Journal of Contemporary Research on Islamic Revolution Volume. 3 No. 8 Spring 2021 PP. 53-70

Cultural Problems of the Muslim World and Their Solutions According to Imam Khomeini

Ali Bagheri Dolatabadi^*1, Reza Eltiaminia²

DOR: 20.1001.1.26767368.2021.3.8.3.5

1. Associate Professor, International Relations, Yasouj University, Yasouj, IRAN.


2. Assistant Professor, Political Geography, Yasouj University, Yasouj, IRAN.

(Received: 10 April 2021 - Accepted: 1 June 2021)

Abstract

Knowledge of the countries' backwardness causes, especially developing countries, was the subject of research and interest of many thinkers in the 70s and later. Cultural problems are the most important reasons for this backwardness with complex and ambiguous dimensions, which need more attention from Muslim thinkers. The study of Imam Khomeini's thoughts and views about Muslim countries' cultural problems regarding his intellectual, jurisprudential, and political position can better understand the contexts of these problems and their solutions. To find the answer, the authors used the theory of crisis of Thomas Spragens. According to Imam Khomeini, the results indicated that the cultural problems of the Muslim world are rooted in spiritual dependence and self-destruction against the West. The characteristics of an ideal society from Imam Khomeini are cultural independence, divine law authority, the transforming community to a divine-human being, freedom of thought, and pondering Islamic awareness and awakening. To achieve such a society, he seeks a solution to the unity of the Muslim world and the severance of cultural ties with the West.

Keywords: Imam Khomeini, The Muslim World, Cultural Independence, Meaning Crisis, Westernization, Islamic Awakening.

*. Corresponding author: ab.dolatabadi@gmail.com

Introduction

The cultural development of a society is undoubtedly one of the components of growth in any community. Therefore, let's consider culture as a model of thinking, acting, beliefs, convictions, values, and ideals with art, techniques, and customs of society manifested in the nation's social groups and sections. In other words, it considers as the primary motivating factor and the movement of a country's human resources. If a country has a flourishing culture, it will be an energizing factor in other areas. Instead, it will not have the necessary motivation and permanent infrastructure for different regions with a cultural trouble. Today, the cultural crisis has become an uncontrollable phenomenon in developing countries that threatens Islam and all Muslims worldwide.

Although this damage is happening, the Iranian society was aware of these damages and impairments six decades ago. As a jurist and religious scholar, Imam Khomeini first gave the first warnings to the Iranian community in the 1960s. These warnings provided the background for the protest people to the country's cultural structures during the Pahlavi period and the Islamic Revolution. Then, in a meeting with the Islamic Republic officials and a speech for the people, Imam Khomeini explained the various dimensions of these cultural damages and emphasized the necessity of reform them. Despite the importance of these issues in reforming the political-economic situation of the Muslim world, the leaders and thinkers of the Muslim countries in the region affected by the opposing political atmosphere formed by the Western media against the Islamic Revolution of Iran paid less attention to this dimension. As a result, they had less attention to the cultural pathology of the Muslim world problems in their research. Instead, they focused more on communist thinking about the economic roots of underdevelopment and liberal thinking on political underdevelopment.

The absence of severe changes in the Islamic countries' situation over the past four decades -despite much research in these areas-indicates, these countries have failed to identify the root cause of their political-economic failures, according to the authors of this article is culture. So, the present study aimed to review Imam Khomeini's statements about identifying the cultural problems of the Muslim world and their solutions. The primary questions of this paper include:

-   ‘According to Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Iranian revolution, what are the fundamental cultural problems that have led to the lack of development in Islamic countries?’

-   ‘What solutions did he suggested to end these problems?’

To better analyze Imam Khomeini's view, we have used Spragens crisis theory; because the crisis pathology and the presentation of the

solution by thinkers are generally examined in the background and according to its time occurrence.

1.    Research Background

The Muslim world and even the West have always considered Imam Khomeini's thoughts. However, in the works written by researchers, nothing has been written specifically about the cultural challenges of the Muslim world based on Spragens' theory. Therefore, the present study examines the Imam’s thoughts and the Muslim world from a new perspective. Some works that have been published in this regard are as follows. Arefi (1999), in "The Solution of the Political Unity of the Muslim world in Imam Khomeini's thought," says the idea of "Unity of the Muslim world" has been one of the long-standing and fundamental intellectual pursuits of Imam Khomeini. He explains how to achieve political unity in a crisis-ridden and fragmented world of Islam with no ground.

