In the present day, our youths need to know the answers to many such questions concerning the correlation between religion and the modern life as the following:

• What is the status of religion in the modern world?

• Can religion be regarded as significant, despite recent scientific progress?

• Does the intellect necessitate believing in and practicing a religion?

• Does advancement in science, as well as transformation in the spheres of culture and civilization, prove the needlessness of religion?

• What are the arguments presented by their proponents?

• How have the Western elite and the general public reacted towards the recent religious tendencies and refutations, particularly those concerning Islam?

The present book aims at finding answers to such questions. For the same purpose, it proceeds with an exposition of the concept of “the necessity of religion” and its relationship with similar concepts. The Western and Muslim thinkers’ approach in this regard and its distinctive features will then be explained.

Then follows a detailed exposition of the viewpoint of Muslim thinkers concerning the necessity of turning to religion, and the appointment of prophets to their Divine missions.

The main topics of this chapter include society’s need for laws; recognizing and treading the path towards God; the value of duty; and, recognizing the path leading to perfection. An evaluation of viewpoints and an exposition of select views precedes the suggestion of challenging the adequacy of the intellect and science in our age, and finally, Dr. Soroush’s claims concerning the admirable needlessness of religion and its evaluation will be presented.

What follows includes the damaging consequences of excessive reliance on science and the intellect in the West; the simultaneous global increase in religious tendencies, particularly, conversion to the Islamic faith in the West; an exposition of reasons for converting to Islam by the new converts. The last part includes the synopsis and message of this book.

The prevalent view among Western thinkers constitutes refutations of religious necessity by relying on science and the intellect, especially by some philosophers of materialism and extreme rationalism during the Renaissance and today. Consequently, a brief account of the Western thinkers’ approach toward religious necessity will be presented, and a more detailed discussion will be devoted to examine the adequacy of science and the intellect.

Abu ’l-Fazl Sajedi