Appearance
Religion and Politics
The question
When the prophets fought oppression and governed, did they act as God’s messengers, so that their example binds their followers, or only as individuals seeking justice?
Views answered: the advocates of secularism
Jawādī Āmulī’s argument
Each age brings new questions to the Qur’an, and Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī takes secularism as a prominent one today: the claim that religion should be kept apart from politics and society, and that the prophets’ political and social acts were personal, without authority for others. He answers that the Qur’an presents those acts as divine precedents to be followed, and that bringing people from darkness into light, ending tyranny and establishing government on divine principles are part of the prophets’ mission, not something done merely in their human capacity.
Views compared
Each view is given as al-Tasnim reports it. Each point opens al-Tasnim at that place.
Did the prophets act in politics as prophets? Read →
Advocates of secularism
The prophets resisted oppression as individuals seeking freedom, not as messengers; their acts outside worship, ethics and the afterlife have no authority for their followers.Jawādī Āmulī
When the Qur’an tells of the prophets’ economic, political and social acts it gives them as divine precedents to follow, as with the rules for prisoners of war (47:4).The purpose of revelation Read →
Advocates of secularism
Religion’s scope is doctrine, ethics, law and the afterlife, not government or livelihood.Jawādī Āmulī
The Book was sent to bring people out of darkness into light (14:1); Moses’ struggle with Pharaoh shows that ending oppression and establishing just government belong to the prophetic mission itself.Reading guide
Each step opens al-Tasnim at that point.