The discourse of Islamic resistance is one of the contemporary civilizational phenomena, which has in recent years been raised as one of the important foundations of civilization. Most of the reflections made in this field have been from the perspective of political sociology and political history and mainly focused on specific examples of it in the bordering regions of Iran. However, the lack of a civilizational approach in analyzing the discourse of resistance is still noticeable because this approach has, more than other approaches, the ability and power to explain this discourse. Thus, if we consider the discourse of resistance to be one of the platforms for the actualization of the New Islamic Civilization, it is necessary to analyze it with a civilizational approach. Perhaps, no other approach than the civilizational approach can correctly explain the civilizational capacities of resistance.
One of the characteristics of civilizational phenomena is their being objective and concrete and, in other words, it reflects the position of actualization. Resistance is basically a state of mind that individuals and nations achieve in order to protect their identity, and since this identity is always manifested in relation to objective phenomena, resistance moves from the mental state to the stage of objectivity to the extent that many examples of resistance appear in concrete scenes. Also, the best description of resistance has been given by those who have experienced it. This is because the discourse of resistance can be advanced and actualized by actors and not researchers. When the resistance soldiers talk about it, they tell their inner feelings; but the researchers who basically have not experienced the resistance objectively, only objectify it and draw an unrealistic picture of it.
In addition, the discourse of resistance, like other civilizational phenomena, arises from the social self-awareness of nations, which is manifested in spiritual, theoretical, and practical dimensions. Resilience is a situation that relies on social capital, which is not easily achieved by nations. The spiritual and social needs of this situation are caused by the accumulation of a nation’s spiritual capital, which is usually provided by religions through divine revelation. The theoretical requirements of this situation are due to the intellectual dialectic of a society with its spiritual capital, which is usually achieved in a relatively long historical process, and results in the intellectual prosperity of that society. The practical requirements of this situation also arise from the experience of facing certain events that appear in the history of a society. Spiritual and theoretical capital are not obtained all at once, nor do they gather in one person, because they are both of collective and long-term procedural aspects. The historical events in which the discourse of resistance develops and matures, become the platform for the emergence of the aforementioned capitals and create self-awareness.
Furthermore, the discourse of resistance is based on solid, coherent, and original religious ideas – which have been deduced over many centuries, especially during crises and hardships. The reason for people’s participation in the discourse of resistance is to transform the idea of resistance into the culture of resistance and has spread in the lower layers of society because appropriate social action does not necessarily require detailed attention and awareness.
Like many civilizational phenomena, the discourse of resistance is a complex and multidimensional matter such that it can be said that it is not limited to its physical confrontation with the obvious enemy and it can be actualized and pursued in various personal, social, governmental, economic, and cultural dimensions.
By: Dr. Ahmad Rahdar, Faculty Member of the Institute of Islamic Studies and Research, Qom
