Sublime

How then should one explain the universal presence of religion, supposedly so useless, right at the heart of all human institutions? When this question is asked in a rationalist context, there is only one really logical response, that of Voltaire: religion is defined as a parasite that attaches itself from outside to useful institutions. “Deceitful

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Of course, Khomeini never likened himself to the Divine, nor did he ever explicitly claim the title of Mahdi—to have done so would have been political suicide. Rather, Khomeini consciously embraced the messianic charisma of the Mahdi, and allowed his followers to draw their own conclusions. Like all the Mahdis before him, Khomeini claimed descent f

Poet, novelist, journalist, critic, and social activist Sayyid Qutb (1906–66) would come to be known as the…

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RELIGIONS BECOME INSTITUTIONS when the myths and rituals that once shaped their sacred histories are transformed into authoritative models of orthodoxy (the correct interpretation of myths) and orthopraxy (the correct interpretation of rituals), though one is often emphasized over the other. Christianity may be the supreme example of an “orthodoxic

The British conviction that the ancient foe of Christendom was in desperate need of civilization created a sense of inferiority and fear among India’s Muslims, many of whom believed that their faith and culture were under attack. So while the annexation of native states, the dispossession of landowners, the disregard for the plight of the Indian pe

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It is this spiritual guidance that gives the Imams sole authority to interpret the Quran. The Shi‘ah believe the Quran contains within its pages two different messages meant for two different audiences. The Quran’s explicit message (zahir) is obvious and accessible to all Muslims through the discipline of tafsir (traditional Quranic exegesis), refe