Religion in general view is the side that transcendental for people who believe so in practice it as a sacred and in spite of all the contradictions that enveloped it. although the development there who say religion as the opium of the people who later in exploitation by capitalists to dampen the activity of the frontal of its workers as recorded in history of karl max who want to liberate the workers from the snare of religion which he said as the weak side of the workers, not to mention the terrorism issues is always associated with religion, such as the emergence of ISIS and other radical religious sect that it would weaken both sides of the religion itself. Although some say that the phenomenon of content is a conspiracy of a handful of Americans to propagate Islam but nonetheless always been associated with Islam, it is quite reasonable because ISIS carry religious symbols such as we often see in the media. then as a critical questions of religion is; whether religion is really the holy presence? and whether human notions about religion as the result of a mind of its own, which then adopted and its run out by followers of religion as an ideal principle in religion?. then a deeper understanding of religion is needed to provide a clear picture of it.
In an effort to the theory that Soroush created is that Contraction and Expansion as an urgent reply. In this theory raises the basic assumptions that must be understood that religion and religious knowledge are differences. Religion is sacred and in spite of all opposition, while religious knowledge is a human insights that were presented to interpret the religion. So in a process, the man doomed to trial and error. So any man's view of religion was included as a part of the human knowledge about the religion. Contraction and expansion theory is an interesting side of an intellectual figure of Iran as like Soroush. interesting side is a theory that gives a diffrent understanding of other contemporary figure such as Nasr Hamid Abu Zaid, Fazlur Rahman and other. In that theory, provides an understanding of the differentiate between religion and religious knowledge. Soroush think that religion is sacred and silent but religious knowledge beyond religion always experience by the dynamics process of human understanding, with the times and bound by tradition and local culture that occupied, it will be aparent how the interpretation of each other is always different.