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Dr. Soroush Acknowledgement of Erasmus Prize 2004
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It is my
duty to extend my gratitude to Erasmus Prize Foundation who extended to
me this honor. As the saying in Arabic goes: "he who does not thank the
creature will not thank the creator", therefore I am thankful to both,
the God and the servants of God.
Erasmus Foundation awarded me not
only a prize but also an honorific title, namely," the Erasmus of
Islam". A few years ago a correspondent of Los Angeles Times gave me the
title "the Luther of Islam". I am, of course, innocent of all this but
if I were to chose one of the two I would definitely opt for the
Erasmus. The humanism, tolerance and more importantly the anti-sectarian
tendency of Erasmus attracts me more towards him than Luther, who was,
no doubt, also a great man of European history.
I am of the firm conviction the
mankind today is in dire need of an spiritual interpretation of the
universe as well as a spiritual emancipation ( as Mohammad Iqbal once
said). In my humble endeavors, therefore, I try to emancipate the
spirituality from the cage of the official organized religions. As for
masses who seek the spirituality within an organized religion I offer a
more tolerant interpretation thereof.
In the
field of political ethics I always remind myself and my friends of the
horrible gap between rights and duties in the modern society. Too much
emphasis on the rights in the liberal west has led to the virtual
neglect of human duties and responsibilities. On the other hand too much
concentration on obligations has made rights practically invisible in
the East. A balance therefore has be striked between the two in order to
readjust the human condition to the ideal human values.
Reaffirming my gratitude to the
Erasmus Foundation, I wish the present laureate, the former and the
future ones a rightly responsible life.
God Bless
Thank you.
Abdulkarim Soroush
http://www.erasmusprijs.org/eng/
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