Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations

1. A new age is dawning. A new age is dawning, conventionally referred to as the “post-post-bipolar age”, the age of non-distance, the age of revolutions and new ideologies, the age of globalisation, the age of a globalised and westernised modernity. The historical frame of reference may point to the Gulf crisis of 1990-1991, marked as the turning-point for the whole system of “security” and international relations: with the disruption of the Soviet Union, it undoubtedly put the final seal on the undisputed political-military and economic-financial superiority of the United States on the one hand, and on the intensification of the process of economic and market globalisation and the build-up of a new world order on the other.

A new world order born of a “Clash of civilizations” or a modernity process vs. tradition? In this last case, that is to say a balanced relationship between physiological, philosophical and psychological needs, avoiding gaps and conflict between generational cultures and civilizations, between traditional education and the dominant culture of today.

Certainly, the dominant culture of today is perceived as “western”, scientifically and technologically westernised. A balanced relationship means avoiding conflict in an otherwise deeply divided society which faces the dramatic confrontation of the inescapable process of modernisation/westernisation with a still deeply rooted tradition. A tradition that is at one and the same time religious, juridical, philosophical and cultural as a whole (that is to say, political-institutional, economic and social as well).

Samuel Huntington has predicted a “clash of civilizations”, and later on he has added: “if not a clash of civilizations, then what?”. Despite this catastrophic vision of absolute nullification, behind the screen of a westernised vision of Universe, Mankind, and History, and within the framework of an increasingly globalised world, rationality can prevail and mathematic deduction contributes to build a society based on a “rational” religion firmly rooted in a Messianic doctrine.

On the threshold of the third millennium, in an atmosphere of anachronisms and contradictions, dominated and conditioned by scientific discoveries, new ideas seem to take flight and regional barriers are collapsing to give way to a new form of globality. The Information and Communication Revolution is giving way to a new and more frightening revolution, the Bio-Technological Revolution, which is emerging on to the world stage as a new power. In this context, the dominant factors are uncertainty, violence, terror, micro-macro criminality, abuse of power and oppression, regional conflicts and new forms of waging war. Corruption prevails, together with illegal trafficking and crime. The indiscriminate exploitation of the environment adds natural disasters and new forms of human catastrophe. All these realities represent a worrying, new challenge and demand a positive reshaping of civil and political society.

A closer look reveals that one of the major threats for political and civil society derives without any doubt from new inequalities and a new “divarication”: the new rich and the new poor, the educated and the ignorant, the philosopher and the scientist, the ideologue and the pragmatic, the powerful and those who - although  having riches - have no access to power, etc.

It is concerns such as these which, some years ago, side by side with IT and bio-technology, gave life to new intellectual stimuli destined to have a harsh impact on the third millennium and the new system which men are forging within a new world order: Man and Mankind, History and its Philosophy, Universe and its Laws.

In this respect, the doctrine of Mahdism vs. other contemporary political-social doctrines has a centrality of its own.

The dominant culture of  today – technologically and scientifically “Western”, westernised and global – is essentially secular: geo-politics, geo-strategy, geo-economics are among  the main issues of Western literature when confronting the new order. This trend is forcing  scholars, academics, thinkers, government officials and opinion makers to define anew religious-cultural identities in the light of a new set of assumptions about the world and its creation, about universe and cosmos. At the core of it, History, Man and Mankind nourish a new and lively debate. In this specific context, Mahdism and its capability for theorizing as a doctrine can acquire a new centrality, the kernel of this debate, giving rise to issues which are at the heart also of Western societies and their philosophical tradition.

At the dawn of the third millennium, in an atmosphere of new conflicts and confrontations, negative conceptions and grim fantasies of the past persist, stereotyping through electronic media highly diabolic images of the Other, rather than pursuing  truth and  the promotion of goodwill. Vis-à-vis this objective environment, Samuel Huntington sternly predicted a “clash of civilizations”. And within this “clash”, the Islamic threat to the West continues to appear as an  ever impending  factor. Conversely, Islam perceives the West as a positive menace to its own life and system.

Hence, clash of civilizations can become a clash of different (and sometimes deeply differing) philosophies, giving life to different power-systems, competing for legitimacy and seeking media attention. Sometimes, they operate secretly and from “underground networks”, using similar tactics and “front organizations” to legitimate power and business – today we can speak in terms of “globalised business” within a globalised power-system.

