The Prophet of Islam also possesses two contrasting aspects, aspects which would be contradictory in other men, but in him have been joined in a single spirit. For he was a man constantly engaged in political struggle against his enemies and the disruptive forces in society, concerned with building a new society and a new civilisation in this world; and also a guide leading men to a particular goal; that is a man of prayer, piety and devotion.
Thus does Shariati reach a conclusion which (although not without precedent) was radical in the context of Iran at the time he was lecturing, and of the understanding of Islam that predominated there: that Islam is a religion not simply of piety and scholarship, but also of action and social progress. Traditional Shi‘i scholars were politically quiescent, although some were beginning to take a more assertive attitude; and modern-educated youth were increasingly alienated from Islam as taught in traditional institutions, regarding it as offering no solutions to their modern concerns.
