نشریه مطالعات راهبردی بسیج
پیاپی 56 (پاییز 1391)

The Ashura Uprising is a turning point in the history of Islam. It clearly exposed two faces in the history of mankind, taking away the veil of the Omawi propaganda. One was that of the pure Islam which was represented by the Holy Prophet as pure truth, though the Omawi propaganda had exploited it as a means of obtaining political power. Imam Hossein’s blood portrayed that the Prophet and His Progeny are willing to do any kind of sacrifice, and that there are no lengths to which the Omawi repressive apparatus will not go to commit crimes, not paying the least bit of respect to divine values. Basij’s Ashura-inspired calling is to reveal two faces in today’s world. First, that of the Islamic Revolution that the West propaganda tries to hide under the cover of their black propaganda, and secondly, the black face of the despotic West hidden by a cover of black Liberalist propaganda.

Basij needs to employ the values and strategies defined in the Ashura movement. The Ashura movement is an excellent and leading lesson in the history of Islam, where Imam Hossein himself stated “There is a lesson in me for you”. The best place where this lesson manifests itself is Imam’s will, where four states have been denounced- namely, haughtiness, arrogance, oppression and corruption, and three attributes have been introduced as the main objective and strategy of Ashura Uprising- namely, the rectification of the Muslem Ummah's affairs, promoting virtue and preventing vice, and practicing the Holy Prophet’s Sira. The four negative elements are detrimental and harmful to all movements and systems, and the three affirmative ones do consolidate, and give depth to movements and governments, which should revolve around the axis of Imamah (the Shia doctrine of religious, spiritual and political leadership of the Ummah) and Wilayah (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist), and be oberved by Basijis with open eyes. Abstaining from the four detrimental elements, while at the same time abiding by, and practicing the other three should serve as a guiding lantern to help lead people out of the crises and dangerous situations; and Basijis who are followers of Hossein’s path, should commit themselves to teachings of Imam Hossein’s school

This article is aimed at looking for a relationship between the culture of Ashura and Basij culture. Having this in mind, 59 parameters were recognized to exist in the culture of Ashura and 207 for Basij culture. The parameters of the culture of Ashura have been distributed in two categories, namely, parameters attributed to the culture of Ashura with 21 titles and those attributed to the Ashura-inspired culture (those inspired by the Holy Prophet’s progeny and Imam Hossein’s companions with 38 titles. Also, the parameters of Basij culture were distributed in two categories, namely, Imam Khomeini’s views with 24 parameters and the Supreme Leader’s with 183 parameters. Then, the parameters inferred by the statements made by the Supreme Leader were divided in two categories- namely individual/Basiji with 135 parameters and organization/Basij with 48 parameters.After that the individual/Basiji parameters were distributed in three groups: ideologic (with 63 parameters), revolutionary (with 36 parameters), and functional (with 36 parameters), and organization/Basij parameters were distributed between two groups, namely value groups (with 26 parameters) and functional groups (with 22 parameters). Finally, the parameters common between the culture of Ashura and Basij culture have been presented using two comparative tables that also show the deep commonalities between the two cultures, in a way that Basij culture alleged to completely match the culture of Ashura was proved.

Having insight means being aware, and having religious insight means having awareness together with a faith and belief that comes from the heart. Going the right path and finding the truth is possible only with having insight, for man, having materialistic dust in his heart in a situaton where right and wrong are intermingled, can by having insight distinguish the path leading to the devine happiness, and take that. It is on this basis that religious teachings coming down to us from the holy Sharia emphasize having insight, deeming it as a powerful tool to achieve perfection. If man can cultivate his spirit, some feelings and senses will give him such an insight and understanding that enable him to capture many truths of his life. Man can say right from wrong, and the clean from the unclean by purifying himself and removing the obstacles placed in the way of human reasoning. However, this is only possible if man has obtained the intended religious insight together with a belief that comes from the bottom of the heart. By the same token, religious insight can be considered as one of the extentions of Taghwa (piety) which relates to practical and rational wisdom, and not to theoretical wisdom. Achieving Taghwa by not commiting impious acts provides the foreground for enlightening the insight and rationality. As the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran as well as an expert in religion, Ayatollah Khamenei considers having insight as instrumental in distinguishing the right path from the wrong path, considering it as a tool that prevents form deviating from the path of truth.

