he Origin, the Genesis and the Early Stage of Human's Religion; A Review of Dr. Shariati's Views

Using an analytical and documentary approach, this paper aims to explore the views of social thinkers and religious scholars and to investigate the origin of religions and the early stages of human’s religion. Through analyzing and studying the views of Shariati in this field, the paper extracts his religious theory and its alignment with the prevailing religious view taken from the pure teachings of Quran and Ahlol-beit. With regard to the theories about the advent of religions, theories of fear, ignorance, economy, animism, and nature worshipping, innate nature are put forward and some points which are worth considering are proposed in each theory. Shariati discusses all the views in this regard and considers human society as equivalent to "worship”. He does not prefer any particular theory; but he regards "polytheism" as the beginning stage of human religion in which the prophets are sent to awaken the human’s God-given nature and to invite people to monotheism. This understanding is not in line with the current religious theory derived from the Qur’anic teachings.