In the previous discussions, we evaluated the expansion of the secularism system and its related ideas, and we also examined the case that the issue of atheism and hatred of the church and its men, as well as the expansion of naturalistic thinking and trust in material things and nature, are among the most important reasons that have formed and grew the theory of secularism and western society.
This naturalism and looking at material things and the universe as “God” created the ground for the spread of atheism and irreligion in the society and paved the way for the French Revolution. The social system that dominated the life of Europe in the Middle Ages was the “feudal” system and serfdom system. Perhaps this system was the most cruel and ugly system in human history. Of course, it should not be forgotten that all Jahili and non-Islamic systems have always been cruel and oppressive and have never used justice and fairness, but this type of Jahili system in Europe, i.e. the serfdom system, was much crueller and more oppressive.
This was while the human society in the east was living the best life under the administration of the Islamic government, a government that was the best and most just government that human history had ever seen.
But it is certain that human nature is such that it always hates oppression and denies it; for this reason, he uses the smallest and briefest opportunity to rise against it and make a revolution against the oppressors and crush the foundations of their oppressive government.
The first efforts of Europeans to get rid of the oppressions of the feudal system goes back to the conflicts related to Muslims in the field of Islamic conquests in Europe, and this issue reached its peak during the Crusades. Following the courage of Muslims and their efforts to gain their freedom, the Europeans decided to revolutionize and rise against the oppressors.
It would not be incorrect to say that the French slaves were the leaders of the revolution against the feudal system; Because their geographical location with the Muslim part of Andalusia, fierce crusade attacks, and also their distance from the center of Roman pops, all of these caused the spirit of freedom from slavery to be instilled in them. Before the main and famous French revolution, in the 14th century, the first revolution was formed by French farmers; Although this revolution, like all other uprisings, was suppressed and extinguished, it made the public to think that it would be possible to rise and make a victorious movement in the future, and it was effective in the emergence of similar revolutions in different corners of the European continent.
One of the biggest reasons for the failure of the revolutionaries and the failure of their efforts was that the church, which was involved in the feudal system, stood in front of the revolutionaries and neutralized and disintegrated their efforts. Therefore, it can be said that the church had not only distanced the people from the light of Islam, but had even violated the teachings of the Bible, which called for love, forgiveness, and tolerance, and they had a competition with the princes and kings of the serfdom system in order to anger and humiliate the people.
The first person in the church who legitimized the feudal system and gave a reason for its legitimacy was Saint Thomas Aquinas. He believed that the serfdom system was the result of Adam’s mistake, and the subjects and subordinates of the feudal system should pay compensation for this mistake by enslavement and handing over part of their income and taxes. But it seems that they themselves were not counted among the children of Adam and were exempted from this mistake.
One fact should not be forgotten about the revolution of the French farmers, and that is, this revolution was not against the church and its beliefs and its degree of rebellion, but because they wanted the church to maintain its spiritual mission and should not be affected by a tyrannical feudal system.
Wills writes: “The revolution of the French nation against the Church was not religious. Thus, their protest was not against the power and dominance of the church, but against its actions and weaknesses. Their disobedience to the church was not the degree of shrugging off religious affairs, but they wanted the affairs and actions of the church to be completer and more comprehensive. They objected to the Pope because he had become a wealthy, worldly and clerical leader instead of being the religious head of the Christian world.”
After the revolution and during it, the central kings were able to bring the Christian nobles, who were known as “barons”, under their protection and supervision, and integrate their properties into their government, and some kind of privileges was assigned to them. This move was completed by the government’s acquisition of gunpowder; because the castles of the barons did not have the ability to stand against this weapon. This issue caused double use of slaves and taxes by the chiefs and elders.
Another development came in the form of movements led by people like Martin Luther, Jean Calvin, and Rudolf Walter Richard Hess, in such a way that these movements destroyed the apparent unity of the Western and Christian world and made the dominance of the central church weak and powerless by establishing many and unlimited sects.
This development, along with the past developments, led to the disintegration and division of the European society and the change of some of its fixed principles, so that the European cities began to grow, and a middle class called the “bourgeoisie” emerged as a strong competitor for the kings of the lords and serfs in the form of merchants. Bourgeois cities, which were the beginning and vanguard of the great capitalist system, were placed.
In addition to these events and developments, the expansion of paper production and printing houses was an active factor in the field of publishing and development of this awakening and revolutionary movement, in such a way that various treatises and books were published in the years leading up to the revolution. Statistics show that the number of political newsletters increased from 312 in the early 1780s, to more than 3000 in 1789. At the same time, the number of subscribers to Parisian newspapers also decreased sharply, which led to a decrease in the income of non-Parisian publishers.
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