From Monkey to Man

The Concept of Protestantism The Protestant movement wanted to rescue Christianity from the clergy and the Church hierarchy - [Christians] must save religion from the pope. We [Muslims] do not need mediators between us and God. We do not need mediators to understand God's holy books. The Prophet [Jesus] spoke to the people directly? We don't need to go to the clergy; each person is his own clergy. Shariati maintained that all the religious messages …

…and he told the young people that these ideas were bankrupt; [he said] you could understand the Koran using your own methods - you could understand as well as the religious leaders who claim to have a ton of knowledge. The religious leaders taught that if you understand the Koran on your own, you have committed a crime. They feared that their racket would cease to exist if young people learned [Koran] on their own?