چكيده لاتين
Al Ahmad is one of the prominent and committed writers and intellectuals in Iran over the past century. He was not indifferent to various issues of Iranian society and made significant efforts to guide Iranian intellectuals toward political, cultural, and economic independence. Al Ahmad adopted the term "Westoxification" under the influence of the lectures of Professor Seyyed Ahmad Fardid, a contemporary philosopher and thinker in Iran. In this context, Westoxification is a discourse aimed at addressing our issues with the Western world in contemporary periods, affecting the political, social, cultural, and intellectual dimensions of thinkers and the general public.
By publishing his book "Westoxification," Al Ahmad explicitly criticized the phenomenon of Westernization and examined the factors and consequences of Westoxification from a pathological perspective. He proposed the theory of "return to oneself" as a solution to Westoxification, which emphasizes a renewed focus on one’s own system of values, culture, history, religion, beliefs, and ideology—namely, Islam. Additionally, it should be noted that Al Ahmadʹs representation of the concept of the West positions him among the pioneers of anti-colonial and post-colonial thought. His ideas should be interpreted within the framework of "subaltern" and "the other"; however, this thought lacks universality and general conceptualization, being only presented in local and metaphorical dimensions.
This research, conducted through library methods, discusses the works and thoughts of Jalal Al Ahmad centered around intellectualism, Westoxification, and its afflictions. The findings indicate that Westoxification and its afflictions are signs of post-colonialism, for which we have no remedy but Islamism and a return to our rich and powerful national and religious "authenticity and identity."
