DOCSLIB.ORG

Iran – from an Islamic State To

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Iran – from an Islamic State To IRAN – FROM AN ISLAMIC STATE TO AN ISLAMIC DEMOCRACY? A STUDY OF THE THOUGHTS OF ABDOLKARIM SOROUSH ON RELIGION AND STATE. CECILIE HOLTAN Hovedfag religionshistorie completed autumn 2005 at the department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages University of oslo Superviser: Kari Vogt CONTENTS INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................... 3 SOURCES AND METHODS ........................................................................................................................ 5 1.0 THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND FOR THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SHI’I ISLAM AND POLITICS............................................................................................................................................... 8 1.1 The Imamate............................................................................................................................ 8 1.2 The occultation of the Twelth Imam................................................. 10 1.3 The Role of the ulama............................................................................................ 12 2.0 THE HISTORY OF IRAN .................................................................................................................. 15 2.1 The Constitutional Revolution of 1906-11.................................... 16 2.2 the Mossaddeq movement .................................................................................. 18 2.3 The Islamic Revolution ........................................................................................ 20 2.4 The making of the Iranian Constitution of 1979 .................. 24 2.5 the ambiguities of the Iranian Constitution and the institutions of the Iranian government............................................. 27 2.5.1 Islamic legalist elements............................................................................ 27 2.5.2 The power of the leader ................................................................................ 29 2.5.3 the power of the clergy................................................................................ 31 2.5.4 Democratic elements.......................................................................................... 32 2.5.5 The suppression of democratic rights....................................... 33 2.5.6 Secular elements..................................................................................................... 37 2.5.7 The deficiencies of the Shari’a as a ruling system in the modern world .............................................................................................................. 38 2.6 The mercantile bourgeoisie.......................................................................... 41 2.7 A growing civil society ....................................................................................... 43 2.8 The election of Khatami ..................................................................................... 46 2.9 Institutionalisation of the reformist’s power ................ 47 2.10 The Reform Movement.......................................................................................... 49 2.11 The dialectics of reform ................................................................................ 50 3.0 THE BACKGROUND OF ABDOLKARIM SOROUSH AND AN OUTLINING OF HIS MAIN THOUGHTS....................................................................................................................................... 52 3.1 A brief summary of Soroush’s life and the most important influences in his life..................................................................... 52 3.2 Soroush’s critique of ideology............................................................... 57 3.3 Soroush on the modern human being ................................................ 59 3.4 The theory of the contraction and expansion of religious knowledge...................................................................................................... 61 3.5 secularism ............................................................................................................................ 64 3.6 Dynamic fiqh....................................................................................................................... 65 3.7 Islamic democracy...................................................................................................... 65 3.8 What is the future role of Soroush?................................................ 66 4.0 FROM AN ISLAMIC REPUBLIC TO AN ISLAMIC DEMOCRACY? ...................................... 69 4.1 The emergence of a civil society in Iran....................................... 69 4.2 The roots of Iran’s civil society............................................................. 71 4.3 Institutions of civil society?..................................................................... 72 4.4 The myth of political emancipation................................................... 74 4.5 Soroush’s critique of the clergy ......................................................... 77 4.6 A conceptual crisis in the Islamic republic? .......................... 80 4.7 Soroush’s conception of secularism................................................. 84 4.8 The necessity of secularism ......................................................................... 84 4.9 The question of the shari’a............................................................................ 89 4.10 Traditional or dynamic fiqh? .................................................................. 90 4.11 The need to move beyond fiqh................................................................... 91 4.12 islamic democracy ................................................................................................... 93 4.13 Criticism of soroush’s thesis and his defence................... 96 4.14 The suppression of fundamental rights ................................. 101 4.15 The suppression of women ........................................................................... 103 4.16 The fight for freedom...................................................................................... 106 5.0 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................... 111 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................................... 