Jafarpisheh (2008), in "Imam Khomeini and the Principles of Islamic State," explains ‘was the purpose of Imam Khomeini's uprising?’ ‘Did he consider the Anti-oppressive and seeking respect of the Muslims, or did he consider material and economic issues?’ Relying on the monotheistic view of the Imam in the Lordship, he emphasizes Anti-oppressive and seeking-respect in Imam’s thought.

Fouladi (2008), in the "Strategy of the Muslim world Unity in Imam Khomeini's thought," examines the issue of unity in Imam Khomeini's thought. So addresses questions about the unity of Muslims. For example, ‘What are the ways to strengthen unity?’ and ‘what effects does it have on Islamic countries?’

Sotoudeh Arani and Daneshyar (2009), in the article "Pathology of International Relations from Imam Khomeini's View," seek to answer the question: ‘What are the harms of international relations from Imam Khomeini's view?’ The authors say, Imam Khomeini believes that there is inequality and discrimination in the political structure of international relations; this relationship violates the human rights of weak nations. According to the Imam, there are two groups in international relations. Those in power use it to exploit the oppressed and the oppressed of the world who are influenced. In addition to the above works, other articles examine Imam Khomeini's political thought dimensions that are not close to the present study or are written in journalism and lack the necessary scientific basis.

2.    Thomas Spragens’ Crisis Theory

According to Thomas Spragens, political theories' goal is to provide a holistic view of political society with a critical eye to understand it; and eliminating its shortcomings, and restoring health to society by confronting and overcoming the roots of the disorder. In other

words, the purpose of political theories, according to Thomas Spragens, is to cure and contribute to the political community psychologically. Thus, through it, they can overcome society's political problems and solved its challenges. This method determines the purpose and appropriateness of political theories, the theorist's approach in writing his work, and ultimately its purpose. Thomas Spragnes is a political science traditionalist who uses historical, philosophical, and anthropological methods in political science.

His efforts to understand political theories provide a theoretical, philosophical, logical, and practical framework to discover the internal logic and method of understanding any theorizing. In the first step, in the name of crisis and disorderly observation, he claims that political thinkers of every age are highly realistic, and their political ideas are the answer to the problems of their political environment. Accordingly, political theories are not merely academic pastimes but are deeply relevant to politics's practical and everyday issues. Moreover, they try to provide a comprehensive imagine and a relative understanding of the world of politics (Barzegar, 2005: 48).

At this level, Imam Khomeini also observed cultural crises in Islamic societies and suffered from the disorder and forgetfulness of the original Islamic culture.

The second step, called pain detection, comes after looking for irregularities searching for the cause (Abbas Tabar Firoozjah, 2006: 55). Only the mind of an extraordinary person can remain calm after observing disorder. In such a case, the heart and mind of a healthy person will make him study more. Observe is the natural motivation of "Logic," and the concerned mind seeks further research. Thus, the solution to the first problem is to answer ‘What is wrong?’ which creates new confusion. The answer for the disorder observation phase is itself the seed of subsequent questions. The excitement that initially led the theorist to research is still active because it has yet found no solution to the disorder (Spragens, 2010: 79).

At this stage, Imam Khomeini, after observing disorder and cultural crisis in Islamic societies, could not leave this crisis alone and sought the causes of this issue. Therefore, he recognized the pain and cause of the cultural problem in the Muslim community.

The third step is called order and dream of rebuilding society. Again, irregular observation presents two issues: difficulty identifying causes and the correct political order. However, if a person recognizes his time's political situation as irregular, he can establish an orderly and proper system. Therefore, the theorist must answer the question, ‘what is the correct situation if this situation is bad?’ ‘If so, what is health?’ After recognizing the pain, Imam Khomeini sought to present a fair society. So, he rebuilt the present culturally crisis-ridden society with his ideal community.

The last phase is the treatment. The last part of political theories is "Offering a Solution," practical suggestions and recommendations. These recommendations are sometimes explicit and sometimes implicit (Davari Ardakani, 1998: 270).

Imam Khomeini states his solutions for overcoming the cultural challenges development lack of realization in the last phase; recommendations that resolve many cultural challenges. To understand Imam Khomeini's thoughts according to the crisis theory, at first must examine the time conditions and his thoughts to guide the reader's mind to the subject.

