the Muslim countries and found out that by spreading and disseminating the true Islamic ideas and thoughts, it could not dominate over the Muslim countries, by exact and long term planning in line with their goals, planed to cause to dry the roots of thinking and seeking remedy of the Muslim nations for finding main causes behind the backwardness, and close the door on economic and cultural development and progress for them and keep them always in the state of need and backwardness; however, in a manner that the Muslims do not recognize their plots and always be in double ignorance. Therefore, for attaining this goal, they likened the way to the by-way and by instilling ideas and very trivial causes or even the harmful ones prevented Muslims from thinking and striving to find out the main causes and on the other hand their puppets drove the nations towards more decline and weakness in line with their masters’ targets. So that, Hadrat Imam says in this regard: “Unclean hands and sickly minds gradually deflected people from the matters underlined by Islam after the Messenger of God, engaging people with only trivial matters and neutralizing and occasionally driving them to raise voice to general public concerns needed by Islamic countries. This was a diabolic design.” The Muslims and backwardness Of course, it is undeniable that the Muslims themselves have a share in their weakness and backwardness; since they are indifferent to the current affairs of their societies and in their turn exacerbate the factors affecting their backwardness and only, in times, in the Arab states seemingly they gather round through holding conferences and different meetings to examine the factors of the Muslim societies’ backwardness, the results of which will be put aside by finishing the conferences. Regarding these conferences, Hadrat Imam says: “Those aspects that were important at the dawn of Islam were not at all important among the Muslim countries... Now, too, when meetings are arranged to see what must be done, it is not evident whether they go beyond speeches-—and who gives a better speech! It is not like they really observe why we are backward and find the solutions as to what are the things that can rescue us from this backwardness and follow them up and take action. Not that every year or every few years we hold a meeting where people from every place come, deliver a few speeches, recite verses of poetry and a little about Islamic issues and the needs of the Muslims and after departing from the meeting everything basically remains the same and neglected as before.” Now, the Islamic lands are filled with ignorance, negligence ... without the Muslims being in the think of it and, undoubtedly, unless the Muslims desire, they will not succeed. As to the Muslims vigilance, Hadrat Imam such says: “My advice to the Muslim nations is: Do not look for outside help in achieving your goal, which is Islam and implementation of the Islamic rules. You yourselves must rise up and undertake this vital issue which will make liberty and independence a reality.” The need to tackle with the Muslims’ problems As it was pointed out, one of the causes of the former thinkers and combatants’ lack of success has been the absence of the fertile ground for exerting and implementing their policies in the society. And, at all times, there were agents in the Muslim societies who have contended against these expediencies. However, the important matter at the present time is the existence of such fertile ground for raising these thoughts and ideas. Since. on the one hand, a country like Iran is ready to receive, study, and nourish the ideas, and, on the other hand, the Muslim world is now greedy to attain the solutions and is ready to receive any kind of suggestions to deliver itself from the yoke of the imperialism. Now, the Muslim oppressed nations are like the latent energy, which can explode the world with a little spark; for, day by day, the Muslims become more flamed with the hatred and disgust they have in their hearts from their enemies. Uniqueness of the Islamic Revolution of Iran compared with other movements With a cursory glance at the Muslim countries records during the recent decades, we will observe that though the Muslims have been in the state of backwardness and weakness during last years, at times in every corner some movements took shape by the freeborn Muslims, and sometimes they attained success to some extent which after a while it was removed as a result of discord and differences. Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolution of Iran was an exception to the rule and despite facing many problems, it achieved considerable successes. Undoubtedly, the most important factor which was effective in the victory of the Revolution was the leadership of “Hadrat lmam Khomeini’ (may God’s peace be upon him). And it was his high thought and ideals which kept the Revolution safe and sound amid the problems and disorders. Since, he had discovered the causes behind backwardness and also factors of victory over infidelity and, on the other hand, had coincided his policy with the religion and piety, and simultaneously with struggle in the trench of politics, he, too, campaigned in the trench of science, jurisprudence and ijtihad and as such his teachings took root in the beliefs of the world Muslims and he ruled over the hearts. Thus, we are duty-bound to seek assistance from the lofty thoughts and ideals of this great man of history and thus pave the way for the Muslims’ growth and perfection. The factors behind the Muslim societies’ backwardness from Imam Khomeini’s viewpoint What is the cause, indeed, that such the Muslim nations have remained behind from the civilized world? The Islam, which has a very shining past and there was a time when the scope of its conquests had encompassed many places of the world and its expansion of science and knowledge astonished the world. Now, what has happened that it has crept into a corner and the neocolonialism has infiltrated into it a lot? The Islam which in the confess of the western scientists themselves is the infrastructure of the West’s civilization, and all sciences, from technology and industry to the human sciences, are driven from Islam, in such a manner that Gustawlobon in his work entitled “Civilization of Islam and Arab” quotes the French scientists as saying, “If the name of Islam had conic out of the history, the age of the European restoration of science would have fallen behind for several other centuries” and he, too, states in another section of his book “if civilization of Islam did not exist, there would be nothing of the present civilization” His eminence Imam, also, has repeatedly referred to the Muslims’ grandeur and splendor in the past so as to the Muslims awaken and make endeavor to restore their prestige: “The Muslims are those whose greatness once conquered the world. Their civilization excelled all others; their spirituality was of the highest caliber; their officials were the best; the vastness of their lands was greater than all others; the power of their government dominated the world.” However, what has happened to the Muslims now that they are in such a weakness and abjectness condition!? The farer the Muslims got from the very beginning of the Islam, the more became the power of their weakness and lassitude, and while their number and also their facilities increased at any moment, their lands became smaller and their power weaker, and foreign agents, on the one hand, and internal crisis, on the other, paved the ground for the Muslim societies’ backwardness. The enemies’ hostility toward Islam When the true religion of Islam was established, the oppositions and saboteurs reached their climax since, Islam was always against power- seeking, oppression and tyranny, and if Islam were put into force, undoubtedly the imperialist and oppressor would not survived any more. However, the more the Islam flourished and found more followers, the more became oppositions and saboteurs and the colonialists did their best to annihilate Islam. As, his eminence Imam (r) says: “The left and right imperialists have agreed to struggle hand in hand to destroy the Islamic nation and Muslim countries, repress nations, and plunder their enormous capital and natural resources.” They had well found Out that if the Muslims perceive the real notion of Islam and be bound up in it, hegemony over them and also colonizing and exploiting them is not easily possible; since they are followers of the Messenger and are from among the descendents of the same people who at the very beginning of Islam had humiliated many of the enemies of Islam with a few human forces and hoisted the glorious flag of Islam over the highest summits of the world. Struggle with the basic pillars of Islam Since, the imperialism and the pledged enemies of Islam found out the harm of Islam for their interests, initiated an all-out struggle against it and, in this line, did not withhold from any strategy and plot. They knew that the only way for domination over the Muslims and keeping them backward is removing them from Islam. And, the only possible way for struggling against Islam is eliminating its basic principles and pillars. The enemies knew that the Qur’an is a book which has linked the Muslims with one another and as much as the Islam is beloved between the Muslims, ruling over them is not possible; therefore, they opposed with Islam, so that Glaudeston, the ex-prime minister of England, said in the parliament of this country: “as long as the Islam is dear before the Muslims, the Christians have no ease, it is incumbent upon the Europe to conceal the Book behind the Eastern women’s veil.” Also, after the conquest of Alexandria and murdering its people by Napoleon Bonaparte, he said: “in case, you wish to annihilate Islam and the Muslims, you ought to take them away from the adhan (prayer-call) and Qur’an.” On the other hand, they understood that in addition to the Quran, scientists and the Islamic scholars, too, play an important role in the advance of the Islam’s goals. Moreover, they will face with some obstacles on their way. Thus, as far as they could and can make endeavor to keep away the committed scholars and scientists from the scene of politics and eliminate them along with the Qur’an. His eminence Imam says in this regard: “The only thing which can come between the imperialist governments and me. and not allow their control over the resources of the Muslim countries is Islam and its distinguished ulama’... The imperialist governments’ original plan is to eliminate the Qur’an, Islam, and the ‘ulama’... From their long years of experience, they have realized that the eminent ‘ulamã’ of Islam and honorable preachers have led the nations toward Islam and the Qur’an through their constant efforts and that they have never yielded to the threats and allurements in favor of the tyrannical regime and plundering foreigners. Through utmost effort they have made the mosques and religious assemblies at the service of the Holy Qur’an and dear Islam.” Neocolonialism and backwardness One of the main techniques, which the imperialism made use of it to rule and dominate over the weak and oppressed states, was military inroad and military expedition to these countries, in the manner that through placing their military power in the colonized country, the colonialist powers started plundering and looting their resources directly. However, by advance of the world and awakening of the Muslim and oppressed nations, the imperialism confronted with numerous problems which prevented it from military attacks and inroads. However, the more painful matter which was definitely more hazardous than the military attacks was creation of a phenomenon named “Neocolonialism”. Even though, there were not in this kind of imperialism any military attacks, it was filled with ideological and cultural inroads. In the neocolonialism the country under hegemony will gradually be alienated with its identity and dignity and will open his eyes when there is no hope; since in that country the imperialistic thoughts will take roots in every corner and, like a cancerous tumor, will bereave the society of all its possessions and take away its power for any kind of activity and improvement. The framework and goals of the neocolonialism are as follows: 1) Infiltrating and spreading the imperialistic culture in the colonized country; 2) Eliminating the original culture of that country, and 3) Ruining cultural legacies