Summary
Islamic intellectual, a prime force in the early days of the Iranian Revolution, quoted by Edward Said at the close of this part for a vision of man as constant migration against organized orthodoxy (Culture and Imperialism, PDF p.360-361 / printed p.333-334).
Details
- His attack on “the true, straight path, this smooth and sacred highway” — organized orthodoxy — is contrasted with the deviations of constant migration (PDF p.361 / printed p.334).
- Shariati, quoted by Said (man as a choice, a struggle, a constant becoming): “He is an infinite migration, a migration within himself, from clay to God; he is a migrant within his own soul.” (PDF p.361 / printed p.334)
- Said finds in this a genuine potential for an emergent non-coercive culture, although Shariati speaks only of “man” and not of “woman” (PDF p.361 / printed p.334).
- He is also named in Chapter One, III, with Jalal Al-e-Ahmad, as having prepared the way for the Islamic Revolution by asserting the absolute opposition of the native culture (PDF p.57 / printed p.30).