Humanizing Enemies: Iran’s Post-Religious Intellectual Discourse

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Published on September 16th, 2013
by Jahandad Memarian

In Iran, intellectual discourse is moving in a new direction. Mostafa Malekian, one of the highest-celebrated intellectuals in the country, is slowly gaining a following tantamount to Abdol Karim Soroush, often described as the “Martin Luther of Islam.” This indicates a shift from the primarily religious paradigm toward one concerned with the modern human condition.

Soroush’s work was a key part of increasingly popular reformist beliefs, including secularism, freedom, and civil society. The Khatami administration was born out of this discourse, which had both domestic and international implications. During Mohammad Khatami’s presidency, Iran’s foreign policy entered a new phase: from confrontation to conciliation. Similarly, Malekian offers a way to inevitable frictions in non-violent and constructive ways in Iran’s multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and deeply political society. This new discourse might spill over to interstate relations as well. Malekian’s compelling work, which is highly respected by scholars in the field, has received a raft of recent, overwhelming attention from students and journalists alike. He is currently the most sought-out lecturer at universities and research centers throughout Iran.

Malekian has devoted his life to decreasing the pain and suffering of others. His thoughts are unprecedented in the tradition of modern Iranian intellectual heritage. His rhetoric cannot be contained within existing genres; secular, religious, traditional, or even liberal are not big enough boxes. His approach is irreverent to other discourse, due in large part to his incredible reverence for life. Says Malekian:

I am not concerned with the tradition, nor for the modernity, nor for the culture and nor for any other abstract stuff of this kind. My foremost concern is with the humans of flesh and blood who are coming into this world, suffer, and then pass away. Our journey in life is to, first: Make human beings encounter the truth more and more so that they learn more truth; second, to suffer less and to feel less pain; and third, to develop our dispositions toward being good people. And to make these three targets happen, we are allowed to employ whatever is useful, be it religion or science, art or literature, and all other human achievement.

Malekian’s exegesis represents a welcomed turning point in Iran and establishes a new philosophical genre: “Rationality and Spirituality.” Unlike other religious intellectuals, Malekian feels that human spirituality can remain mutually exclusive from membership with organized religion, and that, perhaps more importantly, organized religion is not always the key to achieving spirituality.

http://www.lobelog.com/humanizing-enemies-irans-post-religious-intellectual-discourse/

Jahandad Memarian is a senior research fellow for Nonviolence International.

http://nonviolenceinternational.net/

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1. Worth the read! Thanks!