Colonialism

Critically reading Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies, the present paper attempts to explore the impacts of colonization on indigenous subjects, plants and animals. To trace the detrimental effects of colonialism on both environment and people in Sea of Poppies, this study foregrounds the reflection of the obligatory cultivation of poppy under the rule of British colonizers in India. Sea of Poppies is indeed a portrayal of the catastrophic policies enforced in India by British colonizers in the nineteenth century. In his seminal novel Ghosh deals with the changes brought about by the lucrative cultivation of poppy in the exacerbation of the financial status of indigenous subjects. Environmental devastation and the changes in the normal behavior of animals are also dealt with. Focusing on the theoretical frameworks proposed by Graham Huggan and Helen Tiffin, this paper explores the convergence of postcolonialism and ecocriticism in Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies to indicate that not only were native people impoverished during colonialism in India, but also the ecosystem was severely damaged.

The colonialists exploit the rights of the oppressed with ambition. To achieve their ideals, they take actions to better prevent its performance with awareness of its function. Allameh Mughniyeh is a contemporary religious thinker who is very concerned about anti-oppression. He refers to this subject in his many speeches and writings. To understand the function of colonialism, we should analyze and evaluate all of Mughniyeh's topics mentioned in this field to determine what function colonialism has in his mind. So can know better colonialists and ambitious. The present study aimed to, with the descriptive-analytical method, analyze all the content of colonialism and America, which is the symbol of modern colonialism, and Zionism, which is the stooge of America. The results indicated that there are three general functions for colonization. First is the transmutation of words that colonialism changes the nature of some words such as reformist, science, religion, and capitalism to achieve its interests. Then, colonialism uses psychological and physical tools of war to achieve its goals. Finally, is the existence of mercenaries and the polarization of society.

In this article, the author is trying to problematize the concept of critique in Critical Theory by arguing that we need to go beyond the traditional parameters of the Critical Theory Canon as defined by Euro-Atlantic historiographers and critical social theorists. But in order to achieve this goal the author has attempted to demonstrate alternative approaches in conceptualizing complexities of social reality by employing the concept of Istehmar as defined by Ali Shariati. What does Istehmar mean? How does Shariati articulate this concept in sociological fashion? How is this concept different than classical concepts such as anomie, alienation and disenchantment?

The rule of law entails that government and the laws it makes serve the public good and facilitates equal opportunities. The requirement that the state conform to the rule of law puts substantial limits on governmental power which serves to protect citizens from arbitrary action or the imposition of unjust laws. The ‘law’ referred to in the rule of law concept is thus not whatever issues from legislatures and courts, but rather ‘a particular kind of restraint on the use of force’ or arbitrary power. It is not an ‘imaginary’ used by the government towards their equally imagined ends and imposed on the people. Likewise, the rule of law is not the sole prerogative of the government but requires the commitment of its citizens to adhere to and uphold the rule of law. Therefore, in rule of law societies corruption is not prevalent and does not impinge on the daily life of the individual. The inception of the rule of law in Islamic societies arose from the fact that God’s Laws were supreme, not the laws made by any man, or group of men, whatever his/their position. Is a return to the rule of Law possible for Muslim societies?

This article examines the theme of cultural imperialism through a case-study of change in nineteenth-century intellectual discourse. It analyzes an Iranian intellectual discourse, which is known, according to the Persian nomenclature, as the discourse of “misery” (badbaxti). The article shows that throughout the nineteenth-century, the perception of Iranian intellectuals changed, rather drastically, from self-confidence to self-immiseration. This argument is grounded in a close textual contrast between two representative texts. Mirza Saleh Shirazi’s Safar-nāme (1815), representing confidence, is contrasted with Siyāḥat-nāme-ye Ebrāhim Beyk or “The Travel Diary of Ibrahim Beg” (1895), which articulated the idea of an incomparable Iranian misery. The author of  Siyāḥat-nāme-ye Ebrāhim Beyk captured this discursive transformation when he wrote: “there is no country on the face of the planet today more miserable than Iran.” The discourse of misery had profound consequences well into the present. Self-immiseration entered popular culture in the Pahlavi period (1925-1979) and intensified in the Islamic Republican period (1979-present). The discourse of misery has captivated modern Iranian consciousness, without necessarily corresponding to social reality.

This paper discusses some key points in the philosophical, political and economic thought of the famous Indian Muslim poet Dr. Mohammad Iqbal. Iqbal sought to reform the Muslim identity and the wider Islamic world in order to deal with the Western challenge. He was deeply perturbed by the ideological domination of the East by the West in the political, cultural and social spheres. His political and economic perceptions, as indicated in his poems, seek to revive the self-confidence and creativity in the Muslim Ummah (Community). Iqbal exhorts the Muslims to realise their identity and selfhood (Khudi) to confront the Western challenge. Iqbal’s politico-economic thought is tinged with his dislike of capitalism and colonial rule. As an anti-dote to these elements, Iqbal speaks positively of socialism and its main proponents in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century although he rejects the atheistic form of socialism. Iqbal also purposes a reconstruction of Islamic thought in order to make it compatible with the demands of the modern world. All in all, Iqbal’s philosophy reveals an eclectic mixture of Islamic modernism, anti-imperialism, pan-Islamism and a desire for a socially equitable society within an Islamic framework.