116 2 Introduction The Islamic Republic of Iran is often seen as one of the most fundamentalist Muslim countries in the world, and President George W. Bush has labelled Iran as part of an “axis of evil.” The clerical class seized power in the country through the Islamic Revolution of 1979, and took control of the highest positions in the government. However, there is another dimension to Iran, which is increasingly becoming apparent. Several reform thinkers have emerged from the Islamic Republic in the last decade; increasingly these have come to express themselves publicly. Many of them are controversial and are disliked by the clerical regime. One of the most influential, even beyond Iran’s borders, is Abdolkarim Soroush (b.1945). He is a prominent Iranian lay thinker, with a large following among parts of the Iranian public. When visiting Qom, Iran’s second holiest city with its famous Hadrat Fatima al-Masoumeh shrine, in the summer of 2005, I had the opportunity to talk to the leader of the Public Relations Office at the shrine, through a translator. He was a mullah (learned religious man) named Mohammad Nazari, who said he personally knew Soroush. He believed Soroush had been an excellent philosopher until he got the wrong ideas. These ideas cannot be tolerated. The mullah accused Soroush of submitting to the West, while he himself believed Islam possessed all the answers. The mullah believed that when a man with a large following and the wrong ideas, like Soroush, became influential, it was dangerous; one could only take Hitler as example!1 I believe this is illustrative of the views of the regime in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and their fear of thinkers like Soroush, as well as of Soroush’s importance. On the other hand, my chauffeur to Qom, Ali, believed Iran was moving towards a liberal democracy. He said that the mullah in Qom was a bad man, while Soroush was a good man. He personally believed the newly elected conservative president, Mahmojud Ahmadinejad, was the last president to be elected during the present government.2 These experiences serve to illustrate the diversity of opinions in the Islamic Republic. My main research question in this study is (1): Is there a potential for the Islamic Republic of Iran to develop into an “Islamic democracy?” My main concern, however, is not social and political development as such, but my approach is to look at the ideas and arguments in favour of democracy based on the thoughts on religion and state expressed by one of the foremost Iranian reformist thinkers, whom I have already introduced, namely Abdolkarim Soroush. The term “Islamic democracy” is a term used by Soroush, and I will explain the concept at a later point. My 1 Conversation in Qom 29th of June 2005. 2 Conversation on our way to Qom 29th of June 2005. 3 second research question is (2): What are the arguments of Soroush for an “Islamic democracy?” I will present the content of his arguments and ideas for an “Islamic democracy” and discuss these
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Expansion of Prophetic Experience
    Th e Expansion of Prophetic Experience Th e Expansion of Prophetic Experience Essays on Historicity, Contingency and Plurality in Religion By Abdulkarim Soroush Translated by Nilou Mobasser Edited with Analytical Introduction by Forough Jahanbakhsh LEIDEN • BOSTON 2009 Cover illustration: Hamid Nouri This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Surūsh, ʿAbd al-Karīm. [Bast-i tajrubah-ʾi nabavi. English] The expansion of prophetic experience : essays on historicity, contingency and plurality in religion / edited with analytical introduction by Forough Jahanbakhsh ; translated by Nilou Mobasser. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-17105-3 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Muhammad, Prophet, d. 632—Prophetic offi ce. 2. Islam—Doctrines. I. Jahanbakhsh, Forough. II. Mobasser, Nilou. III. Title. BP166.55.S8713 2008 297.2—dc22 2008035400 ISBN 978 90 04 17105 3 Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands CONTENTS Preface .................................................................................................. ix Introduction ........................................................................................ xv Part One Chapter One Th e Expansion of Prophetic Experience ............
    [Show full text]
  • REVIEW of Carool Kersten, CONTEMPORARY THOUGHT in the MUSLIM WORLD: TRENDS, THEMES, and ISSUES Routledge, 2019, 218 Pp., ISBN 9780415855082
    REVIEW OF Carool Kersten, CONTEMPORARY THOUGHT IN THE MUSLIM WORLD: TRENDS, THEMES, AND ISSUES Routledge, 2019, 218 pp., ISBN 9780415855082 Maja Bjelica Contemporary Thought in the Muslim World: Trends, Themes, and Issues, a scientific monograph by Carool Kersten, is a synthetic pres- entation of the intellectual aspect of the contemporary Islam and Muslim world. This condensed text was enabled by the author’s 35-year experience in wide readings and re- searching of the intellectual history of Islam and thoughts and texts of Muslim intellectuals. To the author’s deep engagement in his research field testify not only his edited and au- thored books, such as The Fatwa as an Islamic Legal Instrument: Concept, Historical Role, Contemporary Rel- evance (in 3 volumes, from 2018), A History of Islam in Indonesia: Unity in Diversity (2017), Islam in Indonesia: The Contest for Society, Ideas and Val- ues (2015), Cosmopolitans and Her- etics: New Muslim Intellectuals and the https://doi.org/10.35469/poligrafi.2020.264 Poligrafi, no. 99/100, vol. 25, 2020, pp. 147–155 147 POLIGRAFI Study of Islam (2011), or other chapters and articles he contributed to the scientific collections and journals, but also the interviews and talks he gives to the public through the media in order to offer an alternative view on Islam and the Muslim world to the Western societies. This book, published by Routledge in 2019, is an alternative ac- count in its field, “counterbalancing narratives that emphasise politics and confrontations with the West,”1 and this is only one of the reasons this book is “an essential resource for students and scholars of Islam.”2 Another is the impressive variety of topics this book covers: starting from an overview of contemporary Muslim intellectuals and with an attempt at categorisation of their ideas, followed by a fundamental in- sight into philosophies of knowledge and their transmission and ap- prehension of reason.
