Conference on the Evolution of Religious New-Thinking in the Islamic World over the Last Half-Century

The Conference on the Evolution of Religious New-Thinking in the Islamic World over the Last Half-Century, with the participation of Abdolkarim Soroush, Abdolali Bazargan, Hamid Entezam, Arash Naraghi, Mohsen Kadivar, Ahmad Sadri, Mahmoud Sadri, Hassan Ansari, and Forough Jahanbakhsh, was held on November 11 and 12 at the Ibn Sina Institute.

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Day One (Saturday, November 11, 2017)

Panel One:

Mohsen Kadivar: Religious New-Thinking in Contemporary Iran: A Case Study of Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari (Audio of this lecture)

Mahmoud Sadri: What Should the "Shi'iyun" Do? (Audio of this lecture)

Hamid Entezam: The Foundations of Religious Reform in the View of Dr. Shariati (Audio of this lecture)

In the era of Dr. Ali Shariati, the cultural field of Islam was afflicted with various blights, and our religious society was ailing from ignorance, decline, and ossification. The custodians of religion, who feed on the ignorance of the masses, had no motivation or desire to reform the religious order. Fundamentally, in that era, few people contemplated the intellectual-cultural reform of society. Intellectuals and progressive organizations had largely turned to political work, and even then, to armed and violent struggle. Shariati was one of the rare intellectuals who, after much reflection and deliberation, concluded that in a society where religion is not only faith but also the culture of the people, without religious reform, political revolution is doomed to failure. Although Shariati did not produce a coherent, codified theory on religious reform, his works show that his reform project was based on at least three pillars: 1) "Return to the Self," 2) "Extraction and Refinement of Cultural Resources," 3) "Reconstruction of Religious Thought." The further Shariati progressed on this path, the more intense the opposition of high-ranking Shiite clerics became, for they considered reform a heresy and its bearers (intellectuals) an actual danger to their privileges and social standing. Many of them banned the study, purchase, and sale of Shariati's works. In response, Shariati's view and judgment of the clerical establishment became very bleak, and ultimately a fourth pillar emerged in his religious reform project: "Islam Minus the Akhund."

Audio of the Q&A for Panel One

Full Video of Panel One (Watch on YouTube)

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Panel Two:

Abdolali Bazargan: The Grounds for Religious Modernism in the Quran (Audio of this lecture)

Ahmad Sadri: A Comprehensive Program for Religious New-Thinking in Iran (Audio of this lecture)

Arash Naraghi: The Logic of Reviving Religious Thought in Islam: The Case of Fazlur Rahman (Audio of this lecture)

Fazlur Rahman and the Theory of Reforming Religious Thought in Islam

Audio of Q&A for Panel Two

Full video of Panel Two (Watch on YouTube)

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Day Two ( Sunday, November 12, 2017)

Panel Three:

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