Moroccan philosopher Taha Abdel Rahman for Al Jazeera Net: "Flood resistance" liberation movement for man and the world

Arab philosopher and thinker Taha Abdel Rahman (Moroccan press)

Moroccan philosopher and thinker Taha Abdel Rahman said that the dimensions of the "Al-Aqsa flood" transcend the geographical and cultural boundaries of the nation to the whole world, because the act of resistance now requires in the post-flood era belonging to the world.

Professor of logic, philosophy of language and ethics, and author of the book "The Spirit of Modernity... Introduction to the Establishment of Islamic Modernity", that since it appeared that the flood, in terms of being an erosion of absolute evil, is the way to reach optimal liberation, it was necessary for the "flood resistance" to be a liberation movement for man in general or a liberation movement for the whole world, even if it appeared on the surface a liberation movement for a special people or a liberation movement for a specific land, as he put it.

Abdul Rahman (79 years old) wrote many books whose topics varied between logic, philosophy, renewal of reason and criticism of modernity, and his philosophical project is summarized in working to disconnect between philosophy and the concept of modernity and Western thought as well, to confirm that each culture and civilization has its own philosophy and modernity, making theoretical thought and moral work two sides of the same coin, opposing modern Western thought, which excludes ethics in its practical part.

The Moroccan philosopher raised the slogan "ethics is the solution" or what he called "the work of acclamation" in some of his books such as "The Spirit of Religion" and "The Question of Work", and considered that the duality in Arab Islamic thought paralyzed the ability of his people to philosophical creativity to use concepts in Arab Islamic practice that follow the example of the Western philosophical movable following the example of the sole with the sole. To the dialogue:

• How do you view Operation Al-Aqsa Flood in the Palestinian and humanitarian context?

The first thing that stops the philosopher about the "Al-Aqsa Flood" in its Palestinian context is this same name: why did the Palestinian resistance in Gaza choose to call its operation "the flood" and chose no other? There is no doubt that the hadith of the "victorious sect" with which the hearts of its men were imbibed had an impact on this name, as the "flood" is only the work of this "sect" represented in them, this is about the etymological origin, as for the reason for this name, it is known that the "flood" means the meaning of "dredging that leaves nothing behind", so let us ask what is the truth of this thing that this resistance carried the trust of bulldozing it at all so that nothing was left of it? This thing cannot be just occupation, not even just injustice, but it is, in fact, "absolute evil"; people used to imagine "absolute evil" as a distant concept, and do not believe it to be realized, so today they see it as a living reality; they have seen "prayer" in the houses of God bombed, "innocence" in childhood lost, "wellness" from hospitals expelled, "resorting" to shelters is terrorized, and a priest on that is the like; they saw with their own eyes the dying of all the values of goodness that man was created. The Palestinian resistance in Gaza was the first to identify the truth of this evil, so it rushed to confront it with force that pushes its restraints and even snatches it from its origin, so this resistance deserved to be called "flood resistance", as distinct from the rest of the forms of resistance.

People have seen with their own eyes the death of all the values of good for which man was created; "absolute evil" is nothing but scenes of death that come upon all values; and the Palestinian resistance in Gaza was the first to discover the truth of this evil.

It remains to be asked, why did this resistance add the "flood" to "Al-Aqsa" and did not add it to others? There is no doubt that the status of "Al-Aqsa" then necessitates this addition, but this status has several aspects that differ according to contexts and circumstances: "Al-Aqsa", in the context of mentioning orientation in prayer, is the first qibla for Muslims, while in the special circumstances surrounding the flood resistance, it is, mainly, "Al-Masra", because "Al-Isra", idiomatically, requires overcoming the materiality of the body completely, just like "Al-Aruj", and this means that the spirit of "Al-Masra" is liberated from all Therefore, for this resistance, "Al-Masra" has come to indicate "the place of verification of maximum freedom"; therefore, if the historical name of this place is "Al-Aqsa", then its circumstantial name is, in particular, "Al-Masra"; In the prisons of the enemy, the purposes of the "flood" precede it, and even made it the first condition in any negotiation with it!

