Today, culture is considered one of the most important and primary topics in addressing many issues related to national development, reducing poverty and unemployment rates, fighting extremism, and building international relations on the basis of mutual respect. Various theories have emerged to explain the role of culture in the life of society and its importance in directing its movement. A long time ago, these theories analyzed the cultural components and determined the potential for their development and how to develop them to play a more positive role in the public life of peoples.
In light of the increase in terrorist attacks in the late twentieth century, and the fact that most of the perpetrators are Muslims who believe in the rightness of their actions, the West tended to criticize Arab and Islamic culture and accuse religious, educational and charitable institutions of encouraging extremism, and creating a suitable environment for the growth of intellectual and political currents that are hostile to the other and refuse to coexist with it in peace. That is why America put forward the idea of spreading democracy in the Arab and Islamic worlds, and Europe put forward the idea of dialogue of cultures as a means to develop Arab and Islamic culture to become more accepting of coexistence with the other and capable of achieving economic and scientific progress, and political, social and cultural development. However, the Western proposal for how to develop Arab and Islamic culture came in The shadow of globalization, which works directly and indirectly to fragment national cultures and obliterate their heritage features, melting them into a global cultural crucible that weakens the national identities of different peoples.
On the other hand, the Arab and Islamic response came to reject the American criticism and to charge the West in general and America in particular with trying to question the rationality of Arab culture and the correctness of the Islamic call, and working to obliterate and fragment the national identity of the Arab and Islamic peoples. In light of this, the majority of Arab and Muslim intellectuals, especially the traditional intellectuals, tended to Demanding the protection of Arab and Islamic culture and defending it in the face of the Western campaign, and calling at the same time to reject the economic and political reform projects that the American administration has been promoting and trying to impose on many Arab and Islamic countries, despite the rejection of Western intervention attempts by Arab traditional intellectuals It is valid and has several justifications, but adopting such a position in the name of protecting religion, defending heritage, and resisting American pressure coincides completely with the positions of Arab ruling regimes that are trying hard to preserve the status quo and work tirelessly to prevent it.Without political changes and cultural and intellectual developments that weaken these systems and work to undermine their absolute dominance over the lives of people and society.
The intellectual and ideological extremism that prevails in many Arab and Islamic countries today, an extremism rejected by the majority of Arab intellectuals, was a natural result of the absence of political and economic reform movements in the past, the long neglect of culture and education systems, and the alliance of intellectuals sometimes with the authority against the people, and if reform is required in The past, and its absence has encouraged extremism and perpetuated underdevelopment in its various forms in the Arab land and soul, reform is considered today more urgent than ever, and the reason for this is due to the state of confusion that the Arabs suffer in general in the wake of the failure of the Arab Spring to achieve its goals, And about a third of the Arab countries turned into failed states, and because time passes quickly, while the scientific, technological, and economic gap that separates the Arabs from the West increases day by day, and since the culture of governance is part of the culture of the people, and the attitude towards work, production, and scientific research is also part. From the same culture, the culture reform has becomeThe real entrance to reforming ruling systems, developing the economy, institutionalizing scientific research and technological development, and eradicating the roots of religious and immoral extremism from the life and institutions of Arab society.
Culture, including values, customs, traditions, attitudes, ways of thinking and social relations, constitutes the first societal framework developed by man through which he tried to link the members of society to each other, and to deal with his environment with its various elements, natural, social and technological. In fact, culture is the only channel through which the mind deals with reality, and the most important means that reality uses to convey to the mind a vivid picture of the problems, illusions and aspirations it is experiencing. This means that it is not possible to address any issue of society in isolation from the cultural environment, and without going through its main channels.
The most important challenge that faced the first man in his life was to deal efficiently with his natural environment of volatile mood and limited giving. He picks them and animals he hunts, and lives in dark caves to escape from the fluctuations of the weather, fearing for his life from predators and tribal invasions, but the first man, and as soon as he started his struggle with his natural environment, discovered that he had to also deal with other people in a way that reduces the risks of contact with them and increases The joy of belonging to them, and this led to the birth of cultures and their crystallization slowly in the form of customs, traditions, norms, values, social relations and ways of thinking.The farmer directed an increasing part of his time to thinking and contemplating life and the universe, which led him to discover and develop different religions. Its components, and basically the foundations of social relations.
The association of culture with religion on the one hand, and the fact that religions invite people to believe in solid beliefs that do not change on the other hand, made it difficult to develop popular cultures without prejudice to religion. As a result, it became impossible to develop cultural values and social relations without developing religious values. And since the majority of Muslim believers believe that the call to develop cultural values is a call to prejudice some religious principles, the stagnation of culture has become a natural matter and the cultural, economic and scientific backwardness is a realistic matter and an integral part of the social life of religious societies. In my opinion, the prevailing Arab culture today is no longer valid. To deal with modern knowledge positively, as it is not able to allow the mind to communicate with reality impartially and scientifically, nor to interact with other peoples and nations and coexist with them on the basis of exchanging interests, accepting the right to difference in opinion and thought and freedom of worship.
Reforming Arab culture requires first adopting a culture of reform, i.e. accepting that our Arab culture has become in dire need of radical reform to move it from the current state of stagnation and extremism to a state characterized by perpetual development and transformation. This means that the beginning of reform begins with recognizing the need for reform and moving from the level of mind to the level of reality, and drawing up a strategy for reform that defines the goals, means, tools and main steps on the path of reform. Can we reform our cultural values without compromising our religious principles? We will try to answer this question in the next article
Today, culture is considered one of the most important and primary topics in addressing many issues related to national development, reducing poverty and unemployment rates, fighting extremism, and building international relations on the basis of mutual respect. Various theories have emerged to explain the role of culture in the life of society and its importance in directing its movement. A long time ago, these theories analyzed the cultural components and determined the potential for their development and how to develop them to play a more positive role in the public life of peoples.