Ideologies – either political and/or religious – legitimate pragmatic interests, an economic power-system which is not “anti-state” but a parallel organisational model with its own legal and ethical rules, its own hierarchy of authority, juridical structure and practice, military forces and balanced relationships: a levelling “functional global democracy” uprooting individual tradition and identity.

Against such a pessimistic backdrop, a different path can take shape. Deduction – mathematic and philosophical at the same time – may also bring to the reverse of a clash of civilizations. It becomes obvious that a reciprocal, cultural relationship must continue behind and beyond clashes and stern confrontations. It must involve society in its entirety, amalgamating it, creating new links between civil society and political society, creating new cultural links between peoples and their individual societies. Through an accurate balance between scientific and technological development on the one hand, and the preservation of ancient traditions and cultural identity on the other, it makes possible social and economic justice. Both form the basis of stable political-social doctrines, order, security and development.

Islam – with its own religious-juridical culture and reality – can no longer be disregarded. The teachings of “Mahdism” can represent a pivotal moment, a key-factor on the stage of history. The sentence “the world is a global village” is a well-known cliché. But this global village is pluralistic in a religious and cultural sense as well, and within this global village Islamic civilisation  has forged its own order and dimension, the response to foreign challenges, to the integration of  Islamic order  and philosophical doctrines into the Western secular/economic system.

Without going into the details of another long, sometimes thorny topic, in the following discourse I purposefully leave aside both the political-strategic dimension and ensuing military-security issues on the one hand, and inter-religious issues on the other. There are more appropriate forums and authoritative scholars. Conversely, I wish to focus my attention on some realities and their beneficial experience: history andeducation. Both have a role to play.

Certainly, following a precise line of thought, clash of civilizations can become a clash of different and sometimes deeply differing power-systems, competing for legitimacy, seeking media attention. Sometimes, they do operate secretly and from “underground networks”, using similar tactics and “front organizations” to legitimate power and business. However, within this spectrum and behind the screen, there can be space for factors to emerge, and encourage negotiation, interaction, dialogue, discussion and convergence. The last, in particular, must not disregard tradition, our individual cultural tradition. It must not disregard the de facto and de jure equation that today is at the core also of the Islamic world’s inescapable modernisation process and its doctrines: that is to say Modernity vs. Tradition and Identity.

This means a sober evaluation of our philosophical doctrines and schools, an in-depth and inward-looking understanding of central teachings – such as “Mahdism”. This means reject any “westernised” model of modernity, reject wrong or manipulated ideas/ideologies, and prepare scientific answers to superstitions.

Obviously, these notes are the reflection of my academic life and personal experience. Both as a Catholic and as a human being, I have spent many years in the Islamic world, sharing with my many Muslim friends sorrow and grief, joyful days and merry events: mutually beneficial relationships, which have largely contributed to shaping some of my worldviews.

2. History. A new global history and new methodological approaches. The long record of strained relations also between Muslims and the West must not detract from the fact that there is much in common, and much to be said and achieved. At the dawn of the third millennium, the thread of history takes us back to a new methodological approach. There is a clear worldwide perception that a new version of history is required, and we are moving towards a new “global history” and new methodological approaches, which must be at one and the same time multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary.

Through different methodological approaches they opened up a doctrinal debate on “tradition”, focusing on its various dimensions and individual realities. The environment, architecture and landscapes, archaeology, philology and linguistics, religion and literary studies (based on both written sources and memories), anthropology and ethno-anthropology, all converged in this new trend to meet and draw new cultural pictures. Moralising accounts, fine descriptions, erudite reports, evocative historical chronicles, social-anthropological analyses lavishly illustrated this vast world and its past, inhabitants and costumes. Finely chiselled personalities emerged from the dust of legend, and animated chronicles and historical accounts with the many challenges they had to face and confront with vis-à-vis an ever impending Europe, an increasingly strategically dominant United States and an increasingly westernised modernity.

These studies assumed considerable importance. One point they had in common:  the debate centred round one special equation, that it to say “identity vs. modernity”. By the end of the last century this issue had given life to a new and no less controversial debate.

At that point, history dissociated itself from the dominant geopolitical, geo-strategic and economic culture. With a speculative lucidity, it abandoned any purely theoretical and virtual position, that often denies scientific value to “history” and historiography in particular, in favour of a more pragmatic approach. The most relevant studies began to move along a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach, which views the study of regional history without neglecting the albeit many facets of its reality, and its traditional and complex structure. Rather, they viewed the diversity and multiplicity of historical facts and depicted them always bearing in mind the broader “global” framework and context. The “material culture” comes in, not so much and no longer as an alternative and atheistic approach to history and  the universe (as it was only a few decades ago), but as a key to the understanding of facts and events, a no less precious clue to the re-reading of literature and all available sources through rational deduction from texts.

