Muslim Intellectuals and the Question of Democracy

This article explains the evolution of the intellectual religious field in Iran, spurred by its relation with democracy. The conflicting link between Islam and democracy finds new ways of expression in the postrevolutionary context of Iran, characterized by an Islamic theocratic system of government. The schism between essentialism and culturalism is the starting point taken by religious intellectuals in their reflexive thinking regarding their support for democracy, considered as the only acceptable political form of government. Still, they don’t intend to reject their attachment to Islam. This study of the work of religious intellectuals shows the transition between the Islamization of democracy (represented by Shari’ati) and the democratization of Islam, including two key figures, Abdolkarim Soroush and Muhammad Mujtahid-Shabistari Shabestari.