Comparing Political Thoughts: Taleghani and Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari

There are various views about the relationship between religion and politics. If these various views would be considered to be on one single spectrum, on one side there would be the theory of “separation of religion and politics; and, on the opposite side, the theory would be “religion is the same as politics; and, politics is the same as religion”. The relationship between religion and politics has been considered as an important point by Moslem intellectuals within the past two centuries. In the paper, effort has been made to comparatively study the relationship between religion and politics, from perspectives of Seyyed Mahmoud Taleghani and Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari. So, the paper is responsible to answer this main question that: “What are the common and different points between thoughts of Ayatollah Taleghani and Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari? The hypothesis tested and measured in response to this main question is that “Both of the intellectuals have common views in terms of referring to Ejtihad (practice of religious jurisprudence) resources and single inference method, as well as putting emphasis on legitimate freedom of humans. However, their difference is that, through combination of religion and politics and their relationship based on Shura (consultation) verse in Quran, Taleghani reaches to consultation system in all levels, as well as religion and politics based on maximum pattern. However, reaching to religion and politics based on minimum pattern, Mojtahed Shabestari separates religion from politics; and, he gives priority to common law-based politics and government.