foucault-and-the-iranian-revolution-janet-afary

62 Foucault's Discourse
For Shariati, the key point in the story of Karbala was Hussein's existential
choice. Hussein could not fight and win over the more powerful Yazid,
nor could he remain silent. Therefore, he chose a third option, death, which
opened the possibility of an authentic Shi'ite Islam for others. Martyrdom,
as defined by Shariati, was a mystiCal experience, full of erotic charge, and
beyond "science and logic." The story of Hussein's martyrdom was "so exciting
that it pulls the spirit toward the fire. It paralyzes logic. It weakens
speech. It even makes thinking difficult." Martyrdom was the combination
of "a refined love and a deep, complex wisdom" (Shariati 1970, 154). The
martyr was a "model" and an "example" for other human beings; the efficacy
and the resonance of martyrdom were "broader, deeper, more continuous
than that of jihad, even one that is victorious" (194, 207). Martyrdom was a
privilege because one invited death at a time of one's own choosing. It was
"a choice, whereby the warrior sacrifices himself on the threshold of the temple
and the altar of love and is victorious" (193). Despite the claim that he
was presenting an "authentic Islam," Shariati's reading was heavily indebted
to Western thought, including some of the most virulent forms of Christian
anti-Semitism. For example, he referred to "money-worshipping Jews" and to
"deceitful Christ-killing rabbis" (208). Many leading clerics and even some
secular Muslim intellectuals of this period shared such sentiments.
But there was also a stronger philosophical and hermeneutical appropriation
of aspects of Western thought in Shariati's work. In Being and Time,
Heidegger had reinterpreted the crucifixion and resurrection ofJesus to arrive
at a new philosophical meaning. When faced with the possibility of one's own
death, one adopted an attitude of freedom-toward-death and thereby experienced
authentic living, he had written. Shariati was influenced by this and
similar hermeneutical readings of Christianity. But his notion of authenticity
was aimed at the community rather than the individual. When Shi'ites faced
a formidable enemy of Islam, one who could not be defeated, they had two
options: (1) to remain silent and allow the oppression to continue, or (2) to
choose death and at least create the possibility of authentic (Muslim) living
fo r others. In a morbid appeal to the youth, both young men and women,
Shariati argued that this type of death was as beautiful as a "necklace" around
the neck of a young and beautiful girl, that such martyrdom was "an adornment
for mankind" (Shariati 1970, 177).
Shariati also parted company with Christian theologians, who had argued
that Jesus "sacrificed himself for humanity" (Shariati 1970, 209). A similar
reading of the story of Karbala could have suggested that Yazid's forces had
also acted according to the will of God and hence deserved some mercy.
But Shariati's vitriolic discourse lacked mercy or forgiveness. The mission