Societies engage with their heritage in various ways, ranging from preserving old traditions to adapting to contemporary changes

Souad Khalil | Libya

Heritage is an essential part of the cultural identity of any nation, as it combines elements of the past with features of the present and contributes to shaping the future. Societies engage with their heritage in various ways, ranging from preserving old traditions to adapting to contemporary changes. In this context, this article explores the ongoing struggle between the old and the new, and its impact on the cultural identity of individuals and communities, while emphasizing the role of heritage in shaping values and meanings in a rapidly changing world. We will also examine the views of several thinkers, such as Dr. Aoun Sharif Qassem, who addresses in his book In the Battle of Heritage the significance of this struggle and its effects on Islamic and Arab societies in light of contemporary challenges.

The conflict between the old and the new is an ongoing struggle that will not end until life itself does, as it is a path to development and progress. However, this conflict takes on a different form in underdeveloped societies compared to advanced ones.

The gap between people’s past and present in these living societies is not of the kind that leads to a disintegration of the community’s identity. Thus, the struggle between the old and the new in their lives is one of interaction and integration, resulting in a new that carries within it the best of the old. This renewal of life and ideas occurs without causing upheaval in society or disturbing the people.

However, the situation differs in traditional societies that have been touched by the civilization of the twentieth century, as they live two lives and think about their affairs with two mentalities, revealing a disintegration in the identity of individuals and communities.

Thus, there appears to be a struggle between the old and the new, as if it were a conflict of opposition and contradiction between two alien elements, where the survival of one depends on the downfall of the other. In both cases, sterility and stagnation are the ultimate outcomes. The stagnation that has clouded this past and turned many of its aspects into historical relics makes it, in many respects, alien to the lived experiences of people, which are generally shaped by incoming currents from Western industrial civilization. Often, colonialism has facilitated this by occupying the land and controlling culture. People have no dominion over the old because its antiquity and rigidity leave only the faintest impact on their conscious lives, and they have no authority over their present, which is imposed upon them from the outside, a present that derives its effectiveness and vitality from the dynamics of the twentieth century or the twenty-first.

The danger of this effectiveness lies in its significant ability to impose its material and formal aspects on people’s lives, making them live outwardly in the last third of the twentieth century, even while inwardly they exist in the depths of ancient epochs. However, these material manifestations of Western civilization, in general, are expressions of defined spiritual and philosophical foundations, and thus they strive diligently to change people’s minds and souls after altering their appearances and material lifestyles. Thus, the formal struggle between the two lifestyles transforms into a civilizational battle, reaffirming the authenticity of the nation rooted in the depths of its heritage, which is invigorated by the clash and mingling of influences. Then begins the phase of seeking identity, a return to heritage, to clarify the nation’s civilizational character within it. This return is guided by the influence of the present, with all its complexities, momentum, and turmoil, from which the nation returns having equipped itself to engage in the march of progress and contribute to building civilization.

On this topic, we will take a brief reading from the book In the Battle of Heritage by Dr. Aoun Sharif Qassem. He states in his book, concerning the past and present: When people talk about inner revolution and the resulting civilizational emergence, most of them read the article that claims that those who have no past have no present, often envisioning the present as a bridge between the past and the future.

The past shapes the present and paves the way for the future. From this significant importance of the past in civilizational construction arises its danger. This danger, in fact, comes from the nature of this past and the differing perceptions people have of it. This leads to pitfalls that may turn it from a blessing into a curse in the path of progress.

It is evident that the relationship between the past and the present is a developmental one, meaning that the present is born from the womb of the past. This subjugation occurs as a result of a significant struggle in which the new asserts its ability to adapt to the conditions of new life at the expense of the old, which has failed to fulfill its vital function in the cycle of evolving life. However, the triumph of the new over the old in this manner does not imply a sharp separation between them, whereby the new replaces the old that is thrown into the wastebasket as having exhausted its purposes. It is true that the wastebasket of history is filled with ancient artifacts that no longer attract people except for their historical value alone. Yet, this does not mean that all that is old is worthless. True development carries within its structure all that humanity has accomplished throughout its long history. This means that all of humanity’s past lives on in every new achievement realized in the present. The present is, in reality, an extension of the past, and more than that, it is the present that controls the past and determines for us what we choose from it. One can even argue that what can be revived from the past is usually alive or ready for life in the present. When people’s lives are dynamic and active, their living past becomes an integral part of their present, and there is no duality or fragmentation between the dreamy view of the past and the bleak vision of the present.