3.    Conditions and Time Requirements for the Formation of Imam Khomeini's Ideas

Along with the internal developments in Iran and Islamic societies, time requirements have been influential in shaping the views of Imam Khomeini. The fundamental issues and decisive results during his life includes several sections. First, the dominance of liberalism in the West and the peak of its evolution, birth, and decline of the communist system and Russian socialism (Leninism-Stalinism), the emergence and decline of some extremist and totalitarian ideologies, such as Nazism in Germany, Fascism in Italy, and Stalinism in the Soviet Union, the rise of nationalism, especially in the Middle East and the Muslim world, the spread of nationalist or racist ideologies based on Pan-Arabism and Pan-Turkism, the increase of the bipolar system and the rise of the Cold War, get into the power of the United States and the former Soviet Union and, finally, towards the end of his life the relative victory of the West and liberalism in the Cold War and its effects on the attitudes of societies and individuals dominated by instrumental reason and relativistic views on science and humanities, The emergence of postmodernist theories, the expansion of communications and the globalization of cultures, and most importantly the religious and political awakening of the world peoples, especially the gradual rise and resurrection of the Muslim world. Also, the dominance of secularism, materialism, individualism, and utilitarianism under the influence of other principles of liberalism and the new attitude of the Western world are among the most prominent features of this period (Jamshidi, 2000: 19).

The above issues and living in Iraq and Iran and being a student of scholars such as Abdolkarim Haeri Yazdi, Mirza Javad Maleki Tabrizi, Muhammad Golpayegani, Muhammad Ali Boroujerdi, Muhammad Taghi Khansari, Abbas Araki, and accompanying Ayatollah Boroujerdi had a tremendous impact on his political thought. In addition to the above issues, we must refer to the political developments of the last two centuries in Iran, such as the Constitution, the infamous Reuters and Darcy agreements, the black

coup and Reza Shah coming to power, the discovery of hijab, and encounter with religious manifestations in Iranian society, the nationalization of the oil industry, the coup d'etat of 28 Mordad, the execution of the devotees of Islam, land reform, the White Revolution, the 1920 uprising of the Iraqi people, the formation of Israel in the Middle East, Arab nationalism, etc. Each of them, for their part, influenced the development of Imam Khomeini's political thought. Such an intellectual and political environment and the cultural situation of the Muslim world caused Imam to realize the existence of a cultural crisis in Islamic communities.

4.      Causes of Cultural Crisis in Islamic Societies

4.1.    The Entity of Cultural Crisis

In culture, any event that breaks the norms and values deviates from social discipline and jeopardizes the doctrinal foundations and society's material and spiritual interests is a cultural crisis. Therefore, confrontation with such an event requires the management and process of managing the cultural problem. Undoubtedly, society will solve the situation in culture when it acts according to a clear and convincing model in the face of a cultural crisis. For example, today, globalization in the cultural dimension is one of the most fundamental cultural problems of countries. This trend started in economics but did not continue and was extended to politics and culture (Goodarzi, 2003: 139).

This trend, undoubtedly, has become a significant crisis today and related some opponents of the globalization process to these problems. Countries' response to this crisis is similar to turbulent actions and, in a sense, sound strategy if it does not rely on a pre­determined plan. However, countries will actively or super-actively face this crisis if a suitable model and a specific design will actively or super-actively face this crisis (Pourezzat, 2002: 42).

4.2.      Cultural Crisis from Imam Khomeini's View

According to the Imam, the cultural crisis is very complex, and its solution is more complicated. But, in his view, the problem has affected the Muslims' minds and thoughts and guides them to the colonialism desires. Therefore, he introduces the essential cultural crisis in the Muslim world as the young people and intellectuals' cultural self-destruction.

Unfortunately, our country, which has Islamic laws, jurisprudence, and culture, has ignored these rights and followed the West. So, the West is attractive for a section of the nation that they think the West is everything. This intellectual, mental, and cerebral dependence on the abroad is the source of most nations and our countries misery (Khomeini, 1989: 4).

According to Imam Khomeini, colonial culture is much worse than the weapons of bullies. If the Third World fails to solve this

vital issue, it cannot achieve transcendent growth. It should start from the basis and children with the help of schools and universities. Expressing and promoting Western culture in scientific and educational environments and attracting young people to this culture is one of the harms seen in society. Imam Khomeini, in the description of some of these intellectuals, says:

Everywhere    now,    such    intellectuals    are    being    trained    with Westernized ideas. As a result, the same Taghut thoughts are being cultivated now. The person who used to say that everything should be in English is now dead, and may God have mercy on him. He had thus lost the content and had been emptied. A person's face, like other people, but the content is related content. Soon we will not be able to reform these intellectual and "Libertarian" strata from the content that has been injected into their [brain] for fifty, thirty, twenty years that emptied and neglected them (Khomeini, 1989: 24). According to Imam Khomeini, the current cultural crisis does not belong to any particular country and is taking root in all Muslim

states and has targeted all Muslims globally.

The most critical domination of the West or the East over the Islamic countries has been cultural domination. In those centers, our children become dependent on the West or the East after graduating from university. Young people who now work either for China or the Soviet Union or the United States in different countries, and especially in Iran, many of them have graduated from the same universities, but without identity (Khomeini, 1989: 319).

