نشریه دین و دنیای معاصر
سال هشتم شماره 2 (پیاپی 15، پاییز و زمستان 1400)

Abdolkarim Soroush in his Qabz va Bast (QB) has assumed that religion (Islam) is perfect, unchangeable and free of error, though our understanding of it is imperfect, changeable, and falsifiable. However, in Royahaye Rasoolaneh (RR) he first tries to find some cases of imperfections, errors, and paradoxes in the Quran. Then, he gives an explanation for them from a phenomenological point of view, according to which, the Revelation and generation of the Quran are natural phenomena. Abolghasem Fanaei in his critique against QB ana RR has tried to show that the philosophical and theological implications of this explanation are unacceptable, and also inconsistent with its ontological presuppositions. Although I agree with Fanaei’s main claims against QB and RR, some of his arguments are not convincing. In the first part of this paper, Fanaei’s main critiques will be examined. It will be shown that more satisfactory interpretations of QB and RR can be found if some of their presuppositions are changed. The problem, however, is that this cannot be of any help to Soroush since the changes are not compatible with his views. In the second part of the paper, we will show that both QB and RR face with essential problems in the areas of ontology, epistemology, phenomenology, and methodology. So, the claims of both QB and RR are argued to be both erroneous and unacceptable. Finally, we will briefly explain why such problematic views often receive an overwhelming reception in Iran.

The theory of prophetic dreams, as Soroush's latest theory of revelation and the Qur'an, completes the program he began several decades ago to formulate a theology consistent with critical rationality. At the heart of this view is a theory of the language of religion that can be called the "dream language of religion."In this article, after determining the place of the theory of prophetic dreams in Soroush's thought and the place of discussion of the language of religion in that theory, the "dream language of religion" has been discussed and finally, it has been shown that according to Soroush the dream language is a kind of metaphorical language as some contemporary philosophers and linguistics defined it.according to this view, the metaphorical nature of the dream language of religion not only does not diminish the cognitive and sacred status of the religious text but can justify the claim that the religious text as a metaphorical text is a unique and irreplaceable source for cognition.

The possibility of economic system with relying on the Holy Quran is one of the topics that has occupied some researchers’ minds. This writing is going to deal with studying the answers of three issues of Quran-based systematization, existence and lack of existence of economic system in the Holy Quran, and at the end the possibility of systematization based on the Holy Quran. In order to achieve the answers of mentioned questions, we have benefited from interrogation method of Shahid Sadr and content analysis technique. The obtained results show that there is no possibility of enlightening economic system based on customary definitions on economic topics in the Holy Quran. Also although the Holy Quran has dealt with the topics of economic school in some cases, but it has not explained it multilaterally. However with relying on the Holy Quran and Sunnah, presenting an economic school is possible. . . .

There two theories about ethical messages in Quran; Assent theory and Dissent theory to Quranic ethical systematization. The first theory indicates the possibility of being systematized of these concepts and its benefits in outlining ethical guidelines and also considers them as a set of predicates, instructions, topics and concepts which are in an appropriate order, relationship and construction acting in respect of both thematic conceptual relations and rulings associations to reach a specific objective; moreover, this system has a casual progression and plays an important role in reaching that objective. In contrast, the second theory admits it as a useless one, and considers it as a means to limit the ethical values and believes that the richness in ethic is beyond the system. This paper is to prove the first theory in Quran by means of documents and analyzing method; therefore, at first it explains this systematization, then goes on to state the advantages of ethical system discovery against rival theory; in addition, it will talk about its believers and their reason to believe it; and also it gives some evidences to show the possibility of necessary elements discovery to make an ethical system and mentions the explanation about them. Finally, the triple respects will follow up. This theory asks for those Quranic studies that although they include elements, concepts, prospects, rulings, narratives and authentications, it will be shown that all these meanings are omnidirectional and relatable. In this discussion, the focus is on its general form. Eventually the theories problems will be adverted to.

An inductive examination of fiqhi verdicts on the institution of marriage reveals the substantial influence of conventional (and partially religious) norms governing the institution of slavery and commercial practice. The extent of this influence is such that the sole justification for some of these verdicts is analogical reasoning comparing marriage to trading a female slave. This article tries to: (1) demonstrate this influence using a comprehensive survey of fiqhi Verdicts on different aspects of marriage; (2) show that this approach is not morally justifiable; (3) illustrate that there is a huge gap between this and the Qurʾānic outlook on marriage; and (4) present a new interpretation of the relevant body of traditions (Sunnah) Concerning marriage showing that the popular fiqhi understanding is incorrect and that the Qurʾān and valid traditions do not endorse a mercantile, domineering and patriarchal attitude towards women. In our concluding remarks, we briefly elaborate on different types of discourse found in the Qurʾān and Sunnah claiming that substantive discourses, such as moral and spiritual discourses, must be distinguished from accidental discourses, such as economic and master-slave discourses, and that we must interpret the latter in light of the former and not the other way around.

Unbelieving Qur’anic scholars have long studied Qur’an’s codification and canonization. In his recent hypothesis, Gabriel Said Reynolds, assistant professor of Islamic studies and theology at the Notre Dame University of America, generalizes New Testament’s modern research studies to Qur’an and focuses on Qur’an’s “doublets” or repeating passages, and considers the present codex (mushaf) of the Qur’an as a result of the later redaction of a written text provided from two previous Meccan and Medinan written material. This article - which is the outcome of analyzing a detailed article, two speeches of the writer and a series of scientific correspondences and discussions with him - explains his hypothesis and research method, clarifies his methodological mistakes and violation of his own scientific criteria and thus falsifies the validity of his idea. It then academically questions the presuppositions, bases and the content of this view, mentioning the following points: the incompatibility of the Holy Qur’an and the New Testament and thus the invalidity of generalizing the research methods of the New Testament to the Holy Qur’an, the intentionality of repetition in the expressive style of the Qur'an and considering repetition as one of the feature of the Qur’an, Qur’an being oral and readable and transmitted from one heart to another heart through permitted recitations, disclosing the scientific flaws of this proposal resulted from neglecting the views of Muslim Qur’anic scholars, and explaining the inaccuracy of his evidences due to interpretational misunderstandings; it then shows the critical necessity of inspecting the idea.