Hence, it is clear that the Palestinian context of the Al-Aqsa flood opens to the human context from at least two aspects: one, that this flood contains a share of Noah's flood, peace be upon him, which is "eradicating evil from the earth", so that thanks to it, man is prepared from where he is also to receive new values; So that it is not limited by any material consideration.

Since the flood, in terms of being a bulldozing of absolute evil, appeared to be the way to achieve optimal liberation, it was necessary for the "flood resistance" to be a liberation movement for man in general or a liberation movement for the whole world, even if it appeared on the surface to be a liberation movement for a special people or a liberation movement for a specific land, since the flood resistor is only man in his struggle with evil; Palestinian events as much as it is due to the fact that this resistance has returned by force to man, wherever he is, to his first instinct, that is, to return him to the authentic values contained in his soul, as evidenced by the speed of this rally around his cause and the involvement of boys in it in abundance, as the boy is closer than others to instinct, so it is easy to revive it.

• With the flood of Al-Aqsa, we have witnessed many manifestations of Western double standards, in your opinion, can we witness a civilizational decline affected by this decline in values?

What I want to point out is that the double standards of the West are not a new aspect of the West, but have been inherent to its civilization from its beginning, because this civilization was originally built on material principles that determine its superiority over other nations; Throughout its modern history, the West has lacked this transcendent flame, and even established its civilizational edifice on the basis of extinguishing this flame in the hearts because of the tyranny of the worldly interests in all its conditions. The denial of witnesses; and then, we are not surprised by the hardness of their hearts and the disappearance of their senses, completely detached from their humanity.

The West's double standards are not a new aspect of the West, but have been inherent to its civilization from the very beginning, because this civilization was originally built on material principles that determine its superiority over other nations;

Therefore, the value decline is not something that is contingent on Western civilization, but its causes are always broadcast in it, as it is a civilization that is already regressive in value if compared to the civilization of Islam, because, as I mentioned, it is empty, in the beginning, of the flame of transcendence. To highlight his absolute ugliness, so that this flood will be a sign that speaks for the tongue of the kingdom among the West.

It is a civilization that is already regressive in value if compared to the civilization of Islam, because, as I mentioned, it is empty, in the beginning, of the flame of transcendence, and this value decline remained hidden from sight due to the predominance of people's attachment to the manifestations of material progress.

• How do you view the bias of some Western intellectuals, especially against the Palestinian people in resisting and enjoying human rights, even though some of them were defending the need for all peoples to enjoy the same rights?

I would not be surprised by these thinkers with their bias, because what we are entitled to be surprised about is not going along with the logic of their civilization, but rather violating this logic; in judging the Palestinians, they are based on the values that govern their civilization and that make the advancement of material interests the criterion of human superiority. It would allow them to claim the equality of the human beings in rights and at the same time to take a position that does not say that it is equal, limiting humanity to their civilized peoples without the spiritual superiority that adorns the members of this people.

But what these thinkers do not know, and should know whenever they want to preserve their attribution to philosophizing, is that humanity, at the present time, has gathered together in the Palestinian man as it was gathered in the prophets and great men; In this way, the Palestinian man becomes a model to be followed, and it is known that the model in any nation takes the place of the nation, and the world is the nation of which the Palestinian man has become a model, so it is correct to fill the world's block. The Palestinian resistance belongs to this time as every human being found after the Muhammadan mission, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, so that the contemporaries themselves, whatever their faith, fall under the penalty of this Islamic time, and ask about their morals as Muslims ask of them. It had to be universal given its belonging to the universality of this Islamic era.

Thus, these philosophical people who are unjustly aligned with the enemies of the Palestinian man have missed two basic facts that should not be missed by any philosopher, because they revolve around the concept of "universality", knowing that this concept is the goal of every philosopher to the extent that he claims to be unique in working with it; Aware of this double Palestinian universality doubtful in the perfection of philosophizing, what do you think of those who deny this universality, not to mention the one who claims to theorize of ethics, but theorizing of global ethics, there is no doubt that he is philosophical followed to his liking, or in the words of Al-Farabi, philosophical "tinsel" even if there is someone who believes him! Is it conceivable to be blind to this universal truth, which is that every human being in the world has a relative to the Palestinian man, according to his model and morality?

