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A Comparative Study of Imam Ali S (P.B.U.H) and
Modern Styles of Leadership
by Seyyed Ahmad Ebrahimi
There are two general outlooks on
leadership: The Divine and the worldly. All the existing theories about
leadership spring from a worldly outlook. The reason for this is the
difficulty in the Divine approach to leadership. The aim of this research is
to render a comprehensive theory rooted in both Divine and worldly outlooks
on leadership in order to compensate for the deficiencies in the existing
theories.
Imam Alis(P.B.U.H)
theory of leadership is not to be considered as a countertrend towards other
theories but a more complete one. In other words, His model of leadership
involves a twofold behavior on the part of the leader: God-oriented and
non-God Oriented / i.e. the leader invokes Gods consent simultaneously with
paying due attention to his duties towards people.
To sum-up, one should say that leadership
encompasses the followings: the leader, led, the goal and the path.
Imam Alis peculiar leadership features, as
compared with the other existing ones are: His due attention to the four
pillars i.e. God, duty, worker, and situation mixing god- orientation with
task-oriented and workers-oriented
dimensions, invigorating the lifeless body of leadership theories,
recognizing the human dimension and evolution of workers, flexibility of the
leader, inducing a long-term view of mankind, heeding the path and the goal
of workers, conformity with the system of creation and nature, emphasizing
God as a major factor and focusing on consultation and the significance of
experienced personalities .
Patterns of Idealism and Pragmatism in the thought
and Conduct of Imam Ali (P.B.U.H)
By: Hassan Shabanloo
Conceptually speaking, pragmatism includes
characteristics like belief in the importance of power in politics, the
central position of national interests, the innateness of seeking power in
man and in brief, a movement towards acquiring ones own interests. The
features of idealism are the indifference towards seeking powers, a more
emphasis on peaceful activities, the centrality of ethics and the inner
goodness and benevolence of man.
Thus we can take Imam Ali as the epitome of
pragmatic idealism.
The reasons for Imam Alis idealism are his school
making the compatibility of his ideals with social interests on the basis of
a futuristic approach, and his macrocosmic view. These are manifest in his
justice, faithfulness, honesty and generosity.
The reasons for
Imams pragmatism are his prudence and consideration of actual conditions of
time and place and the probability of his resorting to force. Instances of
this could be detected in Imams statements and generosity.
As regards the mingling of idealism and
pragmatism, various ideas have been given; The idea of Omm
Ul-Qura (The leading country in the propagation of
faith) legitimacy the linear view, the idea of local level and global level
of analysis, and pragmatic idealism which is evident in the thought and
conduct of Imam Ali as expressed in his famous sermons.
Expediency and obligation principle
in the Thought and Conduct of Imam Ali (P.B.U.H)
By: moosa Salimi
By obligation we mean the
observance of those precepts and regulations set by God and communicated by
his messengers to mankind, resulting in a state of bliss in this world and
the hereafter. On the other hand there is the concept of expediency which
means seizing good opportunities and avoiding threats as far as the
objectives of the Holy Writ are preserved.
There are three kinds of this: the expediencies perse (those which are unchanged, arbitrary and others),
the governmental expediencies (including the unchanging once and the common
law and the ones set by judicious persons) and the expediencies in the sense
of interests (including those set by God and those based on reason or related
to social conditions.)
To judge whether Imam Ali resorted to expediency
or obligation as pivotal in actions we should never forget that the first is
in line with the second and hence the prominence belongs to the second. As a
result we should judge Imam Ali as one who gave priority to his obligations
so that his sedentary years, his stopping of the war of Seffin
and ofther similar acts were expedient measures in
accordance with the overall nature of his obligations. Hence his expediency
was a means of sustaining the main roots of religion and not the continuation
of his rule.
Power in Imam Alis political Model
By: Faez Dinparasti Saleh
Since the dawn of civilization human life has been
mingled whith politics which is nothing but the use
of power or taking measures that lead to power. In this field two approached
could be distinguished, having their origin in the ancient Iran and Greece. the Iranian stance
considered power as the major concern of politics and looked at expediency as
one of its main components. According to the second, politics was not an end
in itself but a means that relied on power as an effective measure for
achieving noble goals.
The present article intends to
examine Imam Alis outlook on power. His political plan gave a fundamental
role to justice so that no expediency or similar condition could hinder the
implementation of justice. One can easily detect traces of Amam Alis justice in historical books about economics,
politics and his reactions in the face of opposing groups and in foreign
relations. We can therefore comprehend Imams style of implementing power by
attending to the prominent position that justice has in his political
philosophy. He looks at government and power not as ends in themselves but as
means of establishing Justice. This is because in his worldview, the earthly
life, and hence the government, have no essential value unless they serve the
noble goal of the spiritual life of man.
Islamic Movements and the Islamic Revolution
By: Morteza Bahrani
After the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran a couple of great world events took place
simultaneously. One was the process of the impact of the Revolution on
downtrodden people, especially those in the Moslem countries and the second
was that of the deep concern among arrogant countries (the superpowers)
together with their conspiracies.
The main question is the stance we should take to
upgrade the trend of Islamic Movements.
There are three different approaches in this
regard: One is an adherence to Western principles by some Moslems who have
been educated outside the Moslem world and look at the western countries as
some different and more developed entity. Nationalism and religious revival
are the other two. The latter became the outset of Islamic movements
throughout the Moslem world. There are some sociological and analytical
causes for these movements. Some attempt to enhance the progress of the
movement by recourse to Islamic fundamentalism. Since this movement looks at
the West and its manifestations as some hindrances in its way, it has incited
the negative reaction of the Western states. A reaction which has shown
itself in cultural, economic, political and military forms.
The Islamic Revolution has had direct and indirect
impacts on those Islamic movements. The first one caused the rise of the
movements and the second led to their expansion and influence in other
fields.
The Islamic movements prospect, whether to
succeed or fail, depends to a large extent on the future of the Islamic Revolution
and its developments.
The Achievments of the
Islamic Revolution in Iran in the Past 22 Years
(extracts of interview with hojatol
islamAlamolhoda)
The Islamic Revolution in Iran has had manifold challenges and achievements.
Although not complete and desirable due to a lack of transformation of social
structure, these achievements have enabled us to some extent to render a
practical form of religious rule.
To name some of the results one can mention the
rendering of a practical model of religious rule, the formation of modern
intellectual and political trends in Islam, the revival of Islamic movements
the East, and the reacquisition of religion and national identity.
Of one of the obstacles in the way of the emergence
pre-existing social structures. To transform this structure a thorough
upheaval in the insight of masses is required and to attain the desirable
goal, the mere consent of God should be the pivot of all attitudes and
desires.
As regards the challenges, one should refer to two
major threats in the face of our Islamic system. One is the detachment of
peoples inclinations from religion principles and the other is the problem
of the transition of values to succeeding generations.
Doubtless, the higher education,
especially the religious universities, can contribute greatly to the training
of experts and religiously committed students.
The Foundations of Political Legitimacy According
to Imam Ali (P.B.U.H)
By Gholamreza Khosravi
In the Political science literature, the political
legitimacy signifies the association of individuals with the political power,
and according to Islamic law (Shari, a), the source of rightfulness and
legitimacy is the One God, hence the sovereignty over humans in all its types must have been prescribed
by God and must be in accordance with Gods law.
According
to Imam Ali's words and theoretical and practical traditions, there are tow
major bases for the political legitimacy of a religious regime: religious legitmancy and political legitimacy. The former is fulfilled
under the following conditions: the absolute divine sovereignty, the achievement
of the supreme goals of the political system in Islam such as the rule of
religion in social interactions, the establishment of social goal i.e.
freedom, justice, equality; managing people's worldly affairs
and giving their rights; the
selection of the political elite from among those possessing knowledge and wisdow, justice, leadership competence, power and
prudence, trustworthiness, flexibility, bright records, courage and
generosity .
The
political legitimancy is achieved when people show
extended social participation and their interactions are based on mutual
rights and all the individuals feel responsible and rulers and leaders feel
accountable for their deeds.
The decline of legitimancy,
Imam Ali believes, is the result of two major causes: one is the use of
political power in order to disobey God and the other in the weakening or
obliteration of people's trust and consent. Imam mentions some basic elements
of the decrease of people's consent as follows: The egocentrism of the
rulers, injustice, poverty, financial distress, and forc
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