| The theoretical, philosophical and theological issues and ideas explored in this dissertation are predicated on highly-involved and nuanced terminology. Many of the themes elucidated here are not only interrelated but have conceptual roots and terminology common to a number of different disciplines as well as theoretical formulations and world-views. Ideally, if it were possible, themes and common terms would be studied in parallel in a single time-frame, but as it is, they must be explained and considered separately in a segmented and protracted fashion.;This dissertation examines the concept and the mechanics of change in both society and self as they relate to Islamic theology and philosophy in the thought of Muh&dotbelow;ammad H&dotbelow;ussein Fad&dotbelow;lallah and Muh&dotbelow;ammad Baqir al-S&dotbelow;adr. This is achieved through the device of a contrastive analysis of Marxism and Dialectical Materialism and specifically, as it occurs in the thought of Mao Tse Tung. The goal of this study is to investigate what these thinkers assert and to understand why they assert what they do. The primary question addressed is one of how change--human and social, and particularly revolutionary change--is conceptualized and achieved in the context of Islamic theology, philosophy and the original source materials of Islam. The conclusion reached is that both Fad&dotbelow;lallah and al-S&dotbelow;adr have accomplished this in a number of ways through carefully-qualified discourse, which works on multiple levels on the rhetorical-, philosophical- and theological fronts; and this has included the formulation of original and intricate theo-philosophical theories, as well as adoption and ingenious elaboration, expansion and Islamization of certain methodological and conceptual frameworks including ones central to Marxism. |
