ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Theological Instructions INTRODUCTION IT IS ALMOST A TRUISM to say that a person’s beliefs play a central role in making up his personality. We are what we believe, and we become what we come to believe. It is our beliefs that determine how we look at ourselves, how we look at life, at the world around us and our own role and destiny in life. Our beliefs determine our ideals and actions and mould the conduct of our lives.

This is another way of saying that our understanding of what we are is the mainspring of our thought and feeling, conduct and behaviour. Our understanding concerning our own nature, our origin, our situation in the world of being, our relationship with other human beings, the purpose of our life, and the future destiny that awaits us-all these matters together determine the kind of person we are today and what we may become tomorrow. This is as true of society as it is true of individuals.

That is, the character of a society derives from its current beliefs. A society’s culture, its ideals and norms, its social, educational, economic and political institutions-all are derived in some way or another from the beliefs prevailing in society and those that are held by various groups that play a dominant role in it.

Beliefs are ordinarily absorbed by human beings in the course of acculturation, that is, “the process by which the culture of a particular society is instilled in a human being from infancy onward.” Yet beliefs are too important to be left to acculturation. In view of the critical role they play in the making of an individual and his destiny, they are immensely more important than other cultural modes like language, social customs, diet, dress, lifestyle and technology.

One of the greatest of human needs is the need to believe, and this poses a tremendous challenge to individuals and society. The challenge is truly stupendous because our need to believe pertains to matters of great consequence, answering which is apparently beyond the capacity of any individual or institution.

How can I know where I have come from, why I have come into this world and what is the purpose of my life, how do I relate to this vast universe into which I have been brought, how can I know what is expected of me, how should I order my relationships with other human beings, how should I live so as to fulfil the real purpose of my life, what laws and regulations should I follow in order to achieve that purpose?