In light of the increase in terrorist attacks in the late twentieth century, and the fact that most of the perpetrators are Muslims who believe in the rightness of their actions, the West tended to criticize Arab and Islamic culture and accuse religious, educational and charitable institutions of encouraging extremism, and creating a suitable environment for the growth of intellectual and political currents that are hostile to the other and refuse to coexist with it in peace. That is why America put forward the idea of spreading democracy in the Arab and Islamic worlds, and Europe put forward the idea of dialogue of cultures as a means to develop Arab and Islamic culture to become more accepting of coexistence with the other and capable of achieving economic and scientific progress, and political, social and cultural development. However, the Western proposal for how to develop Arab and Islamic culture came in The shadow of globalization, which works directly and indirectly to fragment national cultures and obliterate their heritage features, melting them into a global cultural crucible that weakens the national identities of different peoples.
On the other hand, the Arab and Islamic response came to reject the American criticism and to charge the West in general and America in particular with trying to question the rationality of Arab culture and the correctness of the Islamic call, and working to obliterate and fragment the national identity of the Arab and Islamic peoples. In light of this, the majority of Arab and Muslim intellectuals, especially the traditional intellectuals, tended to Demanding the protection of Arab and Islamic culture and defending it in the face of the Western campaign, and calling at the same time to reject the economic and political reform projects that the American administration has been promoting and trying to impose on many Arab and Islamic countries, despite the rejection of Western intervention attempts by Arab traditional intellectuals It is valid and has several justifications, but adopting such a position in the name of protecting religion, defending heritage, and resisting American pressure coincides completely with the positions of Arab ruling regimes that are trying hard to preserve the status quo and work tirelessly to prevent it.Without political changes and cultural and intellectual developments that weaken these systems and work to undermine their absolute dominance over the lives of people and society.
The intellectual and ideological extremism that prevails in many Arab and Islamic countries today, an extremism rejected by the majority of Arab intellectuals, was a natural result of the absence of political and economic reform movements in the past, the long neglect of culture and education systems, and the alliance of intellectuals sometimes with the authority against the people, and if reform is required in The past, and its absence has encouraged extremism and perpetuated underdevelopment in its various forms in the Arab land and soul, reform is considered today more urgent than ever, and the reason for this is due to the state of confusion that the Arabs suffer in general in the wake of the failure of the Arab Spring to achieve its goals, And about a third of the Arab countries turned into failed states, and because time passes quickly, while the scientific, technological, and economic gap that separates the Arabs from the West increases day by day, and since the culture of governance is part of the culture of the people, and the attitude towards work, production, and scientific research is also part. From the same culture, the culture reform has becomeThe real entrance to reforming ruling systems, developing the economy, institutionalizing scientific research and technological development, and eradicating the roots of religious and immoral extremism from the life and institutions of Arab society.
Culture, including values, customs, traditions, attitudes, ways of thinking and social relations, constitutes the first societal framework developed by man through which he tried to link the members of society to each other, and to deal with his environment with its various elements, natural, social and technological. In fact, culture is the only channel through which the mind deals with reality, and the most important means that reality uses to convey to the mind a vivid picture of the problems, illusions and aspirations it is experiencing. This means that it is not possible to address any issue of society in isolation from the cultural environment, and without going through its main channels.
The most important challenge that faced the first man in his life was to deal efficiently with his natural environment of volatile mood and limited giving. He picks them and animals he hunts, and lives in dark caves to escape from the fluctuations of the weather, fearing for his life from predators and tribal invasions, but the first man, and as soon as he started his struggle with his natural environment, discovered that he had to also deal with other people in a way that reduces the risks of contact with them and increases The joy of belonging to them, and this led to the birth of cultures and their crystallization slowly in the form of customs, traditions, norms, values, social relations and ways of thinking.The farmer directed an increasing part of his time to thinking and contemplating life and the universe, which led him to discover and develop different religions. Its components, and basically the foundations of social relations.
The association of culture with religion on the one hand, and the fact that religions invite people to believe in solid beliefs that do not change on the other hand, made it difficult to develop popular cultures without prejudice to religion. As a result, it became impossible to develop cultural values and social relations without developing religious values. And since the majority of Muslim believers believe that the call to develop cultural values is a call to prejudice some religious principles, the stagnation of culture has become a natural matter and the cultural, economic and scientific backwardness is a realistic matter and an integral part of the social life of religious societies. In my opinion, the prevailing Arab culture today is no longer valid. To deal with modern knowledge positively, as it is not able to allow the mind to communicate with reality impartially and scientifically, nor to interact with other peoples and nations and coexist with them on the basis of exchanging interests, accepting the right to difference in opinion and thought and freedom of worship.
Reforming Arab culture requires first adopting a culture of reform, i.e. accepting that our Arab culture has become in dire need of radical reform to move it from the current state of stagnation and extremism to a state characterized by perpetual development and transformation. This means that the beginning of reform begins with recognizing the need for reform and moving from the level of mind to the level of reality, and drawing up a strategy for reform that defines the goals, means, tools and main steps on the path of reform. Can we reform our cultural values without compromising our religious principles? We will try to answer this question in the next article
