"Where shall we begin?"

However, in this endeavor to reflect upon our condition the question is: "Where shall we begin" in our self evaluation? In 1971 Dr. `Ali Shari`ati, the activist Muslim thinker of Iran and, in more than one way, an authentic voice of the Muslim youth in the 1970s, raised this question in his lecture to the students of Technical University of Tehran. The question was posed specifically to the Muslim youths of Iran. The contents of the lecture communicate Shari`ati's intent, namely, to inspire the students to think about their mission in the conditions that prevailed in the Iran of the Shah. Its relevance, however, was much wider. It seemed to include the entirety of youth in the Muslim Umma. For it was the Muslim youth who was the main target of the modernization that was taking place at an uncontrollable pace in the Muslim world. It was the Muslim youth who encountered the most serious challenge to his/her faith under the impact of godless culture of modernity. The Muslim youth was being asked to give up certain family and social values that were part and parcel of his identity, and adopt in its place a sense of self-alienation, and become a self-estranged imitator of everything "modern" (whether he truly understood what "modernity" was all about or not).In general, then, Muslim youth, belonging to Iran or elsewhere, was expected to respond to this critical self assessing question raised by Dr. Shari`ati. Moreover, Dr. Shari`ati's probing question was relevant in the framework of the particular situation of social transformations in the 1960s and 1970s that were taking place all over in the Third World societies. The two decades, that is, the 1960s and the 1970s, were marked by proclamation of independence of the new nation states in Asia and Africa that created new national identities in the post-colonial era. The period was ripe for considering the role of the past heritage, religious, moral and cultural, in the new age of rationalism and secularism.The new age rationalism was characterized by its claim as the source of all human values that could be derived by each individual, without any reference to a sacred authority like God or the revealed message like the Qur'an and the Sunna. Secularism, on the other hand, confined the role of religion to the private domain of an individual, creating the dichotomy between "spiritual" and "mundane," between "private" and "public." It denied religion and its mediating institutions like the "church" any public function and influence in shaping matters of public policy. Under the domination of rationalism and secularism there were questions about the significance of religion in the modern man and woman's life. What was the place of traditional culture and system of values in determining the future direction of the educated men and women? Who was going to direct the new economic and social life of the people in view of the disestablishment of the traditional religious authority of the "church" (perhaps, in the context of Islam we should add the "mosque," keeping in mind that it was rather the madrasa -seminary- that was the religious establishment responsible to teach Islam)?These and many more questions in the context of Dr. Shari`ati's concern, namely, "Where shall we begin?" are so universal that seeking ways to encounter the state of confusion and alienation from one's religious and moral roots has overwhelmed the entire human society. In the wake of phenomenal advancement in technology in the last three decades people have experienced quantitative speed in the social and cultural change. The change is so sudden that it has generated psychological and cultural dislocations among many people. Moreover, technology, more particularly the interactive communication through the electronic devices and its aim of building the "super highway of global communication", has influenced the way we think about life in general, and interpersonal human relations in particular. Certainly, religion enters at all stages in our life. It regulates our relationship to God and fellow human beings. When religion is made insignificant and is reduced to one among many other forms of cultural expressions, then meaningful existence and interpersonal relationships that are cultivated by its presence are threatened. In its place personal greed and intensified forms of individuation breed self-centered and "first me" individualism. While there is value in "know thyself" dictum, its negative implication, if not kept in check by concern for the well being of others, as taught by religion, could lead to a self-serving, ego-centered individual .