Irish Times November 22, 1997 Michael Jansen talked in Nicosia to an Iranian philosopher who looks beyond the ideology of the Islamic Republic to interpret Islam Abdol Karim Soroush is the most controversial, most innovative Islamic thinker in Iran. Although a quiet, contemplative, London-trained philosopher, bespectacled and bearded, with a soft voice, his words resonate […]
The Times – Monday 3 November 1997 From Michael Theodoulou in Nicosia PRISDENT KHATAMI of Iran has won a significant battle against Islamic hardliners by securing an exit visa for the country’s leading intellectual dissident, who advocates less clerical involvement in government. After an intense behind-the-scenes wrangle, Professor Abdolkarim Soroush was allowed at the eleventh […]
The Guardian – Saturday 12 July 1997 Iran’s leading ideological dissident, Abdul Karim Soroush, has had his passport confiscated by the Iranian intelligence ministry and been prevented from attending a conference in Britain. The action was disclosed in a letter from Professor Soroush to St Anthony’s College, Oxford. The move against the popular Tehran academic […]
Dear Dr Rogen Thank you very much for your warm invitation and many congratulations for your success in holding such a brilliant and timely conference on Rethinking Islam. As to me myself, most unfortunately my ‘delicate situation in Iran’ as you made a clever allusion to in your letter of invitation, prevents me from attending […]
From: Ali M. ali@swri.edu On Sunday (March 9, 1997), more than 200 people attended Dr. Soroush’s talk on Molavi (Rumi) in Houston, Texas, at short notice. Dr. Soroush received a standing ovation from the audience, and began his talk with a short introduction about Molavi. He mentioned that he has been researching “Masnavi” (One of […]
From: Payman Arabshahi payman@u.washington.edu Dr. Abdol Karim Soroush, the reformist Islamic scholar currently on a tour of North America spoke tonight on “Freedom, Pluralism, and Islamic Thought” at the University of Washington. The lecture, which was very well received by the more than 100 people in attendance, started with a discussion of the concept of […]
From A questioning approach to Islam puts maverick professor in limelight by Kathy Evans of The Guardian, a London daily. Evans “speaks to a man whose controversial ideas on his faith have won him supporters and made him enemies.” Abdolkarim Soroush probably wouldn’t attract a second glance on the underground. He is balding, bearded and […]
The Guardian – Friday 7 June 1996 As the gulf widens in Iran between hardline clergy and reformist thinkers both in and outside the clerical establishment, a professor at Tehran University has become the focus of conflict. Lectures by Abdolkarim Sorush have been repeatedly stopped or disrupted by militants, apparently with the tacit support of […]
The Guardian – Thursday 6 June 1996 Kathy Evans speaks to a man whose controversial ideas on his faith have won him supporters and made him enemies ABDOLKARIM Sorush probably wouldn’t attract a second glance on the underground. He is balding, bearded and bespectacled, and looks an unlikely candidate for the job of visionary. But […]
One would have expected that Islamic scholars would have support from an Islamic government. However, this is not the case, not for Dr Hosein Dabbagh more popularly known as Abdolkarim Soroush, who has, for the past two years, been prevented from delivering lectures even at his own university. He has been physically assaulted many times. […]
