I S I M NEWSLETTER 8 / 0 1 Intellectual Debates 21

Religious Reform FOROUGH JAHANBAKHSH Abdolkarim Soroush Abdolkarim Soroush (b.1945) is an Iranian philoso- pher-thinker whose innovative ideas on religious re- form are sure to win him a place among the most prominent Muslim reformers of this century. A grad- uate of Tehran University in pharmacology, Soroush New ‘Revival of undertook postgraduate studies in history and the philosophy of science at the University of London in the early 1970s. His searching mind, already familiar with Islamic and Western classical philosophical tra- ditions, was captivated by modern philosophy. Religious Sciences’

Soroush’s goal goes beyond unsystematic Muctazilite rationalism and resonating with ception from duty-bearing to right-bearing. reforms in certain selected, mostly legal, the pleas of Muhammad Abduh and Muham- Equally critical of the shortcomings of the matters and his plan is multidimensional. Of mad Iqbal. past duty-oriented mentality and the current its two major aspects, one is to prune ele- A ‘maximalist’ view of religion affirms that right-oriented mentality, Soroush proposes a ments and understandings that are consid- what Muslims need to solve their problems or third paradigm in which elements of rational- ered superfluous and stagnant and have administer their public and personal lives is all ity and rights are tempered by a form of reli- often obscured the essence of religion. The provided in Islam as if religion were a reposi- giosity that prevents human beings from as- other is to equip religion with extra-religious tory of pre-packaged solutions for all prob- suming God-like characteristics and obliges means and values, chiefly in reconciling rea- lems at all times. This deprives Muslims of the them to God. However, the nature and defini- son and revelation. intellectual challenge and benefit of other tion of this religiosity and obligation differ means and values. In practice, it recedes to radically from conventional notions that are Reason and revelation fiqh, which, in its most lively manifestation, primarily geared to external behaviour. His pathology of contemporary Islam sur- ijtihad, is ironically the most in need of extra- Far from inviting secularism, Soroush ad- faces numerous ills. Although post-revolu- religious knowledge. A ‘maximalist’ view of vances a learned and examined kind of reli- tionary conditions in Iran are central to his di- religion is perhaps best exemplified in the giosity. This dimension of his project deals, agnosis, Soroush has no difficulty identifying prevailing discourse on Islam and politics. It one might say, with reviving a higher mystical these problems all over the Muslim world. teaches that sharicah is an all-comprehensive type of religiosity. It is an ‘experiential reli- First, he sees the ideologizing of Islam, the system of law that provides for political giosity’ based on the love of God, the proto- prevalent mode of Islamic resurgence since needs. This juridical approach to politics not type of which is the ‘prophetic experience’ of the 1960s, as detrimental to the essence of re- only disregards the very nature of the matter, Muhammad. What the demystified modern ligion. Among other things, it makes religion it ends in some un-resolvable contradictions. world is in need of is an ‘experiential’ not ‘ex- an instrument for attaining goals. It promotes pediental’ religiosity where God is experi- a dogmatic understanding of religion con- Islam and democracy enced as a gracious Beloved, not as a stern A b o l k a r i m Prior to postgraduate work, Soroush was cerned with exoteric, accidental aspects, ig- Soroush argues that discussion about Islam Law-giver. His commands are observed not Soroush at the long preoccupied with textual interpreta- noring deeper meanings and resulting in in- and politics should be approached from out- out of obligation to legal duties but out of ISIM Muslim tion – a product of his extensive, systematic tellectual rigidity and exclusivism. It fixes one side of religion. Reconciling religion and compulsion of love. I n t e l l e c t u a l s study of Qur’anic exegesis, and classical the- understanding of religion as final, absolute, democracy is of the same nature as reconcil- Soroush’s reform plan targets the short- C o n f e r e n c e , ological, mystical and philosophical works official, and beyond criticism. Demanding its ing reason and revelation; both involve extra- comings of both tradition and modernity. A p r i l2 0 0 0 . such as Rumi and Al-Ghazali. These joined official interpreters, it entrusts the clergy with religious values and means. In essence, the While advocating adoption of certain modern with new insights to draw him into a vortex a priori privileges and gives access to reli- nature of the state and values and methods of elements to strengthen the tradition, it of intellectual activity aimed at re-evaluat- gious totalitarianism at societal and political governance are not matters of religious ju- searches the deep layers of tradition to offer a ing traditional metaphysics in order to find a levels. Soroush calls this the ‘Islam of identity’. risprudence but belong to political philoso- remedy for the spiritual impoverishment of convincing solution to the relationship be- At best, it is an ideological means that may phy. With regard to religion, they should be the modern age. In order to become function- tween science and metaphysics/reason and help Muslims overcome their modernity-in- addressed in kalam (theology). Human be- al in the modern world, religion needs to in- revelation. Context has also contributed to spired ‘crisis of identity’; whereas the ‘Islam of ings qua human beings are entitled to a priori teract meaningfully with modern concepts, Soroush’s intellectual fruition as a Muslim truth’, understood as the essential truths to rights, including political ones. Pivotal values outlooks and institutions. To this end, reformer. In the 1960s, as a religiously com- which prophets have invited humankind, is of democracy – justice and freedom – are Soroush moves reform from the plane of fiqh mitted and socio-politically concerned stu- only remotely related to this ‘expediental’ extra-religious, though upheld by religious to deeper levels of theology and philosophy dent, he pondered revivalist literature from Islam. systems. Methods of governance are also where essential concepts of God, humankind Al-Afghani to Ali S h a r ica t i. Since returning to A second problem is the undue emphasis non-religious. Administering public life is a ra- and religiosity are to be redefined. This is Iran shortly after the 1979 revolution, he has given to legal aspects of Islam (sharicah and tional matter that should benefit from mod- predicated on the recognition of the need for experienced the rule of an Islamic govern- fiqh) at the cost of ethics and theology. ern social sciences, economics and adminis- a dialogical pluralism between inside and ment, the supremacy of an ideologized Soroush’s critique of this imbalance targets tration. Fiqh is neither a science of administra- outside of religious intellectual fields. The Islam, and the implementation of a jurispru- traditionalists and some modernists alike, the tion nor a government platform. Anything complementarity of Soroush’s project lies in dential understanding of Islam. former for reducing Islam to fiqh. The latter, found in religion in this respect is ‘minimal’ the fact that it invigorates the intellectual ra- trapped in this short-sightedness, have lost and ‘accidental’; it is not ‘essential’ to religion. tional tradition of Islam and at the same time Contraction and expansion their ability to recognize ills at a deeper level Arguing for the possibility of a religious de- accentuates its spiritual richness. The effect is His turbulent yet rewarding intellectual and have thus reduced reform to partial and mocratic state, Soroush believes that if to restrain the arrogance and self-centred- journey culminated in the development of unsystematic legal solutions. Soroush does democracy is irreconcilable with the norma- ness of modern humankind. his epistemological/hermeneutical ‘Theory not underestimate the significance of fiqh tive legal reading of Islam, it can be compati- of Contraction and Expansion of Religious and sharicah. What he argues against is ascrib- ble with another understanding that accords Knowledge’. This theory, constituting the ing to it primacy, comprehensiveness and fi- primacy to human values such as rationality, foundation stone of Soroush’s reform plan, nality. Inspired by his ‘mentor’ Al-Ghazali, he justice, freedom and human rights. Therefore, B i b l i o g r a p h y distinguishes him from other revivalists. believes that fiqh is neither the core of Islam democracy can work in a religious society – Soroush, Abdolkarim (2000), Reason, Freedom and Notwithstanding his deep appreciation of nor its totality and should thus be confined to only if the respective theoretical foundations Democracy in Islam, translation by Mahmood Sadri their endeavours, Soroush believes that his its own sphere. Moreover, a fiqh-based under- are harmonized. and Ahmad Sadri, Oxford. theory provides a hitherto absent but vital standing of Islam puts a premium on camal – Soroush, Abdolkarim (1998), ‘The Evolution and contribution, that is, an epistemological (outward practices) rather than iman (inner Islam and modernity Devolution of Religious Knowledge’, in Kurzman, structure. To reconcile the immutable (reli- faith). It envisions a society wherein the en- Acutely aware of an epistemological break Charles (ed.) Liberal Islam, O x f o r d . gion) with change (dynamic world) it is nec- forcement of the sharicah, ritualism and uni- between the old and modern worlds, Soroush – Jahanbakhsh, Forough (2001), Islam, Democracy essary to distinguish between religion and formity in religious experience prevail. This believes that any serious attempt at Islamic and Religious Modernism in Iran: From Bazargan religious knowledge. Religion is divine, eter- absence of plurality leads to hypocrisy and modernism should begin by equipping itself to Soroush, Leiden: Brill. nal, immutable and sacred, while human un- monopoly on truth. with modern concepts, perceptual outlooks – Vakili, Valla (2001), ‘Abdolkarim Soroush and Critical derstanding of it is in constant exchange These two ills have not only caused a stag- and intellectual means. Of the several issues Discourse in Iran’, in Esposito, John, and Voll, John with every field of human knowledge. As nation in religious thought, they have pro- addressed by Soroush, two are modern: criti- (eds.), The Makers of Contemporary Islam, O x f o r d . such, religious knowledge is in flux, relative, moted a ‘maximalist’ view of religion. They cal reason vs. traditional hermeneutical rea- and time-bound. This recognition means have prevented a dialogue among Islamic re- son, and rights vs. duties. Those technical terms in quotation (e.g. ‘maximalist’, that issues of reform can be addressed with- ligious sciences and between Islam and the Modern Muslim thought needs to adopt ‘experiential religiosity’, etc.) are taken from Soroush’s out compromising the sacredness of reli- human sciences, necessary components to a critical reasoning, a tool that not only involves own works hitherto in Persian. For the sake of space gion. Revivalists’ neglect of this foundation revitalization of Islamic thought. Only a critical historical approach to traditional reli- limitation no individual reference is given here. has diverted their attention from fundamen- through such recognition and willingness to gious paradigms but can also suggest alter- tal questions. Consequently, solutions, enter into a give-and-take process will Islamic natives. One of the most decisive paradigmat- Forough Jahanbakhsh, Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from though valuable, have been provisional. thought break the shackles of rigidity and ab- ic changes of the modern world is that most McGill University, is assistant professor in Islamic Nevertheless, Soroush claims neither perfec- solutism. This is a summons to the invigorat- of its concepts and institutions are right- Studies at Queen’s University, Canada. tion nor finality for his approach. ing role of reason, a call deeply aligned with based, reflecting the shift in human self-per- E-mail: [email protected]