Most scholars regard the West's goals in the Third World around the following axes: achieving cheap raw materials, expanding the monopoly market for manufactured goods, and providing a ground for investing additional capital (Saei, 2001: 175).

However, these studies have overlooked some points of cultural domination as the basis of colonization and exploitation of these countries. A country will not succumb to the West but despite the feeling of cultural inferiority and weakness. So, Imam Khomeini considers cultural domination the most significant dimension and knows it the great calamity of Islamic countries. The tragedy has befallen the Muslim community for years; other troubles will crack easily by solving this problem. According to Imam Khomeini, the cultural crisis includes the following characteristics:

A)    The culture derives from colonialism in Islamic countries in contrast to the rich culture of Islamic countries;

B)     The target of an aggressive culture is the majority of the youths;

C)    The West wants to inspire the belief that progress is the same as the Western way and culture;

D)    Basically, "Cultural Aggression" has unique characteristics compared to military or economic aggression. Cultural aggression is usually invisible and intangible, long-term and long-lasting, rooted

and profound, all-encompassing, calculated with a wide range of programs and tools, broad and comprehensive, practical and risky;

E)     Fighting and destroying cultural domination is much more complicated than economic and political domination and lasts years.

4.3.    Psychological Dependence, a Critical Factor

The human soul and body built the thought when the human soul became dependent on the destructive and counter-cultural factors of that country; it will gradually become a creature that will only listen to the commands of aliens. Thus, the cultural crisis in society begins here. Imam Khomeini, in this regard, says:

We need time to have an independent culture, not the colonial culture that Westerners offer us. They changed our culture in such a way that even our talking has become Western. We use western names to name the streets, Roosevelt, Kennedy, and so on. It is an example of Westernization. While you will not find a road called Muhammad Reza or Nader in Europe, our compliments and conventions are Western.

So, we found a spiritual attachment that is worse than anything. University graduates are trained according to their goals. The West, through its propaganda, has attracted young people and the growth of Western thought in them (Khomeini, 1989: 25).

Another practical method of the enemy to destroy the national and Islamic culture is the spiritual dependence of Muslims on Western culture. Therefore, according to the Imam, designing universities and society are under Western interests. The youth's spiritual weakness has caused them to see the West as their dream city and pursue material prosperity, exploitation, and unbridled enjoyment in life and living within the framework of material and animal life away from spirituality, morality, and humanity. Thus, one of the ancient methods of the enemy to expand its domination is using deviant beliefs against genuine beliefs and values. They are trying to transform religion, which is the cause of awakening, dynamism, anti-oppression, justice-expanding, and the ingredient of happiness in this world and the hereafter, into the cause of individualism, isolationism, seeking-oppression, backwardness, and monasticism. According to the Imam, “Foreigners, especially the United States, have been trying for the last half-century to deprive our culture and cultural and scientific programs of their Islamic-human-national content, and instead use colonial culture” (Khomeini, 1989: 81).

Placing these seedlings in the minds and souls of people will take them away from religious and human values and will be immersed in Western culture every day. But, on the other hand, institutionalizing this thinking in the minds and souls of people will take them away from religious and human values and drown them in Western culture every day.

According to Imam Khomeini, spiritual dependence on the West has led to another level in the Islamic youth life. That is intellectual dependence because western thinking has been rooted in the Muslim's minds for many years and has caused the intellectual influence of the Islam enemies.

They made us dependent on all sides, and this intellectual dependence caused the West as the source of everything. Therefore, to believe that we have to bring everything from the West, to seek treatment for defects in the West. As long as this dependence exists, we cannot find independence. We will never become independent unless we believe we have a culture, we have everything, and we do not need the West. What the West gives us cannot grow us. They want to keep us on the same level. The young people who we delivered were influenced by Western thoughts that should be changed (Khomeini, 1989: 230).

This intellectual dependence creates a situation in which people feel alienated from their culture and nationality. Domestic goods, national independence, and dignity have not crucial to the individual. Neither cultural sovereignty nor economic and political freedom will be necessary, and these factors are the Western favorite.

What Westerners export in the name of science, culture, growth, and excellence is very different. Their thinking is different for the Eastern countries. Their teachings to them are partial or colonial. They make everything dependent on themselves but do not give us anything. All believe we are dependent, primarily reliant on thoughts. Our youth, older men, educated people, intellectuals, many of these thoughts are dependent on the West and especially on America. Even those who do not have malice and want to serve their country, because they do not know the right way and believe that they should get everything from the West, are dependent on them. This dependency is the source of all the dependencies we have after cultural dependence comes economic, social, and political ones (Khomeini, 1989: 357).

