Table Of ContentM I M E T I C T H E O R Y
A N D I S L A M
“
T H E
W O U N D
W H E R E
L I G H T
E N T E R S
”
E D I T E D BY
M I C H A E L K I RWA N
& A H M A D A C H TA R
Mimetic Theory and Islam
Michael Kirwan • Ahmad Achtar
Editors
Mimetic Theory
and Islam
“The Wound Where Light Enters”
Editors
Michael Kirwan Ahmad Achtar
Loyola Institute School of Advanced Study
Trinity College Dublin University of London
Dublin, Ireland London, UK
ISBN 978-3-030-05694-0 ISBN 978-3-030-05695-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05695-7
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A
cknowledgements
This volume of essays is the first extensive exploration of René Girard’s
Mimetic Theory in alignment with Islamic thought and spirituality. Its
subtitle, from a verse by Jalāl ad-Dın̄ Muhammad Rumi, points to the
relationship between violence and insight which is at the heart of Girard’s
theory. The essays are the fruits of two conferences, one hosted by
Heythrop College, University of London, in 2013, the second by the
Faculty of Theology at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, in 2016. Our
thanks go to Wolfgang Palaver and Sheelah Treflé Hidden, for the inspira-
tion and commitment which enabled these conferences to take place. We
are grateful for the support of the two university institutions and for the
financial backing of Imitatio. We also thank everyone who took part in
this very special dialogue and enabled us to discover new dimensions and
new possibilities in the thinking of the late René Girard.
v
c
ontents
Part I The Argument 1
1 The Wound Where Light Enters: Mimetic Theory and
Islam 3
Michael Kirwan and Ahmad Achtar
Part II Texts 29
2 Islamic Anthropology, Based on Key Passages in the
Qur’an 31
Zekirija Sejdini
3 Adam and Eve in the Qur’an: A Mimetic Perspective 39
Ahmad Achtar
4 The Becoming of a Model: Conflictive Relations and the
Shaping of the Quranic Ibrāhım̄ 47
Michaela Quast-Neulinger
5 Fathers and Sons, Sacrifice and Substitution: Mimetic
Theory and Islam in Genesis 22 and Sura 37 65
Sandor Goodhart
vii
viii CONTENTS
6 From Structure to Interpretation of the Joseph Sura 87
Michel Cuypers
Part III Traditions 101
7 Spiritual Love and Sacred Suffering: Mimetic Theory
from Shı‘̄ah Perspective 103
Habibollah Babaei
8 The Philosophy of Dialogic Engagement: Two Muslim
Dialogue Thinkers vis-à-vis Mimetic Theory 117
Oemer Sener
Part IV Christianity and Islam in Resentful Modernity 127
9 Islam and Islamism in the Mirror of Girard’s Mimetic
Theory 129
Thomas Scheffler
10 Prison Violence in France and Mimetic Theory 141
Yaniss Warrach
11 Muslim Brotherhood, Social Justice and Resentment 149
Wilhelm Guggenberger
12 Vox victima, vox moderna?: Modernity and Its
Discontents 163
Michael Kirwan
Index 175
n c
otes on ontributors
Ahmad Achtar has taught at various university centres in London,
including Heythrop College, where he was Lecturer in Islamic studies
from 2007 to 2018. He is a research associate at the School of Advanced
Study, University of London.
Habibollah Babaei is based in the Department of Civilisation Studies at
the Academy of Islamic Science and Culture, at Qom, Iran. He is the
author of Theoretical Inquiries into Theology and Civilization (2013).
Michel Cuypers is a Catholic religious, a disciple of Charles de Foucauld,
based at the Dominican Institute for Oriental Studies, Cairo. He has pub-
lished three books—all translated into English—on rhetorical analysis of
the Qur’an, according to the principles of Semitic rhetoric.
Sandor Goodhart is Professor of English and Jewish Studies at Purdue
University, Indiana, in the Department of English. He is the author or
editor of 7 books on literature, philosophy, and Jewish Studies and the
author of over 100 essays. He has worked extensively with Girardian
Mimetic Theory and served a term as president of the Colloquium on
Violence and Religion.
Wilhelm Guggenberger is Professor of Theology at the University of
Innsbruck, specialising in Christian social teaching and contemporary
issues of technology and the economy. He has worked closely with the
‘dramatic theology’ approach, applying it to issues of social ethics.
ix
x NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
Michael Kirwan is a Jesuit priest, teaching and researching in theology
at The Loyola Institute, at Trinity College Dublin. Before this, he taught
theology at Heythrop College, University of London, for 20 years. He is
the author of two books on René Girard and coeditor (with Sheelah Treflé
Hidden) of Mimesis and Atonement: René Girard and the Doctrine of
Salvation (2017).
Michaela Quast-Neulinger teaches systematic theology at the University
of Innsbruck. In her doctoral studies, she explored a ‘political theology of
vulnerability’. Her work crosses the borders between systematic theology
and political philosophy, focussing on the possible contribution of religion
to the common good and to peaceful coexistence in Europe.
Thomas Scheffler is an author, lecturer, and political analyst with a spe-
cial focus on Middle Eastern affairs and comparative politics. He has had
teaching and research positions in Germany, the USA, and Denmark and
more recently at the German Orient-Institute Beirut and the Free
University of Berlin.
Zekirija Sejdini is a professor at the Institute of Islamic Theology and
Religious Education at the University of Innsbruck. He has written and
lectured extensively on issues of Islamic pedagogy and interreligious dia-
logue in Austria.
Oemer Sener is a researcher and freelance writer, whose interest lies in
intercultural dialogue and dialogue as a cross-disciplinary concept. He is a
research fellow at the Dialogue Society, London, and is coeditor of
Dialogue Theories (2013) and Gülen on Dialogue (2014).
Yaniss Warrach is a faculty member of the religious sciences department
at the École Pratique des Hautes Études-La Sorbonne in Paris. He has
worked in a number of detention centres in France as a Muslim prison
chaplain.
PART I
The Argument
