Michael Jansen talked in Nicosia to an Iranian philosopher who looks beyond the ideology of the Islamic Republic to interpret Islam Abdol Karim Soroush is the most controversial, most innovative Islamic thinker in Iran. Although a quiet, contemplative, London-trained philosopher, bespectacled and bearded, with a soft voice, his words resonate in his homeland and elsewhere in the Muslim world.

Until he was banned from lecturing at Tehran University, thousands of admirers turned out to hear him. So dangerous  were his words that conservative clerics sent people to lynch him. They beat him up but did not kill him.
 
The authorities sacked him from his educational post, interrogated him, imposed an unofficial ban on the publication of his writings and, for a period, confiscated his passport. Nevertheless, he continues to speak his mind, as he did recently at a seminar in Cyprus on "Political Islam and the West".

When queried as to whether his remarks would be on or off the record, he replied: "No. No red lines." Asked if he felt he could be compared to Martin Luther, Dr Soroush replied that he was "a follower of [Sir Muhammad] Iqbal [the Indian Muslim thinker], who wrote a book under the title Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam". He explained: "I try
to reconstruct and re-interpret Islamic tradition in the light of the [scientific and socio-economic] achievements of our age".

In his view, "Islam is a series of interpretations of Islam", changing according to historical experience.

"If you look at the history of Islam and Muslims, you will understand the content of Islam." Thus, re-interpretation is necessary for every age, he maintains. This, he said, had "drastic implications" for Iran.

"For example, according to my interpretation . . . there cannot be any official interpretation of Islam . . . or any official class of interpreters of Islam". Thus, in two phrases he dismissed both the official ideology of the "Islamic Republic" and the clerical class which rules the state.

Dr Soroush believes official ideology of the republic, formulated along the lines of left-wing ideologies by Dr Ali Shariati, served its purpose in winning power during the 1979 revolution. "But I find that kind of interpretation of Islam full of shortcomings and not compatible with the main message of Islam," he said.

Dr Soroush said he did not subscribe to what he called the simplistic notion of the separation of church and state. He drew a distinction between secularisation and secularism, saying that in Islamic societies state structures should be secularised because their functions are "non-religious", but the societies themselves were deeply religious and
would reject "secularism".

Consequently, the model he proposes for Iran is similar to the models which have emerged in modern Muslim countries, such as Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Malaysia.
 
As far as the clergy is concerned, he stated: "I'm not saying there's not a role for the clergy . . . but they should make room for others . . . they should not restrict anybody and they should not feed on religion". He believes "learned" people, clerical or lay, should adopt these criteria.

Dr Soroush's approach would transform the state system and reduce the role of the Shia clerical hierarchy. He said his passport had been returned in time for the seminar, thanks to the efforts of Iran's new reformist leader, President Muhammad Khatami, the former president, Mr Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of the judiciary and various friends abroad.
He considered this a "healthy sign" that Iran was changing, opening up.

According to Dr Soroush, Mr Khatami "is deeply familiar with Western values" and he believes in "intellectual freedom", but to achieve reform he has to reconcile "a civil society with a religious society" and overcome obstacles presented by tradition, ideology and a conservative clergy.

Dr Soroush is familiar with the writings of Dr Muhammad Shahrur, a Dublin-educated Syrian thinker, and maintains contact with other Islamic modernists in the Arab world and Turkey. Oxford University Press is scheduled to bring out Dr Soroush's first English book, Visions and Revisions, next year.