Although the armed struggles of Islamist groups and governments have always been the focus of the media, we should not only pay attention to this aspect of the battle. Sometimes the struggle of Islamists with human rationality and modernism has much more unfortunate consequences. Undoubtedly, a deeper look at this aspect of Islamism’s enmity and struggle with human rationality can be critical. The conflict between the Arbaeen march and modernism is one of the most important activities of the ruling regime in Iran at the international level.
This march is the result of the will of the Islamic government to turn a simple religious ritual into a significant political action.
The history of conflict between The Arbaeen March and Modernism
Arbaeen march is a ritual and a religious gathering in which Shia Muslims walk along the paths leading to Karbala; a city in Iraq and the burial place of the third Shia imam, Hussain bin Ali. Throughout history, this ceremony was executed by limited groups of mourners.
But after US President Barack Obama announced in the fall of 2011 that US forces would withdraw from Iraq by the end of the year, at the time of Arbaeen of the same year, the Islamic Republic of Iran, taking advantage of the common religious attachment of the majority of the people of Iran and the Shiites of southern Iraq, turned that’s private rituals into a large and collective ritual.
Shiites from several countries in The Middle East such as Iran, and Pakistan walk from Najaf to Karbala (about 80 km). it seems that this ritual costs millions of dollars.
To understand the conflict between the Arbaeen march and modernism and how such a ceremony with exorbitant costs is a way to fight against modernism and human rationality, we refer to the words of Ali Khamenei on the occasion of the Arbaeen march on August 25, 2024.
Khamenei’s Speech
The main axis of Ali Khamenei’s speech is his attempt to instill the point that Imam Hussein’s struggle with the caliphate has continued throughout history, and today the struggle against the manifestations of modernization and Western ideas is a continuation of that struggle.
Shiites always consider the war between Imam Hussain and Yazid Caliph as a battle between right and wrong or a fight against injustice. Ali Khamenei tries to turn the fight against modern rationality into a kind of ritual and religious worship. He points out that the form and image of this war was sometimes with swords and spears, and sometimes it is the form of atomic, artificial intelligence, internet, and quantum.
In another sense, Khamenei considers the main goal and duty of every Muslim to participate in this struggle. Now, depending on the conditions of the time, this struggle will have different forms. The point to consider in these words is Khamenei’s view of the historical course of human civilization. Khamenei believes that throughout history, humanity has tried to create new aspects of civil life.
The importance of this historical process for Khamenei lies in the fact that with the change in the form of human civil life, Muslims must change their way of fighting. In other words, humanity’s effort to improve the living conditions has one meaning for Khamenei; Changing the shape of the manifestations of life and consequently changing the shape of the struggle.
Human rationality has always tried to increase the scope of its understanding of the world, to provide the opportunity for a better life, more comfort, and prosperity for man. Changes in the way of life and different levels of technology are due to this will. Khamenei believes that all the achievements of this effort should be used to fight against this human rationality.
In this way, he instills the fight against human rationality in his audience; “Life has meaning and purpose. Money is not worthy of being the goal of life. The purpose of life is to serve, to reach God’. By dichotomizing and separating between “money” and “servitude to God”, Khamenei tries to interpret any rationality other than serving God as a kind of effort to earn money.
In short, when we put the efforts of the Islamic Republic of Shiites in the Arbaeen march next to Khamenei’s words, three points worth pondering stand out:
First: The fight against human rationality is the continuation of the same religious fight that the men of God have started against the infidels and oppressors.
Second: Fighting against human rationality and the manifestations of modernism is a form of worshiping God. The result is that every Muslim becomes closer to God if he destroys and fights against modernism and human rationality.
Third: The possibilities arising from human rationality and modernism are blessings through which one can fight against human rationality and modernism. This is a kind of tragedy. It is very bitter to use any tool, science, or human experience to destroy the rationality that caused the creation of the same tool.
Islamists used to instill the above three points for conflict between the Arbaeen march and modernism. it’s obvious that Some of the millions of participants will be affected.