Imam Hossein gave life to Islam by launching his movement that must be pursued by his followers if they wish the Islamic society to be in right path of religion. Rectifying religion, purging the subsequent bidahs (innovations made after the passing away of the Holy Prophet), abnormalities and deviations, detecting and introducing to the Islamic Ummah those of unsound character who are in a position to manage the affairs, and steer the society onto an unsound path and deviation, are among what the Islamic Ummah is obligated to do. Because of the fact that Basij is an outcome of the culture of Ashura, and has defnded the Revolution according to a set of criteria inspired form the Ashura tragedy in a most critical period of the revolution, it must then invariably keep that culture alive so that it both could serve as an example to be followed by others in improving the movement, and could correct a deviation and bidah in case it realizes has taken place in the society and religion.

After the establishment of a religious (Islamic) society, one of the most important and critical matters is steadfastness and endurance on the part of people for the cause of ideals and its values. What did not realize at the very early years of Islam and the demise of the Holy Prophet caused Ali to stay at home, and his son Imam Hossein’s martyrdom to take place and his household to be taken as captives fifty years after demise of the Holy Prophet. This article tries to answer this question of ‘what mechanism and system could be used by an Islamic society and Basij at the top of it in order to be steadfast for the sake of realizing the Islamic ideals?’ Considering the statements made by the Supreme Leader and Imam Khomeini regarding the dimensions and perspectives of the Ashura tragedy and the lessons that can be taken from it, this article tries to extract how Basij’s system of steadfastness functiuons, and to provide each lesson taken from Ashura that works under each component of the system of steadfastness (by differentiating input, output, the process, the feedback indicator, and the system environment) by using qualitative content analysis within a systems approach. The findings of the article indicate that the data required by this system are: insight obtained through remembering God and preserving piety, hopefulness and confidence through having faith in the divine promises, abstaining from worldly pleasures and lusts, bravery and seeking martyrdom. The input-output of the system of steadfastness are guarding Islam and fighting opression. The feedback indicator of this system, its dignity and functions are practicing commitments to God under all circumstances, as well as practicing it in due time, in due amount and in proper quality on the part of the elect authorities.

The strategy of promoting virtue and preventing vice can serve as the most important, the most general, and the most effective tool that can relate Imam Hossein’s uprising to Basij, for from among the divinely ordered obligations decreed by God, it is the only obligation shared in common between the Most High God, Prophets, Imams, and the believers. This obligation can be viewed as a pivotal strategy that can cause other obligations and Islam itself to live on and blossom. Imam Khamenei considers promoting virtue and preventing vice as a public obligation, which should be taken on by Basijis who should be pioneers in this field. This aricle examines the strategy of promoting virtue and preventing vice in Imam Hossein’s Sira, paying particular attention to its general and specific characteristics and what Ulama are obliged to do in the Islamic community, since Imam Hossein has put particular emphasis on the obligations of Ulama in practicing promoting virtue and preventing vice. Finally, Imam Hossein’s practical Sira in different periods of his life and Ashura uprising has addressed this issue as the most serious and last stage of obligations that has been decreed by God. Basij will be able to perfectly match itself with the culture inspired by Imam Hossein, only when it can redefine itself. This article has gathered the existing information in Imam Hossein’s statements as concerning the obligation of promoting virtue and preventing vice as possible, addressing the issue of how this obligation relates with Basij’s duties and responsibilities with an emphasis on the guidelines outlined by the Supreme Leader.