ʿAshura Articles (7): Congruence between the State and Society
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Congruence between the State and Society
Sayed Mahmoud Al-Mosawi
The term “state” differs from the term “society” in concept and in consideration; they are not one thing, but rather two entirely different matters, and each term has its own authority and particular standing. Consequently, their coming together does not necessarily mean the existence of a relationship of congruence and compatibility between them. Political theorists have held that factors of congruence between them must be present; otherwise, life on shared land between a state and a society with which it is not congruent will not last, will not gain security, and will not enjoy a pleasant living.
When there is a divergence between them, one searches for what is root and what is branch: is the authority the root, so that it can bend society to its interest, or the reverse? Many theorists have concluded that the indigenous society that inhabits the land is the root, and that the authority is nothing but an incidental instrument that can be replaced and changed. That is why many governments have resorted to mobilizing supporters through mercenarism and bringing in loyal individuals of diverse ethnicities and orientations, and what unites them is money and loyalty to the very persons of those in authority. This has applied to many Arab states, according to what came in the book (Society and the State in the Arab Homeland), issued by the Centre for Arab Unity Studies, by a group of Arab researchers. This matter portends danger to the state and to society alike.
The Husayni revolution came to confront a patchwork authority that had no substantive unity but was held together by interests and worldly desires, whereas the Husayni caravan was united by principle and thought. Therefore, the deep result of the battle was not what came out of the events of the moment, which were painful for the Husayni caravan; for the illusory and alleged authority of Yazid and his clique was dismantled, and that even extended into a cascade of rebellion and further disintegration of the alleged authority, so that the Umayyad state collapsed and the Abbasid state came upon its ruins—which in turn eroded, to the point that some sultans would remain in it for mere months. All of this leads to the great error on which authorities rely that draw their legitimacy from money or psychological grudges: gathering men around them with money and status, which usually turns against them.
The Husayni revolution laid the foundation for something deeper in the field of the relationship between the state and society: the relationship of principle and values. Whatever party it may be, in whatever setting—whether within society, within the state, or an individual—as long as it carries the message of values and confronts authoritarian forms with the truths of values, the most prominent of which is justice, through which congruence among the various components of society is achieved, it has the guarantee of survival, continuity and stability. For dominion endures with unbelief but does not endure with injustice, as in the Islamic tradition.
