The forth religion researcher congress titled “globalization and religion, opportunities and challenges” beheld on May 8thin 2003 at the presence of many scholars, the knowledgeable, researchers and seminary and university professors in gathering hall of Imam Khomeini Seminary related to the global center of Islamic sciences, and a massage recited from Mr. president, Hujjat Al-Islam Khatami.
In this message which recited by, Dr. HadikHaaniki, the consultant of president, said: there is no doubt that finding influences between globalization and religion required new attempts and creative thinking from the side of university and seminary eminent researchers and intellectuals and the first step is to recognize the matter accurately and drawing forehead opportunities and threats in real existence which I’m sure it will take accurately and strongly.
The chief of the Cultural Revolution Supreme Council said: the enduring religion is so flexible and capable which while remaining stable, compatible to the stable aspect of human being, can be coordinated to the changeable existence aspect of human and be the respondent to his changeable characteristic and his momently changing needs in the ground of history.
Facing this kind of challenges, religion counters part with internal and external blights, the great external blight is powered and wealthy people bellicosity against religion truth, and the great internal blight is hiding that truth behind thick curtains of habits and dark minds and allusions.
Hujjat Al-Islam Khatami declared that: it can’t be ignored human current required and new needs by transferring religion certainty and holiness to thought habits and social behaviors, and meanwhile try to answer these needs by little existent attitudes and storage. Islam is a permanent religion which can answer current needs according to both revelation sources and human intellectual achievements. The important matter is to understand religion and globalization accurately, try to recognize these abilities and be aware of religion external and internal blights.
The true climate for these discussions is such congresses in which tactful religion researchers try to prove the matters by explaining and clarifying. Then Mohammad JavadSahebi, the secretary of congress started his speech: he numerated informing, making convergence, intellectual agreement and interaction among religious sciences researchers and preparing a suitable ground for representing ideas and thoughts and clarifying new matters, of the congress purposes and continued: we attempted to gather experts on the side of each other to produce thought and deal with intellectual agreements regardless of their thought political attitudes.
He added: although globalization is a new word in our literature, but it related to industrial revolution which today is more speedy and go through the boundaries and the owner of this technology, interred their culture and thought in all houses, and the creators of this phenomenon will increase the authority of their own culture and politics by the use of this equipment. Sahebi declared the number of received articles as 103 works and said: the scientific group chose 15 articles to be recited in the congress and the rest will published after reviewing and correction as a collocation.
After the report gave by the congress secretary, Dr. Mohammad Reza Tagic, the president consultant and the chief of the Strategic Studies Center, represented his article titled “globalization and religion, civilization or making holiness”. He brought up some questions like: How can achieve a way to escape from the mire of identical and perceptional contrasts in thought globalization?
Is it possible to rely on opportunities for preparing, preserving and improving religions in this iconoclast compass world?
Is it possible to think about a plan for creating a kind of logical peaceful interaction between globalization and religion?
He brought up three approaches for the relationship between globalization and religion, avoidance, destructive and overlapping. And after explaining them he concluded that: Globalization is a phenomenon with two faces, both opportunity and threat, sting and sweetness, it depends how to look. If we subdue not the threats we will face its foundation breaker threats. Each country which can produce the most normal valuable perceptional productions and be able to issue it all around the world can be the superior power against globalization phenomenon.
Then Hujjat Al-Islam Dr. NaserElahi, the deputy of the president of Mofid University, represented his article titled “prophecy termination and globalization along with نومنالیستی introverted”. he first acknowledged that dealing with these two attitudes, means no believe in any of both and said: termination understanding affects our behavior against that.
Dr. Elahi then discussed two attitudes in Motahhari and IqbalLahuri discourses and reminded the necessity of these two approaches about termination in globalization matter.
Then, Dr. HadiKhaniki also recited his article about “globalization and religion, two narrations and several questions”. He had considered definitions about globalization and its relation with religion and described it as follows:
One is the definition which limited globalization category to political economical field and leads to a life style domination and a kind of understanding pattern which is globalization and our behavior has effects with regard to this movement.
Second is the cultural definition which considers the matter deeper of political field and rejects the theory which says globalization means westernization.