    [Show full text]
  • Are We There Yet? on the Saga of Islam and Modernity
    H-Mideast-Politics Are We There Yet? On the Saga of Islam and Modernity Discussion published by Layal Mohammad on Tuesday, April 3, 2018 Type: Event Date: April 25, 2018 Location: United Kingdom Subject Fields: Humanities, Islamic History / Studies, Social Sciences, Sociology The Aga Khan University-Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations cordially invites you to the event Are We There Yet? On the Saga of Islam and Modernity on the occasion of the launch of a new book by Professor Ali Paya entitled Islam, Modernity and a New Millennium: Themes from a Critical Rationalist Reading of Islam. Abstract Among the varieties of responses developed by Muslims in reaction to the challenges presented to them by modernity, construction of new epistemological frameworks to help Muslims to come to terms with the requirements of modern times is of particular importance. Muslim thinkers from Muhammad Iqbal Lahori, to Nasr Hamed Abu Zayd, to Muhammed Arkoun, to Abdolkarim Soroush, and many more, each in their own way, tried to create new systems of thought to interpret the Islamic teachings in thoroughly new fashions. In a real sense, the aim of all these new intellectual machineries has been to produce a fresh paradigm in which modernity and tradition could be reconciled in novel ways that prove to be compatible with the norms of the modern age. A shared feature among all these epistemological approaches is that they maintain that the most effective way for reform is to produce an entirely new way of understanding the fundamental Islamic principles and tenets. Islam, Modernity and a New Millennium: Themes from a Critical Rationalist Reading of Islam belongs to this same intellectual tradition.
    [Show full text]
  • Mohammad N. Miraly Faculty of Religious Studies Mcgill University, Montreal April 2012
    FAITH AND WORLD CONTEMPORARY ISMAILI SOCIAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHT Mohammad N. Miraly Faculty of Religious Studies McGill University, Montreal April 2012 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Religious Studies © 2012 Mohammad N. Miraly TO MY F ATHER AND M OTHER TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract i Résumé iii Acknowledgements v An Historical Note on Ismailism vii 1 Opening 1 2 The Study 15 Part I: 3 Speaking About Ismailism 24 4 The Contemporary Ismaili Historical Narrative 59 5 Ismaili Approaches to the Qur’an 103 6 The AKDN in Afghanistan: Ethos and Praxis 114 Part II: 7 Democracy, Secularism, and Social Ethics 138 8 Pluralism and Civic Culture 159 9 Knowledge and Learning 185 10 Closing: The Transnational Ismaili in Canada 202 Postscript: Wither Neutrality? 213 Appendix A: Preamble to the Constitution of the Shi`a Imami Ismaili Muslims 216 Appendix B: AKDN Organisation Chart 218 Selected Bibliography 219 ABSTRACT Contemporary Ismaili thought views the Ismaili tradition as connected to a historical past deriving from Qur’anic principles and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and his heirs, the Shi`a Imams. Thus, contemporary Ismailism’s focus on liberal values like democracy, pluralism, and education are articulated as contemporary forms of eternal Qur’anic ethical principles. The current and 49th Ismaili Imam, Aga Khan IV – who claims descent from the Prophet through his daughter, Fatima, and son-in-law, `Ali – articulates the principles of liberal democratic pluralism as the best means to realize ethical Islamic living in the present day.
