Pars Today- According to a researcher, in Imam Khomeini’s opinion, promotion of Islamic culture is feasible through sound exchange of views and mutual comprehension of thoughts, and the most obvious ground for exporting an idea is principled dialogue with thinkers rather than quarrel and uproar.
Concurrent with the World Philosophy Day, the National Conference of the Philosophy of Culture was held with the participation of a large number of enthusiasts of philosophy in the city of Qom with emphasis on the views of Imam Khamenei.
According to Pars Today, quoting from Mehr news agency, Seyyed Mohsen Sharifi, embarked on theoretical dimensions of Imam Khomeini’s views in this regard during the third panel of the conference.
He said on the issue, “In Imam Khomeini’s opinion, culture is the ‘head of society and the mastermind’ and in his eyes, it is the ‘source of every happiness and misery, builder of society and the key to the prosperity and wretchedness of society’.
Meanwhile, there are various types of culture in the statements of Imam Khomeini. For instance, Islamic culture, colonial culture, culture of dependence, royal culture, culture of independence. It should be noted that the Islamic culture and the Western culture both claim a global mission according to their theoretical bases. Yet, in view of Imam Khomeini, the undistorted Islamic culture is superior to the Western culture, and the Western culture and civilization are in the course of disintegration and annihilation due to being plagued with many ills.”
Sharifi added, “As in the way of interaction of the Islamic culture with other cultures, particularly the Western culture, there are three different views among the elites of the Islamic world. Some are of the opinion that the Western culture must be accepted as the only way of progress. Another group [view] totally negates the Western culture and its achievements and believes that the relation of the Islamic culture with the Western culture will result in contamination and deviation of the Islamic civilization. The third view is based on formation of correct friendship and negation among cultures and says that if the relation of culture and civilizations is rational and criticism-oriented, it will cause growth and progress. It is understood from the works and remarks of Imam Khomeini that his thought is based on the third view.”
This researcher continued, “The elements and requirements of the Western culture contain two major layers. The first layer includes the things which lack value or are not based on a specific cognitive foundation; and the second layer includes the issues which have value or are based on a specific foundation. Imam Khomeini’s position in the face of the Western culture is the position of separation; i.e. he believes that the defects of the culture, like colonialism and Westoxication, and its good points like the Western scientific progress should be separated and not considered as the same. Therefore, he accepts some of items of the Western culture and civilization and rules out some others. The Imam was among those thinkers and theorists who managed to march in a middle and moderate way in the quarrel between the tradition and modernism so that, accepts the appearance of modernism and material progress in a way that the element of spirituality and morality is not slaughtered in them [digested by them]. In Imam Khomeini’s opinion, promotion of Islamic culture is feasible through sound exchange of views and mutual comprehension of thoughts, and the most obvious ground for exporting an idea is principled dialogue with thinkers rather than quarrel and uproar. This can be mentioned as the cultural layer and position of dialogue of cultures in Imam Khomeini’s ideology.”
He said in the end, “Imam Khomeini’s second view lies in the way of dealing with the negative aspect of the Western culture which he considers the return to Islam as the only way for Muslims to counter the Western domineering. This view of Imam Khomeini can be considered as the layer of cultural confrontation which is countering and opposing the dominant Western thought and culture in the contemporary era that is based on Humanism, Individualism and Utilitarianism.”
Key phrases: Imam Khomeini’s views, Imam Khomeini’s theories, Imam Khomeini and Islam, Imam Khomeini and West
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