Abdolkarim Soroush
Abdolkarim Soroush
Abdolkarim Soroushahb-dohl-kah-REEM soh-ROOSH عبدالكريم سروش), born Hossein Haj Faraj Dabbagh, is an Iranian thinker, reformer, Rumi scholar and a former professor of philosophy at the University of Tehran and Imam Khomeini International University. He is arguably the most influential figure in the religious intellectual movement of Iran. Soroush is currently a visiting scholar at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD. He was also affiliated with other prestigious institutions, including Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, the Leiden-based International Institute as...
NationalityIranian
ProfessionPhilosopher
We coin concepts and we use them to analyse and explain nature and society. But we seem to forget, midway, that these concepts are our own constructs and start equating them with reality.
Establishing an equilibrium between the Islam of truth and Islam as an identity is one of the most difficult tasks of religious intellectuals.
In many of the things that people do, they themselves are the centre of attention, but they inscribe some other name on their banner.
It is impossible to advance new theories... when you are under the influence of a particular view, or under the pressure of a particular dogma.
The clergy earns its living from religion. If your interests are secured through religion, then you will defend your interests first, and religion will become secondary.
One of the achievements of the reform movement is that people realize that they can be democrats and remain faithful Muslims. Democracy is now an established idea.