Allama Iqbal & Abdolkarim Soroush: Two losers or tools for a change of the face of Islamic Republic(s)?
The Express Tribune: part of the International Herald Tribune / Khaled Ahmed
02-Oct-2010 (2 comments)

The clergy and the state in Pakistan have had problems with Allama Iqbal’s view of the state in his Sixth Lecture. Iran too has had to deviate from the thought of Imam Khomeini on what is “permanent” and what is “changeable” in Islam. The man who has highlighted the issue in Iran is Abdolkarim Soroush – “foreign-trained” just like Allama Iqbal – who was appointed by Imam Khomeini to the Advisory Council on Cultural Revolution, charged with re-opening the universities and restructuring their syllabi.

In the book, New Directions in Islamic Thought: Exploring Reform and Muslim Tradition (I B Tauris 2009), Soroush discusses the subject of “changeable” and “unchangeable” in Islam with reference to two scholars, Shia Allama Tabatabai and Sunni publicist, Rashid Rida. Both discuss the concept of daruri (zaruri in Urdu) and think that law is “changeable” if it is ghair-zaruri (non-essential). Soroush says Muslims are agreed on the concept but not on its application. We are therefore back in the realm of interpretation. He says: “Islam is nothing but a series of interpretations of Islam” (p.14).

He tells us that the Shia did not say the Friday prayer for centuries despite clear reference to it in the Quran. Then he drops the bombshell: “Khomeini did not consider belief in an afterlife an essential” (p.10). He continues: “Cutting off the hands of thieves is in the Quran, not in a Hadith. Stoning is not in the Quran, but of ... >>>

MM

Fix Islamic Republic or Throw it Away?

by MM on

Abdolkarim Soroush (as well as Allama Iqbal in Pakistan) are two original thinkers who shaped the Islamic ways in Pakistan and Iran, better now know as Loser-ol-Olamaa by many Iranians whose lives have been turned upside down by this 7th century way of life.  In a twist of faith, since rejected by the current rulers, Abdolkarim Soroush  is trying to re-invent himself and give a new life to a losing way of life. 

My question is: You do not have a good record.  Why should we give you another chance to play politics with a society when there are plenty of recipies out there towards a better civil society?



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Fred

Bold-faced Islamist liar

by Fred on

 

Soroush, aka Hossein Haj Faraj-Dabbagh, is claiming he was “charged with re-opening the universities and restructuring their syllabi”.

There are too many at that time students and university professors who are victims of his “re-opening” activities.  Many have publically attested to Haj Farai-Dabbagh’s role in dismissing them due to their lack of Islamist ideological tendencies.

He was an Islamist commissar then and for denying it now, a bold-faced Islamist liar.