Abdolkarim Soroush's Views on Authority: A Review and Critique

In the book Ghabz wa Bast Teorik Shariat (Theoretical Contraction and Expansion of the Sharia), Soroush considers religious knowledge to be human and historical, but in a further step, in the book Tajrobeh Nabawi (Expansion of Prophetic Experience), he considers religious experience and even religion itself to be human. In the third stage of his intellectual life, he calls the Quran "the book of the Prophet", because he speaks of the expansion of religion as a result of the expansion of the inner and outer experience of the Prophet, and considers the prophetic revelation to be subject to the character of the Prophet. In order to maintain the dynamism of religion, Soroush puts forward the idea that is the central position of the Prophet's human personality in religious legislation and experience and the role of his guardianship in the continuation of religiosity. In this way, he replaces the authority of the Prophet with the authority of the text and even refers the authority of the text to the Prophet. In this regard, Soroush gives an example from the mystical tradition in Islam that the mystics made the heavenly dimension of the Prophet's existence heavier, and, in turn, erased his earthly dimension in the heavenly light of revelation, and exalted the Prophet from an esoteric and spiritual dimension, so that, according to Soroush, his human aspect was neglected. In this article, we examine two basic issues with a critical analytical approach; First, the replacement of the authority of the text, and second, an analysis of the foundations of the authority of the Prophet.