and eliminating the glories of that country. Depicting the condition of a country under hegemony of the neocolonialism, his eminence Imam says: “the nation must remain backward the Qur’anic and Islamic culture be antiquated; laws violated; and corruption and debauchery be taken to the depth of this mourning place called Iran so that the neocolonialism can easily continue its plunder while its ill-reputed agents can pound the head of this cemetery with luxury, pleasure and wealth-accumulation. Through the noise of progressive country and its blowing of horn, this strange country must be pushed back and deprived of the necessities and main concerns of a developing country... and if they ever breath, their sound will be suppressed with a bayonet so that oil reserves and other minerals of ours can be plundered and nothing but suffering, hardship, imprisonment, and torture for the Iranian nation will be left. And, at the present time, the cause of regret is existence of this great danger in the Muslim countries, and many of the causes behind the Muslim societies’ backwardness are originated from this very matter and unless the Muslims be in the thought of remedy, they will always be under the rule of the neocolonialism. Disunity and backwardness of the Muslim societies One of the important ways which throughout the history has been used for weakening and declining the deprived and oppressed states is adding fuel to disunity and discord; since, when discord and division is created in a society and every group and gang of starts quarrel and dispute with other groups, undoubtedly, that society will not attain prosperity and success and will at any moment fall towards decline and adversity. It is likely that a society has a huge potential power, but because of lack of unity and consolidation among the individuals, it will forever remain in the state of weakness and stagnation. From among the factors which has caused weakness and backwardness among the Muslims is this very issue; despite having a tremendous power and many human forces, the Muslim ummah has always been witness to the aggression and hegemony of foreigners. And, disunion and discord are from among the factors which inflicted irretrievable losses upon Islam and so much bloods shed and persons murdered for this ominous plot and the discord affected all the Islamic issues and affairs. His eminence lmam (r) has pointed out to the great power of the Muslims in a part of his statements and such states the reason behind the backwardness and weakness of them while having many number and powers: “Muslims are a population of approximately one billion, but unfortunately because of the disunity that exists among them and because of the lack of foresight that is present in their governments, they have not been able to achieve the power that Islam has foreseen for them.” In his memoirs, the spy of England in Muslim countries says: “the English Ministry of Colonies dispatched me to Egypt, Iraq, Tehran, and Hijaz to collect enough information for finding and strengthening ways for creating disunity among the Muslims...” His eminence Imam, too, reckons the key to victory of the Muslims in the very beginning of Islam as the aftermath of unity and lack of dispersion: “The secret of the triumph of the Muslims at the advent of Islam was in their unity of expression and the power of faith. It was the power of faith that caused a weak army to overcome the great number of the Roman Empire”.’ 5. Dispersion of Power After the completion of investigations in the Muslim countries by the enemies, they found out that as long as unity and concord exist among the Muslim countries, and they are correlated to each other from the geographical perspective, it is impossible to infiltrate among them and to keep them in the state of weakness and backwardness for exploitation. Then, they planned to firstly separate the Muslim countries from one another and then attain their goals easily. Following this plot, after the World War I, they overwhelmed the great Ottoman Empire. Hadrat Imãm such says in this regard: “Maybe some of you remember the international war, the First World War, and what they did with the Muslims and the great Ottoman State. The Ottoman State was that state which would sometimes prevail in its conflicts with Russia, while other governments could not stand up to her. ‘The Ottoman State was a Muslim state, whose power spread almost from East to West. They realized that as long as this Muslim state with such power existed, they could not do anything, they could not rob the region of its wealth. So after their victory in the First World War, under those circumstances, they divided the Ottoman State into a number of petty states. At the head of each of these states they placed a king, an amir, a sultan or a president.” In the ninetieth century, after the European ideational developments (Renaissance), each of the Muslim countries fell under the sway of one of the great powers. At that time, a main part of the North Africa was colonized by France. Italy took a greedy view upon the Ottoman Tripoli and Arabia and Yemen fell into the hands of the wahhabis who were nourished by the imperialistic powers. Iran severely became a protectorate of England and Russia and the intense competition between these two powers in Iran and Afghanistan inflicted irretrievable losses. The Ottoman capital changed into the current Turkey which was administered by the English policies. Indeed, the imperialism’s infiltration into the Muslim countries dissipated the scientific, economic and cultural basis of the Muslims. However, though the Ottoman rulers themselves had many deficiencies and weaknesses, the existence of an emperor, to that extent, had rendered a great power for Islam and after the Ottoman division, the colonialists endeavored through taking the reins of these small governments not to let the Muslims reestablish such a great emperor. His eminence Imam says in this regard: “There once existed the Great Ottoman State. And that, too, the imperialists divided. Russia. Britain, Austria, and other imperialist powers united. It is true that the most of the Ottoman rulers were incompetent, that some of them were corrupt, and that they followed the monarchial system. Nonetheless, the existence of the Ottoman State represented a threat to the imperialists. It was always possible that righteous individuals might rise up among the people and, with their assistance, seize control of the state, thus putting an end to imperialism by mobilizing the unified resources of the nation. Therefore, after numerous prior wars, the imperialists at the end of World War I divided the Ottoman State, creating in its territories about ten or fifteen states. Then each of these was entrusted to one of their servants or a group of their servants.” Thus, the enemies of Islam who were for years in the pursuit of dealing a blow to, and wiping out, the Islam, took the first step and removed the basic unity among the Muslim countries and gradually paved the ground for their backwardness, weakness and decline. After the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, imperialism planed to create discord among the Muslim countries. 6. Differences among the Muslim states When the enemies reached their old desire which was the very division and disintegration of the Muslim countries, they smoothed the ground for alienating the Muslim countries from one another through more activities. They had well perceived that Islam has connected the Muslims to one another, though they be from different nationalities; therefore, they made plans to create rift among the Muslim countries and strived to infiltrate into the iron will power of the nation by adding fuel to the flames of discord and disunion. They endeavored a lot in this direction. Some of the heads themselves were puppets and agents of the colonialist powers and many others were in step with their goals unwantedly or because of some causes. Unfortunately, as yet these differences have a wide scope, and this is itself an important factor for the Muslims weakness and decline. His Eminence Imam (r) says: “If the governments come together the nations will also come together. But there are some governments who will not allow the different nations to cooperate. The Islamic government and the Muslims will meet with no obstacles if they unite. There will be no power stronger than Islam. This is because there is a milliard Muslims in the world.” In another place, while reproaching the Muslim states for their differences, Hadrat Imam says: “Why should the Islamic governments be cut off and separated from one another like this? Why don’t the Islamic countries realize that it is Islam that they (the imperialists) have in their sights? All the people are alive to this; why not the governments? Until when must we and our governments be under foreign domination ... Why don’t the Muslims wake up?” When dispute and discord among heads of the Muslim countries reach its climax, it is apparent that the scope of its flames will also reach to that country’s nation and people, and consequently, rancor, enmity and hostility will exacerbate at the heart of the Muslim world. Under such circumstances, the Muslim power will be exhausted, and its weakness and inability will day by day be increased. Racism and aggravation of negative nationalism Racial discrimination is one of the techniques which the imperialism makes use of it for weakening and declining the Muslims. Instilling the idea that, for example, the Arab race is superior than other ones or the Aryan people are prior to others, it makes endeavor to create rift among the Muslims. Unfortunately, at the present time, it has been to some extent successful in this way. This issue has caused bloody conflicts and disputes as a result of which the Muslims should find themselves and diffuse this technique of the (world) arrogance, since all of them are Muslims and followers of the Qur’an, and as a united nation. Hadrat Imam such states this plot of the (world) arrogance: “The West has used one great deception to influence, tempt or intimidate the governments of Islamic countries... That great deceit which debases the Muslim governments and distances them from the Qur’an is this race business. This man is from the race of Turks. he has to do his ritual prayers in Turkish. This one is from the Iranian race; his alphabet should be as such. That one is from the Arab race, Arabism should govern not Islam!!!... The Aryan race should rule not Islam……!” However, the important matter is the Muslims’ adding fuel to these kinds of differences. Every day heads of the Muslim states breathe into this fire of imperialism by using titles such as “Arab”, “Arab nationalism”, “the society of Turks, Kurds...” and make it more successful in reaching its goals; however, what the Muslims ought to take into consideration is that aggravating the differences will, further, pave the way for the weakness and decline of the Muslims, while these kinds of differences have been resolved among all the nations and these deeds are very naïve and reactionary. Hadrat Imam says in this respect: “Let us see where this racism, which is being developed amongst these men and is increasing and is encouraged, leads us. This racism is a childish affair and it is as if they are making children play their games. They are making the heads of the governments play their games... Sir, what are you, where are you from? We should do such and such for our own country! ... and I don’t know where it will lead to... There are no Turks and Iranians, Arabs and non-Arabs. Islam is the pivotal point for all Muslims. Why should these kinds of revolutions be created in each of these countries? Why should fronts be created between Muslim governments?” 