The fourth Islamic century is considered as the Islamic Renaissance and sometimes as Iranian and Shi’ite intermission in the Islamic history. In this period, we can realize a renaissance of a kind of humanism that is undoubtedly influenced by Shi’ite and Iranian components. This Renaissance was like its counterpart in the Europe in the 15th century, literal more than philosophical, but otherwise, was religious. The narrator and one of the actors of this humanistic thought is Abu-Hayyan Al-Tawhidi. He was philosopher and literary man in high level, but this article merely aims to reflect his humanistic approaches and his quotes and reports of the humanistic attitudes of his time. We want to realize the characteristics of this humanistic idea that occurred some centuries before Western humanism and probably affected it. We try to recognize their similarities and deference.

One of the important issues in politics is the legitimacy of the government; In this regard, questions are raised; Such as, what government is acceptable in Islam? Is just having the leadership characteristics enough for that? Do people have a role in acceptance? Is domination legitimate? and the like.In this article, allegiance, which is one of the governmental methods and has been confirmed in the Qur'an and hadiths, and in fact is pre-Islamic tradition and Islam has been accepted and signed with conditions, will be discussed. In this method, in addition to the conditions of leadership, the consent and acceptance of the people are either taken into account as a condition of necessity or an obligatory condition, and the government cannot gain legitimacy without it. The scope of this consent to accept the ruler extends to the acceptance of the government's grand plans, even if they decide against their own interests.Therefore, after discussing the concept of allegiance, verses and hadiths have been cited in this regard and the conditions and scope of allegiance have been studied.Allegiance; Realm of Allegiance; Conditions of Allegiance; Democracy

Since all Islamic religions have accepted the Holy Quran as the most important source of the religion of Islam, the Proving or not proving the Qur'anic origin of some legal rules may have a great impact on the justification or non-justification of those rules among Muslim jurists and brought Islamic societies closer to the unity. This study has reviewed indication of the verse “اوفوا بالعقود” on the legal rule of "principle of necessity" and after reviewing the Statements of commentators and jurists, the arguments of the views on the indication and non- indication of the verse on the principle of necessity are presented and examined. The result is that the verse does not any the indication on the principle of necessity.

Can falsity be used to prove the scientific nature of religious propositions? With the advent of rational positivism in the early twentieth century and its spread throughout the world, metaphysics and even transcendent ethics were discredited. By breaking with the authority of positivism, which generalized the empirical and inductive criterion for distinguishing science from non-science and turned it into a general criterion for meaning, Popper opened a new arena for metaphysical discussions in which metaphysical theory is considered rational. Respecting metaphysical theory, Popper not only saw metaphysics as inseparable from science, but more importantly, that metaphysics was one of the hallmarks of testable scientific theories. In this sphere, this research with analytical-critical method, seeks to measure and study the impact of Popper's philosophy of science on religious knowledge. To this end, we first examine Popper's philosophy of science and conclude that, despite the objections to Popper's philosophy of science, falsity has not only provided a suitable platform for the rational justification of religious propositions; Rather, it was found that some religious teachings, especially those teachings that are proven by rational reasoning, have the ability to be refuted and can be considered on the basis of scientific refutation.

The root of Vahy in Arabic at the time of the revelation of the Qur'an had no gender dimension. With the revelation of the Holy Quran, a wide semantic transformation begins. In theological knowledge, this word has found a semantic allocation. It is assigned to man and then to the prophets and their relationship with God. Theological knowledge transforms the central meaning of this word from the "act of God" to the "power of prophecy". Although this power has a passive meaning in the eyes of some, but it has become a subject and is at the center of the concept of revelation.In philosophical thought, the angel of revelation is interpreted as a separate intellect or the tenth intellect in the hierarchy of intellects, and the perfect human intellect becomes the focal element of the concept of revelation.During semantic changes, gender has entered the field of the meaning of revelation, first through the difference in the meaning of revelation on men and women in the interpretations of the Qur'an, then in the Inherence of the meaning of revelation and prophecy and then in the Inherence of the meaning of revelation and the intellect of the person being revealed.Prophecy and reason are both concepts related to gender in the history of Islamic thought.However, in the Holy Quran, there is no sign of a two-way Inherence between revelation and prophecy or revelation and reason. Therefore, it seems that revelation in the discourse of the Qur'an not only lacks a gender dimension but also a human dimension. 

Efficiency is a relative thing that varies according to the specific goals, possibilities and obstacles of each phenomenon. This criterion has been given special attention by different schools and theories. Although the theory of efficiency of these schools is not compatible with our religious issues, but efficiency, meaning to focus on maximum usefulness in matters such as contemporary interpretive approaches to the Holy Quran, will lead to the persistence and even social action of these theories. This research seeks to answer the question of how efficiency criteria are applicable in different approaches of an interpretive theory. Descriptive-analytical study of this issue indicates that the theory of efficiency in the approaches to the text, author, and interpreter, by following the important criteria in each of these approaches, can lead to efficient interpretive theory, and quantitative and qualitative expansion of understanding. He led the divine book, and did not overlook the diversity of interpretive approaches and views.