Civilization

After the collapse of bipolar system in the world, different views and theories expressed by the scholars and thinkers about the future of the world and international system. One of them is the theory of “ The Clash of Civilizations” which was propounded in 1993 by the Samuel Huntington, the director of J.M.Olin Institute for Strategic Studies in Harvard Uni-versity. This theory caused some anxieties in the world. In reaction to this theory, Mohammad Khatami, president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, proposed “Dialogue Among Civilizations” as a paradigm in the international relations which was accepted by the 53rd General Assembly of the United Nations on 3 September 1998 and approved a resolution for the purpose of promoting dialogue among cultures and civiliza-tions, and called the year 2001 as “the Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations”. This article based on both mentioned theories, refers to the role of dialogue approach in creation of peaceful relations between nations and states.

Man's past condition is related to his present life and history means surveying the quality of the past activities whose traces remain in the present time. The main field of historical research is man's past life, the stages which have been put behind in the process of evolution and changes as well as progresses made in these stages. History is a means to provide human beings with a complete insight into the events under study. Also another subject matter of history is discovering the common relations between the events, but the reconstruction of common relations is an essential part of this subject. History revives the forgotten events and by studying the cultural legacies we come to know about human past. History cannot properly play its cultural role in the form of event recording and mentioning wars and successes and only through philosophical perspective and understanding of causal relations it is possible to achieve historical goals. History is a science that studies human in the course of its evolution. And with developing connection and understanding of the causal relations of events it works with whys and states of events and by reconstructing the past cultural legacy, shows what had gone upon past inhabitants. Culture and civilization and its course in the human history is the best presentation of human development and progress and is the truest part of human history in whose course of development all members of the society take part. In the light of the above, the present article is an attempt to cast a quick look at the contribution of history to the understanding of cultures and civilizations.

In early Islam, developed various theories around the nature of the created civilization, some of which run counter to each other. Denying Islam’s potential for culture, Arabic civilization, eclectic civilization, Muslims’ civilization, and Islamic civilization are the most significant theories advanced about this issue. Yet, the main question is which theory of Islam’s civilization history is authentic enough to be validated. The current research has adopted a historical-analytical method and employed library resources and interviews to collect data. Analyzing and criticizing the theories described above showed that none of these theories deserves an all-out acceptance in the levels of substantiation or historical evolution. This research has finally submitted proofs on the validity of the "Islamic Civilization" theory in the story of demonstration (realization) and the new idea of "Islam’s Civilization" at the level of substantiation. This study attempts to shed light on historical reality and explain the theory consistent with it to prevent elites’ destructive predilection and strategic failures. Considering that the Islamic Republic of Iran has planned toward fulfilling new Islamic civilization, the current study recognized the necessity for exploiting this subject. The innovation of this writing resides in proposing and confirming the theory of "Islam’s Civilization" through substantiation based on historical data and evaluation of existing ideas in terms of weaknesses and strengths.

Civilization plays a central role in Ali Shariati's intellectual framework, to the extent that understanding his broader philosophical system is nearly impossible without comprehending his views on the concept of civilization and the evolution of human society throughout history. This article seeks to explore Shariati’s approach to civilization by employing the dynamic framework of Thomas A. Spragens and addressing five interconnected questions: What is the concept of civilization? What are the characteristics that shape human nature? What are the obstacles to human development? What are the factors that can free humanity from these obstacles? And, finally, what drives the progress of human civilization? The findings of this study shows that Shariati views civilization as the collective achievements and accumulated knowledge of human society, which do not naturally exist in the environment but are created by humans due to three inherent qualities: self-awareness, free will, and creativity. These attributes are inherited from God and exist as latent potentials within each individual. To actualize these qualities, however, humanity must overcome four determinisms: nature, history, society, and the self. According to Shariati, the gradual mastery over these four constraints leads to the formation of civilization. Throughout historical processes, humans gradually liberate themselves from these external and internal forces. In this transformation, individuals evolve from beings shaped by nature, society, history, and the self into creators of nature, society, history, and the self. As a result, their divine-like attributes—self-awareness, will, and creativity—reach full potential, leading them to the ultimate ideal of a true, exemplary human, which in Shariati's view, is a near-divine figure.