In the first approach whether it should confront with globalization or become refined, but the second approach thinks about conversation. Choosing the second, three ways come to our mind:
First one is matter decrease to a political or economic issue
Second is generalization which makes globalization very sophisticated.
Third one is a web which changes sophisticated matter to simpler one.
At the end, Cultural and social deputy of Ministry of Science, Research and Technology looked at identity through a sociological view:
Through a sociological view point, identity reveals its manifestation through a spectrum which on one side it is trending to unanimity or attention to common essence on religions and on the other side there is fundamentalism or becoming perfect in different aspects of religions. During the three decades we’ve seen that different aspects of religion and spiritual boost increasingly in the world and it can’t be considered that emerging and accepting globalization is along with ending religion power or even religion individual social appearances.
Hujjat Al-Islam Mustafa Jamali, Islamic science researcher and great master of humanities in Philosophy represented his article titled “capitalism system, globalization and civilization”. He started with this introduction that modernized capitalism system required globalization and seeks to make a world compatible to its improving progress, and regarded the religious culture as the major impediment in its way toward globalization and introduced Christianity civilization as a solution for western societies.
He insisted: Islam and Islamic revolution emerged in globalization period and in front of material theoretician and leaders incredibly, and became great impediment in capitalism system way and its claim to be globalized.
He stated that: Islam has special features so never undergo globalization like Christianity despite it seeks to fulfill divine society and expands it all around the world.
Jamali expressed that the strategy for globalization management and making Islamic civilization is to make common affairs as holly ones and to circulate religion in human social and individual life, and suggested.
To fulfill such an eminent goal it is necessary for seminaries not to persuade only with individual reason Fighh but with the help of methodical Ijtihad look for creating great Fighh and improvement, on the other hand universities try to “produce human sciences” based on sociological and anthropological worldview which extracted from religion and finally Islamic-sciences-based executive system represents Islamic society towards Islam conquer center facing the global material system, according to political cultural economical models.
At the end, this Islamic sciences researcher considered as a mistake taking civilization as the translation of secularism. And called a great error perceiving civilization and common matter in Shia Fighh as one thing and represented the accurate meaning of that as becoming worldly, and reminded: If these three foundations do not take their responsibilities and fulfill not their basic duties, Islamic civilization architecture power took away from Islamic society and Islamic domination goes down from the level of event conduction and global management to at least being civilized or leading to emotional commentary of religion in social life.
Then Hujjat Al-Islam sayyed Mohsen MusaviTabrizi, a memberof the board of managers, represented some explanation. He invoked some verses of Quran and numerated Islam as a religion claiming globalization despite other religions, and repressed: I believe at least 80 percent of Islam lessons are global. Means that even if a person was not Muslim, can performs them and becomes auspicious. He called globalization as something different from civilization and reminded that globalization required not to be secularized and believing Islam inevitably accepted its current common is misleading. Then, Dr. AliRezaShojaeiZand, a member of science group from teacher training university, along with a short statement represented the article of “religion and universality, becoming globalized, making globalization and globalism. He reminded that negligence in translating theoretical texts and delinquency in finding equal technical words from other languages make the difficulty of misunderstanding and make endless quarrels more complex, and explained the words “universality”, “becoming globalized”, “making globalized” and “globalism”.
Dr. ShojaeiZand accounted “universality” as a reality refers to saturating the world quantitatively and increasing the relation of its components without a certain mentality about new conditions, and took “becoming globalized” as a popular topic in theoretical literature to clarify this newly appeared phenomenon creating factors and talked about “making globalization” as a strategy and occurring progress and called “globalism” a theory supporting this progress fulfillment. At the end he said:
In order to find accurate valid answers in proportion to globalization and religion, it requires considering the proportion of each represented subdivisions about the general conception of global to various types of religion. It seems that, the most important crosses in Islam global phenomenon form in those conditions which it appears as a strategy along with certain directions.
Dr. HssanKachueian, the other orator in congress considered “religion globalization theory approaches”. He divided this procedure into three stages, according to theoreticians and accounted these three stages attitude as secularization which in fact considers no position for religion and regarded religious movements as desperate actions and predicts no future for them.