Here, the Mahdism teachings, theories and culture enter.

Undoubtedly, the intellectual world is facing a new historiographical debate, a debate into which the Islamic world has also entered and plays a central role. Knowledge and the vision of  the world and its new order are translated into a new philosophy of culture and history. Rationality, historicity of scientific knowledge, nature and experience, nature and human ratio, science and ethics, science and its language, dialogue and the great monotheistic religions and/or Messianic doctrines, revolution and power, politics, force and its use…these are among the main themes most discussed and heard of  also in the traditional culture of the ordinary people.

This millennium’s new age is moving its steps within this new cultural dimension and is also witnessing a new phenomenon, that is to say  a “global history”. It takes form. And the so far undisputed scientific and technological superiority of the West must once again confront itself with generational gaps and contradictions, must confront itself with a new re-reading of its own culture and philosophy. Hence, on this precise stage and behind the screen of Huntington’s “clash of civilizations”, the West and its destiny – with its eternal dialectic between economics and society, between society and religion, between formal ratio and the relativity of cultures, its antitheses between culture and civilisations – provoke further reflections. Such considerations place at the heart of this new debate “the crisis of Western civilization”,  which, with the end of the Cold War and the bio-technological revolutions, has to re-think its own speculative parameters, its traditional paradigms and models of Universe and Cosmos, Mankind and Statehood, Society and Power. In the eyes of this new intellectual trend, the West appears to have lost (or eliminated) its spirituality and spiritual values, merging all its forms in the material and economic dimension of life. It is a West which, in the eyes of most people, is decidedly new and different to that of the past, a West which Islam can counter with new cultural challenges and systemic-structural answers.

 The importance of  history as the discipline capable of enhancing “our knowledge of Man” had already been stressed by Fu’ad al-Shayb in the course of a Seminar held in Cairo in the nineteen-seventies of the last century, when he stated that the existence of a conflicting approach to the study of history “is a healthy sign” that ought to be encouraged.  Muslim cultural debate is by now privileging such new methodological lines. History can no longer be a recurrent event, representing  itself endlessly as if it resembled a concatenation of birth and death, love and hatred, fear and revenge, battle and truce. To write history is a sort of pioneering adventure, a conquest. Seen in this light, human civilisation – in all its varied spiritual and material aspects – becomes a succession of experiences and their cross-fertilisation, a mimesis of ideas and opinions, bringing together researchers and scholars. Consequently, human progress can be seen also as a transcendental-dialectical movement, full of premises and benefits. In this scheme of things, history does not represent the usurpation of God’s sovereignty and legitimacy, unassailably placed beyond the realm of human endeavour. Having man as its subject, history has to be the biography of a constant struggle to overcome human nature, to read and understand the past in order to live the present and plan the future, to explore other philosophical theories of history and work out the modalities of rejecting any “clash of civilizations” and develop a better, mutual understanding.

3. Man and his spiritual values. Beyond this new technological and economic dimension, Man and the spiritual dimension of human existence are a critical factor that cannot be disregarded. Modernisation, progress, efficiency, growth, production do not clash with principles such as science and philosophy, social justice, human rights, economic progress and democracy, or with Man’s inherent need to transcend and reach out to the Creator.

The global trend of the resurgence of Islam, observable all over the world, does not mean either an unhappy existence or militancy, which must renounce hope of peaceful process of coexistence. Nor it means a compulsory process of “westernised” modernity uprooted from its cultural tradition and identity. It is a orderly and harmonious universe in its nature and direction, regulated by one single Law which binds all its parts in  harmonious and orderly sequence. The task of human beings is to receive, to respond to, to adapt and apply the immutable characteristics of Divine rules. The human intellect – although refined, ambitious, scientific, educated, learned – well, the human intellect has always to swim in the sea of the unknown. Nevertheless, these human activities do not conflict with development and technology; they are a rational religion; they are mathematics and philosophy; they constitute progress and result in gradual improvement, within the harmony of the cosmic order and its superior Laws. They must take place within pre-determined perimeters and on the basis of a fixed axis. Man religious instinct is a reflection of the organic structure of the cosmos and its interrelated components. The nature of Islamic society is a universal community, which goes beyond the narrow enclave of geographical boundaries, political frontiers, race, colour and language. Within this dimension, the Arabs unquestionably undertook the unique mission of infusing their lives with Islam, and provided other peoples and communities with the divine Law and its theological-juridical principles.