5.    The Ideal Society of Imam Khomeini

In Imam Khomeini's ideal society, there are the following cultural components: cultural independence, the rulership of divine law, the transformation of society into divine human beings, thought freedom, and the people's awareness and awakening.

5.1.    Cultural Independence

For Imam Khomeini, nothing in society is higher than cultural independence; without cultural autonomy, a community will forever be colonized and dependent, even if it's political autonomy. Therefore, Imam Khomeini constantly said to the Iranian nation: “You should try to regain what you have lost during the period of

puppet regimes, especially "Spiritual Independence"” (Khomeini,

1989: 347).

This cultural independence is not only for the society citizens, but officials need to be more vigilant. Imam Khomeini says in this regard: “We say, sir, do not listen to others keep your independence, give up obedience” (Rouhani, 1980: 887).

Therefore, the Iranian authorities must not only renounce their allegiance. Still, they must help other Muslim nations to free themselves from the domination of the dictators: “The Iranian nation hopes to cut off the hands of foreigners from all Islamic owners and restore their independence” (Khomeini, 1989: 150).

5.2.    The Rulership of Divine Law

The political system and the governing laws on it distinguishes Islamic societies from Western and Eastern civilizations. In Islamic societies, divine law prevails on written human law, and others will be acceptable in case of non-conflict with this law. The current conditions in Islamic countries created by the West or the East were not ideal for Imam Khomeini; therefore, he tried to rule the divine law on the Iranian society once again with the formation in the first phase after the Islamic Revolution the Islamic Republic. Regarding the importance of the religious ruling law in society, he says:

In Islam, only the divine law rules, which the Prophet and his caliphs also practiced, are now obliged to do the same. A person does not rule even if he is a prophet or a caliph. In Islam, there is no person, but the divine law governs, and everyone must obey the law of God. The law is based on divine justice, the Qur'an, and the Prophetic tradition. We are its follower, and we must act accordingly. In Islamic law, there is no difference between individuals and groups. Although the Prophet was an Arab and spoke to the Arabs, he said that no Arab has any honor over the non-Arabs, and no non-Arab has any integrity over the Arabs (Khomeini, 1989: 425).

5.3.    The Transformation of Society into Divine Human Beings

In the Western school, everything is based on humanism. Therefore, what is acceptable in creating pleasure and desirability of individuals is not contrary to the freedoms of others and the law. But in Islamic society, the goal of human satisfaction is not in this material world. Everything is based on the happiness of individuals and their becoming divine-human beings. Accordingly, Imam Khomeini states the purpose of Islam: “In Islam, everything is the prelude to humanization. If left alone, it will destroy the whole world. But if he is educated, will fulfill all the needs of this world and the hereafter of human beings, and if he becomes stroppy or moves against his natural path, will destroy the whole world” (Khomeini, 1989: 172).

Therefore, the society's problems key to building a divine-human being is in strengthening spirituality. Thus, an Islamic system must

solve problems and not neglect spirituality; it is a pain cure. We believe that Islam is the only school that can guide and advance society, and if the world wants to get rid of the problems and live humanely, it must convert to Islam (Khomeini, 1989: 437).

5.4.    Thought Freedom

The next indicator of a desirable cultural society is freedom of thought. In a culturally closed community, people will soon lose themselves and become enslaved to other cultures and lose the power of reasoning. Such a society does not promote cultural independence, and it will value any offered product to it. Imam considers one of the characteristics of a perfect human being to rely on argument and reasoning and avoid imposing ideas. In principle, he believes that setting ideas is impossible. Islam is a religion based on discussion and logic, and it is not afraid of freedom of speech and writing and other deviant schools that have failed in the eyes of themselves and their scientists (Khomeini, 1989: 81).

5.5.    Awareness and Awakening

The next indicator is awareness and awakening. A society with negligent youths who are oblivious to new science and technology will always need foreigners. According to Imam: “The precise point that is hopeful for me at the end of my life is the awareness and awakening of the young generation and the rapidly growing intellectual movement. By the will of God Almighty, it will reach a definite result, which is the cessation of foreign rulers and the expansion of Islamic justice” (Khomeini, 1989: 114).

Explaining the Islamic awakening among the Iranian nation and the necessity to share it with other countries, Imam Khomeini says: Must share it with the nations. Just as in Iran, the Iranian people, the youth, the Basij, and the nomads allied themselves against the conspiracy of the United States and the Pahlavi regime against Islam, they woke up. They took the tanks off the scene with clenched fists. However, until the nations do not wake up and unite, despite their abundant resources and facilities, they are doomed to corrupt governments               and    criminal  America           and      other                         superpowers (Khomeini, 1989: 325).

