Abdolkarim Soroush is a very important religious leader in Iran. Soroush has been working hard to teach religious and philosophical values to the people of his country, Iran, at a time when the modern world is having an effect on them. He has been very important in bridging the gap between what people think of as “religion” and what Islam is really about. He has told everyone what the difference is between the words “believe” and “faith.” Soroush has also taught philosophy at the University of Tehran and the Imam Khomeini International University. He has talked about how important Islam is in the modern world at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia, among other well-known universities, where he was a visiting professor. Soroush has written about 25 books that show what he thinks about religion and philosophy. According to a poll done by “Time” magazine in 2005, Soroush was one of the top 100 most influential people in the world. According to a poll done in 2008 by the UK magazine Prospect, he is the “seventh most influential intellect” in the world.
Early years and childhood
He was born in Tehran, Iran, on December 16, 1945. His real name is Hosein-Haj-Faraj, and he comes from a middle-class family.
Soroush went to a school in Tehran called “Qa Immiyeh” for his early education. Soroush went to high school at Mortazavi and then to Alavi to finish his secondary education.
Soroush’s time at Alavi had a big effect on his personality since the school stressed that its students should be well-versed in both modern science and religious matters.
After passing the National Entrance Exam in Iran, Soroush went to school to get a degree in philosophy. After getting his degree, Soroush moved to London to study more and learn more about the west at the same time.
First, he got a degree in analytical chemistry from the University of London. Then, he went to the well-known Chelsea college to study the history and philosophy of science.
The Iranian Revolution took place in 1979, and as a result, Mohammed Shah Pahlavi, who was the leader of Iran at the time, was overthrown. As a result, there were more political meetings among Iranians living in the West. Soroush also went to these meetings, which was his first experience with politics.
Abdolkarim Soroush’s Career
After the political revolution was over, Soroush went back to Iran. He put out a book called “Knowledge and Value,” which he wrote while he was in England. Later, Soroush was in charge of the Islamic culture group at the college that trains teachers in Tehran.
He was chosen to be a member of the Cultural Revolution Committee by the well-known religious leader “Khomeini.” After all the universities in Iran were closed, this committee was made up of only seven people, including Soroush.
Soroush broke up with the Teacher’s Training College in 1983, likely because he didn’t get along with the college’s management. He was later moved to the Institute for Cultural Research and Studies, where he has been working as a researcher up to the present day.
During the 1990s, Soroush was very critical of the involvement of clergy in politics. Soroush wrote many controversial articles about tolerance, clericalism, hermeneutics, and religious pluralism for a magazine he helped start called Kiyan. In 1998, members of an orthodox Islamic group put a stop to the magazine.
More than a thousand tapes of Soroush’s talks on important literary, political, and religious issues were sent to different parts of the world. This made Iran’s religious conservatives angry, and they kept bothering Soroush until he lost his job and his safety.
Since 2000, Soroush has worked as a visiting scholar at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, the German institute Wissenschaftkolleg, and the University of Chicago, among other well-known schools around the world.
Works of note
One of Soroush’s many philosophies was to help people bridge the gap between what they thought “religion” meant and what it really meant. In this way, he wrote a book called “Expansion of Prophetic Experience,” which talks about this. This book was also written by a professor named Komeil Sadeghi, whose religious views had a big impact on Soroush.
The most important thing he did for Iranian philosophy was to give the term “Religious Philosophy” a whole new meaning. He said that “religious philosophy” was the study of how religious values shape a society or a group of people who live together.
Soroush didn’t agree with how the Iranian clergy was involved in the country’s politics. All of his arguments were put together in a book called “Theoretical Expansion and Contraction of Religious Knowledge.”
Abdolkarim Soroush has also written about 25 books based on what he knows about science, religion, and philosophy. Among these books, “What Is Science, What Is Philosophy?,” “Satanic Ideology,” “Tolerance and Governance,” and “Intellectualism and Religious Conviction” are some of the most important.
Awards & Achievements
Soroush was given the prestigious “Erasmus Prize” in 2004 for his many important contributions to culture and society.
In 2005, TIME magazine did a poll to find the “100 Most Influential People in the World.” Soroush was one of them.
He was also on the list of “The Most Influential Intellectuals in the World,” which was made by Prospect magazine in the UK in 2008.
In 2009 and 2010, Soroush was on the list of “World’s Elite Intellectuals” in the magazine Foreign Policy. In these two years, he was on this list in the 45th and 40th spots, respectively.
Personal History and Legacies
Soroush’s wife, daughter, and son-in-law make up his family. Because of his “rebellious” political and religious beliefs, it seems that radical groups and political groups have tortured his family.
Members of a few orthodox Iranian groups have called Sourosh “The enemy of Islam,” according to a few online sources. Even Sourosh’s daughter, who was called a “Slut,” wasn’t safe from these people.
The Iranian government also seems to have tortured Soroush’s son-in-law many times over a period of 10 months. Since then, the second person has been having nightmares often.
The Iranian government stopped Soroush from giving lectures because of his religious beliefs. The authorities were so extreme that they even took away his passport.
Estimated Net worth
Abdolkarim Soroush is one of the wealthiest and most well-known philosophers. Based on what we found on Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider, Abdolkarim Soroush has a net worth of about $1.5 million.