کارکردهای دین از منظر رویکرد دایره المعارفی

The encyclopedic approach to religion maintains that religion has a maximal function across all dimensions of the lives of believers. This approach rests on several important premises and components, including the truth of Islam, the philosophy of prophethood and the necessity of securing human felicity in both this world and the hereafter, the comprehensiveness and perpetuity of Islam, the existence of Qur’anic verses that address the overall structure of human life, the diverse applications of Qur’anic teachings in human affairs, the role of time and place in formulating practical religious rulings, and the authority of the Qur’an, Sunnah, consensus (ijmāʿ), and reason.



According to this view, every dimension of human life has a religious aspect, and this worldly life and the hereafter are not merely interconnected but stand in a hierarchical, longitudinal relationship with one another. Consequently, there is no dimension of human life that lies beyond the maximal sphere of influence of religion and its teachings. The characterization of these dimensions and spheres as “Islamic” means not only that they develop within an Islamic worldview, but also that they are maximally informed and nourished by the teachings of the Qur’an and the Sunnah. This approach, however, faces several significant difficulties. These include the failure to distinguish between the content of revelation and authentic Sunnah as “religious” and “non-religious”; insufficient attention to the distinction between God’s essential purpose and His accidental or secondary purposes in revealing the numerous verses of the Qur’an; inadequate consideration of the Prophet Muhammad’s and the Shi‘i Imams’ different religious and non-religious capacities and roles; neglect of the role of the culture of the time in the process of revelation and of the need to interpret at least some aspects of revelation in light of the ordinary understanding of the people living at the time of revelation; imposing unbearable obligations upon religion and religious texts; overlooking the significant roles of human reason, creativity, experience, and expertise; failing to distinguish among the concepts of value, law, and program in religious texts and human life; and, finally, neglecting the issue of the historicity of certain religious texts.