Abstract
Mohsen Kadivar is one of the most well–known reformist figures among Shia jurists, whose ideas have received special attention from Muslim thinkers in the last decade. His efforts to structurally critique traditional jurisprudence and provide a new understanding of Islam from a human rights perspective have resulted in the writing of numerous articles and books, most of which have been written in Persian. Recently, two of his works in the collection In Translation: Modern Muslim Thinkers have been translated by the Aga Khan University and published by the University of Edinburgh. The purpose of the In Translation series is to present to English readers the most important debates that have taken place among Muslim thinkers about the current realities of the Islamic world, which have been compiled in languages other than English. To date, six works from this collection have been translated and published and the inclusion of two of Kadivar's works among them shows the importance and depth of his innovative jurisprudential theories among contemporary Shia reformist jurists.
The present book was written to redefine the position of human rights in Islamic jurisprudence in the modern era. It aims to indicate Kadivar’s systematic efforts as a new Mu ʿtazili to revive the position of rationality and justice in jurisprudence, and in the attitude and interference of Muslim jurists. Herein, the author considered the issue of the relationship between Islam and human rights from a different perspective. Even though significant aspects of what is now called human rights are explicitly or implicitly taken into consideration in Islam, conflicts with new standards of human rights, especially the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are fundamental and inviolable in the traditional reading of religion discussed with the name of “Historical Islam” in this book. The relationship between Islam and human rights and consequently the redefinition of human rights from the perspective of Islam are of great necessity. This challenging issue is the subject of the present book. Focusing on the principle that Islam is not limited to historical Islam or its traditional reading solely, the author sought to present a critical analysis of the traditional reading, illustrating a picture of spiritual or goal–oriented Islam that is a modernist or intellectual form of this religion and is more compatible with the contemporary human rights system. In this regard, the most important step is to introduce the new interpretational and jurisprudential methodology.
This book is a collection of fourteen articles about Islam and human rights. The articles in this collection were written from 1998 to 2006 and then published in 2008 as an independent book in Persian in Iran. The articles are classified into five thematic sections. The first section is about the basis for discussions on Islam and human rights. The second section comprises Islam and human rights. The third section investigates ideological, religious, and political freedoms. The fourth section focuses on women's rights, and the last section of the book is about other issues associated with human rights, such as the problem of slavery, and the rights of non–Muslims in contemporary Islam. In this book, Kadivar introduces the most important theory of his jurisprudential reform called "Rational Abrogation" which is based on the new interpretational, theological, and jurisprudential perception of Islam.
Even though the discussion of the redefinition of human rights by Muslim modernists is relatively new, Muslim and non–Muslim thinkers have offered a variety of perspectives on the relationship between Islam and human rights over the past few decades; each of them considers the issue based on its basis and method. This has contributed to the creation of a rich literature based on a variety of interpretations of the relationship between Islam and human rights. A valuable section of the book includes Kadivar's comprehensive introduction to the English version of the book, which is added to the work in order to present and criticize the existing research literature in this field, introducing his theoretical and jurisprudential innovations, and placing them in the heart of the existing literature. In this section, he explains the views of five of the most important thinkers in this field, namely Mahmoud Mohamed Taha, Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, Ann Elizabeth Mayer, Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari, and Abdulaziz Sachedina. Subsequently, he criticizes their point of views, examining the advantage and disadvantage of their ideas, and finally, comparing his point of view to those of the five thinkers.
Based on the idea that religious interpretations are a human narrative of divine teachings and can be criticized and evaluated for their human validity, the author attempts to prove that Islam is appropriate for modern reading. At the heart of the discussion of the basis for resolving the conflict between Islam and human rights, there are two theoretical challenges that the author must first address systematically: 1) The reason behind and the way of transition from historical Islam to spiritual and goal-oriented Islam. In historical or traditional Islam, the implementation of the Sharia rules is the criterion of the Islamic nature of society whereas spiritual Islam means paying particular attention to the transcendent goals and objectives of the religion and the meaning of Islam. 2) Basis of compatibility between Islam and modernity, for which three principles are considered by the author: primarily, re–reading the religion based on its transcendent goals; secondly, the high position of rationality in understanding religion; thirdly, the permanent right concerning the freedom of lifestyle choice.
In this regard, time and place are two determinant factors in Kadivar's jurisprudential method in this book, which paves the way for considering the discussion of fixed and permanent rulings and presenting his theory of rational abrogation as his most important juridical achievement. Justice and rationality are the two basic elements of his rational abrogation theory. Therefore, Kadivar's efforts in this work systematically aim to review the epistemological, anthropological, theological, and moral basis of traditional jurisprudence and to provide a new understanding of these elements in the light of reflection on the spirit of Quranic teachings, and the use of scientific and rational achievements of a new civilization to pave the way for a human-centered interpretation of religion. However, the limitation of human rationality and the non–acceptance of justice as the main pre–religious principle are the most important epistemological, theological, and anthropological bases of traditional Islam.
This book could be interesting for all those enthusiastic about the study of human rights and democracy in Islam, Islamic reformist movements, women and religious minorities rights in Islam, studies of traditional and modern Islamic jurisprudence, the place and application of philosophy and theology in modern jurisprudence, and especially Shiite jurisprudence studies. The method of analysis in this book, which combines epistemological, theological, philosophical, and jurisprudential topics and offers a new understanding of the human-centered principles of religion, opens a new horizon for the readers of the work to reach a deeper understanding of the neglected layers of spiritual Islam considered by Kadivar.
