Books

Haghgh al-Nass (The Right of Mankind) or Islam and Human Rights is the collection of 14 articles that were written from 1998 to 2006. The author tries to find an interpretation of Islam that is compatible to the notion of human rights. He summarizes this interpretation in three key points: First, the notion of human rights is one of the most important human discoveries/products in 20th century. The human right notion, in its new meaning and wide application, was not a serious concern in the past. Second, although divine religions…

   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 the Holy city of Najaf. His book Kifāya al-Usūl has so far been the most reliable book in the methods and principles of jurisprudence (usūl al-fiqh) in the Shi‘ite seminary schools and the most important text book in this area. Khurāsānī has proposed a number of new and…

Religious states have some specific concerns alongside the general concerns of every state. These concerns can be divided into two categories the first of which is whether such policies and states would succeed in implementing the minimum duties of a conventional state and policy or not. Would they sacrifice administration for guidance? Would the citizens’ freedoms and rights be observed alongside the implementation of religious tasks and duties? Would the religious sanctity of the political power structure obstruct the means of supervision and criticism and ultimately lead to religious despotism…

  Dr Abdolkarim Soroush stood for religious pluralism in a paper called Straight Paths (Serathayeh mostaqim), Kian Monthly (banned in 2000). Under the unhealthy climate in which politics is developing, critiques on this paper in the official Iranian press diverted from the focal point. Sallam Daily (banned in 1999) took the initiative for holding a technical debate between Soroush and Kadivar in September 1997. The script of the debate was then submitted to the two sides for editing and the edited version appeared in five parts in Sallam Daily in…

The Compilation of the Works of the Sage & Originator Agha Ali Moddares Tehrani (Majmu’eyeh mossnafateh hakimeh mo’assess Agha Ali Moddares Tehrani) Three Volumes, 1937 pages Introduction, Compilation, prolegomenon, and Research Notes By Mohsen Kadivar Tehran, Ettela’t Publications, 1999   Vol. I. “Ta’alighaat-e Asfaar,” Commentaries on the Asfaar of Mullah Sadra, 872 pages, ISBN 944-423-413-8 Vol. II. “Rassaa’el Arabi va Ta’aliqat-e Falsafi,” Treaties and Commentaries, 578 pages, ISBN 944-423-414-6 Vol. III. “Rasa’el Farsi, Taqrizat. Qate’aat, Ta’aliqat Naqlieh, Taqrirat va Monazerat,” (Persian Treaties, Forewords, Pieces, Narratives, Commentaries, Discourses and Debates, 570…

Velayat is a key concept within the second stage of the development of Shiite political thought after the 12th Imam Mahdi. This notion was raised again after the Islamic Republic was established and has since grown increasingly. Velayat is one of the four bases of the official state theory of appointed and absolute velayateh faqih and the other three views are based on direct divine legitimacy (theocracy). Velayat is a sort of relationship between the sovereign and the people. Velayat-Based State aims at expounding the various hypothetical and verified dimensions...

  Mohsen Kadivar was arrested on February 27, 1999 by the Tehran Cleric Court after several hours of interrogation and sent to a closed cell in Evin Prison, Tehran. He was once arrested 20 years before that date in 1979 during the Islamic uprising by the SAVAK (Shah’s secret police) on the streets of Shiraz. Only then, the Shiraz Judiciary released Kadivar on bail until his hearing but the Cleric Court of the Islamic Republic did not change the unconstitutional arrest warrant to bail. 47 days later, Kadivar’s hearing was…