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The Expansion of Prophetic Experience

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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 ............. 3 Experiential Nature of Prophethood .......................................... 3 Evolutionary Nature of Prophetic Experience .......................... 9 Dialogical Nature of Prophetic Experience ............................... 13 Chapter Two Th e Last Prophet—1 .............................................. 25 On the Meaning of “Finality” ...................................................... 25 Th e Relation of Finality to the Prophet’s Persona .................... 37 Chapter Th ree Th e Last Prophet—2 ............................................ 45 End of Religious Legislation or End of Religious Experience? ................................................................................ 45 Th e Seal of Prophethood, Not the Seal of Interpretation ....... 52 Chapter Four Essentials and Accidentals in Religion ............... 63 Relationship Between the Essential and the Accidental ......... 63 Distinguishing the Essential from the Accidental .................... 69 Arabic Language and Arabic Culture .................................... 70 Conceptual Limitations ............................................................ 76 Scientifi c Knowledge of the Age ............................................. 78 Fiqh: Essential or Accidental? ................................................. 83 Ijtihad: Cultural Translation of the Accidentals ................... 89 Conclusion ...................................................................................... 90 Chapter Five Maximalist Religion, Minimalist Religion .......... 93 Maximal View of Religion ........................................................... 93 Fiqh: Minimum “Necessary” or Maximum “Suffi cient”? ........ 96 Science and Religion ..................................................................... 102 Ethical All-inclusiveness? ............................................................. 104 Minimal on Th eological Issues .................................................... 107 vi contents What Does the Expandability of Religious Knowledge Tell Us? ........................................................................................ 109 Minimalist Religion and Everlasting Continuity ...................... 111 Minimalist, not Maximalist Guidance ....................................... 112 On the Perfection of Religion ..................................................... 113 On Ijtihad ....................................................................................... 114 Excessive Expectations of Religion ............................................. 115 Chapter Six Straight Paths—1. An Essay on Religious Pluralism; Positive and Negative ................................................. 119 Positive Pluralism: Irreducible Plurality .................................... 120 Diversity of Understandings of Religious Texts ................... 120 Diversity of Interpretations of Religious Experience .......... 123 John Hick and Noumena/Phenomena Distinction ............. 131 An Alternative Explanation: Formless within Forms ......... 134 Immersion of Truth within Truth .......................................... 135 Negative Pluralism: Diversity Explained via Negativa ............ 137 One Destination, Diff erent Paths ........................................... 137 Exclusivity of God’s Guidance? ............................................... 140 Inextricable Mix of Truth and Falsehood ............................. 142 Compatibility of All Truths ..................................................... 146 Pluralism of Values and Causes ............................................ 147 Religiosity is Caused not Reasoned ....................................... 149 Pluralistic Society versus Ideological Society ....................... 152 Chapter Seven Straight Paths—2. A Conversation on Religious Pluralism ....................................................................... 155 Critical Rationalism or Relativism .............................................. 155 Cause versus Reason ..................................................................... 158 Faith and Certitude ....................................................................... 162 “Truth” and “Truth for” ................................................................ 165 Nominalism and Pluralism .......................................................... 168 Truth and Salvation ....................................................................... 171 Plurality of Meaning and Text ..................................................... 175 Part Two Chapter Eight Types of Religiosity .............................................. 181 Pragmatic/Instrumental Religiosity ............................................ 182 contents vii Discursive/Refl ective Religiosity ................................................. 186 Experiential Religiosity ................................................................... 190 Chapter Nine Th e Prophet Present .............................................. 193 Prelude ............................................................................................. 193 Th e Essence of Religiousness ....................................................... 195 Religious Experience: the Quintessence of Religion ............... 202 Rituals .............................................................................................. 205 Chapter Ten Prophets Unheard .................................................... 209 Th e Paradoxical Nature of Prophetic Mission . ......................... 211 Following the Prophet Is More than Following His Commandments ........................................................................ 217 Chapter Eleven Faith and Hope ................................................... 225 Religious Faith ............................................................................... 225 Religious Experience: Cause or Reason for Faith ................... 228 Forming the Formless ................................................................... 230 Doubts and Criticisms .................................................................. 232 Need for Religious Experience .................................................... 239 Relation of Legal Precepts to Formless Experience ................. 241 Chapter Twelve Spiritual Guardianship and Political Guardianship .................................................................................. 245 Ghadir and Some of Its Consequences ...................................... 245 Sense and Essence of Spiritual Guardianship ........................... 247 Wilayat and Imamate in Shiʿism ................................................. 258 Confusing Spiritual Guardianship and Political Guardianship ............................................................................... 264 Appendices Appendix One Th e Word of Mohammad. An Interview with Abdulkarim Soroush, by Michel Hoebink ................................ 271 Appendix Two Ayatollah Sobhani’s First Letter ......................... 276 An Experience Like Poets’ Experiences ..................................... 279 Th e Prophet is the Qurʾan’s Creator and Producer .................. 280 Meanings from God, Words from the Prophet . ....................... 282 Conditions of the Prophet’s Life Produced the Qurʾan ........... 282 viii contents Appendix Th ree Bashar and Bashir. Soroush’s First Response to Sobhani ....................................................................................... 288 Muhammad’s Word, Muhammad’s Miracle .............................. 289 Secondly, the Tale
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