Imam Khomeini (ra) and the Western Culture

 

Imam Khomeini (ra) divides Western culture into two categories of original and colonial: “Culture—such a rich one—they have repelled only to adhere to that of the West and that too a culture which is not pristine, not original. They have adhered to the culture of Western imperialism… West has for everything its own imperialism… It even exports the same to the countries lagging behind, undeveloped ones. They export what is compatible with them, what is befitting to them. This is only a pretext. They mean a complete dependence upon them.”

 

Imam Khomeini (ra) believes that what the West exports to other countries as culture is a colonial culture with which it seeks dominance over the nations. He considers the prevailing culture in Iran during the Pahlavi period as an example of the Western colonial culture that has caused the backwardness of the country and made the youth weak-kneed and unprincipled: “Although this existed fifty years ago, during these recent fifty years particularly when this profane person, Mohammad-Reza, ascended the throne, it reached to its perfection. Affiliation with West came into being in every aspect.”

 

According to Imam Khomeini (ra), promoting the colonial culture of the West has caused our society to become dependent such that whatever is not affiliated with the West is rejected: “We have doctors; not that Iran lacks doctors; it has them. We have many of them. Why is it that whenever anybody falls ill, he has to be taken to Europe!

It is because they have made us pessimistic about our own doctors. We have doctors but have become pessimistic (about them). We have engineers; we cannot say that we do not. But they have taken away this content of ours in that whenever a road needs to be asphalted, the concerned engineer has to come from abroad; they are brought from abroad. They must come from abroad to put up a factory or a big building. This is because of all their propaganda, which had made us pessimistic with regard to ourselves. They had emptied us of our content. We had been a people fixated entirely on the West.”

 

Imam Khomeini (ra) considers the lack of self-confidence and attention to the West as a cause of misery and underdevelopment of the Iranian nation and made a great effort to modify this culture during his struggles and after the Revolution. He considers modifying the culture as the most important solution for improving the current situation of the country. He sees the intellectual and cultural independence from the West as the path to the greatness of the Iranian nation: “If you want to free yourself from all the affiliations, you should put aside the affiliation, that of mind and of heart. Do not think that whatever they, the Westerners, have is good. For instance, suppose one has achieved progress in the industry. This does not mean that it is progress in their culture.”

Therefore, Imam Khomeini (ra) emphasizes on intellectual independence, that is, to change the existing culture and create an independent one: “The greatest development that must be brought about must take place in the culture. That is because culture is the single most important item that may send a nation to its doom, or yet may give rise to its ever greatness and power. Cultural programs are in need of development.”

 

According to Imam Khomeini (ra), man does not grow up except through the teachings of Islam and the prophets (a): “The West does not mould man. What do build people are the schools of divinity. It was the school of monotheism by which the prophets (a) made all efforts to build people. If a country has the proper people, it will have a freedom that is not harmful to others; intellectual freedom, spiritual freedom and human freedom. The prophets (a) wanted to train proper human beings. The Holy Quran is a book that moulds man. It aims to build people. If the people are properly brought up, their country will have tranquillity.”

 

Imam Khomeini (ra) emphasizes on the unity of the seminary and the university as well as taking into account the role of upbringing alongside science: “The independence of our country depends on the independence of the universities and the seminaries. The university and seminaries should join hands and protect the independence of their country. They should cut off all their hopes from others. They should not pay heed to their objections to fostering harmony between the universities and the clerics. They are fearful even of the shadow of a cleric. They plan to keep the universities away from the seminaries. They had tried for long years to foster a rift and animosity between these two groups that are the think-tanks of a nation and in whose hands lie the welfare, grandeur, and independence of this nation. All of us saw how these two groups had been turned into enemies until the Islamic Revolution following which Islam held out its invitation. Islam invites all groups to unity and especially the universities and the seminaries. And as long as these two groups remain united, your country’s independence is guaranteed.”

