An Intermediary Doctrine

This chapter reconstructs Ali Shariati’s discussions of Islam as an “intermediary doctrine” ( maktab-e vāseteh ), in light of his speeches about the Karbala paradigm, used as inspiration for insurrection. For Shariati, to be intermediary is to assume a central position in global affairs. But the term intermediary also signals a groundless condition on account of which human beings exercise their capacity for choice. Its enactment recalls the status of the human being in Islamic theology. It also approximates eternal truth. The chapter presents Shariati’s method as intermediary, consistent with his notion of an intermediary doctrine. Read together, these ideas reveal a concept of revolutionary subjectivity as intermediary. Shariati crafts an archetype for revolutionary action around the figure of Zaynab, the daughter of Fatima and Ali, the first Shia Imam. Shariati invites audiences to think and act in accordance with the model he performed, which mirrored Zaynab’s actions in response to the battle of Karbala, a founding myth for Shia Islam. As befitting Zaynab’s role in Shia memorialization, later historical events would exceed Shariati’s designs.