Reason, Freedom, and Democracy in Islam
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Abdolkarim Soroush has emerged as one of the leading moderate revisionist thinkers of the Muslim world. He and his contemporaries in other Muslim countries are shaping what may become Islam's equivalent of the Christian Reformation: a period of questioning traditional practices and beliefs and, ultimately, of upheaval. Presenting eleven of his essays, this volume makes Soroush's thought readily available in English for the first time. The essays set forth his views on such matters as the freedom of Muslims to interpret the Qur'an, the inevitability of change in religion, the necessity of freedom of belief, and the compatibility of Islam and democracy. Throughout, Soroush emphasizes the rights of individuals in their relationship with both government and God, explaining that the ideal Islamic state can only be defined by the beliefs and will of the majority.Reviews
"This selection of [Khatami's] writings reveals a genuinely liberal intellect rooted in Soroush's Iranian and Islamic culture but at home with Western thought...his statements are penetrating and coherent." --Foreign Affairs
",,,the major significance of these writings is the manner in which Western ideas of the prominence of reason on the one hand and a judgment of the intellectual hopelessness of post-modernism on the other hand leads to the affirmation of belief."--Middle East Studies Association Bulletin
"Soroush's call for the unabashed application of reason to all the problems of the Muslim community is a profoundly liberating approach to religious and intellectual modernization."--Social Epistemology Journal of Knowledge, Culture, & Policy
About the Author(s)
Mahmoud Sadri is Associate Professor of Sociology at Texas Women's University.
Ahmad Sadri is Associate Professor of Sociology at Lake Forest College.
