Ma`rifat Farhangi Ejtemaei

Religion as an undeniable reality is one of the social phenomena studied by most scholars of human and social sciences. Among social scientists, Durkheim is perhaps the most famous sociologist who has studied religion through the lens of functionalism and his studies has been and are cited by most researchers of the field. Although Durkheim’s functionalist approach can by useful and somehow liable against those who consider religion inefficient in modern life, the reality of religion and deep studies show that his reductionist approach failed to show the reality of religion and even its functional aspect, but also his superficial and super-structural studies has made most researchers unable to well understand the substance of religion which is the origin of most social outcomes. Among the views of Muslim thinkers, the present paper chooses the view of Allamah Tabatabaii, who is not only an expert of religion but also aware of functions of religion, to evaluate Durkheim’s functionalist view and compare these two thinkers’ views in order to show that the reality of religion is not in such a low position that Durkheim could provide it to researchers and seekers of reality through studying it externally.