Seen in this perspective, it seems hard to deny that Islam is a system, a way of life, a process of political, institutional, socio-economic, militaryand spiritual-philosophical construction. It is a comprehensive movement, tuned by the religious factor, where history has turned full circle. It is not a faint-copy of  Western-inspired nationalism.

This perception is more and more coming to the fore vis-à-vis the Western secular trend, and the globalising geo-economic dimension that this West is shaping for the newly dawning world order.

In like manner, Islam is also a comprehensive rational order, where common sense, pragmatic choices, religious feeling, mysticism, Messianic doctrine, higher idealism and altruistic concern for humanity’s well-being  constantly act and interact. The doctrine of Mahdism is intrinsic part of this comprehensive order, as it is intrinsic part of other religions and political-social realities.

Nationalism, socialism, democracy have their own Islamic dimension, within an Islamic order.

But, referring in particular to the speculative sphere, unquestionably the humanities, the arts and fine arts, crafts and those special domains of traditional culture still have a great creative function within a mutually beneficial social-human dimension of life.

Let us see, for instance, the reflection of this conception of Life and Universe on Islamic fine arts. Man and his spiritual values come to the fore and forge positive philosophical theories. Nature and landscape are perceived by painters and architects with those formal, stylistic and technical characteristics which strongly reflect the impact with a world which lives its life in close, intimate contact with nature. It is a world and a culture which observe nature and the cosmos and perceive them in every detail over the slow rhythmical march of days and nights, of the seasons and the lunar cycles. It is a world often at odds with nature for its very survival, it is a world which conditions nature and is conditioned by it in its turn, a world often perceived in its tension with uncertainty and the blind recklessness of modern-contemporary times. It is a culture which - in the struggle to know, to understand the celestial cosmos and its rules, to grasp the secrets of the whole universe - has to grapple with this universe for its own life and survival in peace and at war. And when it perceives it as a science, it uses knowledge - or the human ratio - through which Man comes nearer to God and to that infinite, spherical and perfect universe which He created, and of which Man feels himself to be an intimate harmonious part.

4. Within this system, today Education has a role to play. At the dawn of the third millennium, education should not be confined to reading and studying a few course books. Education is the vital basis on which a strong and firm cultural structure and institutional order must be built. No institutional structure, no cultural order can function without a proper system of education. This holds true for any order, Islamic as well as Western.

Therefore, looking at education as a comprehensive process to be shared by the family, the society and the public institutions, it would seem congruous that, within an Islamic order, the educational system should reflect Islam, in harmony with its structural and organisational dimension. This means to break down certain barriers and enter history with its cultural heritage, its various components and historical phases, irreplaceable evidence of the region’s peoples and of the cultural influences there exercised by other “worlds” with their individual cultures and respective models of organising “space and time”. This also means to complement textual evidence with material data provided by other sources (for example, archaeology, epigraphy, numismatics, monumental evidence, anthropology, sociology). This also means awareness of the doctrine of Mahdism and its culture.

Referring to younger generations, the importance of harmonious physical and spiritual development needs to be underlined. Hence, three areas stand out in bold relief among educational-cultural priorities: (1) elementary education and literacy; (2) scientific, technical and vocational education; (3) Islam in education. Within this dimension, confidence building lies at the core of any healthy and constructive educational system, being in its turn the only solid basis for any cultural growth. Keeping all this in mind, we come to a fourth priority: (4) education for leadership, forging leaders and managers, who can pave the way to build a better world order, joining their minds and hands to erect this order on co-existence and cooperation, leaving aside any marked confrontation. This means building the character of future generations, too, with highest sense of honour, integrity, selfless service to the nation and sense of responsibility, so that they are fully equipped to play their role in the various branches of social, economic and political life. According to a Tradition (hadith), “the test of man depends upon his standard of morality in every walk of life, his elements, principles... Character means a bundle of virtues, the highest sense of honour and integrity, and that you will not sell your principles for anything in the world, however tempting it may be. These are the characteristics which go to make a community. When a test comes, a crisis arises, if you live up to these virtues, no one on the surface of the earth can defeat you”.

