Qabasat

Qabasat

The role of social monotheism in rearranging the areas of culture (insight, tendency, action) and its manifestations

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
mohamad arabsalehi 1
Farideh Pishvaei 2
1 Associate Professor of Logic Department of Understanding Religion, Institute of Islamic Culture and Though
2 Institute of Higher Education of Masoumieh Seminary
10.22034/qabasat.2026.2073042.2449
Abstract
Social Tawhid (Social Monotheism), as a sociological reinterpretation of the principle of Monotheism, is a conceptual framework advanced by Muslim intellectuals in recent decades aimed at societal reform and the displacement of Taghut (tyrannical/idolatrous) regimes. The most prominent articulation of this concept has been provided by Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei. While the various functions of a social reading of Tawhid have been explored in previous literature, the ontological dimensions of culture remain an underexplored domain. This article addresses this research lacuna through an analytical-ijtihadi approach, relying on documentary evidence. The findings indicate that the three intrinsic dimensions of culture undergo a fundamental reorganization under the social reading of Tawhid. In the dimension of insight (binish), Social Tawhid facilitates the elevation of collective faith, the purification of public perception from non-monotheistic ideologies, and the critique of cultures rooted in polytheistic worldviews. At the level of inclination (gerayesh), it strengthens motivations and fosters social cohesion around the axis of Tawhid by negating non-monotheistic values and facilitating the production and internalization of new, monotheistic value systems. Regarding action (konesh), Social Tawhid deepens monotheistic behaviors, emphasizes the responsibility of monotheists in managing worldly affairs, and provides the framework for manifesting Tawhid within social systems and interactions with non-monotheistic societies. Furthermore, Social Tawhid significantly influences the manifestations and contexts of culture: by rejecting polytheistic customs, it promotes their transcendence and reinforces the concept of negating servitude (ubudiyyah) to anything other than God. In the realm of art and symbolism, it is expected to provide depth, substantive content, and the determination of permissible conceptual boundaries.
Keywords
Social monotheism
areas of culture
vision
tendency
action
Subjects
The Holy Quran
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