Culture contributes to enhancing the national identity of peoples and works to cement the belonging to the land and heritage. It conveys historical stories that enhance community awareness about the importance of struggle against injustice, cultivates creativity as a tool to confront challenges during difficult times, and develops innovative solutions to problems.

Culture is a set of beliefs, practices, and knowledge that are formed and shared within a specific group based on religion, heritage, customs, and dominant values in society. The culture formed by any individual has a strong and significant impact on their behavior. Moreover, culture signifies a set of characteristics that distinguish one society from another, including: arts, music, religion, customs, prevailing traditions, values, and more.

From this point, we find that culture is a powerful and effective means to strengthen resilience and resistance among community members when facing common challenges. This is achieved through enhancing identity, conveying historical stories, or providing intellectual frameworks to deal with these challenges. Thus, culture is regarded as an important tool for supporting and unifying the community in the face of challenges. It also contributes to enhancing collective awareness, national spirit, and social solidarity.

Culture plays a central role in building the capacity of societies to withstand challenges, not only at the individual level but also at the collective level. Here are the main roles of culture in this context:

- Enhancing National Identity: 

Culture contributes to the reinforcement of national identity among peoples and works to cement the belonging to the land and heritage. When the population remains attached to their culture and traditions, it strengthens their ability to resist attempts to dissolve or exert external influence. By employing various cultural tools, from arts in its varied forms to public lessons and speeches, the people can maintain their collective memory, which increases their determination to resist any attempts at erasure or cultural disintegration. The more these tools are utilized professionally and with focus, the clearer the impact is on the resilience of the people in the face of these challenges.

In steadfast and patient Gaza, we find the greatest example of this. Various cultural tools have shifted towards a single purpose: resilience. Activists on social media have harnessed their skills and abilities to enhance national identity in the face of the Zionist occupation. Mosques (prayer sites after the mosques were destroyed) have turned into social nurseries that promote belonging and resistance. All civil society institutions, regardless of their specializations, have mobilized into active cells to support people and convey their suffering to the world to fulfill its anticipated role. Thus, many attempts by the Zionists to recruit collaborators have failed in the face of the pervasive culture of resistance and resilience among the people in Gaza.

Moreover, the phenomenon is not limited to activists in Gaza; it extends to the children of the Islamic nation and to the free people of the world, regardless of their religious affiliations and cultural backgrounds. Culture thus produces a resistant discourse through poetry, art, theater, and cinema that focus on challenges and resistance. Artistic works produced during challenging times can ignite the enthusiasm of the masses, boost their morale, and strengthen their national identity.

- Conveying Historical Stories and Heritage that Enhance Resilience:  

Culture contributes to the transmission of historical stories within societies, whether through folklore or living historical narratives. These stories enhance community awareness about the importance of struggle and resilience against injustice and occupation. As Muslims, we do not need fictional myths to inspire steadfastness and resilience. Our Islamic history, starting from the time of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), is rich with stories and true examples that inspire individuals in the community to uphold the truth and affirm meanings of steadfastness, sacrifice, and giving. Likewise, the stories in the Quran are filled with these meanings through tales of the prophets and other stories rich with lessons and morals, always emphasizing that the ultimate outcome is for the righteous.

In the same context, popular proverbs and narrative literature emerge to play a role in reminding new generations of the strength of resistance and patience in their history. The writer Abbas Khadr mentioned in his valuable book "The Literature of Resistance" that some Islamic scholars during the time of the Crusades, who were unable to wield swords and fight, compensated for that with intellectual jihad; they took writing as a field for struggle, responding to the enemies of Islam and producing numerous books about the virtues of the Levant, Jerusalem, and Al-Aqsa Mosque. The authors used the history of the early heroes of Islam as a means to instill a spirit of enthusiasm and incitement for jihad. Many books emerged in politics, history, managing the affairs of the community, military arts, and other related writings.

- Strengthening Collective Spirit:

Enhancing collective awareness contributes to motivating people to continue resistance and not succumb to pressures. Culture helps build the collective spirit and unite society in the face of challenges. When individuals share in cultural celebrations, public festivals, and social activities, a kind of social solidarity is achieved that enhances their ability to withstand difficulties. Through these activities, the morale of participants rises, moving them from a state of empathy to active participation and influence, thus reinforcing cooperation and solidarity among individuals and groups. This embodies the spirit of the hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who said: "The believer is to the believer like a building whose parts support each other..." (Reported by Al-Bukhari).

- Enhancing Creativity and Innovation:

Culture contributes to the development of creativity and innovation as tools to face challenges in tough times. Culture can be a source for developing innovative solutions to societal problems, including creativity in resisting normalization and boycotting the enemy’s products and their supporters. Given the dangers of the spread of normalization culture and the media's role in enabling it and passing on its misconceptions, it is necessary to strengthen the culture of resistance and prioritize it in the cultural and political confrontation supporting the cause of Arabs, Muslims, and the free people of the world.

Based on this, it is essential to emphasize the following:

- Consider the cultural battle, especially through new media today, as one of the most important priorities and an integral part of resistance.

- Direct the cultural battle through the media in all its forms to serve the culture of resistance and steadfastness, which implies correcting concepts and perceptions, and confronting the alarmists, the complacent, and the discouraging.

- Build and strengthen faith in the justice of the resistance cause, and in the steadfastness and patience required despite the severity of the trials, while maintaining trust in God's promise.

- Unconditional support for the resistance, and active engagement in all activities supporting it. This role was played by the Qur'an and its verses that descended with guidance for steadfastness, patience, reminding of the laws of confrontation, and exposing hypocrites and the plans of alarmists. This necessitates placing cultural resistance at the forefront of priorities and contributing to the cultural and media battle through a clear bias in favor of the justice of the Palestinian cause, exerting effort on all media platforms to achieve that.

- Promote the idea that true victory is the triumph of steadfastness and resilience, and that the results are guaranteed even if not in our time, and that the ultimate outcome is for the righteous. How many of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) were martyred in the Meccan period without witnessing the rise of Islam?

- Foster the movement of authorship and utilize various cultural tools like literature and art to spread the idea of resilience, steadfastness, and jihad to realize the truth and vanquish falsehood.