After describing the ideal society from Imam's view, according to Thomas Spragens' theory of crisis, the next step is to treat cultural challenges. The following are ways to treat the cultural turmoil of the Muslim world.

1. 6.    Treating the Cultural Crisis from Imam Khomeini's View According to Imam Khomeini, the cure for all the problems of Muslims can be summarized in a few cases that overcome through which many crises of Islamic societies, especially the cultural crisis.

6.1.    Islamic Unity

Unity means solidarity, oneness, monochromatism, and union; in the term, it means Islamic unity. Thus, the unity of the Islamic nation’s idea originated from the basic principles of Islam. Imam Khomeini's believes that if the relations between Islamic countries are focused on the beliefs sharing, unity of words, and other commonalities, it will reduce differences and areas of separation, and a new and active identity will emerge. In his view, Muslim differences are rooted in nature, geography, indigenous languages and cultures, and most importantly, the conspiracies and tricks of the hegemons, who, relying on the above elements, try to intensify differences, divide and highlight differences. Therefore, must resolve struggles between Islamic countries based on strategic principles and methods. Dialogue, entente, rapprochement, familiar feeling, and belief in a common destiny constitute unifying categories (Behzadi, 2014: 53).

We always need unity. The Holy Qur'an has always commanded unity for us and the world Muslims throughout history, so we must achieve unity in practice (Khomeini, 1989: 436).

It is religious unity that creates this vast and compact community. Therefore, if you are interested in independence, have spiritual unity (Khomeini, 1989: 268). The only way to restore the greatness and dignity of the Islam and Muslims insight is the responsibility of protecting religious unity and brotherhood, that only guarantor of the independence of Islamic lands (Khomeini, 1989: 460).

The secret of our victory was the word unity, solidarity, attention to God Almighty, and Islam's protection. Keep this secret (Khomeini, 1989: 339).

The secret of all the troubles of Islamic countries is word difference and lack of coordination, and the key to victory is the word unity and harmony creation. Muslims' interests and escape from division and separatism, and sectarianism are all for Islam and towards Islam, which is the all misery and backwardness basis (Khomeini, 1989: 198).

6.2.      Cultural Independence

Cultural independence in Islamic societies is one of the treatments that Imam Khomeini constantly emphasizes. The principle of educating a nation is its correct culture (Khomeini, 1989: 88). Therefore, the dear government of Iran and other impoverished countries of the world, if they want to escape from the evil trap of the great powers to the end, they have no choice but to reform their culture and independence (Khomeini, 1989: 447).

According to Imam Khomeini, proper education is impossible without serious attention to Islamic culture and identifying the danger of the foreign cultural invasion and the resulting deviations. Therefore, a nation is never freed from the trap of demons until recognizing the characteristics of colonialism and imported cultures.

Thus, what guarantees the correct educational system and ultimately closes the way for hegemons' influence is the healthy and humanizing culture of Islam. But unfortunately, what has caused this cultural independence to be lost is the Islamic rulers' dependence on the West and the East and pursuing their schools. Imam Khomeini says in this regard:

“No, we do not compromise with any superpowers and powers, neither under American domination nor under the Soviet burden. We are Muslims, and we want to live. We want to live a poor life but be free and independent. We do not wish foreign-dependent progress and civilization. Instead, we want a culture based on honor and humanity to maintain peace. But unfortunately, the superpowers want to dominate human beings' society and every Muslim, and we are obliged to stand against them and not compromise” (Khomeini, 1989: 340).

According to the Imam, opposing the Islamic Revolution is independence from the East and the West. Thus, the world revolutions tended to the right, the right agreed with them, and the left opposed them or leaned to the left and vice versa. But Islam is neither Eastern nor Western but is on a straight path. Therefore, the Islamic Republic is a follower of Islam. Today, it is not a left follower, so the leftists are against it, and it is not a suitable follower, so the rightists are against it (Khomeini, 1989: 250).

He knew the duty of Islamic scholars and all Muslims to end the oppressive situation in their country, overthrow the oppressive governments, and form an Islamic government that is the way to the happiness of hundreds of millions of people (Nawazani, 2005: 3).

“Now that we cannot form a general government, we should not sit aside, but all the things that Muslims need and are part of the duties of the Islamic government, we should do as much as we can” (Khomeini, 2015: 53).

“Whoever believes the formation of an Islamic government is not necessary, has denied the necessity of implementing the Islam rules, and has denied the comprehensiveness of the rules and the immortality of the Islam religion” (Khomeini, 2013: 98).

