“The Intrinsic Factors of Secularization in Catholicism and Shiism (with an Emphasis on compositional sanctification)

Various factors have been involved in the process of secularization in Christianity and Islam which are generally divided into two categories: external factors and inter-religious factors. In the meantime, the role of inter-religious factors such as external factors involved in the secularization process has been crucial. Inter-religious factors are three: (a) Historical-hereditary backgrounds, (b) Theological-biblical and (c) The institution of religion. They have played a decisive role in the emergence and continuation of the secularization process in both religions and are considered as the most important internal factors in secular occurrence. This study seeks to highlight the role of inter-religious factors in the occurrence of secularization in Catholicism and Shi’ism by focusing on the inter-religious factors in the occurrence of secularization, clarifying the context of its occurrence, and pointing to the places where authoritative sanctuaries have emerged. The result of this study shows that among the above factors, the religious institution plays a more important role in the religious divergence and the demand for succession of secular institutions instead of religious institutions in different customary domains such as government, economy and education and the demand for privatization and isolation of religion. This study emphasizes the important role of this factor in secularization in Catholicism and Shiism by introducing the concept of the compositional sanctification and the occurrence of this factor has been introduced as one of the most common factors in secularization of both religions. Descriptive-analytical method with reference to library resources has been used in writing this research.