The Dialectical Interplay of Islam and Marxism–Leninism
Ali Sharif
Abstract
This article interrogates the relationship between Islam and Marxism–Leninism, arguing that the scientific method of dialectical and historical materialism must be consciously integrated into Islamic jurisprudence (ijtihad) to address the structural injustices of global capitalism. It contends that Qur’anic prohibitions on usury, hoarding, and exploitation articulate a moral economy incompatible with capitalist accumulation, and that Marxism–Leninism provides the only proven framework for realizing these divine imperatives under modern conditions. Through a detailed comparison of Lenin’s dialectical laws and Islamic metaphysics, the essay demonstrates how revelation (as ontological truth) and Marxism (as analytic method) can be dialectically unified without reducing one to the other. The author situates this synthesis within Islamic intellectual history — drawing on Imam Ali, Mutahhari, Taleghani, and Shariati — and applies it to contemporary crises such as sectarianism, imperialism, and class exploitation in Muslim societies. The paper concludes that a revolutionary ijtihad rooted in both revelation and material science offers the only viable path for the Muslim world to transcend dependency, abolish exploitation, and fulfill the Qur’anic imperative of justice.
Keywords
Islam, ijtihad, dialectical materialism, Marxism–Leninism, anti-imperialism