Meantime Dr. Muhammad HosseinMushrifJavadi, assistant professor in economic and official sciences in Esfahan university, explained his article titled “considering globalization and religion attitude”, he insisted on the point that althoughglobalization and culture, language, politics, management and national values unity kept in mind simultaneously in recent years but the most typical aspect of globalization is the economical or trade one. Dr. MushrifJvadi represented statistics quoted from a group of experts:
Besides decreasing or omitting geographical boundaries and time distance, Globalization caused nationalism suppression, religious real freedom and deep effects on nations believes and values. In fact globalization means becoming American. Although Islam and Christianity were the inspirers of unity and making religion globalized in the world, scholars believe that countries are not able any more to preserve their values and the statistics of Islamic countries production exports show that globalization progress benefits improved countries and sustains a loss for Islamic countries. At the end, he reminded: religion scholars are responsible to influence the world and globalization and Islam publicize by recognizing the world, other societies, respecting to humanity of humans and other religions.
Dr. sayyedAbdolQayyumSjjadi was the next orator in the congress who represented his article titled “Islam global domination and globalization” and raised the following questions:
What will be the relation between globalization and Islam global domination?
Doesglobalization discourse negate the Islam global domination idea or is it a ground to a better understanding and scholarly clarification for this religious theory?
Dr. Sjjadi considered globalization and Islam global domination then accounted globalization theory in contrast with Islam global idea. And included global technological progress as a ground for understanding and clarifying Islam global idea scientifically,then said: globalization can’t prepare human rational needs towards achieving a secured justice society and being disappointed from this human made pattern can make the ground flat for tending to Islam global domination theory.
Dr. Sajjadi reminded: some of the globalization aspects, specially its technological progress, can be used tounderstand and analyzeof Islam global domination better and more scholarly regard to global domination features and globalization elements. He added: although globalization theory seeks to negate Islam global domination, but we can use its technological progress as an efficient tool in order to expand culture, thought and religious lessons and prepare the grounds of universality for Islamic idea.
Dr. Sayyed Muhammad HasanHejazi was the next orator in the congress and considered place and time intensity as main aspects of globalization within his article titled “religion challenge and globalization”, and said: Globalization is the same with regard to be threat or opportunity and that’s we who determine the state. As the same as globalization causes religious identities to be bloomed, makes identification for all society groups and also has capacity to interpret in a new way tin the state of opportunity, on the contrary, it can be the factor of causing identification crisis, religious wars emergence in different region and marginalizing religion from social field. Accordingly, Shia religion is able to be globalized on the terms of having above elements theoretically, but it should not ignore that the prerequisite for any religion stability, especially in form of a political system, is to have legality, legitimacy, and efficiency simultaneously.
Hujjat Al-Islam AbdolhamidAkuchian, Islamic sciences researcher represented his article titled “Islam and globalization” and said: Iranian cultural behavior is a global attitude. It causes preparing to accept and attract other cultures and has influential and accessible interaction with other cultures. Frankly, the best factor lead Iranian towards Islam was its universality. We should percept globalization again and took it as an exceptional opportunity to expose the last Prophet’s thought and fulfill the promised domination.
Then, Dr. JalilMasudi Far represented an article titled “preserving Islamic Iranian culture in globalization progress” and said: in times past, the center of globalization was political and economic matters but in recently it has become more important because of cultural attitude.
The member of science group from Mashhad PayamNur University said: globalization is both a threat and opportunity. Opportunity for powerful cultures and threat for weak cultures, we should know accurately what we have and expose it elegantly and accept what we need perceptively. Dr. MajidMuvahhed was the next orator. He said through representing his article titled “sociological attitude towards secularization progress in globalization days”: cultural globalization tries to spread and dominate globalized culture over traditional, national and local cultures. So culturalidentities, which included religion as a basic element, be attack to.
The professor of literature and humanity sciences academy in Shiraz University said: this attack to local cultures performs by issuing secularism as a global culture constituent and a kind of pressure to modify religion creates as a part of tradition collapse progress. On this base, the most resistant opposing against globalization occurred from the side of religions and they consider it western project towards western secular globalization.
Dr. Muvahhid said: globalization considerably helps the world in worldly living process by preparing the grounds to increase religious individualism and international media are the most essential factors in secular global culture implementation.