    [Show full text]
  • ISLA 380 Islamic Philosophy and Theology Fall 2016 Mondays and Wednesdays, 4:05PM-5:25PM, in Leacock 116
    ISLA 380 Islamic Philosophy and Theology Fall 2016 Mondays and Wednesdays, 4:05PM-5:25PM, in Leacock 116 Instructor: Ms. Pauline A. Froissart Institute of Islamic Studies Morrice Hall 026 e-mail: [email protected] TA : Mr. Muhammad Fariduddin Attar e-mail : [email protected] Office hours: By appointment ISLA 380 is an introduction to the most important philosophers and theologians in Islamic intellectual history, with a focus on the concepts they articulated and the movements they engendered. Although many of the philosophical and theological problems we will examine first arose a thousand years ago, debates over how to solve them still resonate throughout the Islamic world. The classes will alternate between those devoted to lecturing and to answering questions, and those devoted to student-led debates over particular philosophical and theological problems. All the readings are in English. Requirements Students will be required to: a) Lead one side of one debate. In each debate, two student debaters will give twenty-minute presentations of their opposing positions, and then respond to questions and criticisms from the rest of the class. There are only ten debates. If more than twenty students end up enrolling in the class, the remaining students will each choose a debate and submit a 3000-word (+/- 100 words) essay in which they lay out the arguments in favor of one side of that debate, and against the other side. This essay will be due at the beginning of the class in which that debate is held. b) Complete three in-class exams. For each in-class exam, students will choose one of three essay questions to answer.
    [Show full text]
  • Revival, Reform, and Reason in Islam: Alfarabi on the Proper
    The Dissertation Committee for Ahmed Ali Siddiqi Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Revival, Reform, and Reason in Islam: Alfarabi on the Proper Relationship Between Religion and Politics Committee: Thomas Pangle, Supervisor Lorraine Pangle Devin Stauffer Hina Azam Revival, Reform, And Reason in Islam: Alfarabi on the Proper Relationship Between Religion and Politics by Ahmed Ali Siddiqi Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin August 2018 Revival, Reform, and Reason in Islam: Alfarabi on the Proper Relationship Between Religion and Politics By Ahmed Ali Siddiqi, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2018 SUPERVISOR: Thomas Pangle This dissertation applies the teachings of Alfarabi to the debate between Muslim revivalists and reformists. Reviewing selected works of Khomeini, Maududi, and Qutb, I argue that Islamist revivalism constitutes a fundamental challenge to rational political science insofar as the former demands subordinating reason to revelation. Next, through a critical analysis of several liberal Muslim theorists, I show that these leading reformists fail to vindicate the role of reason in political matters and therefore leave the Islamist challenge unmet. I subsequently turn to Alfarabi's "Book of Religion" (Kitāb al-Milla) with an emphasis on the philosopher's treatment of political science. In doing so, I find that Alfarabi is able to offer a far more compelling response than the liberals to that view of piety on which the Islamist position depends.
    [Show full text]
  • Brief Bibliographic Guide in Medieval Islamic Philosophy and Theology
    BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHICAL GUIDE IN MEDIEVAL AND POST-CLASSICAL ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY (2014-2015) Thérèse-Anne Druart The Catholic University of America I cannot thank enough all the scholars who kindly sent me information, in particular, those who provided me with a copy of their publications or photocopies of tables of contents of collective works. They are true scholars and true friends. I also wish to thank very much the colleagues who patiently checked the draft of this installment. Their invaluable help was a true work of mercy. Collective Works or Collections of Articles Adamson, Peter, Studies on Early Arabic Philosophy (Variorum). Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2015, xii-330 pp., ISBN 9781472420268. -------, Studies on Plotinus and al-Kindî (Variorum). Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2014, xii-356 pp., ISBN 9781472420251. An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, vol. 5: From the School of Shiraz to the Twentieth Century, ed. by Seyyed Hossein Nasr & Mehdi Aminrazavi. London-New York: I.B. Tauris, 2015, xx-544 pp., ISBN 9781848857506. Aristotle and the Arabic Tradition, ed. by Ahmed Alwishah & Josh Hayes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015, x-270 pp., ISBN 9781107101739. L’averroismo in età moderna (1400-1700), ed. by Giovanni Licata. Macerata: Quodlibet, 2013, 211 pp., ISBN 9788874626465. Controverses sur les écritures canoniques de l’islam, ed. by Daniel De Smet & Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi (Islam – Nouvelles approches). Paris: Cerf, 2014, 436 pp., ISBN 9782204102933. Gutas, Dimitri, Orientations of Avicenna’s Philosophy: Essays on his Life, Method, Heritage (Variorum). Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2014, xiv-368 pp., ISBN 9781472436337. The Heritage of Arabo-Islamic Learning. Studies presented to Wadad Kadi, ed.
