Abdolkarim Soroush

One of the achievements of the reform movement is that people realize that they can be democrats and remain faithful Muslims. Democracy…

— Abdolkarim Soroush

We no longer claim that a genuinely religious government can be democratic, but that it cannot be otherwise.

— Abdolkarim Soroush

Compromise has a negative connotation.

— Abdolkarim Soroush

People first concern themselves with meeting their basic needs; only afterwards, do they pursue any higher needs.

— Abdolkarim Soroush

In many of the things that people do, they themselves are the centre of attention, but they inscribe some other name on…

— Abdolkarim Soroush

Establishing an equilibrium between the Islam of truth and Islam as an identity is one of the most difficult tasks of religious…

— Abdolkarim Soroush

When I have an idea, I'm like a pregnant woman. I just have to deliver.

— Abdolkarim Soroush

Energy is a concept that has been coined by physicists. There is no observable thing known as energy anywhere.

— Abdolkarim Soroush

We coin concepts and we use them to analyse and explain nature and society. But we seem to forget, midway, that these…

— Abdolkarim Soroush

People should know what they want, not just what they don't want.

— Abdolkarim Soroush

As a result of the awareness and consciousness of decline, an awareness and consciousness of a national ethnicity or an Islamic identity…

— Abdolkarim Soroush

God manifests himself in each historical period according to the understanding of the people of the era.

— Abdolkarim Soroush

That President Mohammad Khatami's policies have been blocked is the bitterest incident in the contemporary Iranian history. This means that the wishes…

— Abdolkarim Soroush

There are all sorts of cries that the leaders of the Green Movement should submit themselves to the supreme leader, but that…

— Abdolkarim Soroush

It is impossible to advance new theories... when you are under the influence of a particular view, or under the pressure of…

— Abdolkarim Soroush

If a group of people feels that it has been humiliated and that its honour has been trampled underfoot, it will want…

— Abdolkarim Soroush

It is up to God to reveal a religion, but up to us to understand and realise it.

— Abdolkarim Soroush

We must break problems down into small, digestible bits. We must define the concepts that we use and explain what components they…

— Abdolkarim Soroush

Religion forbids us from assuming a God-like character. This is especially true in politics and government, where limiting the power of the…

— Abdolkarim Soroush

In order for answers to become clear, the questions have to be clear.

— Abdolkarim Soroush

Islam, or any religion, will become totalitarian if it is made into an ideology, because that is the nature of ideologies.

— Abdolkarim Soroush

The clergy earns its living from religion. If your interests are secured through religion, then you will defend your interests first, and…

— Abdolkarim Soroush

Arresting development, attacking science, and glorifying poverty is not the answer to the vices that attend prosperity.

— Abdolkarim Soroush

A realistic view of humanity will stop the proliferation of impossible injunctions.

— Abdolkarim Soroush

After the 9/11 incidents, Islam has become a big question mark among westerners, especially Americans. The mass media constantly raise the issue…

— Abdolkarim Soroush