6.3.    Defending Islamic Values

When Islamic rulers remain silent towards Western aggression to the Islamic culture, the enemy will become bolder and invade new Islamic values every day. But, on the other hand, Islamic rulers' commitment and sense of responsibility, reliance on God, and their ability to resist these conspiracies can revive Islamic values worldwide. Imam says in this regard: “Muslims must, with all the necessary means and instruments, to confront seriously in defense of the religious values and interests of Muslims, and strengthen the ranks of their holy struggle and defense. And do not let these

ignorant, despairing and followers of the devils to attack the ranks of

the Muslim faith and dignity anymore” (Khomeini: 315).

6.4.      Introducing Real Islam

The non-introduction of true Islam by elites and religious scholars is one of the negligence of the Muslim world, which has caused young people to turn away from their Islamic beliefs and be attracted to a foreign culture. Imam Khomeini pathologies this condition and says to the Iranian nation:

“Our duty is removing the ambiguity created regarding Islam. However, we can do nothing to remove this ambiguity from our minds. We must force ourselves and the next generation to order their future generation as well. Remove the ambiguity regarding the bad advertising about Islam found in our educated people's minds for hundreds of years. It would help if you introduced yourself, your Islam, the examples of leadership and Islamic government, to the people of the world, especially to the academic group and the educated class” (Khomeini, 2008: 400).

6.5.    The Benefits of Unity

6.5.1.   Resistance to Foreign Culture

Standing up to Western culture is one of the great virtues of unity, and by acting it, no foreign power can invade the land of Muslims and be afraid of this great power. Imam Khomeini says:

“A true Islam unity. Let go of some of their lusts and join hands as a brother. Do not have a schism, become brothers, all stand against the West and the governments of the East and are not westernized. If all have word unity, the Jews cannot covet Palestine; so they do not allow you to unite. Let them know that the hands that want to take your resources, take your wealth for free, plunder your underground and extraterrestrial reserves will not allow Iraq and Iran to unite; Iran and Egypt to join. Altogether, find the unity of the word. They will not let this not your duty” (Khomeini, 1989: 382).

6.5.2.     Execution of Islamic Rules

What separates Islamic states is the conspiracies of foreigners and divisiveness among Muslims. This factor has caused some Islamic countries' rulers to abandon their reliance on their nation and turn to the West to rule a little more. The move to the liberalism school and the abandonment of Islamic law result from the apparent support of Western governments. It seems that many divine commandments are being abandoned by Islamic governments today under the pretext of conflict with human rights. Imam Khomeini says: “I hope that this country will achieve its interests by considering the Islamic rule that all people and Muslims are brothers; and all Islamic countries should overcome the powers and succeed in implementing the laws of Islam to the end” (Khomeini, 1980).

Elsewhere, he advises Islamic rulers: “My message to the Arab and Muslim brothers is to put aside differences and give each other a

hand of brotherhood, and at the same time and in alliance with all non-Arab Muslim brothers, make Islam your only support. So you can be a power that the superpowers will never want to dominate you, and thus attack you from left and right, and not plunder everything from you, with abundant material resources and, most importantly, a divine and spiritual reserve, which is Islam” (Khomeini, 1989: 82).

6.5.3.     Divine Prosperity and Mercy

In Islam, the destiny of human beings is not separate. All are equal and brothers and should strive to achieve divine prosperity and mercy. However, intellectual, ethnic, political, etc., differences between these societies make this path rugged. At best, they seek individual happiness instead of a collective one. However, in the least possible situation, Muslims can guarantee each other's satisfaction. Therefore, Imam says: “Be together and do not be divided. With dispersion, there is all corruption. With reliance on God, there is all goodness and happiness” (Khomeini, 1989: 316).

Therefore, he considers heaven and bliss the result of unity, solidarity, and union between the believers and their brotherhood with reliance on God. And citing the verse of brotherhood, he addresses the believers:

“See also this verse. Resort all the ropes of God, all of you, be brothers so that in heaven, too, you will be brothers. If there is no brotherhood here, may is not a paradise for you” (Khomeini, 1989: 476).

6.5.4.     Acting on a Religious Duty

From Imam Khomeini's point of view, observing unity and alliance is a religious duty. Therefore, this task, especially where more general interests are at stake, is essentially obligatory and assumed by all. In particular and critical circumstances, even Imam Khomeini considers the lack of unity as a kind of "Suicide" and "Collective Suicide" (Jamshidi and Irannejad, 2012: 176).

Today, we are obliged to avoid the difference of the word in every dress and occupation and turn to the Islamic unity, which the Book and Sunnah constantly recommend, and to make the word right higher and the term false lower. At this sensitive time when our country and dear Iran are in great danger, the task of all groups and individuals is severe and significant. Today, weakness, coldness, and the word difference are considered suicide and wasting the blood of the Islam children (Khomeini, 1989: 311).

