ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Society and History Islam's 'Philosophy' of History Criteria In order to discover the viewpoint of any school of thought regard­ing the nature of history we may use certain criteria which help us to exactly determine its approach to different historic movements and events. For this purpose, here I offer some criteria which I consider proper for such a study. Of course, there may possibly be other criteria which I fail to perceive.

God changes not the condition of a people until they change that which is in themselves .... (13:11) In other words, the destiny of a people is never changed unless they change their mental and spiritual attitudes. This verse clearly negates the theory of economic determinism of history. Nevertheless, I shall give an account of the criteria I have deter­mined and on their basis evaluate the viewpoint of Islam regarding the nature of history.

Strategy of the Call Every school of thought that has a message for society and calls the people to accept it, has to adopt a specific method which is related on the one hand to its principal aims and objectives, and on the other to its viewpoint about the nature of historical movements. The call of a school is meant, firstly, to awaken a particular consciousness in the people, and, secondly, to arouse and mobilize them by using certain specific means of motivation.

An example is the humanist school of Auguste Comte. Comte advocates a kind of "scientific religion," and considers the essence of human evolution to lie in the sphere of the human mind. He believes that the human mind has passed through two stages. The first stage is that of mythology and philosophy. The second is the stage of science.

Naturally, he relates all the desirable forms of consciousness to science, and all the means of motivation required for attaining this objective are also related to the scientific spirit. Another example is that of Marxism which is a revolutionary theory of the working class.