Understanding the relationship between religion and society is particularly challenging because of fundamental differences between meanings of different religions to their followers as well as to objective analysts. Yet it is generally accepted that religion is a reflection of social conditions and social thoughts of the age. Sometimes and some varieties of religion aim at legitimizing and maintaining the social structure, and some other varieties of religion encourage social change. Even in monolithic religions like Islam one cannot overestimate the role of interpretations of Islam for protest and change (Ali Shari’ati, ud, Ali Shari’ati, 1979). In the article “The Dialectic of Sociology” (Ali Shari’ati, 1979) builds a most explicit connection between God and society.
The word “people” (al-nas) has a profound meaning and distinct significance in Islam. It is only the people as a whole who are the representatives of God and His “family” (al-nas iyalu ’L lah). The Qur’an begins in the name of God and ends in the name of the people. The Ka’ba is the house of God, but the Qur’an also calls it the “house of the people” and the “free house” (al-bayt al-‘atiq) (22:29,33), as opposed to other houses that are in the bond of private ownership. We see here that the word al-nas does not denote a mere collection of individuals. On the contrary, it has the sense of “society” as opposed to “individuals.” The word al-nas is a singular noun with the sense of a plural; it is a word without a singular. What word could better convey the concept of “society,” something possessed of an identity totally independent from all of its individual members? |
For Ali Shari’ati, the real Islam is the belief in God which is another way of looking at the belief in people. All interpretations of Islam do not subscribe to this view. Many other religious traditions also contradict this. While the great visionaries of all religions accord importance to serving people, not all of them claim this to be the most important aim of religion.
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