a Jew will say what he says is true...

a Jew will say what he says is true; a Zoroastrian will say his beliefs arc right; a Buddhist will say his religion is in accord with reality; a Communist will say all the others are wrong and only his school and philosophy are scientific; and so on. And since no-one will admit to the possibility that what he considers to be correct might be incorrect, no-one permits himself to carry out an enquiry.

In the hadith just quoted Imam Sadeq considers such dogmatic thinking to be a kind of universal ideological sickness, and as long as a person remains afflicted by this disease there is no hope of him being able to correct his beliefs and choose a true religion. The Probability of Error In Political Beliefs After religious beliefs the second area in which nobody admits the possibility of being wrong, and dogmatically believes he is in the right, is that of political beliefs.

Every government and regime, every political organization and group, as well as every individual intent on seizing power, claims to be right, and says that only their policies should be carry out and that only they have the right to rule. The leaders of the United States consider their political beliefs to be right and so do, the leaders of the Soviet Union and so does every other government and regime.

Where wise within every government every party and group considers itself to be right and its rivals to be wrong, and within every party and group every individual so do aspires to leadership considers his political beliefs to be right and the beliefs of others to be wrong.

In a nutshell, there are as many political beliefs in the world as there arc parties and groups and aspirants to political leadership and each of these considers its beliefs and policies to be correct and those of the others to be wrong.

In fact, a brief study of the conduct of all aspirants to power shows that all they are really interested in is their personal advancement, and what they put forward as their political beliefs is really nothing other than an excuse and a bridge to reach to their goal of power and control. For this reason the Imam, calls the beliefs and policies of such ambitious people the 'passion for self-advancement.

The Probability Of Error In Management The third area in which everyone believes himself to be right is management. Nobody thinks that in the management and planning of affairs which have been entrusted to him he might be wrong.