1st January 2025
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Human Dignity / Karāmah

According to the Qur’an, human dignity is universal, regardless of religion, sect, piety, gender, race, and color. It is an essential character of humanity, allowing humans to take on the role of stewardship. The human soul is the bearer of dignity and has the potential to reason and distinguish between good and evil. The human species is noble because of the soul that God breathed into it. Human dignity and human original nature (fiṭrah) are two sides of one coin. There is a link between divine trust and human dignity.

The Rights of Mankind: Human Rights and Reformist Islam

Anything that we call Islamic today must be reasonable, just, moral, and more functional according to the conventions of the present time. The main problem of traditional Islam is that it is living in the 21st century while breathing in the atmosphere of several centuries ago. It is possible to have a reading of the Qur’an and the Tradition of the Prophet and a methodology in ijtihad and jurisprudence that is consistent with the criteria of human rights. A critical and detailed introduction has been added to the new edition.

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?

In support of Protests in Iran

This is the fourth big protest since 2019 in Iran. Iranians are outraged with grievances that won’t soon go away. This is not only about freedom for women (especially their hair covering), but freedom for the country from the ruling of the minority over the majority, freedom of a style of life, against the mandatory style of life. The majority of Iranians support a democratic, secular regime. The government blocked all the ways of reforms. There’s no way for the people, except to come to the streets and protest.

Listen to the Voices of Protesting Iran

This country-wide revolt is against not only the brutal murder of Mahsa but also the essence of the so-called Islamic regime. The demand is loud and clear: an end to a theocratic regime whose multi-faceted violence against marginalized bodies is manifested in Mahsa’s death. Protestors are chanting “women, life, freedom.” Creating and sustaining such a continuum requires recognition of the intersectional struggles that women and other marginalized bodies are experiencing in countries such as Iran and under the current Islamic theocracy. We insist on a queer-feminist, anti-capitalist, and anti-fascist agenda.

Condemning the attack on Rushdie

I strongly condemn today's bloody attack on Salman Rushdie, the author of Satanic Verses in New York. Based on Islamic and Quranic teachings, this illegitimate attempt is condemned. The way to deal with false thoughts is scientific criticism, not physical elimination. “The bloody fatwas against Kasravi, Taha, Fawda and Taqī, as well as the legal rulings to kill Rushdie and Abū Zayd, must be publicly condemned to prevent their recurrence, for they only weakened and harmed Islam. Issuing such fatwas is a sign of the inability to provide a rebuttal.”

Comparative Medieval Philosophy

Medieval philosophy is a prerequisite to understanding the theology of Abrahamic traditions, metaphysics, philosophical psychology, and political philosophy. We will focus on six top philosophers: Alfarabi, Avicenna, al-Ghazali, Averroes, Maimonides, and Thomas Aquinas. After discussing general information about two translation movements, these distinguished philosophers, their works, and their philosophical innovations through the translation of a few of their major works, we will focus on comparative studies on three important subjects: God, creation, and freedom in three Abrahamic traditions, focusing on Avicenna, Averroes, Maimonides, and Aquinas in detail.

Religion and Science

This course discusses the relationship between religion and science from four perspectives: religion and ‘history’ of science; religion and ‘method’ of science; religion and the ‘theories’ of science; ‘philosophical and theological’ reflections. The major subjects of discussions: first, physics: quantum theory, relativity, order and complexity, and metaphysical implications; second, astronomy: the Big Bang, creation in Abrahamic religions, design, chance and necessity, and theological implications; third, biology: Darwinism and evolutionary theory, natural theology, a hierarchy of levels, and theological implications; fourth, psychology & neuroscience: conciseness, self, soul, dream and religious experience.

Transformation of ‘Islamic Republic’ to ‘Islamic State of Iran’

2021 Annual Lecture of BRISMES. Islamic Republic has been a ‘non-competitive electoral authoritarian regime’ since early 2020. Khamenei expressed recently “There may come a time when elections become meaningless and other forms of public participation emerge." Since 1979, Iranian leaders have never believed in the republicanism, and now it is time to unveil the reality of the regime: “The Islamic State of Iran (non-electoral authoritarian regime), the Shi’ite version of the ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Taliban). The ‘Islamic Republic’ has been in transition to “Islamic State” since its beginning.
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Email: kadivar.mohsen59 (at) gmail.com

About

Mohsen Kadivar is a mujtahid, Islamic theologian, philosopher, writer, leading intellectual reformist, and research professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University.