8. Sectarian differences and provocation of prejudices The heaviest blows which during several decades ago have been dealt upon the holy body of Islam originate from the differences and biases in creed and sect. So that, it has inflicted the most vital losses on the Muslim society and now it suffers from numerous afflictions in this regard, since whatever the scope of these differences extends, discord and disunion among the Muslims exacerbates and consequently not only the Muslims lose their thinking on construction and unity for reaching to development and welfare, but also oppression, corruption and treachery reach their pinnacle. Since time immemorial, the imperialists were thinking to find ways for creating difference among Muslim sects and for this purpose they have brought up many specialists and seasoned ones and have dispatched to the Muslim states. In his memoirs, Mr. Hemfer states: “the English Ministry of Colonies dispatched me to Egypt, Iraq, Tehran, and Hijaz to collect enough information for finding and strengthening ways for creating disunity among the Muslims...” Through causing differences such as Shi’ism, Sunnism and creating and provocation aggression among them and provocation of the partial and biased individuals like wahhabis, the colonialist powers have been able to some extent to achieve their sinister targets. As, Hadrat Imam says: The agents of the foreigners who see that their interests and the interests of their masters are in danger, in order to provoke the Sunni brothers and fan the flames of fratricide, have put forward the Shi’ah-Sunni issue and with this mischief they seek to create a rift between brothers.” If we went a little back to the past, we would observe that what killings, wars, rancor, and enmities have taken place because of this. And, at this juncture that all the opponents are hand in glove and have been mobilized to wipe out Islam, some of the Muslims, instead of standing alongside each other, are supporting these differences and arc aggravating it and are weakening Islam and the Muslims more than even before. Indeed, if the Muslims, instead of attributing blasphemy and profanity to each other, become united and put aside the sectarian differences and struggle with their common enemies in one line, will they have any doubt in gaining victory? Hadrat Imam had well got the point and it is not out of reason that he at any time speaks of the unity among the Muslims: “We have no disagreement with our Sunni brethren. We are all of one nation and Qur’an”.3. In another place, addressing the Shi’ites who are leaving for the Hajj, his eminence Imam (r) says: “Iranian brothers and Shiites of other countries are required to avoid all ignorant actions, which might be a cause of separation within the lines of Muslims. They are also required to attend the gatherings of Sunnites and avoid attending and forming prayers in houses or setting up loud speakers to oppose them. They must avoid genuflecting on the holy tombs and doing whatever is not in consistent with the sacred law at all cost.” The imperialists not only are creating disunity among the Muslims but also are planning to strain the relation between the Muslims and non- Muslims; for example, the Muslims clashes with the Hindus are a good example in this regard. Every year, in India and Pakistan many oppressed people of the two sides are killed because of these religious differences and biases, without thinking a little where from these differences originates. e. Unity and solidarity in the Imam’s (r) word Since his eminence’s (r) struggle against the imperialism, he has always warned the Muslims about the danger of disunity and disagreement and has repeatedly announced it as one of the root causes of the Muslim nations’ lack of success and development. In many of his speeches, he has called the Muslims for unity and pointed out to its aftermaths. In a part of his speeches, he says: “If nations and governments want to attain victory and attain the Islamic objectives in all their dimensions, which are for the happiness of mankind, they must cling to the rope of God and hold fast altogether by the rope which Allah stretches out for you, and to shun differences arid division and obey the command. . Thus, in order to achieve independence and freedom, Muslims must get hold of this key to victory and try hard for unity of expression. You the leaders of governments must pursue this Islamic objective and shun hostility and antagonism with your brothers.” In another place, Hadrat Imam introduces disunity as the source of all misfortunes: “Be aware that differences and dissensions are the sources of all miseries and slaveries.” In another place, the Imam knows the victory of the Islamic Revolution indebted to the unity of expression: “You overwhelmed and triumphed over powers, and the satanic power of the ex-Shah through your unity of expression”.’ In conclusion of this discussion, we shall pay heed to the Imam’s word on disunity and unity in his religio-political testament: “What is important for the Iranian people and the Muslims of the world today and In the future, is to challenge this divisive and destructive propaganda. My recommendation to the Muslims... is to react strongly to these conspiracies and consolidate their unity in any possible way, in order to disappoint the Kuffar (disbelievers) and Munafiqin (hypocrites).” 9. Being under the influence of the trite Western culture When a society loses its cultural identity and originality, and resorts to the traditions and customs with which its existence and nature arc alienated, undoubtedly, it will not succeed. Scientists are on the belief that, throughout history, one of the root causes of civilizations’ decline has always been cultural corruption and taking influence from other cultures. Islam has such a sublime culture in which all the issues related to the mankind’s happiness and welfare has been recorded and if it is acted accordingly, there is no doubt that the society will succeed. As, Hadrat Imam says in this regard: “You know and have seen in history that the Muslims of the very beginning of Islam while having a few number united and with their faith overcome in less than a century, since they were together and the weapon of faith was at their disposal .. You observed that a nation which had a few number and no weapon and had no warfare and military force, but because of having faith it prevailed over a demonic power which all the powers, and not only the superpowers, were following it.” However, imperialism had found out that in case the spirit-giving ideals of Islam are implemented in the Muslims’ societies, it can never be able to infiltrate into the Muslim lands. Hence, by spreading the imperialistic culture which has no goals behind except leading the Muslims to corruption and backwardness, it planned to make the Muslims deviated from the main direction of Islam, so as through the corruption and decay of them and alienating them from their original culture it can achieve its goals. Hadrat Imam says in this regard: “Culture is the source of a nation’s happiness or misfortune. If the culture is not sound then the youth who are trained in this unsound culture will, in the future, create corruption. The imperialist culture produces imperialist youth for the country. A culture which is created by the designs of others—and it is the foreigners who lay their plans for us then hand them over to our- society in the form of culture—is an imperialist and parasitic culture. Such a culture is a weapon more lethal than anything else: it is even worse than the arms of these , for their weapons eventually fall to pieces, as they have done now. But when the culture is corrupt, our youth. who form the foundation of our society, are lost to us; they are trained to become parasites, to become infatuated with the West.” In another place, referring to this ominous plot of the (world) arrogance and warning the Muslims about its danger, his eminence Imam says: “One of the most effective conspiracies that unfortunately has left an undeniable mark on the nations, including our own, is the alienation of the people of colonized countries with their own cultures. In other words,’ Westernized’ or ‘Easternized’ intellectuals became alienated with their own cultures and they came to regard the people related to the superpowers as having superior culture and race compared to that of their own. They looked upon the superpowers as their Qiblah and thought that affiliation with one of the two poles of power is an inevitable issue. Then Hadrat Imam refers to the consequences of this ominous plot of the (world) arrogance as such: “This sad story has a lengthy background. And the blows we have received, and still receiving, are seriously devastating and fatal. Another unhappy and mischievous target plotted by the superpowers is to prevent the oppressed and colonized nations from progression and keep them backward in order to make them consumers rather than producers.” When the imperialistic culture infiltrates into a society, corruption and debauchery increase as well, the consumer policy rules over it, lassitude and languidness prevails over that society, and gradually the true Islam is eliminated and substituted with the western prosaic culture. Apparently, under such circumstances the imperialism can reach its goals easily; as Hadrat Imam says: “A time when the malicious claws of the imperialists have penetrated the depths of Muslim countries and by all possible means they endeavor to dissuade the Muslims from resorting to Islam and the Qur’an so that they could easily attain their inhuman objectives which are the exploitation of the deprived class.” 10. Spreading corruption by the name of civilization Claiming that it wants to submit its culture to the Eastern society, the West commits various crimes and corruptions. And, whenever it is protested, raise the name of civilization. In order to infiltrate its culture into the Muslim societies easily, the West calls it civilization and in this manner it names the freemen who challenge these cultural inroads reactionaries and protestors of the civilization, and unfortunately this intrigue has inflicted a vital blow upon the body of Islam. Hadrat Imam says frankly in his word: “We are not against development and progress, but we are opposed to the expansion of the foreigners’ culture and also prostitution. We are not against cinemas; we are opposed to brothels. We are not opposed to radio, it is prostitution that we are opposed to; we are not opposed to television; what we are opposed to are services rendered to foreigners for keeping our youth backward, and the dissipation of our manpower. When did we ever oppose modernism and its processes? When manifestations of European modernism set foot on eastern shores, particularly in Iran, instead of utilizing this (great) center of civilization, we were pushed into savagery.” a. Corruption in the educational system For spreading the imperialistic culture, the imperialists has taken some measures from among of which we can refer to the establishment of Western schools aiming to make the future generation acquainted with foreign culture so that, that generation disremembers its original culture. For example, the educational advisor of Italy in Eritrea ordered in 1938 that: After finishing the fourth year of the primary school, students have to be able to speak Italian language well, and it is sufficient for them to know from the science of history and its figures only those who have been the cause of grandeur and greatness of Italy. It is not causeless that Hadrat Imam shouts that the educational matters ought to be taken into consideration and be based upon the true basis. He says: “Foreigners and their activities emptied our schools and universities of any content... We must do our best for many years to come so as to strip off our second nature and come onto ourselves and stand on our feet... We should start with children and our only aim should be turning western man into an Islamic one.” Referring to this great danger in his testament, too, Hadrat Imam says: “One of their (and the enemies’) major plots.., is to take over the educational institutions, especially the universities”. b. Corruption in the mass media One of the means which the West always makes use of it to corrupt and stupefy the Muslim nations is radio, television and the press. In case the mass media of a country turns into the propagandistic means of the imperialists, and only undertake the duty of propagating and disseminating the culture of imperialism, how one can expect that the Islamic precepts be put into effect in that society. Since, radio, television and the press are from among the means which if they are used in the proper way and are based on the Islamic norms, they will bring about happiness, and if, God forbid, they fall into the abyss of corruption and destruction, they will deviate the strata of the society, particularly the young generation, from the true path of Islam, as Hadrat Imam says in his religio-political testament: “Radio, television, the press, the cinema, and theaters are the most effective means for stupefying and corruption of the nations especially the younger generations. During