As far as the views of Imam Khomeini (ra) are concerned, the issue of education and upbringing is of special importance. In his perspective, education generally refers to a regular and continuous flow or process that leads to the flourishing of inner talents and capabilities. Addressing the role education and upbringing of children and young people play in preserving the future of the country, he states: “Our youth who are to hold the future of the country in their hands must be trained under the guidance of teachers. If they are trained into righteous individuals then a righteous country will be inherited by us; and if God forbid, the education becomes non-spiritual, then our country will perish.”
Basically, the long-term schema Imam Khomeini (ra) has guided everyone to, has been the education of well-mannered children who abide by the Islamic teachings.
According to the requirements of Imam Khomeini’s lifetime, the most frequent fields of artistic activities were cinema, theatre, television, radio, photography, films and magazines. In his view, arts such as crafts of tiling, embossed articles, carpet weaving, and making brocaded silk and velvet were gradually forgotten and put aside due to the wrong propaganda of the previous corrupt regimes.
Art Education
The importance of art education lies in the fact that this category plays a fundamental role in the development and flourishment of cognitive, emotional and inner capabilities and talents, and in fact, it provides the basis for understanding real values. It is also very effective in reducing anxiety and mental problems, regulating and controlling emotions, developing a sense of self-esteem and self-direction, facilitating social learning, and gaining insight and understanding.
In Imam Khomeini’s thought, art is, on the one hand, aimed at the spiritual growth and education of the audience, and on the other hand, it is committed to religion and serving the interests of the country. Emphasizing the necessity of utilizing art products as the instrument for the education of young people he states: “Cinema is supposed to be a place for education and development. Islam is not opposed to all of these; Islam wants to edify these places to be used at the service of Islam and the education of the youth. We are designated to give the youth, who are in our care and with whom we are in contact, Islamic and religious education and make them aware of today’s current affairs.”
On another occasion, he asserts that the main mission of the press as one of the platforms of art is education. Imam Khomeini (ra) believes that giving a proper orientation to films, pictures and magazines in a way that they contribute to the correct training and education of the children is a divine, moral and national responsibility.
The aims in Imam Khomeini’s thought are based on Islamic mysticism and provide the basis for the realization and achievement of the goal of education i.e., taking the right path. Moreover, Monotheism constitutes the fundamental part of the Islamic worldview, and the whole universe depends on and needs pure and unique Divine Existence. Imam Khomeini (ra) considers the ultimate goal of all knowledge and developments to be the acquisition of divine knowledge and cognition.
The Basics of Art Education from Imam Khomeini’s Point of View
Centrality of Ethics
Imam Khomeini (ra) has always emphasized the practical ethic and its effect on people’s lives highlighting the different levels of moral actions. He believes that the realization of correct education in the education system of the country depends on the moral training and education of students. While giving priority to moral education over art one, Imam Khomeini (ra) points out the lack of human and Islamic ethics in the arena of art at that time: “We should toil for some time and come to believe that we have a great human culture with Islamic values. If today there is a shortage of manpower it is because thoughts had been accustomed to the western mentality. Therefore, building a theatre, which conforms to human-Islamic ethics, is a task that requires hold work. If cinema wants to be so, we need time. Cinema and theatre are not necessarily centres of corruption.”
Religious Orientation
The centrality of religion in Imam Khomeini’s educational thoughts is evident. He believes that the lack of institutionalization of the concept of God’s worship in the heart and minds of children is equal to betraying a trust. For him, constructive education is one that is humane, Islamic and useful for Islamic society.
In Imam Khomeini’s viewpoint, Islam “is a school of thought that, unlike polytheistic schools, carefully intervenes and supervises individual, social, material, spiritual, cultural, political, military and economic aspects of life and does not neglect any point which may have a bearing on the growth of man and society as well as their material and spiritual progress. It warns people of all difficulties and obstacles standing in the way of perfection and calls for their eradication.”
He tasked the jurists and scholars with addressing cultural issues and art in its general sense including photography, painting, sculpture, music, theatre, cinema, calligraphy, etc. In addition, while condemning the kind of art that is a “souvenir of the West,” which leads to the destruction of human beings, he advises the activists in this field to try to develop an arena for the promotion of religious teachings all over the world.
Intellectual Independence
One of the basics of art education from Imam Khomeini’s point of view is intellectual independence. This concept will be realized by deepening the spirit of self-confidence and developing the capacity for the flourishment of intellectual creativity and indigenous productions. While criticizing the lack of self-esteem and self-confidence, he states: “I advise all the officials and authorities to provide in whatever possible way the means for the moral, religious, scientific and artistic development of the youth, to accompany them up to the threshold of acquiring the best values and technologies and to keep in them alive the spirit of independence and self-reliance.”
In his view, “it is a beautiful and pure art that would be the destroyer of modern capitalism and blood-thirsty communism, and the annihilator of the Islam of comfort and luxury, the eclectic Islam the Islam of compromise and ignobility, the Islam of the indolent affluent ones, and in sum, American Islam.”