    [Show full text]
  • Islam, Science and Government According to Iranian Thinkers 1Maryam Shamsaei Dr., Ph.D, 2Mohd Hazim Shah .Professor
    International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention ISSN (Online): 2319 – 7722, ISSN (Print): 2319 – 7714 www.ijhssi.org Volume 2 Issue 1 ǁ January. 2013ǁ PP.64-74 Islam, Science and Government According To Iranian Thinkers 1Maryam Shamsaei Dr., Ph.D, 2Mohd Hazim Shah .Professor 1Dept of Islamic Education, Faculty of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. 2Dept of Science & Technology Studies Faculty of Science University of Malaya Kuala Lumpur 50603 ABSTRACT: Nothing troubled the people of the Islamic world at the beginning of the twenty-first century as much as the challenge of modernity did. It had occupied a central place in the cultural and sociopolitical agendas of intellectual and social movements, and state actors in the Islamic world and Iran since the 19th century. This study is a theoretical analysis of Iranian Muslim intellectuals’ encounter with Islam and modernity. The two main spheres of modernity which are examined are: i) the political arena and the government structure, and ii) science and technology. The goal of this dissertation is to examine and investigate the controversial ideas of five Iranian Muslim intellectuals, namely: Ali Shariati, Abdolkarim Soroush, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Murteza Mutahhari, and Mehdi Golshani. Their ideas were then compared in order to identify the similarities and dissimilarities in their ideas on Islam and modernity. It is hoped that through this study, a contribution can be made to the current debate on Islam, science and politics, as well as creating an alternative Islamic perspective with regards to science, technology and a systematic government. This study is part of an accumulated effort towards the rejuvenation of the Islamic world in the modern era, including the field of science and technology.
    [Show full text]
  • Mysticism in Contemporary Islamic Political Thought: Abdolkarim and Orhan Pamuk
    Mysticism in Contemporary Islamic Political Thought: Abdolkarim and Orhan Pamuk Copyright 2005 John von Heyking * This is a work in progress. Please do not quote or cite without the author's permission.* "You know, I've had enough of big ideas."1 [1] Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk's comment captures a promising though vulnerable sentiment one finds among intelligentsia in the Muslim world. Pamuk's novel, Snow (published in English in 2004), documents how "big ideas" convulse his Turkish homeland, where Islamists and secularists indulge in ideological fantasies that leave little to no room for a moderate and rationally informed political existence.2 [2] The main character, Ka, is a mystical poet whose meditations serve as experiments in personal existence amidst ideological rubble. He strives to transcend Islamists and secularists, and to serve as a bridge between Turkey and the West. Ka strives for personal nonideological existence in a globalized world. Mentioned by Time magazine as one of the top 100 most influential people in the world, Abdolkarim Soroush is an Iranian philosopher inspired by the Sufi writings of Rumi, who experiments with mysticism as a way to transcend Iranian Islamism and Western secularism.3 [3] Whereas Ka's mysticism is apophatic (to use a term derived from Christianity), Soroush's mysticism is noetic in that it takes the form of a life of reason reaching out to the divine in a manner not unlike Augustine's account of the soul that stretches toward God. Soroush engages in a type of Socratic questioning that takes "dialogue" as its central form of existence, in which flashes of 1 [1] Orhan Pamuk, interviewed by J�rg Lau, "The Turkish Trauma," Die Zeit, 14 April, 2005 .
