The Religious Democratic Government in the Thought of Abdolkarim Soroush

Abstract

Contemporary Iranian political thought has played a significant role in the field of contemporary Islamic political theory. Unofficial Iranian political thought, if one may call it that, has played a role in analyzing and formulating concepts parallel to official political thought. Abdolkarim Soroush's ideas formed the foundation of this thought. The contributions of Shabestari and Malekian to this intellectual and philosophical diversity cannot be overlooked. The core of Soroush's thought began with a central critique of the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist (Velayat-e Faqih) and its conflict with public freedoms. He also criticized closed political thought and attempted to offer a new interpretation of contemporary Iranian religious and theological thought, breaking down the classical concept based on intellectual stagnation, a departure from critical content, and selectivity, while introducing new and innovative modern concepts and perceptions. The terms "contraction" and "expansion" in Islamic law, and the separation of the divine from the human and the sacred from the profane, are among Soroush's most prominent contributions to contemporary reformist thought, and he was a pillar of the new political thought in Iran.