Posted on 02/21/2010 6:45:47 PM PST by odds
Rooz Online spoke with Dr. Abdolkarim Soroush about the issues facing the Iranian nation today, the 5-person statement and the mixing of religion and politics. Emphasizing that if a referendum is to be held in the country, “The supreme leader’s position and responsibilities must be revisited,” he contends, adding, “In order to save religion and ensure piety out of choice, not compulsion, secularism is the appropriate solution in my opinion.” Here are excerpts of the interview.
Rooz: The words “republic” and “democracy” are used to describe the rule of people over people in a political system. Doesn’t mixing religion with politics and government and constructing mixed concepts such as “Islamic republic” and “religious democracy” repeat the experience of religious dictatorship?
Abdolkarim Soroush (Soroush): We all agree now that a religious dictatorship governs our country. Prior to the religious dictatorship and the 1979 revolution, a monarchical dictatorship governed. If we can speak about religious dictatorship, we can also speak about religious democracy. By religious dictatorship we mean that a group of people rule as dictators under the banner of religion, extracting concepts even from religion to solidify their domination over people. Dictatorship, however, is not divided into religious or non-religious ones. People can use religion to establish dictatorship. This is not just a possibility but a reality that has materialized in our society.
Religious democracy also has meaning. A group of people can try to establish democratic order in their country under the banner of religion and in accordance with religions teachings; a democratic order that gives all citizens equal rights, the right to political participation and all other rights necessary to a democratic regime, and most importantly, the establishment of an independent judiciary, which is the fundamental pillar of every democratic regime. This has no inconsistency with Islam and is at the same time a pillar of democracy.
Rooz: What is the relationship between Iran’s imaginary future government and religion, and Islamic jurisprudence?
Soroush: The relationship between the future government and religion can be summarized in a few points:
1. The religious community must be able to operate freely and have freedoms.
2. The religious community will fight against inequality and dictatorship in accordance with its religious duty.
3. They will establish an independent judiciary in accordance with their religious duty.
4. In accordance to their religious duty, they will extend equality to the entire society.
5. In accordance to their religious duty, they will regard others as human beings and holders of equal rights. Each of these issues can be realized on the basis of a religious duty.
Religious democracy is no different from any other democracy. It can be called religious only because the responsibility is on the shoulders of the religious community. In a religious democracy, an attempt is made, at best, to prevent the passage of laws that clearly and absolutely contradict religious pronouncements. These absolute and necessary religious pronouncements are very few in Islam.
There may be a lot of decrees, and we can sustain the most important ones, and if necessary, reform them through ijtihad (ie religious interpretation). This alone ensures that laws are in accordance with Islam and the rest of religious matters are left to the personal beliefs of the pious.
See if you can make any real sense out of his double talk.
Khomeini and his supporters, prior to 1979 Khomeinist [Islamic] Revolution, made very similar noises.
How about someone blow up the whole Guardian Council and get it over with?
Ping
Some background info on Abdolkarim Soroush [born Hosein Haj Faraj Dabbagh]:
“After the Revolution, Soroush returned to Iran and there he published his book “Knowledge and Value” (Danesh va Arzesh) the writing of which he had completed in England. He then went to Tehran’s Teacher Training College where he was appointed the Director of the newly established Islamic Culture Group.”
“A year later, all universities were shut down, and a new body was formed by the name of the Cultural Revolution Institute comprising seven members, including AbdulKarim Soroush, all of whom were appointed directly by Ayatollah Khomeini.”
“In the following three-year period of the shut down of the Iranian Universities also known as Iranian Cultural Revolution (1980-1983) a total restructuring of the syllabi based on the idea of Islamization of Universities took place. Soroush played an active role in the decisions made by this committee which particularly involved expulsion of a significant number of academics and students from universities that were felt anti-revolutionary or non-religious. Among direct and indirect consequences of the Institute’s activities were arrest, imprisonment and execution of many Iranian scholars, force exile of University Professors and “a major blow to Iran’s cultural and intellectual life and achievement”,[2] continued today.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdolkarim_Soroush
http://www.drsoroush.com/Biography-E.htm
I expected this article to be about the United States!!
Me too!
actually this is double-talk for removing Ahmadinejad... it’s been in the pipes (from my reading ) since before the last E-LEC-SHUN
WATCH for CHANGE
>>>”actually this is double-talk for removing Ahmadinejad”
Agreed.
But, not good enough, IMO. The entire Theocracy has to go.
well ya’ see... that’s the plan. The mullahs even the top ones are terrified absolutely terrified of being held accountable for anything and are ready,bro,ready to flee-
once WackJob is removed the dismantling begins. A military dictatorship could easily come into power .... but the mullahs will be shaving their beards fast and furious and burning their robes once WackJob is out
Hope you’re right.
Where I’m coming from is that Iran had a “moderate/reformist” mullah President (Mohammad Khatami - same faction as Karroubi/Moussavi) in charge from 1997 to 2005.
Students revolted in 1999, but were suppressed by the entire Theocratic System, namely the Basij (aka Ansar_e Hezoballah). Both Khatami & his Supreme Evilness (Khamenei) made a few noises condemning those who arrested, jailed & killed the protesters.
Moreover, Khatami made a number of *Changes* giving more superficial liberties to the society. He talked about “dialog amongst civilizations” & that protests should be allowed. Basically, Khatami made all the same noises that in recent months Karroubi & Moussavi are making. Certain sections of the Iranian society felt more comfortable with his approach, then became more complacent. IOW, they said: Yeah we can live with this one. So, later, it was back to business as usual for the mollacracy.
Meantime, hardliners felt alienated; WackJob then became president in 2005.
When & where do we draw the line between a military-led mollacracy & a plain ol’ mollacracy with all its wishes for a so-called “religious [Islamic] democracy?
The other issue is that it’s bigger than the WackJob. WackJob is just the tip of the iceberg for hardliners. What’s underneath the iceberg?
There are suppressive forces (incl. basijis), IRGC, certain sections of the Iranian society (inside & outside Iran), and many other mullahs who support: Khomeini’s vision, IRI constitution & basically the Islamic regime in Iran & its so-called “religious democracy”.
I hear what you’re saying & hope your prediction will come true.
Crap. I saw the headline and I thought it was about Obama.
Ping .................. FRegards
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