بازخوانی ظرفیت‌های تمدن‌ساز انقلاب اسلامی ایران با تمرکز بر بینش سیاسی و رویکرد تمدنی رهبر شهید آیت‌الله خامنه‌ای

The aim of the present article is to understand the civilizational capacities and components of the Islamic Revolution of Iran within a civilizational framework, taking into account the requirements of the contemporary world, and then to provide a conceptual and substantive formulation thereof, so that a proper understanding can be offered of indigenous models and Western alternatives and of their encounter with the requisites of Western modernity. Therefore, while identifying and analyzing the central core of the view of the martyred leader Ayatollah Khamenei regarding the necessity of establishing a new civilization as an alternative to Western civilization, the research question is: how can the civilizational capacities of the Islamic Revolution of Iran be formulated by taking measure from his thought and political practice? The article's method has benefited from the interpretive-verstehen approach and Marshall Hodgson's method of historical humanism, as well as the descriptive-analytical case method and the collection of qualitative data by documentary (library) means, and by using the collection of his statements and speeches on various occasions before different segments of society and also by referring to the system's upstream documents and his official statements, it has sought to answer the research question. Muslims in modern history have encountered a new phenomenon called Western modernity, whose interaction has placed difficult requirements before them and demands new efforts on their part; therefore, the necessity of proposing an indigenous model suited to Islamic creedal themes and Iranian traditions is felt more than ever. One of these major responses in confronting the requisites of Western modernity is found in the political positions of Ayatollah Khamenei, namely the building of a new society of the Islamic kind and the project of laying the foundations of a new civilization called "Islamic civilization."He belongs to a current of contemporary thinkers of non-Western cultures, such as the Islamic culture, who have set out to seek alternative paths to modernity by relying on indigenous culture; therefore, the central core and main foundation of Ayatollah Khamenei's view is based on the presuppositions of Islamic [Shi'i] liberation theology, which is, on the one hand, a rethinking of religious and traditional beliefs and, on the other hand, a kind of reaction against Western modernity and the civilization arising from it. Thus, in the process of civilization-building, the necessity of laying the foundations of a new civilization from his perspective can be formulated within the framework of this intellectual current as follows: from the "West-East" duality to the "Islam-arrogance" duality; the Second Step Statement as a strategy toward civilization-building; the Islamic-Iranian Model of Progress as an alternative to the Western model; and the theory of the revolutionary system as a continuous revolution and a great jihad for building the new Islamic civilization.
In this intellectual endeavor, Ayatollah Khamenei's most important concern in confronting modernity—along with resistance against its two colonial-cultural aspects on the one hand and its political, economic, and military aspects on the other—has placed before the authors a framework for examining "Islamic liberation theology" in its three domains: conceptualization, civilization-building, and system-building. As in the discourse of resistance, based on Shi'i creedal foundations, we witnessed the continuous struggle of the Imams against the caliphate and their regarding it as illegitimate. But this itself arises from the creedal and epistemic foundations of Shi'i thought and theology along the path of liberation. Among these epistemic foundations are monotheism-centeredness (tawhid), guardianship-orientedness (wilāyat), and justice-seeking, which have been examined in this article. In this regard, the anthropological foundations and the general outline of the cosmological foundations of the martyred leader Ayatollah Khamenei are also among the civilizational capacities of this future vision. Where he holds a teleological view of the nature and destiny of human society; meaning that the world has a divine creation, governed by a precise order of cause and effect, and on the basis of the principle of fiṭrat (innate disposition) it has a dynamic movement toward perfection. God has set a purpose for the creation of man and other creatures and has determined the path of perfection. Likewise, he considers man to be a being with a good innate nature, who by disposition is infinite and receptive to good deeds and noble qualities. The manifestation of this civilizational path in the uprising and social movement of the Iranian people in the process of the Islamic Revolution has ultimately led to the negation of domestic authoritarian domination and resistance against foreign colonial influence (findings). But in a theoretical conclusion, it can be said that Ayatollah Khamenei, considering his practical experience in anti-authoritarian and anti-colonial struggles and his theoretical reflections from various dimensions, regards the path of independence, freedom, justice, and progress as lying in a theory of the revolutionary system with the content of continuity in the revolutionary spirit—and this matter itself requires elements of national liberation, social liberation, and a rereading of the civilizational capacities of the Islamic Revolution in the face of the major themes of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment in Western culture. As in this arena of Islamic civilization-building, freedom and progress are inseparably linked with spirituality, ethics, and justice, and all of them must be equipped with monotheism and rationality; therefore, this monotheistic and rational outlook of the Islamic Revolution is compatible with all the needs not only of Islamic society but of human society in all material and spiritual arenas; thus, progress and development in Islamic culture must be in line with human transcendence toward spirituality and ethics. Western modernity, by eliminating religion and giving primacy to man in its thoughts, philosophies, and methods, set aside spirituality and ethics, and this failure has brought into relief other aspects of human happiness that should complement his material welfare.