• Does what happened foreshadow the beginning of disengagement from cultural, moral and political occupation, and the beginning of a new era for the Arab and Islamic world?

Since this flood restores lost self-confidence, revives the glorious memory of the nation, and inherits the necessary awareness of the forces of the spirit, it has collected the reasons for releasing the energies of creativity, diligence and renewal, among the sons of the nation. Whatever the way these reasons are taken, (here more importantly), this flood requires building, in this renewal of the nation, Arabs and Muslims, on two dedicated principles: one, that "there is no advancement of the nation except by verification by resistance";

As for the first flood origin, that is, "there is no advancement of the nation except by verification by resistance", what the nation, represented by the people of Palestine, suffered from the forms of long occupation, politically, economically and culturally, which made the resistance rise from the rank of behavioral action to the rank of existential action, and this means that the nation does not exist except by the act of resistance, but it means that the nation has no right to exist except by this act; Therefore, this resistance cannot be merely an act left to the choice or discretion of the individual, but rather a transaction in which the whole nation participates, entering and evaluating it.

Therefore, this resistance cannot be merely an act left to the choice or discretion of the individual, but rather a transaction in which the entire nation participates, entering and evaluating it.

Therefore, the intellectuals of the New Testament opened by the "Al-Aqsa Flood" must rethink the concept of "resistance", base it on new origins, create from concepts what supports it, extract from its facts what was not imagined, and build from theories and intellectual and political systems what is up to its ability. The political defeat of the enemy; the "flood of Al-Aqsa" triumphed over the mind of the occupier as well as his morals, so the political defeat of the enemy is merely a follower of his mental defeat and moral defeat; since reason and creation are the defining characteristics of the totality of man, the defeat of the enemy was a defeat for himself as a whole; and such a defeat of the same enemy cannot be erased from his memory, so he cannot then do anything, so he takes on the permanence of defeat, until total extinction; Such a victory cannot be erased from the memory of the nation, so that it does not have a path after it, so that it takes on the permanence of victory, until total rebirth.

Since reason and creation are the defining characteristics of the totality of man, the defeat of the enemy is a defeat of his entire self; Total emission

As for the second deluge that must be built upon, namely that "there is no resistance except with the verification of belonging to the world", it has become clear that the dimensions of the "Al-Aqsa flood" transcend the geographical and cultural boundaries of the nation to the whole world, not only because its effects have already spread throughout humanity, but because the act of resistance requires that these limits be completely eliminated and that it be seen as an explicit universal act binding on every member of humanity, wherever and however it occurs. Therefore, the resister must be aware and certain, in his actions, that he is confronting evils that affect not only his homeland, but all countries of the world, and there is no doubt that this feeling will immeasurably increase his energy of struggle, as well as expand his supply potential.

The Arab regime, as a whole, has become an obstacle to resistance to the extent that this prohibition is similar to the prohibition that occurs from the occupier, even as if this regime were an "internal occupation", due to several reasons that may meet some elements of this regime, namely, as is well known, "the political gap between the ruler and the ruled", "the military elite that seized power by force and shared interests with the colonial parties", and "the civilian elite that was absorbed by the values of foreign culture and entrusted with the management of institutions". under the guidance of these colonial actors", and finally, the "normalization process" that ended the remaining remnant of the nation.

Perhaps this result is more necessary in the case of the Arab resistance than in the case of others, since the Arab regime, as a whole, has become an obstacle to the act of resistance to the extent that this prohibition is similar to the prohibition that occurs from the occupier, even as if this regime is an "internal occupation", due to several reasons that may meet some elements of this regime, namely, as is known, "the political gap between the ruler and the ruled", and "the military elite that seizes power by force and shares common interests with the colonial parties". and "the civil elite that was absorbed by the values of foreign culture and entrusted with the management of institutions under the guidance of these colonial actors", and finally, the "normalization process" that ended the remaining remnant of the nation; This resistance is reflected at home with more force, especially since it carries a global orientation.