 

Imam Khomeini (ra) and Denying the Accusation that Islam is a Reactionary Religion

 

Because the Islamic commands and precepts are issued based on the nature of man which does not undergo changes over time, the teachings and rules of Islam are not changed as well. That is, changing the way of life, will not change the man so there is no need for modifying rules and regulations. For example, all humans possess the faulty of lust, and if this desire is not controlled, man would lose his human balance. Therefore, in order to control this desire, Islam has issued instructions in the Quran, such as men should control the eyes and women should observe Hijab. Given that all human beings of all ages possess the faculty of lust, changing the way of life in a manner that animal husbandry is replaced with farming and industrial works, would not affect this Islamic order because those who currently live in an industrial society also possess the faculty of lust. Therefore, the Holy Quran’s command to control the lust which had been issued 1400 years ago, still applicable to our time, albeit the development of industrial life. This view is contrary to those who believe that when the way of life is changed the Islamic culture and its rules and regulations will also undergo a change.

 

Referring to this issue, Imam Khomeini (ra) states: “It is God that encompasses everything and all the ages. It is the Quran that is the Book for all ages. It is the commandments of the Messenger of God that are valid for all the ages.”

 

He considers the promotion of the view that Islam is an ancient religion that is only applicable to the old societies, as a conspiracy invoked by the enemies of Islam:

 

“…They tried to introduce Islam to the people within the country and those outside in such a way that made it appear a very insignificant, petty and outdated affair filled with superstitions. Thus, they embarked on their propaganda campaign both at home and abroad to advance the idea that yes, Islam exists, but if it is anything important its importance belongs to 1,400 years ago, when the Arabs were uncivilized and these teachings were for them, that now with the advent of civilization, Islam is outdated and useless. Its teachings oppose progress and freedom; it does not allow the people to be free; women have no freedom at all in Islam and education is prohibited. They would have the people believe that was Islam to gain predominance, all traces of modernity would be effaced; travel by airplane would be forbidden; schooling would be prohibited, and women would not be allowed to leave their homes. They have succeeded in spreading such ideas on a vast scale throughout the world.”

 

Imam Khomeini (ra) and University

 

Imam Khomeini (ra) tries to create unity between the seminary and the university. Criticizing the university for educating the youth in accordance with the Western perspective and encouraging them to consider the West as their aspiration and goal, he considers the Islamic university a necessity for the perfection and progress of Iran.

 

Imam Khomeini (ra) states: “Spiritual sciences must be taught at universities just like material sciences. Humanities and educational issues should be taught by those who know what Islamic education is and what Islam is. Some of these people should not think that Islam does not have anything to offer regarding society or education. As far as human issues are concerned, Islam is much deeper than any other school of thought. Islam considers educational issues as having top priority. What we want to say is this: Our colleges are affiliated ones. Our colleges are those of imperialists. Our colleges produce the students fully westernized. The professors mostly are westernized. And they train our youth in the same trend. Our point here is that the colleges we have are not useful to our students. We say that our colleges are the hurdles in way of the progress of our youth—the sons of this soil.”

 

Also, while referring to the issue of art and media he states: “The cinemas are centers of prostitution. We are not against cinemas; we are opposed to centers of prostitution. We are not opposed to the radio; it is the prostitution that we are opposed to; we are not opposed to television; what we are opposed to are services rendered to foreigners for keeping our youth backward, and the dissipation of our manpower. When did we ever oppose modernity and its processes”?

 

Imam Khomeini (ra) views Western technology and science as a neutral phenomenon that has nothing to do with Western thought and philosophy. In his opinion, the Westerners have focused on the scientific tradition of Muslims: “One of the other issues is the very issue of the traditional medicine. They were treating all the sick people with the help of those very herbal medicines and such treatments were fundamental treatments; Europe was using Avicenna’s medicine up to the very recent times.

 

Avicenna’s book was, until recently, the focus of their attention and perhaps it is at this very moment as well, although they do not reveal it. It is not that I am not aware of these issues; problems are abundant. Such issues made us perceive that we are naught and they are everything. They wanted to expel us from the scene of mankind and declare that we do not possess anything.”

 

Reference: Politics Quarterly (Journal of Faculty of Law and Political Science). Vol 44, No 1, Spring 2014, Pp 63-77.

 

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