the past century, especially the second half of it, great plots were hatched and executed through these media against Islam and its faithful servants, the clerics. The mass media are used, also in the colonial propaganda networks of the West and the East. They have been used to create markets for goods, especially for the sale of luxury and decorative commodities. The media are focused to make people imitate other cultures particularly in areas like clothing, consumption of alcoholic drinks, styles of architecture, and in many other things. To look Westernized was the thing to be proud of. Especially ladies in higher or middle income groups imitated the westerners in all forms and manners.” Making obscene and immoral films, exciting the young women and men’s lusts, and leading the Muslims astray, the imperialists endeavor to keep the nation away from being awakened and thinking of construction and development, and cause them to remain in negligence forever. In the colonized countries, magazines and the press are only encouraging and inciting the nation for the materialization of the imperialistic goals and make effort to expand the colonial culture of the West. As Hadrat Imam says: “Television films depicting Western or Eastern products made young men and women stray from the normal course of their work, throwing life and industry into oblivion irrespective of themselves and their personalities and produced pessimism in people vis-à-vis their own beings, their country, and culture and even about highly valuable works of art and literature, of the West and the East through the treachery of middlemen and collectors. Magazines printed pictures and articles detrimental to morality. Newspapers took pride in directing the youth towards the West or the East by publishing anti-Islamic and anti-indigenous culture and articles.” However, it does not mean that the mass media are of no value, but they are very valuable if they are programmed in line with the lofty teachings of Islam, they will be very successful. Referring to this issue, Hadrat Imam says that the very radio and television, which are so harmful can be used in the way of proper propaganda: “The radio and television arc media to which great significance is attached for both positive and correct propagation as well as negative and corrupt propaganda”. In another place, the Imam counts the radio and television more important than any other publicity means: “The importance of radio and television is higher than all other things”. Proposing separation of religion from politics When Islam and politics are linked together and a composition of the Islamic policy is formed, undoubtedly it will succeed; since according to the history only with an ephemeral glance on the Islamic Revolution and its solidarity against the innumerous problems this will be clarified. Was there anything but the political sense and Hadrat Imam’s commitment to Islam (r), the key to the victory of his leadership? What caused him to enter into the hearts? And what caused him to progress in the most dangerous political issues? Was it anything but the Islamic politics?! When imperialism discovered this foremost issue, it concentrated its endeavor on it to separate religion from the policy of Islamic states and gradually drive the true religion of Islam into isolation. If we take a look at Turkey, we will observe that a country which has once been the center of Islam and from which the power of Islam has been originated, now has disregarded all the Islamic disciplines and took step towards misfortune and decline. As, Kamal Pasha (Ataturk), one of the kings of Turkey, believed: for the country’s advancement, all the disciplines and customs as well as the Eastern heritages have to be put aside and all over the country have to be transform into a European country. His slogan was the westernization of Turkey and all his measures were taken in this line and at present we observe that how Turkey is declining for its political and social problems. In the Islamic states, imperialism gradually started disseminating the idea that faith and religion is only peculiar to the illiterate and ignorant ones and its place is only in the tombs and mosques and Islam is unable to administer the society so as to take the solidarity and proper Islamic biases away from the society and alienate them from their national identity and then follow their ominous goals. In this way, through instilling these doubts, they are planning to remove the religious ones and on top of them the great range of the clerics from the scene. As, Hadrat Imam says: “The covert hands of the global usurpers have, with the help of local individuals and groups that have penetrated into the various strata of the Muslim nations, been working on a certain evil plan for many years now. And they have unfortunately succeeded in spreading a general belief that the clerics should be isolated in their chambers and in the mosques and that the activities of their seniors should be confined to visits from their homes to the mosques and back, with no involvement whatsoever in social issues. And that any involvement of the clergy in socio-political affairs should be tabooed since it would be against the dignity of the clergy! Subsequently, the duty of the young clerics was to simply crawl into the damp chambers of their seminaries and to study religious books that had nothing to do with social and political affairs. According to them, it would be most improper for a cleric to ever don a military uniform...” The imperialism went ahead so much as even the political interference is considered as sin and crime. In many of the Muslim countries, if a person who has a scientific and Islamic status interferes into the affairs of the society, he will act contrary to his own standing. Since, the imperialists introduced the politics as telling lies and resorting to trickery. In this respect, Hadrat Imam says: “They have from the first instilled the idea that politics means telling lies and the like so as to dissuade you from the countries affairs and they be busy with their own job and you busy with saying prayers. You sit down here and they do what they wish, commit what debauchery they wish.” The word of the martyr of the path of freedom and independence, the late Mudarris, is yet in the minds who said: “our religion is the same as our politics”. Indeed, does the materialization of the point that the religion and the politics are linked together give honor and dignity to Islam? And doesn’t it pave the way for its progress and growth?! Certainly yes. Poverty and exploitation of the Islamic countries One of the main causes which has always hindered the Muslim countries from growth and advance is poverty and exploitation which has been caused by the imperialism and it is exacerbated day by day. However, it is surprising that why the nations which have access to the best wealth and the richest resources, live in poverty and indigence? While, these nations can with such a great deal of capital have a great industry and technology. If we glance our eye over Africa, we will observe that in many of its parts there are great resources of gold, silver, lignite, and aluminum however, it is always in the state of poverty and hunger. Also, there are rich resources of petroleum and gas in the Middle East; however, they are backward compared to the world of industry and technology. While describing these courtiers, Hadrat Imam says: “... The nations which, with enormous populations, vast lands, precious natural sources, a very brilliant history and culture as well as heavenly laws, under the bondage of imperialism, are dying of hunger, are entangled in nakedness, poverty, misery and backwardness, and are waiting for their death...” For finding the cause of this great affliction, it is enough only to take a look at imperialism’s record in the Muslim countries. Through various techniques in the Muslim countries and in line with their ominous goals, the imperialists are plundering the oppressed and deprived nations of the region. Without the Muslim nations being in the think of a remedy, the imperialists are endeavoring to annihilate the potential economic infrastructure of the Muslim countries by plundering their natural resources and then place the Muslims in the state of backwardness and poverty and exploit them through various techniques. As, Hadrat Imam says: “It is wonderful that the main resources like petroleum which has turned into the means of other states’ progress and development are more often in the Eastern and Muslim countries; however, unfortunately, the imperialists are robbing your wealth while you ought to flatter them, Indeed, this God- given wealth which should be the cause of progress, elevation and development of this region’s people and free them from what has been the cause of their bondage and misfortune.” Conclusion Yes, indeed, so long as the imperialists are such infiltrating into the Muslim countries, the Muslims will never experience the sweet taste of progress and happiness, so long as Islam is not revived among the Muslim nations and its issues are not materialized exactly, we can never achieve growth and elevation and so long as the ominous shadow of hypocrisy disunion, poverty, exploitation and alienation from the cultural originality is cast among the society, how one can expect prosperity and independence?! Now, we are living in an age when a moment of negligence equals to a great deal of backwardness and affliction. Undoubtedly, if the enemies of Islam find the scene empty, they will make use of our weakness and will consider no mercy and compassion lawful to the Muslim world and will keep us from all aspects in the state of weakness and backwardness. As, Hadrat Imam says: The aim of America and all the hegemonic powers is nothing other than keeping all the weak counties in a state of backwardness in all aspects: cultural, economic, political and military. They cannot have any plan other than to benefit from our resources and those of the other backward countries; and this is the cause of all the pressures in all respects being brought to bear on us.” Thus, we ought to be in the think of remedy and discover the main causes of weakness and backwardness and take steps for their adjustment. The founder of the Islamic Republic says in this regard: “It is my hope that the Muslims of the world learn of their afflictions and the origins thereof as we approach the turn of the century and it is my wish that by means of multilateral unity as well as reliance upon Islam and under its glorious banner that they sever the shackles of slavery and procure their freedom from colonialist nations. Having recognized the pains that they are enduring as well as the fact that they have seen nothing but difficulties, barbarities, and crimes from the diabolic superpowers, Muslims today must achieve a solution by uniting and seeking divine help from the Almighty and our holy religion, Islam.” In another place, Hadrat Imam says in this regard: “This era is not the time for Muslims to sit idle and watch them (foreign powers) going on with their plundering. This is an era when Muslims must rise up and dissociate their country from the influence of foreign (powers)”. Now it is a time when we require struggle, endeavor, and sacrifice, and along with unity, consolidation and solidarity and also the God’s help, the victory will be imminent. “Oh Muslims of the world, poor of the world under the hegemony of the oppressors, rise up and unite and defend Islam and your destiny and don’t fear the roar of the superpowers, for this century as God will is the century of domination of the poor over the superpowers and right will prevail over wrong.” 