Dr. SayyedKazemSayyedBegheri, the next orator trying to answer a question meantime representing his article titled “globalization and expectations dynamism towards religion”. Whether or not religions, included Islam, are able to be dynamic enough to provide modern human expectation in globalization progress?
To answer this question first he defined conceptions such as globalization, religion and expectations dynamism and represented the relation between religion and globalization in form of three theories: A group has a cynical look at globalization. Another group has an optimistic view point and the third group has moderate and perceptional attitude and believes in preparing religion for speedy expansive global days by adopting an intellectual strategy and having dynamic approach towards religious conceptions. At the end he discussed conceptions like Fetrat (nature), Ijtihad, and intellectual flexible lessons and said: Islam included dynamic conceptions which can provides many of expectations in globe extension, new understanding and new thinking.
The last orator of the congress, Hujjat Al-Islam Dr. Hesam Al-din Ashena, a member of the science group in Imam Sadiq (peace upon him) University, started his speech under the issue of “Internet and religion through globalization process” and said:.
Climate we are talking about is a new space called “cyber” means emerged environment as a result of on line connecting computers. In fact we are talking about a world which is a huge association of millions connected computers created by four areas convergence, telecommunications, computer sciences, information and communications.
Then he explained each category and said: communications created two areas for us: first made the attraction and influential area then brought up influential evaluation method and measuring it, therefore we faced new medias which worked in this climate.
Dr. Ashena numerated TV, satellite, CDs, and Internet as four new medias related to this era and said: our discussion is about the latter, Internet which itself made a new society and this new society is based on communication between those who look for information or produce it.
He added: informational society is utopia for those who considered rich. But critics against this matter call Internet as a noun attributed to another noun like: Iranian Internet, African Internet, less fortunate people Internet, wealth people Internet, etc. but we can talk about Islamic Internet, Jews Internet and other religion Internet where we could attribute Internet to cultures. And by Islamic Internet we mean Muslim presence in “site” climate. Mentioned to this point that Muslims interred digitalism era from the beginning of 80 decade, he said: existence of great written inherits and rich abilities among Muslims in the ground of writings which produced in this culture prepared the way for Muslims to inter digital environment very quickly. As an example, he exposed a slide from an educational Christian website, about training those who can proselytize through Internet, and introduced some sources which shows the most researches about Islam done by American Catholic University of Washington. He added: todays matter is that how to organize our new life in this new world religiously.
Hujjat Al-Islam Muhammad Masjid Jamei also at the end of congress said: talking about globalization were efficient although there are someone among different religions authorities who consider these debates inefficient and criticize it but the truth is that if there were not these debates certainly we were in a worse situation than we are now.
This Islamic researcher said: although globalization gives some opportunities to religion but it could be said finally, this phenomenon is the most important challenge to religion during the whole modern period. A challenge which started recently and will continue expansively and should be took serious. And to understand its quiddity and different aspects and also how to face and interact with we need to think and cooperate. He said: religious debate can be helpful here for all religions. The best feature of globalization which has the most discordance to religion is bilateral effects and also finding a new interpretation of religion which is compatible to globalization requirements.
Hujjat Al-Islam Masjid Jamei said: to preserve our religion we can’t just think about our coreligionists. In other words, to protect of our religion we need to make a world in which followers of each religion act according to their religion. That world is ideal in which any believers to any religion bind to their own bases and principles. In fact it should be represented interpretation from religion compatible to globalization features and requirements. And it is a very fine and difficult and affected all from industrial and wealth countries to poor developing ones. He added: all religions are capable and owner of required principles and tools for rebuilding themselves under the light of new situations and exactly it is why they continued.
At last he said: new threats are global and public threats, so these co-operations benefit everybodyout of two perspectives, one is preparing concrete ground for scientific and practical cooperation provides more cognition and agreement and the other is trying to preserve legitimate and legal authority against mentioned threats and avoid events to grow in an illegal situation. At the end of the congress two copies of a book titled “globalization and religion; opportunities and challenges” included the articles of Fourth Religion Researcher Congress and provincial preliminary meetings discussions given to participants titled “globalization and religion; universalism and making globalization”.
It is worth to mentioned that 15 eminent articles chosen from 110 received articles, and published in a 500-paged collection titled “globalizations and religion; opportunities and challenges”.
