Articles

Die Welt des Islams 51 (2011) 459-484, Brill, Liden, The Netherland From Traditional Islam to Islam as an End in Itself  Mohsen Kadivar The development of religious thought in Iran has particularly accelerated during the past century. It can be interpreted as the passage from a traditional view of religion to one which is an end in itself. I mean by traditional Islam the domination of the culture and exigencies of the time, place, and special circumstances of the Age of the Revelation as the immutable, sacred, and idealized framework…

“Wilayat al-faqih and Democracy” in Asma Afsaruddin (ed.), Islam, the State, and Authority: Medieval Concerns and Modern Issues, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, pp. 207-224 Wilayat al-faqih and Democracy Abstract The concept of wilayat al-faqih as a type of Shi`ite Islamic government gained currency after the Islamic revolution in Iran, and it has now been experienced for more than a quarter of a century. A key question in contemporary Iranian politics is the compatibility of the wilayat al-faqih with democracy. This question can be answered from the perspective of political thought, or…

New Directions in Islamic Thought: Exploring Reform and Muslim Tradition; Kari Vogt, Lena Larsen, Christian Moe (editors); I.B. Taurus, London, 2009, pp.47-73 Human rights & Intellectual Islam EDITORS’ NOTE: This chapter originally appeared in a two-part article published in Iran in 2003. In the first part of the article, the author surveys six areas of conflict between historical Islam and human rights norms: (1) inequality between Muslims and non-Muslims, (2) inequality between men and women, (3) inequality between slaves and free human beings, (4) inequality between commoners and jurists in…

“Theories of Government in Shi’i Fiqh”, Mujahid Hussain (translator) in Paul Luft and Colin Turner (editors). Shi’ism: Critical concepts in Islamic studies, vol III: Law, rite and ritual. London: Routledge, 2008, pp. 267-282. Kadivar, Theories of Government in Shi'i Fiqh

“Freedom of Religion and Belief in Islam,” in Mehran Kamrava (ed.), The New Voices of Islam: Reforming Politics and Modernity – A Reader, London, I. B. Tauris, 2006, pp. 119-142 Freedom of Religion & Belief in Islam One of the assumptions in the dialogue of the civilizations is accepting the variety of ideas and religions. The civilizations are based on different cultures and different cultures have been found on the basis of various schools of thought and religions. Dialogue of civilizations and cultures is not possible without freedom of religion…

“The Innovative Political Ideas and Influences of Mulla Muhammad Kazim Khurasani,” Annals of Japan Association for Middle East Studies (AJAMES), (Special Issue Changing Knowledge and Authority in Islam), 21/1 (September 2005), pp.59-73. The Innovative Political Ideas and Influence of Mullā Muhammad Kāzim Khurāsānī Mullā Muhammad Kāzim Khurāsānī (1839-1911), also known as Ākhund Khurāsānī (the cleric from Khurāsān), is one of the most outstanding scholars of the world of Islam in recent century. Over one thousand jurisprudents (mujtahids) have been trained in his classes in Holy city of Najaf. His book…

  Introduction An important issue of Islam today is “The Rights of non-Muslims in Islamic Societies”. The origin of the problem is that there is a direct relationship between the rights of people in one side and their religion and political situation towards the Muslims on the other side in Islamic Jurisprudence (Shari’ah). The above means that from the first point of view - meaning religion - we face three different kinds of rights: First, the rights of the Muslims; Second, the rights of the followers of ones adherent to…

Introduction  1.Modernity is such a dominant culture of the day that has influenced all cultures and sub-cultures in a way. Although modernity in one sense contains the greatest human achievements and has made changes which have embraced all the angles of human societies, to the extent that it has now turned to a turning point in all man's individual as well as collective affairs ; but this does not mean that modernity is to be considered as the ideal goal or supreme virtue, taking it as a measure to evaluate…

“An Introduction to the Public and Private Debate in Islam,” Social Research, 70/3 (New York, Fall 2003), pp. 659-680. An Introduction to the Public and Private Debate in Islam Abstract Religion, in particular among the cultural components, is one of the most influential factors in determining the extent of public and private spheres. Religions descending from Abraham (i.e. Judaism, Christianity and Islam) give rise to the human identity, through emphasis on the private life of the individual. What is the extent of privacy in the Islamic point of view? Does…