Day: December 30, 2022

Islam & the Meaning of Life

The range of topics implicated by the “meaning of life” as essentials of Islamic philosophy and theology includes the features of the good life; true happiness; the quest for eternity and not to be forgotten; overcoming loneliness and alienation; peacefulness; seeking truth and reducing suffering; living in a purposeful universe; free will; the ultimate purpose of the human life; necessary cause for moral obligations; faith and reason; human dignity; the quest for absolute beauty and good; knowing the Beginning and the Return; the observation of transcendence and immanence.

Religion and Politics in Post-Revolutionary Iran

What is the relationship between religion and politics in general and Islam and politics in particular? What does ‘political Islam’ or ‘Islamism mean’? What was Khomeini’s political thought? What does theocracy do with secularism and democracy? What is the role of election in a quasi-democratic regime? How did regime expediency secularize the administration? What is the relationship between civil law and Islamic law (sharia)? Why did the Islamic Republic of Iran transform from a competitive electoral to a non-competitive electoral authoritarian regime?