Emphasizing the necessity of educating young people to gain intellectual independence Imam Khomeini (ra) states: “The experts of colonialism, through hypocrisy and ruse and in the name of Islamophile and Orientalism paint thick coating on the illuminated face of Islam and introduce Islam through the architectures, paintings, historical buildings and fine arts. They inject into societies the tyrannical, anti-Islamic governments of the Umayyads, Abbasids, and Ottomans in the name of the Islamic caliphate while hiding the true visage of Islam behind these curtains. Thus, today it is difficult to make human societies even the Muslims understand the government of Islam and its constitutional, political, economic and social organizations.”
Imam Khomeini (ra) strongly advises all the people: “My advice to the Islamic Consultative Assembly, to Presidents, to the Guardian Council, to the Supreme Judicial Council and governments, now and in the future, is to maintain the news agencies, the press and the magazines in the service of Islam and the interests of the country. We must all know that Western-style freedom degenerates the youth and is therefore condemned in Islam’s view and by the intellect. Propaganda literature, articles, speeches, books and magazines that oppose Islam, public morality and the interests of the country are forbidden and their suppression is incumbent on us and all other Muslims. Harmful liberties must be restrained.”
The Principles of Art Education in Imam Khomeini’s View
Addressing the Art Forms
Imam Khomeini (ra) believes that the achievement of the Islamic form lies in refraining from depending on foreigners’ models from the East to the West. Regarding the need to pay attention to the form adopted in magazines he states: “We still have a long way to go and, in this regard, our magazines and the culture presented by them and how it is presented can impact the actual culture of the people. This is because even if people do not read the magazines and just browse through them, they will still be left impacted. If a youth even browsed through them, he would be influenced by them.”
He considers part of the mission of educating the future generation to be related to the artistic forms used in magazines and media: “The present generation must take on training the next generation…. It is easy to publish a magazine but it is very difficult to publish a good magazine…Such magazines should be published so that when our youth go
through them, their contents would compensate for the fifty years of ruin of this country. You should compensate for the destruction caused in those fifty years… Those who wish to publish magazines should equip themselves to train the future generation. Be concerned about the next generation. Islam holds all generations accountable. Prophet Muhammad (s) was a prophet for all generations. We are also obliged to do something about future generations. We need to start our training from home and from our primary and secondary schools.”
Emphasizing the Content of the Art
Imam Khomeini (ra) considers paying attention to the content of the art as the basis for the education of the youth stating that: “The magazines exist for the sake of serving the country. Serving the country is realized by educating and training the youth and building humans who are thoughtful and use their intellect to serve the country…The greatest service is to help our workforce development. The onus of this lies on the newspapers, magazines, radio-television, the cinema, and the theatre. They can strengthen our workforce and train it properly, and their service could be valuable... A country cannot be managed just because of its name. A country cannot become Islamic because of the name “Islamic Republic,” or by voting in favour of establishing an Islamic republic. An Islamic country must be Islamic in essence. You who publish magazines could be of service. By means of your articles, your wholesome articles, you can turn our youth into stalwarts. You should aim to derive strength from committed Islamic and humane writers. Write good articles.”
Describing the Quranic concepts as the most appropriate and acceptable content for works of art he states: “It is the only art acceptable to the Qur’an that would represent and reflect the teachings of the pure Islam, the Islam promoted by the Infallible Imams (a), the Islam of the suffering poor, the Islam of the barefooted, and the Islam of the whipped ones of the bitter and disgraceful history of deprivations… In the school of love, art shows the dark and ambiguous points of the social, economic, political and military complexities.”
Addressing the Personality and Moral Behaviors of the Artist
In the Islamic view, an artist must be trained and educated so that the art would be purified and this education, in addition to technical aspects, focuses on moral and human ones as well. According to some others, purifying human thoughts and imaginations is the first and most important thing that should be done in this regard. In this process, the purity of the artist’s action is also guaranteed; because everyone’s action is a reflection of his thoughts and his thoughts are a reflection of his imagination. Imam Khomeini (ra) is of the opinion that the success of any educational action depends on the inner reform of the teacher. In the meantime, highlighting the role of the committed and knowledgeable artists, as the main guardians of youth education he states: “The mass media apparatus, particularly the Radio and Television, these centres of public training and education, can render valuable services to the culture of Islam and Iran. The agencies with which the nation across the country is in contact day and night whether broadcasting or print media, plays, films and constructive arts should work harder. These centres should call on committed artists and directors to consider the situation of people from all walks of life in their correct education and purification of society and teach them the honourable and liberal way of life using arts and plays, and abstaining from destructive and obscene arts.”
Reference: The Knowledge Studies in Islamic Universities. Vol 20, No. 1, Spring 2016, Pp 89-108.
Archive of Imam Khomeini
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