The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers
• Dec 1st, 2009 • Category: NewsFrom the brains behind Iran’s Green Revolution to the economic Cassandra who actually did have a crystal ball, they had the big ideas that shaped our world in 2009. Read on to see the 100 minds that mattered most in the year that was.
45. Abdolkarim Soroush
for pitting his theological might against Iran’s Islamist regime.
RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHER | INSTITUTE FOR EPISTEMOLOGICAL RESEARCH | IRAN
A one-time philosopher at Tehran University, Soroush has perhaps done more than any other thinker to reconcile Islam with democracy. Drawing on ideas that range from the Quran to Karl Popper, Soroush argues that no individual can ever have an infallible understanding of God’s law. Therefore, people should work to advance God’s aims, which must be based on the betterment of humankind. This philosophy is a direct challenge to the Islamic Republic, which bases its legitimacy on the God-given right of its preferred Islamic scholars to rule. This year, Soroush sharpened his attacks on Iran’s religious establishment in a blistering open letter to the supreme leader titled “Religious Tyranny Is Collapsing: Rejoice!” As resentment over the stolen election still simmers, Soroush’s ideas offer Iran a way forward that establishes an Islamic foundation for a true, representative democracy.
