ööArab-Islamic Culture

Hassan Ajami
2014 / 10 / 19

The Arab-Islamic culture is abstract-oriented, past-oriented, collectivistic and high-context. These basic properties of the Arab-Islamic culture are interrelated. In fact, they follow from the fact that the Arab-Islamic culture is abstract-oriented.
The Arab-Islamic culture is an abstract-oriented culture. For example, God in Islam is highly abstract such that He is not similar to anything else, and no one can accurately know His essence. And the identity of the Arabs resides in Arabic language. But languages are abstract--;-- what we say and write is just a representation of language. Therefore, the identity of the Arabs is abstract. In addition, reality itself is abstract from the perspective of the Arab-Islamic mind. And this is why, in the Arab-Islamic culture, reality is unknowable to humans--;-- only God possesses genuine knowledge.
Moreover, the Arab-Islamic culture is past-oriented in many different senses. For example, it is past-oriented in the sense that time in this culture passes towards the past such that most of the Arabs and Muslims aim to --restore-- their golden past. Another sense in which the Arab-Islamic culture is past-oriented resides in the fact that most Arabs and Muslims judge and evaluate events, facts and the affairs of life in accordance with their past merits instead of their futuristic merits. But why is the Arab-Islamic culture past-oriented? The fact that the Arab-Islamic culture is abstract-oriented explains why it is also past-oriented. Since the Arab-Islamic culture is abstract-oriented, and given that the past, rather than the present and future, is abstract, it is natural that the Arab-Islamic culture turned out to be past-oriented. This is how the fact that the Arab-Islamic culture is abstract-oriented successfully explains why it is past-oriented. Now, we have to prove why the past, instead of the present and future, is abstract. Since the past has already happened, and hence we cannot change it, while the present and future are changeable in light of our decisions and actions, it follows that the past is in fact abstract while the present and future are not. The future is constantly changing into the present moment. Thus, the future is concrete as the present is.
The Arab-Islamic culture is also a collectivistic culture. An Arab´-or-a Muslim tends to identify himself´-or-herself with a social group such as one s family, tribe´-or-religious group. And the loyalty of an Arab´-or-a Muslim is to his´-or-her social group. Most of the Arabs and Muslims do not perceive themselves as independent and autonomous individuals. Rather, they perceive themselves as parts of social groups and as representing their own social groups. Yet what is the basic reason behind the fact that the Arab-Islamic culture is collectivistic? The fact that the Arab-Islamic culture is abstract-oriented explains why it is also collectivistic. Since the Arab-Islamic culture is abstract-oriented, and given that social groups are abstract while individuals are concrete, it is natural that the Arab-Islamic culture turned out to be oriented towards social groups. And hence, it is natural that the Arab-Islamic culture is collectivistic. This is how the fact that the Arab-Islamic culture is abstract-oriented successfully explains why it is collectivistic as well. Now, we have to show that social groups are abstract, while individuals are concrete. Any individual is concrete in the sense that he´-or-she possesses a single unique body occupying specific space-times. But any social group does not possess a single concrete body occupying a certain space-time´-or-a definite set of space-times. Therefore, a single individual is concrete, while social groups are abstract.
The Arab-Islamic culture is also high-context. For example, each word in the Arab-Islamic culture has many meanings and different connotations. And hence, only the context fixes the meanings of words and sentences. In this important sense, the Arab-Islamic culture is a high-context culture. And the fact that the Arab-Islamic culture is abstract-oriented caused it to be high-context. Since the Arab-Islamic culture is abstract-oriented in the sense that things in it are perceived as being abstract, it follows that, in the Arab-Islamic culture, meanings are also conceived as being abstract. And since meanings are conceived, in the Arab-Islamic culture, as being abstract, it follows that the precise and definite meaning of any single word´-or-proposition could not be obtained´-or-possessed by humans. This is so because humans lack the ability to comprehend the abstract. And since the precise and definite meaning of any single word´-or-proposition is not obtainable by humans, it is natural that each word in the Arab-Islamic culture has many meanings and connotations. And hence, only the context is able to fix the meanings to a certain degree. All of this shows that the Arab-Islamic culture is high-context because it is abstract-oriented.
The fact that the Arab-Islamic mind is abstract-oriented is the core of the Arab-Islamic culture. And the fact that the Arab-Islamic culture is abstract-oriented is the main foundation and attribute of the Arab-Islamic world. The Arab-Islamic culture gains its distinctive properties, such as being past-oriented and collectivistic, in virtue of the fact that it is abstract-oriented.




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