Dr. Ali Shariati

My Hero is Dr. Ali Shariati. Dr. Ali Shariati was born in Mazinan, a suburb of Mashhad, Iran. He completed his elementary and high school in Mashhad. During his education got new friends from the lower economic class of the society and found out that there were poor people among them. He started teaching at the age of eighteen and he was a student at the same time. He finished his studies at the college and went to France to continue his studies. He got his doctorate in sociology from Sorbonne University.

"When he returned to Iran he was arrested at the border because of his political activities while studying in France. In 1965, he began teaching again at Mashhad University. As a Muslim sociologist, he had many discussions about Islam with his students. Very soon he gained popularity among the students and different social classes in Iran. For this reason, the regime felt obliged to discontinue his courses at the university."

The first edition of his book was sold over sixty thousand copies although the government didn`t like it.

"Faced with the outstanding success of Dr. Shariati's courses, the Iranian police surrounded Houssein-e-Ershad Institute, arrested many of his followers and there by put an end to his activities. For the second time, he was prisoned under extremely harsh conditions. After releasing from prison , he remained under close surveillance by the security agents of Iran. This was no freedom at all since he could neither publish his thoughts nor contact his students."

He is my hero because he was sturdy about what he was saying and he introduced the real Islam to all youths. It is interesting that in all of his books there is a phrase written from Quran that means "There is no force on anybody about religion. You do whatever you can, all the people reach to the goal according to their efforts." He believed in God deeply from his heart.

Dr. Shariati wrote many books. "In all his writings, he tried to present a clear and genuine picture of Islam. He strongly believed that if the intellectual and new generation realized the truth of this faith, attempts toward social change would be successful." All the people think religion is a chain that prevents them from doing what they like but Shariati taught us it's just a way that leads us to be more lucky!!