The legend of the revolution .. and the cultural revolution

If there is something that refutes the concept of the revolution and is difficult to do, then it is the concept of culture. The historical reality confirms the myth of the cultural revolution, which was considered and practiced by Mao Zedong (the founder of modern China and one of the leaders of global communism), when he stressed that the ax is also a weapon alongside the pen in case we need to settle the ruins of feudal culture and colonialism, which is the source of all kinds of political weakness And social; otherwise, it will be impossible to build a new culture.

With the fact that culture is relatively independent from economic and political transformations and transformation and its complex nature, it is legitimate for us to ask: Was there a cultural revolution in history? Was there a full political revolution that does not face cultural resistance? Does the concept of the revolution accordingly deserve to be among the language terms? And that the real rebel against the power of politics is not culture, and not political power over the authority of culture as Mao sought in his cultural revolution?

Revolution, with its well-known political concept, then - that is, achieving a final break with a previous political situation and with the network of previous interests - is almost impossible, and political history does not recognize the concept of final break; it only recognizes the principle of accumulation that is governed by progress, retreat, and sometimes retreat. This means that there is only a relative "revolution", and that every "revolution" is followed by a counter-revolution.

While the counterrevolution was explained in some aspects by the uprising of stakeholders and old privileges in order to return the situation to what it was, then one of the most important things that explains the counterrevolution is the cultural resistance to change, so if we may talk about a revolutionary then it is the culture: the true revolution on all Overturning and authoritarian changes. This means that any political reform cannot succeed if it is not established and is accompanied by a deep and continuous cultural reform.

It may happen that a political change occurs in the nature of the state and the political values ​​that are based on it above, for example, it seeks to approve new systems and laws and new methods based on justice, shura, democracy, contracting and deliberation, and seeks to work on establishing a community project based on launching the initiative and the liberation of women, etc. Among the foundations of the human liberation society project, but it may collide with two types of resistance:

The first : Resisting influencers and interests whose new political project came to strip them of their privileges and interests, which is called in political literature centers for resisting change.

The second : the cultural resistance that is the starting point of society itself, arising from a major reason, which is that the cultural values ​​are not often accompanied by the same speed and pace of political changes and transitions above, or intellectual transformations that occur at the level of intellectual leaders and political leaders.

This is what explains the paradoxes that we found in several historical experiences between the changes that the knowledge system and the culture system know, and the setbacks that many societies know between the age of the reformist message and its first generation and the ages that follow, but that does not mean the impossibility of cultural change, insofar as it means that we do not count on Imposing him with political or legal superstructure.

To move from the theoretical abstraction of this perception to its diagnosis through historical examples and facts, we refer to the following examples:

First : The Holy Qur’an criticized - in locations - the issue of cultural resistance to change through disgrace to the polytheists for their adherence to what was the parents and grandparents, and how the mentioned petrification disrupts the movement of reason; as is clear from the Qur’anic verses that criticize tradition and dependence, for example, the Almighty saying: ( And when they are said to them, follow what God has revealed: They say, but we will follow what our fathers have been upon, first of all: what is their identity?

As well as the verse: (but say: We found our fathers on the nation and I on their tracks are rightly guided, as well as sent by you in the village of Nazir only Mtervoha said, we found our fathers on the nation and I on their tracks elders); (Zukhruf / verse: 2223).

Second : The Sunnah of the Prophet warned of the revolution of the previous cultural values ​​that Islam came to change, and called for vigilance and continuous caution against the uprising of cultures and the previous values ​​of Islam, and examples of that are many, and we mention only the following:

1- The hadith of Abi Waqid Al-Laithi; he said: We went with the Messenger of God - may God’s prayers and peace be upon him - to nostalgia, and we are the covenant of unbelief. Make for us the same medallions as for them with the medallions. The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: God is great, it is Sunnah! You said - and my soul is in his hand - as the children of Israel said to Moses: (Make us God as they have gods, he said that you are people who are ignorant of), so that you can build upon the years of those before you.

2- When the Muhajiris were involved in fighting with Ansari, the Muhajiri said: Oh to the immigrants, and Al Ansari said: O the Ansar, the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: (I invite the ignorant people while I am among your backs), and angered him with great anger, referring to the fact that the previous cultural values ​​could rise against the cultural system New.

Third : The first historical experience shows how the last word of the uprising of the previous culture system has devolved over the progressive values ​​that Islam brought, and we are satisfied with two issues here: the issue of women; where Islam came with progressive values ​​that were at a great distance from what was the cultural and social situation, as Omar described May God be pleased with him when he said: “We were in ignorance, we do not count women, so when Islam came and God mentioned them, we really saw them with us.”

Thus, at the time when the Qur’an came, for example, it recorded from above seven heavens a woman’s argument to the Messenger of God, and his invitation to women to participate and to say a well-known saying; some scholars have ended up making the woman’s voice naked, and it is good for her not to see men and men not to see her, while Her command of the headscarf is in fact an order for her to participate actively, otherwise, what is the purpose of the veil if not permission to go out and interact?

Fourth : In the political sphere, the shift from adulthood in the management of politics based on shura and asceticism in the world was the result of a cultural uprising, and not the result of a political coup. The transformation took place at the base before it occurred at the top, and the predominant thorn culture was launched from the base before the summit reached, This means that society could not keep up with the mature model in politics.

As soon as he returned to the fractal and czarist model, to which the majority of jurists created a juristic rationale by justifying them to overcome the basis of political legitimacy, and as the easiest of sedition and bloodshed, and to ensure political stability that enables the continuation of the civilizational message of Islam, despite the incidence in the system of government.

As for Ibn Khaldun, he went on to find a historical social interpretation as the legitimacy of government is not based solely on the choice of free consultation, but rather is based on cultural consideration, that is, the need for each authority to have a social power, and that what was able to provide that power is the Quraysh nervousness, and to this Meaning guided Hadith: (Imams from Quraysh).

It follows from this that those concerned with managing institutional, legal and political transformations in a society should give great attention to caring for managing cultural transformations, and should be concerned with the dangers of cultural uprisings that would hinder reforms, however progressive.