Therefore, it follows that human resources, today,  are not only a priority from the mere economic point of view, which means a pre-condition for creating better business opportunities. They represent also one of the essential factors of what is known as “human security” within a context of peace and stability. Social structures have been profoundly transformed in the last decades, in spite of the apparently enduring maintenance of tradition and close links with the past. Modernisation, increasing urbanisation, industrial development, new sophisticated technologies are among the most important components of a global social transformation that Islam - and Muslim leaders - cannot ignore. The human dimension of security in society is gaining more and more attention in our “global village”. Issues related to the promotion of human development - such as education, employment, job security, job safety, community/cultural value systems are increasingly recognised as necessary means to strengthen state security, and, side by side with political security,  to reinforce regional stability and the world order.

In this respect, Islam - as a theological-juridical system - is certainly called upon to play a more active role in promoting co-ordination for a comprehensive human resources development strategy. In this respect, we are facing a well documented identity and culture no longer neglected or ignored vs. a Westernised modernity. We are confronted with solid and well documented reality, which provides a new impending model of  identity.

Mahdism may also cast new light upon a crucial issue, that is “identity” (change and resistance in societies), through a special lens and without undermining the roots of a traditional culture and its vigorous heritage, preserving its own life and system notwithstanding a very rapidly developing society. Within this anthropological dimension, relationships are viewed beyond myth and the veil of legend and shared in cooperation with the impending factor of a “westernised” modernisation with its concrete, pragmatic culture.

 What is required is reinvention, new definitions of the purpose of formal-informal education, and its role. As already stated at the beginning of this paper, IT has started playing an ever important role in the last decades, forging a more and more globalised world. Nevertheless, improving the flow of information flows does not prevent organisations from remaining substantially bureaucratic and inflexible. IT can certainly help leaders “to run their bureaucratic systems a little more efficiently”, as David Osborne (Managing Partner of the Public Strategies Group - co-author of Reinventing Government) puts it, and he seems to be right when he adds that IT cannot be considered a strategy in itself, but just a tool to promote reinvention. Success in reinvention is based on the community’s historical and traditional force. One of the forces they can resort to in this process is the customary relevance of the personal relationship between the leader and the lead in traditional Islamic communities and society. It is a force and a lever that in the past had a strong  impact on the local peoples, a strength that should not be lost today, but rather re-designed and adapted to modern realities, to help improve the performance and flexibility of modern organisations. Thus, beyond the new technological and economic dimension, Man and the spiritual dimension of human existence are a critical factor that cannot be disregarded. Modernisation, progress, efficiency, growth, production do not clash with principles such as social justice and economic progress, or with Man’s inherent need to transcend and reach out to the Creator and the doctrine of Mahdism.

The social resistance emerging from the overlapping between the concept of modernisation and the concept of westernisation has obviously encouraged researchers to search for identity, translating this social resistance into forms. And one of these forms can be the “home environment”. The perceptual and collective identities in domestic spaces are part of the whole: the process of identification, the phenomenon of continuity and change of identity in home environment through the various phases of life and history.

Encouraging the creation of knowledge and a cultural shift, through the most genuine Islamic human values, changing the motivations and skills of the young generations, and promoting inter-cultural dialogue should be among the main challenges of an Islamic order and of Islamic – and non-Islamic – leaders to day.

In conclusion: Clash of civilizations or modernity process vs. tradition? That is to say a balanced relationship. it is well possible to say that the philosophical challenge still stands, especially when referring to political and/or economic relations. However, knowledge and the vision of the world and its new order can be translated into a new philosophy of culture and history. As stated above, rationality, historicity of scientific knowledge, nature and experience, nature and human ratio, science and ethics, science and its language, dialogue and the great doctrines of past eras and the present…become as many crucial themes to be discussed and constructively dealt with. Here, tradition takes form, emerges as a result of mankind’s need for a certain predictability, it becomes a relevant element in the traditional culture of the ordinary people and can constructively confront Huntington’s clash of civilizations.

It is only by knowing “from within”, through history, education and dialogue, that we may shape a new world order, beyond any westernised conceptual framework or intellectual stimuli from any outside world and “its” culture. Within such an enlarged perspective – which today is no longer virtual but an inescapable reality in terms of both global politics, order-peace, risks-threats – Islam acquires an instrumental importance and plays the crucial role of cultural “tactical” component and key-factor on the stage of this historical process. New generations must be forged, and the renewal must occur naturally, from “within” and by democratic means.Utopia, myth or reality?