Mysticism and Identity: The Case of Islam

Abstract

If society were a mere addition or conglomeration of individuals, one would directly take a start from the ‘individual’; but the things are not so simple, for what complicates the matter is that the ‘individual’ and ‘society’ both need a mutual reference inasmuch as they are reciprocal and interdependent. It is, however, customary, and also in line with the scheme of the programme of current meeting of the ISM, to take a start from the individual, and to decide upon the nature of ‘society’ in the light of our view on him. Our theory of the society, then, will draw on whatever view we take of the individual and the ‘interrelations’ which obtain among the individuals constituting the society. On the organismic model, in any of its forms, the individual is pushed back into the background. On its individualistic interpretation, the individual being the basic component, he is relegated to a secondary position; while on the ecological interpretation, he is pushed back one step farther inasmuch as now the basic components are the ‘sub-groups’ rather than the individuals, who compose the sub- groups. The social organization, on this model, is the result of mutual interaction of the components, individuals or sub-groups, which moves towards a more and more stable equilibrium. Such a position tends to over-organization of the society which Iqbal has condemned on the ground that in an over-organized society “the individual is altogether crushed out of existence”