• The debate between moral values and political interests has always been alive, so how did the "Al-Aqsa flood" resolve this controversy?

The first thing that should be noted is the confusion of the concept of "interest", as it used to refer in Islamic usage to the meaning of "benefit that brings goodness to man", while in the contemporary context it has come to refer to "the benefit that meets the absolute need", and there is a difference between the two meanings: the first meaning of interest includes an explicit moral dimension that makes it a synonymous with moral value, while the second meaning of interest does not necessarily include this moral dimension, so that interest may be incompatible with moral value. Therefore, the use of the term "interest" in these two opposite meanings was a cause for confusion of thought among the Arab speaker, and it was better to put for the second meaning an independent term of its own, and this term may be "purpose", especially since the colonial countries are using its counterparts in their languages to denote the corruption of their purposes in the Arab region, as in the phrase: "Threatening national interests", the Arab public, from where it does not feel, is led to believe that these colonial purposes are legitimate interests, by virtue of its Islamic culture, it confers on them the goodness that never exists.

The "Al-Aqsa Flood" was built on the principle of non-contradiction between moral value and political interest, so that there is no controversy between them in its context, but rather on the principle of overlap between them, which he inherited from his Islamic culture, and this overlap takes the form of one-way inclusion, and this inclusion is that political interest is always subordinate to moral value, and this means that the Tofanian resistor bases his policy, mainly, on the moral standard, and harnesses political action to serve morality Harnessing the means to its purpose.

As for the "flood of Al-Aqsa", it was built on the principle of non-contradiction between moral value and political interest, so that there is no controversy between them in its context, but rather on the principle of overlap between them, which he inherited from his Islamic culture, and this overlap takes the form of one-way inclusion, and this inclusion is that political interest is always subordinate to moral value, and this means that the Toufanian resistor bases his policy, mainly, on the moral standard, and harnesses political action to serve morality by harnessing the means to its purpose. It is a measure for liberation, and "freedom" is a supreme moral value; and then the measure is a measure of the world for the sake of the hereafter, so there must be in the horizon of this measure, the purpose of martyrdom, and "martyrdom", too, a supreme moral value, and thus, political interest, according to the Tofanian resistance, is always directed by two universal moral values: "freedom" and "martyrdom", so either he is liberated, or he is martyred. The exploits achieved are very creative.

This resister was able, thanks to the clothing of his militant work with morality, to show the world the scenes of the moral fall to which the materialism of Western civilization leads, as he led the Israeli enemy to reveal images of his obscene immorality, to lie and deceive and mislead, and to shed the blood of innocent people, and to destroy all the values of life, and even to expose the immoral shames of the Western countries, as they all rose, having lost their senses to the horror of what befell this enemy, to support him with a launch, providing him with the most lethal weapons and supporting him in the atrocities of his crimes, adding to them, without shame. He described "international legitimacy" and even exposed the "absolute hypocrisy" of its rulers and some intellectuals, who claim to carry the banner of enlightenment in the world.

Since the Flood Resistor is truly a universal human being, he has been relegated to the status of a savior of the world from this unprecedented moral downfall that inflicts upon him, because the world must find in this resistance the best teacher that helps him to restore the lost link between the two parties: "politics" and "morality".

Since the Flood Resistor is truly a universal human being, he has been relegated to the status of the savior of the world from this unprecedented moral downfall that inflicts upon him, because the world must find in this resistance the ideal teacher that helps him to restore the missing link between the two parties: "politics" and "morality", as he cannot help but see that this resistor not only recognized this link that he inherited from a cultural time when the boundaries between these two parties were overlapping, but worked, In the current cultural time, which is famous for the separation between the two parties, by building its great flood achievement on this relationship, testing its strength and reaching impressive results, and when the world realized that the Toufanian resistance is an expert in this relationship as much as he is an heir to it, it has shown its need to restore, himself, this lost link, but refuses to have this restoration in the way it was achieved in its past because of the previous evils that resulted from its exploitation, but looks forward to it being obtained on the face Hence, the Flood Resister can exercise an aspect of his universality, reconsidering, in the political sphere, morality as the title of "humanity" in the management of the world.

Source : Al Jazeera