Martyr Motahari Revives “Social Theology”

Master Motahari can be regarded as the founder of social theology in the contemporary era, as he sought to put theology into practice within society.

Guest note by Hojjat al-Islam Mohammad Baqer Pouramini, Director of the Department of Islamic Theology and New Theology of the Research Institute of Islamic Culture and Thought: Social theology is an approach and tendency within the science of theology before it is considered an independent knowledge. To be more precise, social speech is actually a social look at verbal issues; A view that explains religious teachings with an approach aimed at society and responds to emerging social issues.

However, care should be taken not to confuse this concept with similar concepts. The social word is not the same as "social theology" which is proposed in the West; Because Western social theology has its own foundations and presuppositions, which are different from the foundations of Islamic theology. Also, social words should not be equated with "functional words"; Because applied words are social words and have a wider scope.

Another important point is that social discourse does not belong to the category of "additional philosophy". If we consider social speech to be added philosophy, we have actually denied speech as an independent knowledge and replaced it with the philosophy of speech. This is despite the fact that social rhetoric is a trend that deals with theological issues with a social approach and explains and proves them; An approach that wants to explain religious teachings in the field of social life and show their function in society.

This concept has a background in Islamic thought. Professor Motahari can be considered the founder of social theory in the contemporary era. His words were addressed to the community. He wanted to implement the word in the context of society; A word that solves knots. This characteristic in Motahari's speech is compared to the philosophical speech of Khwaja Nasir al-Din Tusi, who mostly focused on elites and people of philosophy. Motahari took the word out of the monopoly of the elites and took it to the people, youth and students; The same thing he did in philosophy and principles and made difficult and technical topics smooth and practical while maintaining accuracy. He stated that we should include philosophy of politics, philosophy of economics, philosophy of art and anthropology as part of the word. That is, the word must come to the context of life; The word should untie our political knots and give us a political basis. The word should open our economic knots and give us the philosophy of economics so that we know how our economic system should be. In this sense, Motahri's word is aimed at social relationships and is actually a social word.

Here, it is necessary to mention the combination of "social theology". From this combination, two views can be presented:

The first view, which is the common view and used by others, is equivalent to the theology of society or the sociology of religion. This combination is an additional combination and has an additive form; That is, a section of religious knowledge that focuses on religious opinions about society.

The second view is "religion focused on society and society's affairs". This combination is a descriptive combination, meaning a religious tendency and not a section of religion; A trend in everything about religion, including the field of jurisprudence, theology, ethics, social sciences and everything that is available from religion.

Based on this, social speech is not an independent science, but an approach and trend within the science of speech; An approach that wants to implement religious teachings in the context of society and make them solve social problems. This approach requires accuracy and clarity both in the definition and basics, and in practice, it requires providing specific solutions for the entry of the word into the social arena.