Materialism: To Put It Simply

I wanted to share a few points about what I am referring to as ‘materialism’ in these posts. These points should clarify the basis of my arguments.

Let me start with ‘what it is not’. By materialism do I mean a school of philosophy that denies the existence of God? This is the theological sense of materialism that has existed in different forms from as early as 600 BCE. Well, not exactly.

Do I mean to refer to materialistic epistemology (theory of knowledge) in philosophy that considers sense experience to be the primary source (if not the only source) of knowledge? Again, not exactly.

In very simple words, what I have in mind is the materialism that we describe in our daily lives as being ‘worldly’, ‘hedonistic’, ‘slave of the world’, ‘too materialistic’, etc. The focus here is on attitudes and actions, which may have some philosophical-materialistic underpinnings, direct or indirect, or may not have any such at all.

The distinction between the philosophical sense of materialism and the ‘worldly’ materialism in our daily lives is important to keep in mind. Because not all who may be materialistic in the second sense are necessarily materialistic in the first sense. In other words, it won't be always correct to assume that a materialistic person (in the second sense) does not believe in God. On the contrary, a person can very well be a believer in God and at the same time very materialistic. For example, according to official statistics, more than 90% of Americans admit that they believe in some super-natural deity. Yet we know how highly materialistic the American society is.

This materialistic tendency is not limited to Western societies though. One notices that many people feel that after paying their Zakat and Khums they can spend their money however and wherever they desire and in whatever manner they want, all guilt-free. Hence, we see the luxurious lifestyle and the extravagance in weddings and other social occasions. We can probably think of many examples from our own communities.

If I can make a side comment here, in this second tendency of materialism, the religious obligations are treated as a series of DOs and DONOTs, instead of a PROCESS through which the target is to develop a certain subjectivity in people, with certain attitudes and outlook of the world involving taqwa, simplicity, modesty, and responsibility toward the plight of other humans. These ideals and attitudes are supposed to be the natural results of Islamic obligations, such as Fasting and Zakat/Khums.

Anyway, back to the issue of definition. The above description was materialism in simple words. However, so far, the description has mainly focused on the ‘outcome’ or ‘manifestation’ of materialism in our lives, on the individual level of attitudes and actions. In the next post, I want to dwell into a more complex understanding of materialism. Materialism in this understanding is a historical development, and over last few centuries, it has turned into the dominant (if not hegemonic) force of our time. A phenomenon that is becoming so pervasive and encompassing in our societies that we can possibly describe it with the German expression, ‘Zeitgeist’, or “the spirit of the age”.

Image: The Golden Calf - from the Quranic story (also mentioned in biblical sources). I like to think about the Golden Calf as a symbolic representation of all forms of idols that we create around ourselves, the chief among them is the idol of our own 'hawas' or low desires. Because the Quran states that idolatry is not just about worshipping certain statues or physical idols. People can also make their family, children, possessions, pursuit of power and status, their tribes and nations, as their idols or 'ilah'. Consider the following verse for example: "Have you seen him who takes his low desires for his god?" (Quran 25:43). I believe that materialism is the dominant form of idolatry in our age. More on this later, Inshallah.

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