Conclusion

Spragens states that a thinker creates a theory in four steps: problem ology, Etiology, Ideal ology, and Solution ology. An examination of Imam's political thought regarding the cultural problems of the

Muslim world shows that Islamic society is facing a severe cultural crisis. A crisis rooted in spiritual dependence and self-destruction against the West.

This situation has caused the West to colonize and exploit Islamic lands and direct Islamic youth's thoughts and ideas in the desired direction. After identifying the crisis and its etiology, the Imam introduces his ideal society. Imam ideal society is a society with characteristics such as cultural independence, the rule of divine law, the transformation of society into divine human beings, freedom of thought and thought, and awareness and awakening. Imam Khomeini seeks a solution to the unity of the Muslim world and the severance of cultural ties with the West to achieve such a society. In addition to restoring self-esteem to Muslims, the Muslim world will agree to strengthen their power against the West to fulfill their divine duty and guarantee their collective well-being.

References

Abbas Tabar Firoozjah, H. (2006). "Farabi's Political Thought and Spragens Research Method." Journal of Public Law Research. Vol. 8, no. 21, pp. 53-78.

Arani, S; Daneshyar, A. (2009). "Pathology of International Relations from Imam Khomeini's Perspective." Quarterly Journal of Islamic Revolution Studies. Vol. 6, no. 19, pp. 11-42.

Arefi, M. (1999). "The Strategy for the Political Unity of the Muslim World in Imam Khomeini's Thought." Marefat Quarterly. Vol. 8, no. 31, pp. 77-85.

Barzegar, I. (2005). "The Issue of Palestine in the Political Thought of Contemporary Islam and the Spragens Method and Research." Journal of Legal and Political Research. Vol. 6, no. 12, pp. 45-78.

Behzadi, M. (2014). "Islamic Unity from the Perspective of Imam Khomeini and the Supreme Leader." Habl Al-Matin Quarterly. Vol. 3, no.7, pp. 52-75.

Davari Ardakani, R. (1998). Founder of Islamic Philosophy. Tehran: Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies.

Fouladi, M. (2008). "The Strategy of Unity of the Muslim World in Imam Khomeini's Thought." Marefat Quarterly. Vol. 17, no. 126, pp. 75-95.

Goodarzi, Gh. (2003). "Designing a Conceptual Model of Crisis Management Foresight with a Cultural Approach." Kamal Modireyat. Vol. 2, no. 4 and 5, pp. 131-150.

Jafarpisheh, M. (2008). "Imam Khomeini and the Intellectual Foundations of the Islamic Government." Journal of Islamic Government. Vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 140-170.

Jamshidi, M. (2005). "Characteristics of Good Government from Imam Khomeini's Perspective." Matin Quarterly. Vol. 2, no. 9,

pp. 91-126.

ـــــــــــــــــــــــــ. (2012). "Characteristics of Islamic Solidarity and Unity in Imam Khomeini's Political Thought." Journal of the Islamic Revolution. Vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 161-186.

Khomeini, R. (1980). A Look at the Perspective of Unity in the Word and Message of Imam Khomeini, 27/5/1359, Available at: https://emam.com/posts/view/4974

ـــــــــــــــــــــــــ. (2008). University and Academics from Imam Khomeini's Perspective, Tehran: Orouj Publishing.

ـــــــــــــــــــــــــ. (2013). Islamic Government and Velayat-e-Faqih in Imam Khomeini's Thought-Tebyan of Thematic Works (Forty-Fifth Office). Tehran: Imam Khomeini Publishing House.

Government).  (Islamic  Faqih  Velayat-e  (2015).  .ـــــــــــــــــــــــــ

Tehran: Imam Khomeini Publishing House.

ـــــــــــــــــــــــــ. (1989). Sahifa Imam. Vol. 8/12/10/2/9/13/5/7/3/ 19/1/6/15/16/20. Tehran: Institute Arranging and Publishing the Works of Imam Khomeini.

Perspective. Khomeini's Imam from Unity (1989). ـــــــــــــــــــــــــ

Tehran: Imam Khomeini Publishing House.

Nawazani, B. (2005). "An Explanation of Neither East nor West."

Zamaneh Magazine. Vol. 4, no. 41 and 42, pp. 63-70.

Poor Ezzat, A. (2002). Imaging the Future: A Strategy for Action in Social Systems. Tehran: Sokhan Samt.

Rouhani, H. (1980). A Study and Analysis of Imam Khomeini's Movement. Tehran: Rah Imam.