Empirical Spirits: Islam, Spiritism, and the Virtues of Science in Iran

Abstract

Iranians today largely take the legitimacy and prestige of the modern empirical sciences for granted. This prestige is a historical achievement, the effect of decades, if not centuries, of human effort. Its history is not one of linear intellectual progress, a cumulative triumph of reason over superstition or truth over error. Instead, it is a story of convergences and divergences among many different kinds of practice over a long stretch of time and in the face of myriad forms of resistance and contestation. These practices have included small-scale acts of discourse-translation and instruction, oral and textual disputation, learned exchange and popular entertainment-but also large-scale biopolitical projects involving hygiene, eugenics, psychiatry, pedagogy, and so on. They have been implicated in the rise of new classes of professionals such as scientists, engineers, technicians, bureaucrats, and educators, and in the building of new institutions and the undermining of old ones. No less important is that these practices have been deeply entangled with the state's powers of legislation, disciplining, and coercion.

The Qurʾān and Science, Part Ii: Scientific Interpretations From North Africa to China, Bengal, and the Malay‐indonesian World

“…He was significantly influenced by (pseudo‐)scientific movements, including the spiritualist practice of conducting séances to get in touch with spirits. In addition to producing various treatises on the topic, he repeatedly alluded to both spirits and séances in his exegetical works, specifically in the context of Egyptians visiting the London séance circles and ghost clubs and scholars like Farīd Wajdī being inspired by French Spiritisme (for more on the latter point, see Doostdar 2016). Jawharī also established the first Cairene Club for Mediumship (Dāʾira al‐Qāhira al‐Rūḥiya) in 1902, where people gathered to deal with human ghosts “empirically.” His interpretations of Qurʾān 7 ( al‐Aʿrāf ) and Qurʾān 17 ( al‐Isrāʾ ) demonstrate his attempts to include (pseudo‐)scientific views on spiritism in English contexts.…”

Nouvelles spiritualités en Iran

“…Au contraire, la religion s'est diffusée davantage dans tous les aspects de la vie des individus, sous la forme unique d'un islam chiite interprété, formalisé et décrété par le gouvernement islamique. Pourtant, plusieurs recherches montrent que plus de dix ans après la mise en place du régime islamique, et peu après la fin de la guerre contre l'Irak (1980)(1981)(1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986)(1987)(1988), on a vu apparaître de nombreux signes d'une quête ou d'une demande spirituelle chez certaines catégories de la population (Doostdar, 2016(Doostdar, , 2018Gholamizadeh-Behbahani, 2016 ;Gholamreza-Kashi, 2010 ;Khosravi 2007). Mais il s'agit ici d'une spiritualité, ou plutôt de spiritualités, beaucoup plus fluides, voire « invisibles » (Luckmann, 1967), qui peuvent donc coexister sans contradiction apparente, du moins dans un premier temps, avec les croyances religieuses islamiques.…”

“…. Sur l'importance de la « rationalité » des autres mouvements spirituels (comme des doctrines métaphysiques) et les tentatives de les mettre en rapport avec la « science », voirDoostdar, 2016Doostdar, , 2018 …”