Rumi and the Pure Heart: Reading the Qur’an Existentially with Dr Soroush | Thinking Islam | Ep.12

How does listening to the Qur'an differ from reading it? What does it mean to approach the Qur'an not with your mind but with your whole existence?In this episode of Thinking Islam, Dr Abdolkarim Soroush proposes an existential encounter with the Qur'an, one that asks us to set aside our assumptions and approach it not as a book of law or philosophy but as maw'iẓa (admonition) that speaks to the whole being. This conversation explores the difference between reading and listening, why Rumi's Mathnawi is called the Persian Qur'an, and what it means to have a pure heart as a precondition for understanding the Qur’an. We delve into how kufr in the Qur'an is not about non-belief but about arrogance before truth, and why, as Dr Soroush tells us, the companion according to Sufis is everything.Dr Abdolkarim Soroush is a distinguished philosopher of religion and a leading voice in Islamic intellectual reform. A Visiting Scholar at the University of Maryland and former Professor at the University of Tehran, he has held visiting positions at Harvard, Princeton, and Yale Universities. Dr Soroush is renowned for his influential work on prophetic experience and his contributions to contemporary Islamic philosophy and Qur'anic hermeneutics.

Audio Chapters:

0:00 - Highlights

01:30 - Relation between Qur’an & Its Reader

07:20 - Uneven depth of the Qur’an

13:09 - Reading vs Listening to Qur’an

24:44 - Existential Reading of the Qur’an

32:36 - Losing the Sense of Maw’iza in Translation

39:33 - Rumi’s Mathnawi: A Persian Qur’an

44:50 - Pure Heart & Qur’an

49:17 - Love & Companionship

55:19 - Is Qur’an not a Kitab?

58:32 - Thinking Islam Question