Religious faith originates in charm and attraction ooze from charismatic messengers or verses of holy books. The allure of religious fetishes far outweighs the philosophical discussions among the religionists. Faith, which leads to bona fide peace and salvation, roots in burning desires capture one’s attention. Therefore, the men had succumbed to religious temptations, in spite of the iconoclastic approaches of the Prophets, throughout the history.
For instance, as a baby yields to the mother’s warm bosom in pure ecstasy, an ascetic succumbs to the divine magnetism without a puny resistance. Faith is neither merely cherishing theistic belief – which can also be gained by indoctrination – nor a stock of knowledge about deity, but a burning emotion ablaze in one’s mind and heart. The god-fearing men burst into tears with hearing the verses of sacred books and find a genuine solace in the appellation of their Lord. Based on the perspective of Islamic theosophists, man’s body is his cage; a man of virtue will seek to free himself from physical bulwarks and boundaries. In other words, one will enjoy freedom from want and fear through nurturing religious faith and via cultivating virtue in your soul, the vice will be abrogated and you will feel a spiritual liberty.
Our religious faith will precipitate an internal revolution. It will enable us to break the material idols and free our souls from the clutches of bodily fetters. The dynamic force of our faith will curtail our cupidity, megalomania and the puissant appetite for moral corruptions. Faith is a “practice” of religious guidelines and moral values with great sentiments. Hence, we will no more be subjugated to our physical temptations or carnal desires through pure faith.
Since faith is a free choice, it will never be juxtaposed with emulation. Moreover, a faithful individual will lose his hope in tortuous path of certainty and skepticism, wander desultorily for years, but will regain his jaunty state through practicing asceticism and supplication. Imitation is not viable in religious faith. For instance, if you copy the religious practices of your parents or the mullahs of your village, which naturally lacks a deep sentiment or zeal, your claim to be faithful is baseless. It is because imitation curtails your freedom whereas faith bestows one freedom and choice.
However, Dr. Shariati, an Iranian religious intellectual, believes that the intellectuals must have ideology. According to him, ideology is faith based on awareness and commitment which is beyond indoctrination and imitation. He affirms that faith either roots in social tradition – a set of beliefs hands down from past generation, indoctrinated feelings, imitative rituals, etc. which portray the soul of a particular group – or in ideology. He asserts that movement is an integral component of ideology which inspires the ideologues to achieve their ideals. Later on, this movement will be changed into institution or social association. In such a case, whoever is born in this environment, will be an imitator and a genetic follower – either Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Materialist, etc. In short, their beliefs will be handed down from their forefathers and root in imitation and indoctrination rather than awareness.
Nineteenth Century was the eruption of ideologies. The great ideologies such as existentialism, Socialism, Marxism, Fascism, etc. are the product of historical evolution emerged in 19th century. However, Dr. Shariati believes that ideologies subsided in 20th centuries. He argues that when faith erodes, people lose their beliefs and lack commitment towards an ideal, the scientific awareness of the intellectuals be exploited, the rulers will continue their regime with better peace of mind.
Therefore, he adds, that the prophets arose neither from philosophers nor from scholars but from simple populace. They come to renew the histories and the societies and launch revolution. The non-philosopher intellectuals are the symbol of ideologies throughout the human history. They appeared like a flash and spread awareness, enlivened the numb and inanimate ages, injected fresh blood and energy into a dead mentality, static religion or custom and changed the destiny of societies.
He believes that the ideologues, who have chosen their faith and religion with full awareness, are the impatient lovers burning with great sentiments. Awareness here seems the antithesis to imitation. He means that the ideologues embraced their religion with eagerness, albeit they did not involve in philosophical discussions. In another item, they succumbed to the charm and attraction of the charismatic prophets and chose their way voluntarily – not under duress – and did not inherit their beliefs from their forefathers. Such faith, which creates movement against the vice and moral corruption of status quo, is highly worthwhile.
Ill-fatedly, we live in a sorry plight wherein the Islamists are burning with blind faith and bigotry gained through imitation and indoctrination. The religious fanatics involve in violence and bloodshed into frenzy. They are brainwashed in subterranean undergrounds of madrasahs to kill their religious brethren. Their fallacious claims of religiosity and mendacious jihad under the aegis of religion have blackened the reputation of Islam. The religious radicals smolder with a strong appetite for killing mankind in the worst possible way. Their acts of horror and terror and insatiable thirst for murdering innocent individuals reflect their barbarity and inhumanity. Hence, imitative belief and indoctrinated faith regarding religion will lead to oppression and barbarity.