2)Causes of the Backwardness of the Muslim Societies Introduction Research and investigation on finding causes and factors of the East’s backwardness in general, and the Islamic societies in particular, is one of the issues which stems from the previous centuries and ages, and all the time the freeborn thinkers and scientists who have come on the scene of the research, have studied this foremost problem according to the existing circumstances and conditions of their own age. And, sometimes research and investigation goes beyond the domain of the Eastern people’s studies and has driven many Western scientists into discovering these causes. However, what has played an important role in leaving their researches unfinished and their being unsuccessful is the unsuitable atmosphere for following up as well as the authorities’ inattention towards these activities. As witnessed by the history, from among the previous freemen and thinkers there were individuals such as “Sayyid Jamaluddin Asad Abadi’, “Iqbal Lahuri”, “Sadr”... who discovered some of the roots behind the Muslim’s weakness and decline and endeavored to remove these problems; however, governance of the brutal kings and influential agents of foreigners in the society has taken away from them the power for any activity, and for undervaluing their thoughts, they have buried all their endeavors and hardships under a great deal of unvalued historical events. While, at present that many years have passed from their lofty thoughts and ideals, the world’s freemen are admiring them yet. When colonialism faced with the Islamic thoughts and struggles in the Muslim countries and found out that by spreading and disseminating the true Islamic ideas and thoughts, it could not dominate over the Muslim countries, by exact and long term planning in line with their goals, planed to cause to dry the roots of thinking and seeking remedy of the Muslim nations for finding main causes behind the backwardness, and close the door on economic and cultural development and progress for them and keep them always in the state of need and backwardness; however, in a manner that the Muslims do not recognize their plots and always be in double ignorance. Therefore, for attaining this goal, they likened the way to the by-way and by instilling ideas and very trivial causes or even the harmful ones prevented Muslims from thinking and striving to find out the main causes and on the other hand their puppets drove the nations towards more decline and weakness in line with their masters’ targets. So that, Hadrat Imam says in this regard: “Unclean hands and sickly minds gradually deflected people from the matters underlined by Islam after the Messenger of God, engaging people with only trivial matters and neutralizing and occasionally driving them to raise voice to general public concerns needed by Islamic countries. This was a diabolic design.” The Muslims and backwardness Of course, it is undeniable that the Muslims themselves have a share in their weakness and backwardness; since they are indifferent to the current affairs of their societies and in their turn exacerbate the factors affecting their backwardness and only, in times, in the Arab states seemingly they gather round through holding conferences and different meetings to examine the factors of the Muslim societies’ backwardness, the results of which will be put aside by finishing the conferences. Regarding these conferences, Hadrat Imam says: “Those aspects that were important at the dawn of Islam were not at all important among the Muslim countries... Now, too, when meetings are arranged to see what must be done, it is not evident whether they go beyond speeches-—and who gives a better speech! It is not like they really observe why we are backward and find the solutions as to what are the things that can rescue us from this backwardness and follow them up and take action. Not that every year or every few years we hold a meeting where people from every place come, deliver a few speeches, recite verses of poetry and a little about Islamic issues and the needs of the Muslims and after departing from the meeting everything basically remains the same and neglected as before.” Now, the Islamic lands are filled with ignorance, negligence ... without the Muslims being in the think of it and, undoubtedly, unless the Muslims desire, they will not succeed. As to the Muslims vigilance, Hadrat Imam such says: “My advice to the Muslim nations is: Do not look for outside help in achieving your goal, which is Islam and implementation of the Islamic rules. You yourselves must rise up and undertake this vital issue which will make liberty and independence a reality.” The need to tackle with the Muslims’ problems As it was pointed out, one of the causes of the former thinkers and combatants’ lack of success has been the absence of the fertile ground for exerting and implementing their policies in the society. And, at all times, there were agents in the Muslim societies who have contended against these expediencies. However, the important matter at the present time is the existence of such fertile ground for raising these thoughts and ideas. Since. on the one hand, a country like Iran is ready to receive, study, and nourish the ideas, and, on the other hand, the Muslim world is now greedy to attain the solutions and is ready to receive any kind of suggestions to deliver itself from the yoke of the imperialism. Now, the Muslim oppressed nations are like the latent energy, which can explode the world with a little spark; for, day by day, the Muslims become more flamed with the hatred and disgust they have in their hearts from their enemies. Uniqueness of the Islamic Revolution of Iran compared with other movements With a cursory glance at the Muslim countries records during the recent decades, we will observe that though the Muslims have been in the state of backwardness and weakness during last years, at times in every corner some movements took shape by the freeborn Muslims, and sometimes they attained success to some extent which after a while it was removed as a result of discord and differences. Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolution of Iran was an exception to the rule and despite facing many problems, it achieved considerable successes. Undoubtedly, the most important factor which was effective in the victory of the Revolution was the leadership of “Hadrat lmam Khomeini’ (may God’s peace be upon him). And it was his high thought and ideals which kept the Revolution safe and sound amid the problems and disorders. Since, he had discovered the causes behind backwardness and also factors of victory over infidelity and, on the other hand, had coincided his policy with the religion and piety, and simultaneously with struggle in the trench of politics, he, too, campaigned in the trench of science, jurisprudence and ijtihad and as such his teachings took root in the beliefs of the world Muslims and he ruled over the hearts. Thus, we are duty-bound to seek assistance from the lofty thoughts and ideals of this great man of history and thus pave the way for the Muslims’ growth and perfection. The factors behind the Muslim societies’ backwardness from Imam Khomeini’s viewpoint What is the cause, indeed, that such the Muslim nations have remained behind from the civilized world? The Islam, which has a very shining past and there was a time when the scope of its conquests had encompassed many places of the world and its expansion of science and knowledge astonished the world. Now, what has happened that it has crept into a corner and the neocolonialism has infiltrated into it a lot? The Islam which in the confess of the western scientists themselves is the infrastructure of the West’s civilization, and all sciences, from technology and industry to the human sciences, are driven from Islam, in such a manner that Gustawlobon in his work entitled “Civilization of Islam and Arab” quotes the French scientists as saying, “If the name of Islam had conic out of the history, the age of the European restoration of science would have fallen behind for several other centuries” and he, too, states in another section of his book “if civilization of Islam did not exist, there would be nothing of the present civilization” His eminence Imam, also, has repeatedly referred to the Muslims’ grandeur and splendor in the past so as to the Muslims awaken and make endeavor to restore their prestige: “The Muslims are those whose greatness once conquered the world. Their civilization excelled all others; their spirituality was of the highest caliber; their officials were the best; the vastness of their lands was greater than all others; the power of their government dominated the world.” However, what has happened to the Muslims now that they are in such a weakness and abjectness condition!? The farer the Muslims got from the very beginning of the Islam, the more became the power of their weakness and lassitude, and while their number and also their facilities increased at any moment, their lands became smaller and their power weaker, and foreign agents, on the one hand, and internal crisis, on the other, paved the ground for the Muslim societies’ backwardness. The enemies’ hostility toward Islam When the true religion of Islam was established, the oppositions and saboteurs reached their climax since, Islam was always against power- seeking, oppression and tyranny, and if Islam were put into force, undoubtedly the imperialist and oppressor would not survived any more. However, the more the Islam flourished and found more followers, the more became oppositions and saboteurs and the colonialists did their best to annihilate Islam. As, his eminence Imam (r) says: “The left and right imperialists have agreed to struggle hand in hand to destroy the Islamic nation and Muslim countries, repress nations, and plunder their enormous capital and natural resources.” They had well found Out that if the Muslims perceive the real notion of Islam and be bound up in it, hegemony over them and also colonizing and exploiting them is not easily possible; since they are followers of the Messenger and are from among the descendents of the same people who at the very beginning of Islam had humiliated many of the enemies of Islam with a few human forces and hoisted the glorious flag of Islam over the highest summits of the world. Struggle with the basic pillars of Islam Since, the imperialism and the pledged enemies of Islam found out the harm of Islam for their interests, initiated an all-out struggle against it and, in this line, did not withhold from any strategy and plot. They knew that the only way for domination over the Muslims and keeping them backward is removing them from Islam. And, the only possible way for struggling against Islam is eliminating its basic principles and pillars. The enemies knew that the Qur’an is a book which has linked the Muslims with one another and as much as the Islam is beloved between the Muslims, ruling over them is not possible; therefore, they opposed with Islam, so that Glaudeston, the ex-prime minister of England, said in the parliament of this country: “as long as the Islam is dear before the Muslims, the Christians have no ease, it is incumbent upon the Europe to conceal the Book behind the Eastern women’s veil.” Also, after the conquest of Alexandria and murdering its people by Napoleon Bonaparte, he said: “in case, you wish to annihilate Islam and the Muslims, you ought to take them away from the adhan (prayer-call) and Qur’an.” On the other hand, they understood that in addition to the Quran, scientists and the Islamic scholars, too, play an important role in the advance of the Islam’s goals. Moreover, they will face with some obstacles on their way. Thus, as far as they could and can make endeavor to keep away the committed scholars and scientists from the scene of politics and eliminate them along with the Qur’an. His eminence Imam says in this regard: “The only thing which can come between the imperialist governments and me. and not allow their control over the resources of the Muslim countries is Islam and its distinguished ulama’... The imperialist governments’ original plan is to eliminate the Qur’an, Islam, and the ‘ulama’... From their long years of experience, they have realized that the eminent ‘ulamã’ of Islam and honorable preachers have led the nations toward Islam and the Qur’an through their constant efforts and that they have never yielded to the threats and allurements in favor of the tyrannical regime and plundering foreigners. Through utmost effort they have made the mosques and religious assemblies at the service of the Holy Qur’an and dear Islam.” Neocolonialism and backwardness One of the main techniques, which the imperialism made use of it to rule and dominate over the weak and oppressed states, was military inroad and military expedition to these countries, in the manner that through placing their military power in the colonized country, the colonialist powers started plundering and looting their resources directly. However, by advance of the world and awakening of the Muslim and oppressed nations, the imperialism confronted with numerous problems which prevented it from military attacks and inroads. However, the more painful matter which was definitely more hazardous than the military attacks was creation of a phenomenon named “Neocolonialism”. Even though, there were not in this kind of imperialism any military attacks, it was filled with ideological and cultural inroads. In the neocolonialism the country under hegemony will gradually be alienated with its identity and dignity and will open his eyes when there is no hope; since in that country the imperialistic thoughts will take roots in every corner and, like a cancerous tumor, will bereave the society of all its possessions and take away its power for any kind of activity and improvement. The framework and goals of the neocolonialism are as follows: 1) Infiltrating and spreading the imperialistic culture in the colonized country; 2) Eliminating the original culture of that country, and 3) Ruining cultural legacies and eliminating the glories of that country. Depicting the condition of a country under hegemony of the neocolonialism, his eminence Imam says: “the nation must remain backward the Qur’anic and Islamic culture be antiquated; laws violated; and corruption and debauchery be taken to the depth of this mourning place called Iran so that the neocolonialism can easily continue its plunder while its ill-reputed agents can pound the head of this cemetery with luxury, pleasure and wealth-accumulation. Through the noise of progressive country and its blowing of horn, this strange country must be pushed back and deprived of the necessities and main concerns of a developing country... and if they ever breath, their sound will be suppressed with a bayonet so that oil reserves and other minerals of ours can be plundered and nothing but suffering, hardship, imprisonment, and torture for the Iranian nation will be left. And, at the present time, the cause of regret is existence of this great danger in the Muslim countries, and many of the causes behind the Muslim societies’ backwardness are originated from this very matter and unless the Muslims be in the thought of remedy, they will always be under the rule of the neocolonialism. Disunity and backwardness of the Muslim societies One of the important ways which throughout the history has been used for weakening and declining the deprived and oppressed states is adding fuel to disunity and discord; since, when discord and division is created in a society and every group and gang of starts quarrel and dispute with other groups, undoubtedly, that society will not attain prosperity and success and will at any moment fall towards decline and adversity. It is likely that a society has a huge potential power, but because of lack of unity and consolidation among the individuals, it will forever remain in the state of weakness and stagnation. From among the factors which has caused weakness and backwardness among the Muslims is this very issue; despite having a tremendous power and many human forces, the Muslim ummah has always been witness to the aggression and hegemony of foreigners. And, disunion and discord are from among the factors which inflicted irretrievable losses upon Islam and so much bloods shed and persons murdered for this ominous plot and the discord affected all the Islamic issues and affairs. His eminence lmam (r) has pointed out to the great power of the Muslims in a part of his statements and such states the reason behind the backwardness and weakness of them while having many number and powers: “Muslims are a population of approximately one billion, but unfortunately because of the disunity that exists among them and because of the lack of foresight that is present in their governments, they have not been able to achieve the power that Islam has foreseen for them.” In his memoirs, the spy of England in Muslim countries says: “the English Ministry of Colonies dispatched me to Egypt, Iraq, Tehran, and Hijaz to collect enough information for finding and strengthening ways for creating disunity among the Muslims...” His eminence Imam, too, reckons the key to victory of the Muslims in the very beginning of Islam as the aftermath of unity and lack of dispersion: “The secret of the triumph of the Muslims at the advent of Islam was in their unity of expression and the power of faith. It was the power of faith that caused a weak army to overcome the great number of the Roman Empire”.’ 5. Dispersion of Power After the completion of investigations in the Muslim countries by the enemies, they found out that as long as unity and concord exist among the Muslim countries, and they are correlated to each other from the geographical perspective, it is impossible to infiltrate among them and to keep them in the state of weakness and backwardness for exploitation. Then, they planned to firstly separate the Muslim countries from one another and then attain their goals easily. Following this plot, after the World War I, they overwhelmed the great Ottoman Empire. Hadrat Imãm such says in this regard: “Maybe some of you remember the international war, the First World War, and what they did with the Muslims and the great Ottoman State. The Ottoman State was that state which would sometimes prevail in its conflicts with Russia, while other governments could not stand up to her. ‘The Ottoman State was a Muslim state, whose power spread almost from East to West. They realized that as long as this Muslim state with such power existed, they could not do anything, they could not rob the region of its wealth. So after their victory in the First World War, under those circumstances, they divided the Ottoman State into a number of petty states. At the head of each of these states they placed a king, an amir, a sultan or a president.” In the ninetieth century, after the European ideational developments (Renaissance), each of the Muslim countries fell under the sway of one of the great powers. At that time, a main part of the North Africa was colonized by France. Italy took a greedy view upon the Ottoman Tripoli and Arabia and Yemen fell into the hands of the wahhabis who were nourished by the imperialistic powers. Iran severely became a protectorate of England and Russia and the intense competition between these two powers in Iran and Afghanistan inflicted irretrievable losses. The Ottoman capital changed into the current Turkey which was administered by the English policies. Indeed, the imperialism’s infiltration into the Muslim countries dissipated the scientific, economic and cultural basis of the Muslims. However, though the Ottoman rulers themselves had many deficiencies and weaknesses, the existence of an emperor, to that extent, had rendered a great power for Islam and after the Ottoman division, the colonialists endeavored through taking the reins of these small governments not to let the Muslims reestablish such a great emperor. His eminence Imam says in this regard: “There once existed the Great Ottoman State. And that, too, the imperialists divided. Russia. Britain, Austria, and other imperialist powers united. It is true that the most of the Ottoman rulers were incompetent, that some of them were corrupt, and that they followed the monarchial system. Nonetheless, the existence of the Ottoman State represented a threat to the imperialists. It was always possible that righteous individuals might rise up among the people and, with their assistance, seize control of the state, thus putting an end to imperialism by mobilizing the unified resources of the nation. Therefore, after numerous prior wars, the imperialists at the end of World War I divided the Ottoman State, creating in its territories about ten or fifteen states. Then each of these was entrusted to one of their servants or a group of their servants.” Thus, the enemies of Islam who were for years in the pursuit of dealing a blow to, and wiping out, the Islam, took the first step and removed the basic unity among the Muslim countries and gradually paved the ground for their backwardness, weakness and decline. After the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, imperialism planed to create discord among the Muslim countries. 6. Differences among the Muslim states When the enemies reached their old desire which was the very division and disintegration of the Muslim countries, they smoothed the ground for alienating the Muslim countries from one another through more activities. They had well perceived that Islam has connected the Muslims to one another, though they be from different nationalities; therefore, they made plans to create rift among the Muslim countries and strived to infiltrate into the iron will power of the nation by adding fuel to the flames of discord and disunion. They endeavored a lot in this direction. Some of the heads themselves were puppets and agents of the colonialist powers and many others were in step with their goals unwantedly or because of some causes. Unfortunately, as yet these differences have a wide scope, and this is itself an important factor for the Muslims weakness and decline. His Eminence Imam (r) says: “If the governments come together the nations will also come together. But there are some governments who will not allow the different nations to cooperate. The Islamic government and the Muslims will meet with no obstacles if they unite. There will be no power stronger than Islam. This is because there is a milliard Muslims in the world.” In another place, while reproaching the Muslim states for their differences, Hadrat Imam says: “Why should the Islamic governments be cut off and separated from one another like this? Why don’t the Islamic countries realize that it is Islam that they (the imperialists) have in their sights? All the people are alive to this; why not the governments? Until when must we and our governments be under foreign domination ... Why don’t the Muslims wake up?” When dispute and discord among heads of the Muslim countries reach its climax, it is apparent that the scope of its flames will also reach to that country’s nation and people, and consequently, rancor, enmity and hostility will exacerbate at the heart of the Muslim world. Under such circumstances, the Muslim power will be exhausted, and its weakness and inability will day by day be increased. Racism and aggravation of negative nationalism Racial discrimination is one of the techniques which the imperialism makes use of it for weakening and declining the Muslims. Instilling the idea that, for example, the Arab race is superior than other ones or the Aryan people are prior to others, it makes endeavor to create rift among the Muslims. Unfortunately, at the present time, it has been to some extent successful in this way. This issue has caused bloody conflicts and disputes as a result of which the Muslims should find themselves and diffuse this technique of the (world) arrogance, since all of them are Muslims and followers of the Qur’an, and as a united nation. Hadrat Imam such states this plot of the (world) arrogance: “The West has used one great deception to influence, tempt or intimidate the governments of Islamic countries... That great deceit which debases the Muslim governments and distances them from the Qur’an is this race business. This man is from the race of Turks. he has to do his ritual prayers in Turkish. This one is from the Iranian race; his alphabet should be as such. That one is from the Arab race, Arabism should govern not Islam!!!... The Aryan race should rule not Islam……!” However, the important matter is the Muslims’ adding fuel to these kinds of differences. Every day heads of the Muslim states breathe into this fire of imperialism by using titles such as “Arab”, “Arab nationalism”, “the society of Turks, Kurds...” and make it more successful in reaching its goals; however, what the Muslims ought to take into consideration is that aggravating the differences will, further, pave the way for the weakness and decline of the Muslims, while these kinds of differences have been resolved among all the nations and these deeds are very naïve and reactionary. Hadrat Imam says in this respect: “Let us see where this racism, which is being developed amongst these men and is increasing and is encouraged, leads us. This racism is a childish affair and it is as if they are making children play their games. They are making the heads of the governments play their games... Sir, what are you, where are you from? We should do such and such for our own country! ... and I don’t know where it will lead to... There are no Turks and Iranians, Arabs and non-Arabs. Islam is the pivotal point for all Muslims. Why should these kinds of revolutions be created in each of these countries? Why should fronts be created between Muslim governments?” 8. Sectarian differences and provocation of prejudices The heaviest blows which during several decades ago have been dealt upon the holy body of Islam originate from the differences and biases in creed and sect. So that, it has inflicted the most vital losses on the Muslim society and now it suffers from numerous afflictions in this regard, since whatever the scope of these differences extends, discord and disunion among the Muslims exacerbates and consequently not only the Muslims lose their thinking on construction and unity for reaching to development and welfare, but also oppression, corruption and treachery reach their pinnacle. Since time immemorial, the imperialists were thinking to find ways for creating difference among Muslim sects and for this purpose they have brought up many specialists and seasoned ones and have dispatched to the Muslim states. In his memoirs, Mr. Hemfer states: “the English Ministry of Colonies dispatched me to Egypt, Iraq, Tehran, and Hijaz to collect enough information for finding and strengthening ways for creating disunity among the Muslims...” Through causing differences such as Shi’ism, Sunnism and creating and provocation aggression among them and provocation of the partial and biased individuals like wahhabis, the colonialist powers have been able to some extent to achieve their sinister targets. As, Hadrat Imam says: The agents of the foreigners who see that their interests and the interests of their masters are in danger, in order to provoke the Sunni brothers and fan the flames of fratricide, have put forward the Shi’ah-Sunni issue and with this mischief they seek to create a rift between brothers.” If we went a little back to the past, we would observe that what killings, wars, rancor, and enmities have taken place because of this. And, at this juncture that all the opponents are hand in glove and have been mobilized to wipe out Islam, some of the Muslims, instead of standing alongside each other, are supporting these differences and arc aggravating it and are weakening Islam and the Muslims more than even before. Indeed, if the Muslims, instead of attributing blasphemy and profanity to each other, become united and put aside the sectarian differences and struggle with their common enemies in one line, will they have any doubt in gaining victory? Hadrat Imam had well got the point and it is not out of reason that he at any time speaks of the unity among the Muslims: “We have no disagreement with our Sunni brethren. We are all of one nation and Qur’an”.3. In another place, addressing the Shi’ites who are leaving for the Hajj, his eminence Imam (r) says: “Iranian brothers and Shiites of other countries are required to avoid all ignorant actions, which might be a cause of separation within the lines of Muslims. They are also required to attend the gatherings of Sunnites and avoid attending and forming prayers in houses or setting up loud speakers to oppose them. They must avoid genuflecting on the holy tombs and doing whatever is not in consistent with the sacred law at all cost.” The imperialists not only are creating disunity among the Muslims but also are planning to strain the relation between the Muslims and non- Muslims; for example, the Muslims clashes with the Hindus are a good example in this regard. Every year, in India and Pakistan many oppressed people of the two sides are killed because of these religious differences and biases, without thinking a little where from these differences originates. e. Unity and solidarity in the Imam’s (r) word Since his eminence’s (r) struggle against the imperialism, he has always warned the Muslims about the danger of disunity and disagreement and has repeatedly announced it as one of the root causes of the Muslim nations’ lack of success and development. In many of his speeches, he has called the Muslims for unity and pointed out to its aftermaths. In a part of his speeches, he says: “If nations and governments want to attain victory and attain the Islamic objectives in all their dimensions, which are for the happiness of mankind, they must cling to the rope of God and hold fast altogether by the rope which Allah stretches out for you, and to shun differences arid division and obey the command. . Thus, in order to achieve independence and freedom, Muslims must get hold of this key to victory and try hard for unity of expression. You the leaders of governments must pursue this Islamic objective and shun hostility and antagonism with your brothers.” In another place, Hadrat Imam introduces disunity as the source of all misfortunes: “Be aware that differences and dissensions are the sources of all miseries and slaveries.” In another place, the Imam knows the victory of the Islamic Revolution indebted to the unity of expression: “You overwhelmed and triumphed over powers, and the satanic power of the ex-Shah through your unity of expression”.’ In conclusion of this discussion, we shall pay heed to the Imam’s word on disunity and unity in his religio-political testament: “What is important for the Iranian people and the Muslims of the world today and In the future, is to challenge this divisive and destructive propaganda. My recommendation to the Muslims... is to react strongly to these conspiracies and consolidate their unity in any possible way, in order to disappoint the Kuffar (disbelievers) and Munafiqin (hypocrites).” 9. Being under the influence of the trite Western culture When a society loses its cultural identity and originality, and resorts to the traditions and customs with which its existence and nature arc alienated, undoubtedly, it will not succeed. Scientists are on the belief that, throughout history, one of the root causes of civilizations’ decline has always been cultural corruption and taking influence from other cultures. Islam has such a sublime culture in which all the issues related to the mankind’s happiness and welfare has been recorded and if it is acted accordingly, there is no doubt that the society will succeed. As, Hadrat Imam says in this regard: “You know and have seen in history that the Muslims of the very beginning of Islam while having a few number united and with their faith overcome in less than a century, since they were together and the weapon of faith was at their disposal .. You observed that a nation which had a few number and no weapon and had no warfare and military force, but because of having faith it prevailed over a demonic power which all the powers, and not only the superpowers, were following it.” However, imperialism had found out that in case the spirit-giving ideals of Islam are implemented in the Muslims’ societies, it can never be able to infiltrate into the Muslim lands. Hence, by spreading the imperialistic culture which has no goals behind except leading the Muslims to corruption and backwardness, it planned to make the Muslims deviated from the main direction of Islam, so as through the corruption and decay of them and alienating them from their original culture it can achieve its goals. Hadrat Imam says in this regard: “Culture is the source of a nation’s happiness or misfortune. If the culture is not sound then the youth who are trained in this unsound culture will, in the future, create corruption. The imperialist culture produces imperialist youth for the country. A culture which is created by the designs of others—and it is the foreigners who lay their plans for us then hand them over to our- society in the form of culture—is an imperialist and parasitic culture. Such a culture is a weapon more lethal than anything else: it is even worse than the arms of these , for their weapons eventually fall to pieces, as they have done now. But when the culture is corrupt, our youth. who form the foundation of our society, are lost to us; they are trained to become parasites, to become infatuated with the West.” In another place, referring to this ominous plot of the (world) arrogance and warning the Muslims about its danger, his eminence Imam says: “One of the most effective conspiracies that unfortunately has left an undeniable mark on the nations, including our own, is the alienation of the people of colonized countries with their own cultures. In other words,’ Westernized’ or ‘Easternized’ intellectuals became alienated with their own cultures and they came to regard the people related to the superpowers as having superior culture and race compared to that of their own. They looked upon the superpowers as their Qiblah and thought that affiliation with one of the two poles of power is an inevitable issue. Then Hadrat Imam refers to the consequences of this ominous plot of the (world) arrogance as such: “This sad story has a lengthy background. And the blows we have received, and still receiving, are seriously devastating and fatal. Another unhappy and mischievous target plotted by the superpowers is to prevent the oppressed and colonized nations from progression and keep them backward in order to make them consumers rather than producers.” When the imperialistic culture infiltrates into a society, corruption and debauchery increase as well, the consumer policy rules over it, lassitude and languidness prevails over that society, and gradually the true Islam is eliminated and substituted with the western prosaic culture. Apparently, under such circumstances the imperialism can reach its goals easily; as Hadrat Imam says: “A time when the malicious claws of the imperialists have penetrated the depths of Muslim countries and by all possible means they endeavor to dissuade the Muslims from resorting to Islam and the Qur’an so that they could easily attain their inhuman objectives which are the exploitation of the deprived class.” 10. Spreading corruption by the name of civilization Claiming that it wants to submit its culture to the Eastern society, the West commits various crimes and corruptions. And, whenever it is protested, raise the name of civilization. In order to infiltrate its culture into the Muslim societies easily, the West calls it civilization and in this manner it names the freemen who challenge these cultural inroads reactionaries and protestors of the civilization, and unfortunately this intrigue has inflicted a vital blow upon the body of Islam. Hadrat Imam says frankly in his word: “We are not against development and progress, but we are opposed to the expansion of the foreigners’ culture and also prostitution. We are not against cinemas; we are opposed to brothels. We are not opposed to radio, it is prostitution that we are opposed to; we are not opposed to television; what we are opposed to are services rendered to foreigners for keeping our youth backward, and the dissipation of our manpower. When did we ever oppose modernism and its processes? When manifestations of European modernism set foot on eastern shores, particularly in Iran, instead of utilizing this (great) center of civilization, we were pushed into savagery.” a. Corruption in the educational system For spreading the imperialistic culture, the imperialists has taken some measures from among of which we can refer to the establishment of Western schools aiming to make the future generation acquainted with foreign culture so that, that generation disremembers its original culture. For example, the educational advisor of Italy in Eritrea ordered in 1938 that: After finishing the fourth year of the primary school, students have to be able to speak Italian language well, and it is sufficient for them to know from the science of history and its figures only those who have been the cause of grandeur and greatness of Italy. It is not causeless that Hadrat Imam shouts that the educational matters ought to be taken into consideration and be based upon the true basis. He says: “Foreigners and their activities emptied our schools and universities of any content... We must do our best for many years to come so as to strip off our second nature and come onto ourselves and stand on our feet... We should start with children and our only aim should be turning western man into an Islamic one.” Referring to this great danger in his testament, too, Hadrat Imam says: “One of their (and the enemies’) major plots.., is to take over the educational institutions, especially the universities”. b. Corruption in the mass media One of the means which the West always makes use of it to corrupt and stupefy the Muslim nations is radio, television and the press. In case the mass media of a country turns into the propagandistic means of the imperialists, and only undertake the duty of propagating and disseminating the culture of imperialism, how one can expect that the Islamic precepts be put into effect in that society. Since, radio, television and the press are from among the means which if they are used in the proper way and are based on the Islamic norms, they will bring about happiness, and if, God forbid, they fall into the abyss of corruption and destruction, they will deviate the strata of the society, particularly the young generation, from the true path of Islam, as Hadrat Imam says in his religio-political testament: “Radio, television, the press, the cinema, and theaters are the most effective means for stupefying and corruption of the nations especially the younger generations. During the past century, especially the second half of it, great plots were hatched and executed through these media against Islam and its faithful servants, the clerics. The mass media are used, also in the colonial propaganda networks of the West and the East. They have been used to create markets for goods, especially for the sale of luxury and decorative commodities. The media are focused to make people imitate other cultures particularly in areas like clothing, consumption of alcoholic drinks, styles of architecture, and in many other things. To look Westernized was the thing to be proud of. Especially ladies in higher or middle income groups imitated the westerners in all forms and manners.” Making obscene and immoral films, exciting the young women and men’s lusts, and leading the Muslims astray, the imperialists endeavor to keep the nation away from being awakened and thinking of construction and development, and cause them to remain in negligence forever. In the colonized countries, magazines and the press are only encouraging and inciting the nation for the materialization of the imperialistic goals and make effort to expand the colonial culture of the West. As Hadrat Imam says: “Television films depicting Western or Eastern products made young men and women stray from the normal course of their work, throwing life and industry into oblivion irrespective of themselves and their personalities and produced pessimism in people vis-à-vis their own beings, their country, and culture and even about highly valuable works of art and literature, of the West and the East through the treachery of middlemen and collectors. Magazines printed pictures and articles detrimental to morality. Newspapers took pride in directing the youth towards the West or the East by publishing anti-Islamic and anti-indigenous culture and articles.” However, it does not mean that the mass media are of no value, but they are very valuable if they are programmed in line with the lofty teachings of Islam, they will be very successful. Referring to this issue, Hadrat Imam says that the very radio and television, which are so harmful can be used in the way of proper propaganda: “The radio and television arc media to which great significance is attached for both positive and correct propagation as well as negative and corrupt propaganda”. In another place, the Imam counts the radio and television more important than any other publicity means: “The importance of radio and television is higher than all other things”. Proposing separation of religion from politics When Islam and politics are linked together and a composition of the Islamic policy is formed, undoubtedly it will succeed; since according to the history only with an ephemeral glance on the Islamic Revolution and its solidarity against the innumerous problems this will be clarified. Was there anything but the political sense and Hadrat Imam’s commitment to Islam (r), the key to the victory of his leadership? What caused him to enter into the hearts? And what caused him to progress in the most dangerous political issues? Was it anything but the Islamic politics?! When imperialism discovered this foremost issue, it concentrated its endeavor on it to separate religion from the policy of Islamic states and gradually drive the true religion of Islam into isolation. If we take a look at Turkey, we will observe that a country which has once been the center of Islam and from which the power of Islam has been originated, now has disregarded all the Islamic disciplines and took step towards misfortune and decline. As, Kamal Pasha (Ataturk), one of the kings of Turkey, believed: for the country’s advancement, all the disciplines and customs as well as the Eastern heritages have to be put aside and all over the country have to be transform into a European country. His slogan was the westernization of Turkey and all his measures were taken in this line and at present we observe that how Turkey is declining for its political and social problems. In the Islamic states, imperialism gradually started disseminating the idea that faith and religion is only peculiar to the illiterate and ignorant ones and its place is only in the tombs and mosques and Islam is unable to administer the society so as to take the solidarity and proper Islamic biases away from the society and alienate them from their national identity and then follow their ominous goals. In this way, through instilling these doubts, they are planning to remove the religious ones and on top of them the great range of the clerics from the scene. As, Hadrat Imam says: “The covert hands of the global usurpers have, with the help of local individuals and groups that have penetrated into the various strata of the Muslim nations, been working on a certain evil plan for many years now. And they have unfortunately succeeded in spreading a general belief that the clerics should be isolated in their chambers and in the mosques and that the activities of their seniors should be confined to visits from their homes to the mosques and back, with no involvement whatsoever in social issues. And that any involvement of the clergy in socio-political affairs should be tabooed since it would be against the dignity of the clergy! Subsequently, the duty of the young clerics was to simply crawl into the damp chambers of their seminaries and to study religious books that had nothing to do with social and political affairs. According to them, it would be most improper for a cleric to ever don a military uniform...” The imperialism went ahead so much as even the political interference is considered as sin and crime. In many of the Muslim countries, if a person who has a scientific and Islamic status interferes into the affairs of the society, he will act contrary to his own standing. Since, the imperialists introduced the politics as telling lies and resorting to trickery. In this respect, Hadrat Imam says: “They have from the first instilled the idea that politics means telling lies and the like so as to dissuade you from the countries affairs and they be busy with their own job and you busy with saying prayers. You sit down here and they do what they wish, commit what debauchery they wish.” The word of the martyr of the path of freedom and independence, the late Mudarris, is yet in the minds who said: “our religion is the same as our politics”. Indeed, does the materialization of the point that the religion and the politics are linked together give honor and dignity to Islam? And doesn’t it pave the way for its progress and growth?! Certainly yes. Poverty and exploitation of the Islamic countries One of the main causes which has always hindered the Muslim countries from growth and advance is poverty and exploitation which has been caused by the imperialism and it is exacerbated day by day. However, it is surprising that why the nations which have access to the best wealth and the richest resources, live in poverty and indigence? While, these nations can with such a great deal of capital have a great industry and technology. If we glance our eye over Africa, we will observe that in many of its parts there are great resources of gold, silver, lignite, and aluminum however, it is always in the state of poverty and hunger. Also, there are rich resources of petroleum and gas in the Middle East; however, they are backward compared to the world of industry and technology. While describing these courtiers, Hadrat Imam says: “... The nations which, with enormous populations, vast lands, precious natural sources, a very brilliant history and culture as well as heavenly laws, under the bondage of imperialism, are dying of hunger, are entangled in nakedness, poverty, misery and backwardness, and are waiting for their death...” For finding the cause of this great affliction, it is enough only to take a look at imperialism’s record in the Muslim countries. Through various techniques in the Muslim countries and in line with their ominous goals, the imperialists are plundering the oppressed and deprived nations of the region. Without the Muslim nations being in the think of a remedy, the imperialists are endeavoring to annihilate the potential economic infrastructure of the Muslim countries by plundering their natural resources and then place the Muslims in the state of backwardness and poverty and exploit them through various techniques. As, Hadrat Imam says: “It is wonderful that the main resources like petroleum which has turned into the means of other states’ progress and development are more often in the Eastern and Muslim countries; however, unfortunately, the imperialists are robbing your wealth while you ought to flatter them, Indeed, this God- given wealth which should be the cause of progress, elevation and development of this region’s people and free them from what has been the cause of their bondage and misfortune.” Conclusion Yes, indeed, so long as the imperialists are such infiltrating into the Muslim countries, the Muslims will never experience the sweet taste of progress and happiness, so long as Islam is not revived among the Muslim nations and its issues are not materialized exactly, we can never achieve growth and elevation and so long as the ominous shadow of hypocrisy disunion, poverty, exploitation and alienation from the cultural originality is cast among the society, how one can expect prosperity and independence?! Now, we are living in an age when a moment of negligence equals to a great deal of backwardness and affliction. Undoubtedly, if the enemies of Islam find the scene empty, they will make use of our weakness and will consider no mercy and compassion lawful to the Muslim world and will keep us from all aspects in the state of weakness and backwardness. As, Hadrat Imam says: The aim of America and all the hegemonic powers is nothing other than keeping all the weak counties in a state of backwardness in all aspects: cultural, economic, political and military. They cannot have any plan other than to benefit from our resources and those of the other backward countries; and this is the cause of all the pressures in all respects being brought to bear on us.” Thus, we ought to be in the think of remedy and discover the main causes of weakness and backwardness and take steps for their adjustment. The founder of the Islamic Republic says in this regard: “It is my hope that the Muslims of the world learn of their afflictions and the origins thereof as we approach the turn of the century and it is my wish that by means of multilateral unity as well as reliance upon Islam and under its glorious banner that they sever the shackles of slavery and procure their freedom from colonialist nations. Having recognized the pains that they are enduring as well as the fact that they have seen nothing but difficulties, barbarities, and crimes from the diabolic superpowers, Muslims today must achieve a solution by uniting and seeking divine help from the Almighty and our holy religion, Islam.” In another place, Hadrat Imam says in this regard: “This era is not the time for Muslims to sit idle and watch them (foreign powers) going on with their plundering. This is an era when Muslims must rise up and dissociate their country from the influence of foreign (powers)”. Now it is a time when we require struggle, endeavor, and sacrifice, and along with unity, consolidation and solidarity and also the God’s help, the victory will be imminent. “Oh Muslims of the world, poor of the world under the hegemony of the oppressors, rise up and unite and defend Islam and your destiny and don’t fear the roar of the superpowers, for this century as God will is the century of domination of the poor over the superpowers and right will prevail over wrong.”