In another section of the book, the author discusses the revival of heritage: The thinker in this part of the world, standing just steps away from the dawn of the fifteenth century of the Hijri calendar, needs to reflect deeply on the status of the Islamic world in comparison to the rest of the contemporary world. Despite the fact that this Islamic world still retains many of the elements of its Muslim identity, it does not, in reality, move under the inspiration of this identity nor does it derive its lasting strength from its inherent power. Rather, in many aspects of its life, it moves in a mechanical, traditional manner, regurgitating the memories of the past and dreaming daydreams, submissively receiving whatever is offered by the creativity of others and their principles. It lives, for the most part, at the mercy of circumstances, lacking the ability to refuse or choose except within very narrow limits.

Returning to the book, since I am particularly interested in the artistic and literary aspect, I consider heritage as one of the most important issues raised amidst the tumult of contemporary cultural changes, especially those that threaten national cultures and attempt to marginalize them in the face of global culture and reject cultural pluralism.

The importance of reviving Arab heritage must be recognized to highlight the role of our heritage in rooting and establishing the culture of our nation, so that it becomes part of the cultures of the world. Our pride in it and our acknowledgment of its antiquity and authenticity is essential, as we Arabs know that our heritage has extended to all cultures throughout the ages of history. This is similar to how translations into various languages were facilitated by translators from Jewish, Arab, and Spanish backgrounds, where the humanity of Arab heritage and its historical impact and interaction with everything around it were manifested, allowing this heritage to remain significant and distinctive.

We return to another section of Dr. Aoun Sharif’s book about the intellectual and duality of identity: Perhaps one of the most prominent features of our modern era is the disorientation from all that has passed in human history—the speed and power with which transformations occur in all fields of life. What humanity has achieved in the past three centuries, especially in the realm of scientific discoveries and the drastic changes they have brought to the map of human existence, is almost unparalleled compared to what humans have accomplished throughout their entire history on Earth. It is enough to recall that humanity’s transition from its primitive phase to hunting, then to herding, agriculture, and trade took thousands of years. This enabled humans to adapt, harmonize, and adjust to the new conditions created by these transitions, while the transition to the age of science, then to industrialization, and finally the atomic age occurred within just a few hundred years.

This means that what humanity had to adapt to over thousands of years, they now must respond to, in a much more complex manner, within just a few decades. This poses significant challenges due to humanity’s inability to adapt socially to the rapid transformations occurring in their material and intellectual environments. It is no wonder that many individuals in various societies face the challenges of modern life with the values and norms of agricultural and pastoral eras, rejecting the logic of this new life even as they benefit from all its material and intellectual contributions. Hence, duality of identity arises, and a split occurs within individuals, expressed as fragmentation, alienation, and lack of belonging, among other phrases that summarize the rift between the values of inherited traditional societies, which remain entrenched in many souls, and the values of modern life that impose their existence on people with vitality, force, and insistence. This succinctly encapsulates the essence of the current civilizational crisis that encompasses the entire world: advanced and backward, modern and ancient. We now stand on the brink of a new era in human life where development does not stop at the limits of quality and quantity but also takes on new forms that address type as well.

These are just a few excerpts from Dr. Aoun Sharif’s book, In the Battle of Heritage, which discusses heritage and its battle between the past and the present in light of technology and progress, and the events and transformations faced by the Islamic and Arab nations—topics not fully explored in the book, of which I have chosen only a summary of some pages.

We return to the notion that, by human nature, individuals do not live in a flat environment but rather within a surrounding circle. They are emotional beings in addition to being rational. The nature of ancient societies, if we were to delve into it, necessitates that one understands community life and the lives of people through exploring their ideas, myths, magic, art, and science. This means that the social and cultural components of any people reveal the underlying human constants behind these components. The civilization or culture of any society forms a whole, and there are inseparable ties between what can be termed economic and what can be termed cultural. Heritage, with its mentalities, myths, and supreme ideals in spiritual life, necessitates that we observe the relationships between artistic or literary works and the environment in which they emerged. The writer, author, poet, and artist respond to both material and moral influences, as society demands and expects them to achieve new forms, and they must take this into account.