Toward an Islamic Theology of Nonviolence: In Dialogue with René Girard

141 Pages·2022·1.042 MB·English

by  Adnane Mokrani

Toward an Islamic
Theology of Nonviolence
studies in violence, mimesis, and culture
SERIES EDITOR
William A. Johnsen
The Studies in Violence, Mimesis, and Culture Series examines issues related to the nexus of
violence and religion in the genesis and maintenance of culture. It furthers the agenda of the
Colloquium on Violence and Religion, an international association that draws inspiration
from René Girard’s mimetic hypothesis on the relationship between violence and religion,
elaborated in a stunning series of books he has written over the last forty years. Readers
interested in this area of research can also look to the association’s journal, Contagion: Journal
of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture.
ADVISORY BOARD
René Girard†, Stanford University Raymund Schwager†, University of Innsbruck
Andrew McKenna, Loyola University of Chicago James Williams, Syracuse University
EDITORIAL BOARD
Rebecca Adams, Independent Scholar Sandor Goodhart, Purdue University
Jeremiah L. Alberg, International Christian Robert Hamerton-Kelly†, Stanford University
University, Tokyo, Japan Hans Jensen, Aarhus University, Denmark
Mark Anspach, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Mark Juergensmeyer, University of California,
Sociales, Paris Santa Barbara
Pierpaolo Antonello, University of Cambridge Cheryl Kirk-Duggan, Shaw University
Ann Astell, University of Notre Dame Michael Kirwan, SJ, Heythrop College, University
Cesáreo Bandera, University of North Carolina of London
Maria Stella Barberi, Università di Messina Paisley Livingston, Lingnan University,
Alexei Bodrov, St. Andrew’s Biblical Theological Hong Kong
Institute, Moscow Charles Mabee, