Paranoia is a chronic spiritual illness that disrupts a person’s ability for reasoning, balanced thinking, and judgment. Paranoia is a symptom of psychopathy. People who exhibit signs of paranoia often display the following four symptoms:

1. They ascribe an extraordinary value to themselves, expect others to do the same towards them, demonstrate attitudes of egoism and egocentrism, and look down on others. Their ego is puffed up even more when others give them what they want;
2. Suspicious of everything, they are constantly distrustful and apprehensive about being wronged;
3. They always see alternative developments around them as conspiracies against themselves, and based on these presumptions they develop extreme strategies just to be cautious;
4. In fits of delirium, they cause social disharmony and see themselves as the only one behaving correctly.

Such people make paranoia one of their ingrained character traits. They are perpetually afraid of losing the things they have somehow obtained. They invent imaginary villains and rebels, and crush those whom they take as opponents, if they have the power. If they are weak, they side with those who were nothing but a nemesis the day before; they seek to cause perpetual discord and commit the gravest atrocities.

They don’t merely commit hundreds of evils; as if possessed by evil spirits and devils, they block the good deeds of those who walk on the path of the Prophets. They seek to make those good souls seem like rebels and bandits, while also turning the masses into pawns for their evil purposes. By doing such things they also seek to prevent a global revival of humanity sought by those who strive to represent universal human values in all corners of the world.

On account of what they commit under the urges of the carnal soul and passing fancies, such people disrupt society; ironically they also cannot obtain their goals, either. To the contrary, with their paranoia-based acts, they have turned their lives and the lives of those around them into Hell.

As a paranoid individual operates based on destruction, which is easily done, they also ascribe favorable outcomes to their own insight and sagacity. They see others as abnormal—like lunatics do—while continually exhibiting different kinds of insanity. By considering those who do not think like them as traitors and terrorists, they live in fear of losing what they possess. They order special troops to guard them, but they still don’t feel safe.

Paranoids who come from poor backgrounds and obtain important positions and titles later on with a turn of fate are especially seized by every kind of delirium—partially due to their inferiority complex—and a paranoia about losing their power and fortune to others. They are agonized by successions of misgivings. They see angels, and angel-spirited people, as if they are snakes and set about complimenting devils.

The Pharaoh was one such paranoid individual. Uneasy of the possibility that one day Moses (pbuh) and the Children of Israel could become stronger, he did not only make life a misery for himself and the unwise ones behind him, but also shed the blood of so many people—just like contemporary pharaohs do—and committed manifold atrocities. When his time was up, destiny removed him from the stage.

History gives us many such examples, and it marks a route of caution for those with insight. Although times have their relevant differences of color, pattern, name, and titles, within the cycle of historical recurrences, no era was free of such human-like creatures. From the Pharaoh to Haman, from Nebuchadnezzar to Shapur, from Stalin to Hitler, and to those like Yazid in their footsteps, so many paranoid individuals have come to the fore, performing the same evils and disgracing humanity. They built villas and palaces for themselves, employed the same wicked ways, and followed the same devilish path. They kept living with misgivings, were haunted by fears of losing the power they had, and to prevent this they defamed and persecuted thousands and millions of decent countrymen.

Recent history is full of examples. Hitler left behind ruins in Germany and killed millions of innocents. In Iran, the Shah – fearing the loss of his power – ruthlessly massacred dissidents. Saddam Hussein, afraid of facing the same fate as the Shah, mowed down those he thought-to-be his opponents. And Qaddafi was no different either. He ravaged his country, all to preserve his own power, in fear of an illusory opponent.

Other paranoids who emerged like hellish zaqqum trees in the Islamic world act no differently: people are thrown in prison for trivial reasons, mothers and their children are separated from one another, innocent people are killed by torture, law and justice are trampled underfoot. So-called “scholars” serve as henchmen to these modern-day pharaohs. Killings and torture go unpunished. Creatures in human form gawk at these, mute devils (who do not object to injustice) simply watching wicked atrocities without any emotion or action.

Now, what falls to those oppressed is to fix their eyes beyond the horizons and pray for God’s help to come and free them from their chains. Above all, if only we—as all oppressed and suffering believers—could learn to say “goodness lies in what God has decreed and brought to being,” and thus not complain about Divine destiny.… If only we could internalize the meaning of the prayer “we are pleased with God as our Lord,” as expressed in:

Even if it is a hardship from Your Majesty,
Or ease from Your Beauty,
For our soul, both are serenity
Your Grace is so good, and so is Your wrath.
Yunus Emre

If only we could feel this sentiment at every breath. If only we could have a deep respect for God and live satisfied with the creed of:

Whatever Divine Destiny decreed is surely bound to happen,
Commit your affairs to God; neither be grieved nor suffer any pain.
nderuni Vasif

If only we could see what we go through as pools of spiritual purification, as expressed in:

God lets those whom He loves be purified by means of troubles,
Just as pure waters wash away impurities

If only we could murmur with this consideration and find consolation. If only we said, “Every oppression and wicked act has a certain term until it incurs Divine retribution,” and as a respect to that appointed term, if only we said:

A day will come when God will make oppressors say,
God has indeed preferred you above us.”
(Ziya Pasha, with reference to Yusuf 12:91)

Then, we could commit everything to their true Owner. If only we could see the end but not the present, with the belief that, “Those who rise with oppression are bound to face a terrible end,” based on the truth, “unbelief will continue, but oppression will not.”

If only we could leave everything (beyond our capability) to the All-Knowing One with the belief expressed in:

For the oppression of a tyrant,
there is God for the oppressed
Tormenting people today is easy,
only to stand trial tomorrow on the Day of Judgment….

If only we did not complain while going through temporary misfortunes, and be reassured by the meaning of “God is sufficient for us; what a beautiful guardian is He.”

This was the very guideline and constant recitation of great personages; it must be ours as well. Let us say “these too will come to pass,” and without paying attention to the aspersions published by the oppressors’ media allies, we must turn our surroundings into fragrance centers with the rose gardens in our hearts and thus make everyone enraptured and elated.

May God the Kind, Caring, Bounteous and Favoring of infinite Mercy bless us with unshakeable will on this path, a resolute stance, and continuity in our resoluteness.

he debate over religion’s role in social change has been raging for centuries.

The interpretation and perception of even just a single social action is multi-layered, multi-faceted, complex, and sophisticated. It almost seems impossible to explain a social action entirely through any of our sciences; in fact, it seems unlikely that any science will be developed that fully encompasses all of humanity’s problems.

As human beings our needs, conscious or unconscious, stretch from a tiny atomic particle to nearly the whole universe. It sometimes seems that the whole universe and all that within it are not good enough to satisfy even the smallest need of our unlimited desire. Some have asserted that one day human beings are going to play the role of God. They do this because of their strong and persistent belief that we are merely the product of material existence and it is therefore the material realm that makes us who we are. As such, they believe we will eventually rule over the things that created us.

Others would undoubtedly take a whole different direction and argue that our nature is a complex, interwoven tapestry of the material and immaterial realms; it is imprecise to contend that it is only economic conditions or conditioning that beget all the other elements of our social and individual lives, which includes things such as literature, the fine arts, religion, and the like. Hence, I intend to examine the notions of two influential intellectuals of the recent past: Karl Marx and Max Weber, particularly their notions as to religion.

To begin with, the history of humanity has seen a lot of wars, but the intellectual war that we have experienced over the past two centuries, which split the entire world into two blocks of countries (until recently they were communist and capitalist), should be of the greatest interest to almost everyone; it has been a one-of-a-kind struggle.

Marx, a reductionist, framed his argument as such:

“…the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a single word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in revolutionary re-constitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.”

He wrote this about the sorry state of the working class, especially in the nineteenth century, when workers were treated almost like machines or animals. This was particularly true in Western Europe. Even from just these few lines, one could easily grasp the sympathy of Marx for the working class of his time, what he called the oppressed, and his animosity and utter disgust toward the elite class, what he called the oppressor. It is no surprise then to see him portray a system in which the rights of the oppressed to a happy life could not be realized as needing to be overthrown through a social upheaval or revolution against the oppressors. For Marx, everything was crystal clear: it was the economic system which made the elites oppress their workers (please see “Karl Marx: the Prophet of Materialism” article in this issue).

Marx frequently turned to the then recent revolutions occurring in Western Europe: the English Civil War of the 1600s and the French Revolution. These struggles cost many lives and were for him just a new chapter in the ever-repeating class struggle between the oppressor and the oppressed.

On the surface, the apparent causes of the infamous conflict could be identified as politics and religion, which were quite intertwined then. A thorough analysis of Marx’s society enabled him to discover the subtle connection between the social class divisions and the stages of economic development, and allowed him to postulate his version of human salvation: communism, in which the superstructure, with all its elements including religion, would perish eternally in the name of a utopian, classless society. He prophesied a future in which the communal life of people would be shaped by a new idealized economic system that negated all private ownership of property, monopolized the political structure, and left no room for religion in social and individual life. As a matter of fact, most of his writings reflect his reactive response to the perceived evils or fatal flaws of capitalism. For instance, while some people enjoyed luxurious lives because of the fact that they were born to a rich family, many others endured the severest conditions just to survive. Witnessing this, one cannot help but wonder, “Is the economic system to be blamed for this?” Or even, “Are the ill-perception, misuse, and exploitation of the system the culprit?” I am completely sure that every sensible human being would appreciate the diagnosis of the diseases of class struggle and the oppression of the poor, but I also think it is hasty to reflexively blame the system – capitalism – as being solely to blame for the wretched conditions of the oppressed. According to Marx, religion was the opiate fed by the oppressors to the oppressed to keep them in line. To realize the revolution that Marx felt was necessary, this opiate had to be eliminated.

His approach to religion was always contemptuous and very similar to the functional and reductionist theories of Freud and Durkheim. In his view, religion is nothing more than a pure illusion – in other words, an entity that has no real existence. Therefore, he did not heed what religious beliefs or holy books taught; rather, he emphasized the function that religion and its fundamental elements played in social life. Even though his portrayal of religion was reduced to a social function, he still maintained that we should discover why people insist on this illusion, arguably since the beginning of human life.

As depicted above, Marx left no room for religion in his imagined world after the envisaged revolution against the oppressor. He saw it as an effect, an expression or a symptom of a deeper reality: material facts of the class struggle and alienation. Religion was the culprit to be annihilated in the name of real human bliss.

On the other hand, almost a half century later, a young and bright social scientist would dare to hold a completely different account of religion and argue that though the economic conditions of an individual or a society could determine the tone of some religious beliefs or practices, history would bear witness otherwise. He stated:

“…the side of the problem which is generally most difficult to grasp: the influence of certain religious ideas on the development of an economic spirit, or the ethos of an economic system. In this case we are dealing with the connection of the spirit of the modern economic life with the rational ethics of ascetic Protestantism. Thus we treat here only one side of the causal chain.”

In “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,” Max Weber diligently outlined a delicate connection between an attitudinal and doctrinal change in the framework of a religious group of Protestantism and the economic development that followed. Throughout his scholarly treatise, he gave an exquisitely drawn picture of the early Protestants, particularly the pioneers of Protestantism: Martin Luther and John Calvin. In fact, he claimed that the self-constraining ethic of Protestantism that stemmed from the inner-worldly asceticism fostered with frugality, personal discipline, solemnity, thrift, self-denial, hard work, investment, and making the best use of one’s time and resources was the spirit of capitalism. There was, he explained, a sharp difference between the adherents of the then Catholic Church, which regarded the daily chores and business enterprises as petty issues compared to the religious works of monks, nuns, and priests (other-worldly asceticism), and the followers of early Protestantism, who praised any effort to please God, including daily chores and especially the acquisition of wealth (inner-world asceticism).

He aptly placed this sharp change of attitude in the disciples of Calvin towards the acquisition of wealth at the very center of the eventual rise of the capitalist economy and the birth of a new civilization. Some monumental maxims like, “A penny saved is a penny earned…”, “Time is money; sloth is sin…”; “Even the humblest tasks are solemn duties assigned by God Himself…”; “All work, not just religious work, was a calling from God; it should not be done but done well, as a faithful service carried out under the great Taskmaster’s eye…” reflect this spirit of capitalism in Protestant countries like the United States and England. For Weber, “an idea in the mind of one human agent (or shared by a group of agents) is as much a real cause of human action as the application of heat to water is the real cause of steam.” Therefore, the backbone of the current capitalism originates in the very change in the belief system of a group of religious people. Such a claim is a consistent proof for social scientists like Weber to argue against the extremely reductionist notions of religion like that of Marx.

The two contrasting views of religion are significantly worth studying. While Marx, with his infamous animosity towards religion, divorced it from his utopian communist society and sentenced it to death forever, he adamantly upheld the necessities of human nature and pointed out the fact that negligence of the material aspect of life would result in absurdities in the name of human salvation. Moreover, his emphasis that history had become an arena of social class struggle urged humans to find lasting resolutions in order to establish projections of heavenly bliss on earth. Humanity undoubtedly owes him a round of applause due to his incessant efforts to vocalize the rights of the oppressed to life, dignity, and freedom. However, it is truly heartbreaking to see that he could not apprehend the real core of religion, which is pure devotion, compassion, self-denial, and other humble traits. If only he had chosen a different path that appreciated the diverse nature of humanity, of which religion is a distinguished component. I have never understood why Marx negated the fact that as material conditions shape ideas, ideas also cause material beings to change. Hence, unlike Marx, Weber approved of the fact that the key cause of the capitalist revolution was not some material circumstance, but a new form of economic behavior that followed logically from a new religious idea: “the self-constraining ethic of Protestantism was the animating spirit of capitalism.”

Has the battle come to an end yet? Honestly, I would assert it is an ongoing process. As we progress in light of the more inspiring notions of contemporary social scientists, we come to realize how wrong it is to reduce a very deeply embedded part of human social and individual life -religion- to something superficial or hypothetical. It is rather to be understood as something “sui generis” and a multi-faceted reality – a reality in and of itself. It is unquestionably inspiring to see several people search for an answer to what religion is and at the same time quite overwhelming to know that a great number of things in religion need an unbiased, pure, and sophisticated mind supported with the sublime emotions or faculties of the (metaphorical) heart. Furthermore, it is absolutely necessary to devise a new, multicolored approach to religious studies that embrace not only the fine-tuned minds but also the purified hearts. It would be wise to heed Kant’s argument against pure reason: “The ultimate truth can never be known through the theoretical mind. Only then can it be perceived partially via the practical mind.” Finally, it wouldn’t be a mere exaggeration to assert that what religion is or what role it plays in social and individual lives is a question of life and death to a certain degree. Hence, is religion a cause, an effect – or both? While many would say it is just an effect, several others would sail to the shore of “a cause”; still others, like me, agree that religion is both, and that every thought or emotion should get the benefit of the doubt.

References

1. Anatomy of the Sacred, an introduction to religion, 5th Ed. by James C. Livingston
2. Introducing Religion, readings from the classic theorist, by Daniel L. Pals
3. Eight Theories of Religion, 2nd Ed., by Daniel L. Pals
4. Gale Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd Ed.
5. Encyclopedia of Quran by Jane Dammen McAuliffe

The four largest Muslim communities are located in Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, all Asian countries. Indonesia has more Muslims than Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Saudi Arabia combined. Malaysia is home to more Muslims than Jordan, Lebanon, and Kuwait combined. Muslims are found in sizable numbers in Albania and Bulgaria; even China has 25 million Muslim believers.

Wherever one looks, Islam is on the move. As people increasingly find themselves rootless, disconnected, and alienated, they seek help in a comforting Islamic ideological refuge. In a world of incoherent violence, widening inequities, political oppression, personal corruption, and shattered families, many world citizens are massing behind the green flag of Islam. This movement is populist in nature, a bubbling up from below, a march of the distressed, oppressed, dispossessed.

Although most Muslims seek to improve their conditions through quiet, moderate, and peaceful means, some fringe groups have adopted violent methods, as have their Christian and Jewish counterparts.

Oblivious to their own ignorance and often harboring hidden agendas, many Western opinion and political leaders label all Muslims as militants, fanatics, and terrorists. According to these Western voices, Islam is the religion of the sword, Muslim activists are terrorists, and Muslim countries that challenge Western global hegemony are labelled “rouge” or “renegade” states.

The Muslim Viewpoint

Muslims have a quite different worldview. They see themselves as the afflicted, not the afflictors; on the defensive, not on the offensive; the objects of violence, not its initiators. In sum, Muslims consider themselves the victims.

To make their case, Muslims will take their Christian and Jewish neighbors on a quick world tour. They begin with Bosnia, where Serbian Christians killed nearly 200,000 Muslims and raped 22,000 Muslim women in the early 1990s.(1)

In Chechnya, the Russian army attacked a Muslim people who fought back furiously but found themselves slaughtered in large numbers by Russian troops. The Western world, including the United States, scarcely protested.(2)

In Kashmir, occupying Indian troops have oppressed, jailed, and executed large numbers of Muslim Kashmiris over the past decade.(3) During December 1992 and January 1993, Hindu mobs went on a rampage in Bombay, killing over 800 Muslims, destroying 5,000 Muslim homes, and forcing 200,000 Muslims to flee the city. In China’s western province of Xinjiang, the ethnically Turkish and religiously Muslim indigenous populations are dealt with harshly by Chinese occupying troops.(4)

In many Middle Eastern countries, Muslim believers are also under attack. In Iraq, for example, Saddam Hussein has carried out a war of genocide against the Shi’is of the south. In Israel, heavily armed Israeli troops do battle against Palestinian Muslim children armed largely with stones and slingshots.

Even in countries with an Islamic leadership, Muslims are oppressed and harassed. In Egypt, for example, Hosni Mubarak’s regime imprisons and executes members of Egypt’s Muslim opposition. Muslims are discriminated against and oppressed in many other parts of the world as well, examples include Malaysia, Turkey, Algeria, Uzbekistan, and Bahrain. This litany of anti-Islamic activity is recognized and discussed by Muslims everywhere. Why, they ask themselves, are they criticized and condemned when they are in fact the victims?

Meanwhile, the United States has often encouraged its allies to confront Muslim populist movements with force. As a result, the moderate Muslim masses are becoming radicalized and live in an environment of desperation. A vicious cycle of misunderstanding, misguided policy, and increasing violence has been set in motion. Before this cycle spins pout of control, non-Muslims must try to slow it down.

A necessary first step is to discard the simplistic stereotypes. Also, military force is not always an effective way to counter systems of ideas. Resurgent Islam’s steady flame will not be extinguished by the breeze of bullets or the blast of missiles.

It is time for everyone to take a crash course on Islam. It there is any truth in the Muslim belief that they suffer as victims, then it is time to admit this fact and to implement policies that will begin to remedy this situation. Our future relations with 1.2 billion of our brothers and sisters will depend on how we in the West choose to meet this challenge.

Footnotes

1. America’s arms embargo on Yugoslavia continued to be applied to Bosnia, even after the United States and the UN recognized it as an independent country, although most weapons and weapons-producing facilities were located in Yugoslavia.
2. Russia has invaded Chechnya several times since it declared independence in 1991. Since the fighting began in 1994, the country’s infrastructure and economy have been devastated, and many people have been killed. Media coverage is rare.
3. Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, has been the focal point of three wars between India and Pakistan since 1947. Citing Pakistani involvement in Kashmiri affairs, the Indian Army occupied Kashmir in 1989 amidst mounting unrest. Again, media coverage is rare.
4. In the remote province of Xinjiang in western China, the central government has ruthlessly cracked down on the Uigur Muslims who have struggled to attain regional autonomy and to protect their Islamic identity. More than 200 Uigurs have been executed in the past 3 years.