In this article, we will discuss the effects of modernity and the Western lifestyle on Islamic societies. RNA – Modernism is a philosophical and historical discourse that can be traced back to the Renaissance, a fervent period of European cultural, artistic, political and economic “rebirth” following the Middle Ages. Generally described as taking place from the 14th century to the 17th century, the Renaissance promoted the rediscovery of classical philosophy, literature and art. This historical discourse has revolutionized all areas of Western human thought and life, and continues to this day, both in the geography of Western countries and in the Eastern world. The core and significance of this concept can be witnessed in the intertwined concepts of the subjectivism of human thought, humanism, secularization, the desecration of materialism, extreme technicalism, fear of the unknown, their stance against shari’ah, their stance against revelation and aversion to texts.
This central thinking led to the emergence of modern art and literature (Romanticism, Classicism, Realism, Naturalism, Expressionism, Cubism and Dadaism), modern science (Impressionism, Scientism, technical attitudes, etc.), modern religion (positivism and religion, pragmatism, etc.). ), the modern political and civil system (Machiavellianism, secularism and citizenship instead of the concept of brotherhood), the modern economic system (bourgeoisie and socialism, etc.), modern thought (subjectivism, logical positivism, etc.), modern social system (modern social classes, such as the middle class and the bourgeoisie, the expansion of social individuality etc.)
All of this has led to a shift in the lifestyle of humankind in the age of modernism and away from their previous lifestyles as well as traditional and religious lifestyles. Here it is appropriate to express what we mean by the word “tradition”:
In its simplest definition, tradition is interpreted as belonging to the past. When a culture becomes historical and becomes the theme and foundation of a civilization, the historicization of that culture and that civilization gives rise to tradition. Tradition must be considered a macro-historical culture that gives identity to man and his time. From our point of view, the Islamic tradition is watered by the fountain of revelation, the Quran and Nahj al-Balaghah (The Peak of Eloquence) and ahadith (narrations), and it is a sacred and heavenly issue that has clear and transparent borders with superstition and fundamentalism.
Due to the rule of the culture of the Imams, a large part of our history, as well as our current culture, is influenced by religion and emerged from religion, and religion has led to the formation and emergence of a special tradition in Iranian society. The obvious weakness of many studies and analyzes of lifestyle is the neglect of the place of Islam and the Shi’ah school of thought in the tradition, history and identity of Iranian society. It seems that for this reason, in the manifesto and charter presented by the Supreme Leader of the Islanic Revolution [Ayatollah Khamenei], all the components of lifestyle, including: identity (self-understanding, understanding of society, understanding of history, etc.), values (both ideal traits and ideal human beings), urban and home architecture, education system, language and literature, art, family (system and role), social relations, social structure, individual and social religiosity, individual and family economic system, nutritional system and individual and family medicine, media, technology, how to approach the world and attitudes towards the socio-political system are linked to religious and Islamic issues.
Another world, another man
From one perspective, lifestyle during the globalization of consumerism. What we call consumer globalization is one of the most important issues in the social sciences and cultural studies but the prevalence and current lifestyle is not only a matter of debate and research in scientific-cultural centres but rather, it is a great danger to the future of cultures and the weakening of the foundation of humanity and the spread of unrest in everything and everywhere, and even in the current extended way of life. That is to say, when we consider the way of life without its interior and its core, a serious issue of the Islamic Revolution is easily ignored, which with some simple instructions can prevent the spread of Western and worldly lifestyles. This global style and method of consumerism, and this nauseating pseudo-modernity, hedonistic scientism, excessive despair of life, postmodern mindset and warlike absurdity are not compatible with any moral, religious, or intellectual criteria, but if we say very well, we will accept it and alongside that, we set a different style and method, we have had wrong ideas.
This thought is no less dangerous than the current method of consumerism and is perhaps more dangerous because we may think that the problem has been solved with some minor changes in the person’s lifestyle and the danger of the domination of the greed of consumerism no longer exists. The problem is that those who believe in the combination of the Western and Islamic lifestyles do not know what they mean by lifestyle and this lifestyle is one of the tools of modernity and the manifestation of the new world, but rather it is the same.
The Western lifestyle is the external appearance and shell of the modern, contemporary and European world. Do we want to change the external appearance and the shell regardless of the internal appearance and shell? Or do we put it in the place of the internal appearance? Do we think that by changing our external appearance, even the most superficial aspects, we can engage in an internal battle and be victorious? Cultural behaviours arise from beliefs and mentalities that are the source of those behaviours and symptoms.
Anti-luxury and simple living, which has a high and privileged place in the religious world, in Islamic ethics and the culture of Nahj al-Balaghah, is not practiced in a city where the laws of mechanics, technology and electronics govern all its affairs. In this situation, it can be said that what is the use of wearing simple clothes and eating simple food, but inevitably and necessarily consuming the latest technological achievements?! When we talk about biological simplicity, we need to think about why simple biology is forgotten and what its barriers are and how we can get back to it without the essential reminder if any praiseworthy behaviour is exaggerated, it may lead to big mistakes, just as post-war development and construction led to the denial of the jihadi, revolutionary, and simple biological values for all.
People’s habits and lifestyles are important and today, Western thinkers also do not defend the Western way of life and the adornment of human virtues and pious life as a condition of perfection and form for everyone. Thus, one of our problems is not the comparison and choice between the two forms and lifestyles, but the possibility of their realization. To answer the questions of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, it is necessary to pay serious attention to the hypothesis that the Western way of life has emerged under the protection of the power of technique and has spread all over the earth. The rule of these powers requires a special way of life, and it seems very unlikely that the moral and religious meaning of virtue and piety can survive under its protection. We are not going to be anti-technical here, we are talking about the impact of the definite necessities of a technologically effected life on lifestyle. The wisdom of the words of this pious sage is revealed here, that he also predicted the means of realizing the Islamic way of life.
Piety belongs to a world and it flourishes in a world where the names of truth are not covered in thick veils. Thus, you have to think about those veils. The current way of life breaks down when its path is closed. Let’s think about the internal sense of this way of life and let’s not confuse the principle, the sub-aspect, the external and the internal sense.
If the way of life is external and every internal sense has an external sense, then the obvious value is that the way of piety and morality cannot be the dominant and external way of the modern and anti-God world. Of course, it must be known that first of all, the customs and habits of others are not always necessary and some of the social traits of Westerners such as risk-taking and danger, collective work in research and scientific activities, observance of some social rules are respectable. Secondly, the world cannot be transformed by changing the appearance of customs and habits. Before the teaching of the shari’ah, the prophets also refined the souls of the people and prepared them to accept the commands and many of the objections were not of a rational origin but a carnal origin.
For the present world and its way of life to change, one must think of another world and another person and a different worldview. That is, another human world must appear on the horizon of understanding. It is in this context that the way of life of the people may change gradually, unpretentiously and effortlessly. In the world that is now in place, the conditions for piety are not available, and those who have all those conditions in them, if they are, are very few. Therefore, in addition to worrying about how people eat and sleep, we need to worry about thought and culture in this world. In this case, one can adopt a new way of life in which pleasure comes before displeasure, truth before falsehood, trust before suspicion, love and knowledge before vindictiveness, the observation of justice before aggression and ignorance, empathy and before over consolidation and the performance duties over the resolution of obligations.
Rasa News Agency