Islamic Political Thought

Imam Khomeini’s approach in The Combination of Tradition and Modernity

Document Type : Research Article (Political Thought)

Authors

1 PhD. Student of Political Thought, Faculty of Political Science, Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Confrontation and contrast between tradition and modernity brings the intellectuals of Muslim communities into different intellectual, social, and political conflicts. Some of those believe that the only way to rescue from the status quo is sinking in the Western culture and its slavish imitation. Some others insist on the traditions of the past, which are mingled with a lot of superstition, and impurities in the path of events and historical developments and need for refinement and revision. Among these attitudes, Imam Khomeini as a prominent scholar and Islamic thinker has a remarkable view that can support both traditional and modern views. He, on the one hand, insists on the original, valuable, and divine teachings like Qur’anic decrees and the Holy Prophet (PBUH) methods through the theory of Velayat-e Faqih and, on the other hand, in encounter with the Western civilization, chooses some parts being in accord with the divine Shari’ah, people’s interests and development of the society and rejected some immoral parts leading to corruption. In this research, my attempt is to answer the questions, what strategy did Imam Khomeini propose to solve the problem? How Imam Khomeini could combine between the tradition and modernity? Which one will be in order of priority in his list, tradition, or modernity? A qualitative research is perfomed to achieve the aim of this research and answer the research questions.

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Islamic Political Thought
Volume 9, Issue 2
October 2022
Pages 39-53
  • Receive Date: 05 June 2022
  • Revise Date: 01 August 2022
  • Accept Date: 08 August 2022