    [Show full text]
  • Friendship in Islamic Ethics and World Politics
    Friendship in Islamic Ethics and World Politics Edited by Mohammad Jafar Amir Mahallati https://www.press.umich.edu/11300847/friendship_in_islamic_ethics_and_world_politics University of Michigan Press, 2019 Contents Contributors Acknowledgment Preface Introduction Mohammad Jafar Amir Mahallati I Friendship in Primary Sources: Definitions, Epistemological Realms and Conceptual Frameworks 1 Friendship in Arabic: Its Synonyms, Etymologies, and Transformations A.Z. Obeidat 2 Treatment of Friends by Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ Translated from Arabic by Ali Yedes 3 Friendship and Love in Islamic Spirituality William C. Chittick 4 Aristotle and Iranian Ethicists: Friendship as a Moral and a Political Paradigm Mohammad Jafar Amir Mahallati 5 The Mystery of Friendship: A View from Islam Paul L. Heck 6 Three Dimensions of Friendship: A Qur’a>nic Perspective Mohammad Jafar Amir Mahallati II Friendship within and between Religions, Nations, and Civilizations 7 Friendship in Pre-Islamic Iranian Writings Jamsheed K. Choksy Friendship in Islamic Ethics and World Politics Edited by Mohammad Jafar Amir Mahallati https://www.press.umich.edu/11300847/friendship_in_islamic_ethics_and_world_politics University of Michigan Press, 2019 8 On Friendship Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi 9 Friendship in Confucian Islam Sachiko Murata 10 Friendship between Islamic and Christian Civilizations Richard Bulliet 11 Friendship in the Muslim World Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri 12 Friendship between Religions and Cultures: The Foundation for Friendship between Civilizations Seyyed Hossein
    [Show full text]
  • Interview Soroush: Enlightenment & Philosophy in Islam
    Thoughts & Perceptions Interview Soroush: Enlightenment & Philosophy in Islam MICHIEL LEEZENBERG Just prior to Soroush’s departure from Abdolkarim Soroush is one of the most shortcomings in explanations of the the Netherlands, Michiel Leezenberg influential religious thinkers to emerge from Enlightenment that do not pay suffi- talked with him about the philosophi- post-revolutionary Iran. He is an influential cient attention to modern science; and cal origins and dimensions of mo- proponent of kalam-e no or “new theology,” from the scientific point of view, the dernity in the Islamic world. Soroush which explores new ways of secularism Dutch contribution has been minor. On opened with some of his impressions beyond the politicized and revolutionary the other hand, Spinoza, Erasmus, and of the Dutch public debate on Islam, forms of religion that marked the Islamic other Dutchmen have made important democracy, and secularism. Revolution. From November 2006 through contributions to the Enlightenment. AS: Maybe due to recent events, and September 2007, Soroush stayed in the I have a personal relationship with maybe due to the media, Islamic Netherlands as ISIM Visiting Professor Spinoza; I feel a certain similarity in identity has become very central at Free University Amsterdam. my fate with that of Spinoza: because to Muslims here; nevertheless, they of some of his unorthodox views, he consider themselves Dutch citizens. What worried them was that was excommunicated, and had to leave his place of birth in Am- newspapers and television are very expressly inimical to Islam and sterdam. Of course, Spinoza’s was not a biblical God; I think it is give a distorted picture.
    [Show full text]
  • Political System of Islam and Its Relevance in Modern Times
    POLITICAL SYSTEM OF ISLAM AND ITS RELEVANCE IN MODERN TIMES ABSTRACT THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE *kWA.RO OF THE DEGREE OF Bottor of $I|iIo2opI)p IN SHIA THEOLOGY By ALI JANBOZORGI Under the Supervision of DR. SYED FARMAN HUSAIN DEPARTMENT OF THEOLOGY AUGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY AUGARH (INDIA) 2005 Abstract ABSTRACT In the present work an attempt has been made to assess the history, poUtical philosophy and socio-poUtical conditions and civihzation trends right from the prophet period till now. The object of this worlc focuses on bringing into light major political systems of Muslims that emerged and operated at various periods of time and special emphasis has been given to modern Muslim experimentations and various methods techniques ad ways necessitated by the requirements of time and place. Many books and articles have been written on political systems of Islam and Muslims but no substantial and cohesive effort had been made to bring out the relevance and application of the that discussions 'political system of Islam to modern times' which has been done in this work. This work is divided into seen chapters followed by a bibliography and glossary. The first chapter is devoted to the discussion of the political system of the Prophet's period and the evolution of the Islamic state through a number of the Prophetic measures like the system of the 'mu'akhat (brotherhood) and the Kitab (document) and the making of the 'ummah' (Muslim community) etc: It also discusses the politico-juridical systems during the Caliphs's period and explains the concepts of Khalifa and the Caliphate and Ideal Khalifat, encompassing the experimentations of the umavid and Abbasid dynasties with special reference to their state- building measure and thought making provisions and resolutions such the rise of three tier system of governance which is generally classified as the central, provincial and local governments.
    [Show full text]