Interview with Sai’id Hajjarian. Introdution: Sai’id Hajjarian, a leading theorist of the democratic Islamist New Left, is one of President Khatami’s closest political advisers. In 1998 he ran for the Tehran City Council, receiving the second largest number of votes. Hajjarian is also the official permit holder for the daily Sobh-e Emrooz and serves on […].
Intellectual Autobiography.
Interview with Abdolkarim Soroush. Sadri: I would like to ask you for an account of your intellectual development. I am certainly interested in whether you distinguish any turning points, watersheds, or distinct periods in the evolution of your thought. Soroush: In the name of God the compassionate, the merciful, thank you for giving me this opportunity […].
“Universal form of Islam”.
Interview with Chandra Muzaffar *. This interview took place on Oct. 10, 2001 How has the practice of Islam changed or the influence on Islam changed over the last 20, 30 years in Malaysia ? As in a number of other post-colonial societies, Muslims in Malaysia have become very conscious of their Islamic identity. And they have sought and expressed that […].
“What the Muslim World Needs More Than Ever Is a Culture of Dignity”
Conversation with Chandra Muzaffar (1). by Farish A. Noor (2) Southeast Asia is one of the most diverse, complex and dynamic parts of the world today. Up till the financial collapse of the so-called ‘tiger economies’ of Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia in 1997, the region witnessed double-digit annual economic growth and sociocultural transformation on […].
“We need new intellectual tools for the age we live in”.
Conversation with Ebrahim Moosa (1). by Farish A. Noor (2) You are mostly known for the work that you have done on contemporary Muslim thought and Muslim thinkers of the 20 t h century. Yet despite the enormous changes that have taken place all over the Muslim world, we see that Muslim intellectual activity has arrived at an impasse. Muslim societies se […].
“The Compatibility of Islam, Secularism and Modernity”.
Conversation with Asghar Ali Engineer (1) by Farish A. Noor (2) You are known in many parts of the Muslim world for a number of things: your work on women’s rights in Islam, your struggle against religious intolerance and sectarianism, and your studies on secularism. You are seen as a Muslim modernist and you have often spoken about the compatibility of […].
The Responsibilities of the Muslim intellectual in the 21st Century.
Professor Abdolkarim Soroush is an Iranian philosopher and social scientist who is currently based at the Institute for Epistemological Research in Tehran, Iran. A well-known scholar and Islamist intellectual in Iran and abroad, his writings have been widely disseminated both in print and via the Internet. In Iran, he is seen as an advocate of institutiona […].
Intellectuals: The Powerless Wielders of Power – 3 –
Interview with Abdolkarim Soroush. By SA’ID RA’I for the Iranian Labour News Agency,January 2004. Translated by Nilou Mobasser. Intellectuals: The Powerless Wielders of Power. (page 3 of 3) SA’ID RA’I: In a speech you made ten years ago, under the title Shariati and the Theoretical Reconstruction of Religion, you said: « Some of our clerics have been […].
Intellectuals: The Powerless Wielders of Power – 2 –
Interview with Abdolkarim Soroush. By SA’ID RA’I for the Iranian Labour News Agency,January 2004. Translated by Nilou Mobasser. Intellectuals: The Powerless Wielders of Power. (page 2 of 3) SA’ID RA’I: One of the criticisms directed by the Frankfurt School at positivists such as Popper is that (according to them) positivist science seeks to justify an […].
Intellectuals: The Powerless Wielders of Power – 1 –
Interview with Abdolkarim Soroush. By SA’ID RA’I for the Iranian Labour News Agency,January 2004. Translated by Nilou Mobasser. In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful SA’ID RA’I : One of the issues that has exercised your mind in recent years has been the relationship between knowledge and power, and especially the relationship between the […].
“The Rise of Militant Islam”
Conversation with Ahmed Rashid. Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley. 3/26/02 1-Background Welcome to Berkeley. Thanks a lot. Where were you born and raised? I was born in Ravapindi in Northern Pakistan. After the Second World War, my family was based some of the time in Pakistan and some of the time in London. So I grew up in both places […].
Inside the Jihad.
Interview with Ahmed Rashid. Few governments are as shrouded in secrecy as the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan. Ever since these mysterious bearded clerics emerged from obscurity in 1994 to overrun almost the entire country — imposing a radical version of Islamic law that forbids women from employment and education, bans entertainment such as card-pl […].
The Real Islam.
Conversation with Stephen Schwartz. In The Two Faces of Islam the journalist Stephen Schwartz argues that in order to appreciate the pluralist, tolerant side of Islam, we must confront its ugly, extremist side. In the mid-1700s a new strain of Muslim extremism began to flourish in a small village in the Arabian desert—a strain that would have a profound […].
Travel.
Interview with Abdolkarim Soroush. April 1997 – Following his return to UK from the United States and shortly before he left London for Tehran to end a twelve-month absence from the country, Dr Soroush spoke to SERAJ in an exclusive interview. Here is a summarised translation of this conversation. Dr. Soroush, over the last few months, you have travelle […].
“I Defend a Moderated Version of Socialism”.
nterview with Hashem Aghajari. Interviewer: Hamshahri (Persian Morning Daily) Sunday, May 12, 2002. Hamshahri: The left-wing of government has a heavy past which nobody has ever tried to deal with seriously, nor have the leftists been ready to defend the performance of their predecessors in a transparent manner or frankly. Many of the projects implement […].
A Generation in the Process of Development.
Summary: Ehsan Naraqi, the advisor to the former UNESCO director-general Federico Mayor, believes that although Iran has ranked second among the Muslim nations in terms of publication, it has hit the bottom of the list in terms of international recognition. It has led to American universities have dropped Iranology from their curriculum despite the West’s […].
Ethics and Ethical Critiques.
Interview with Abdolkarim Soroush. Q: Dr Soroush, you have been away from Iran for some time and we have been deprived. The fact of the matter is, when we look at your works over the past one or two years, we see a common denominator. Ethics of the Gods is a collection of your articles that was published in 2001. Articles such as “Civil Society, Ethical […].
Democracy and Rationality.
Interview with Abdolkarim Soroush. Q: Dr Soroush! I’d like us to discuss the question of rationality. Would you be so kind as to begin by pointing out the different interpretations that there are of rationality and also mentioning your own chosen interpretation, so that we can go on from there? A: Let me first say that I don’t know what you mean by reas […].
