Abdolkarim Soroush Quotes

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

If a group of people feels that it has been humiliated and that its honour has been trampled underfoot, it will want to express its identity and this expression of an identity will take different shapes and forms.

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

Compromise has a negative connotation.

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

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

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

We coin concepts and we use them to analyse and explain nature and society. But we seem to forget, midway, that these concepts are our own constructs and start equating them with reality.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Goals and objectives are based on theories and foundations.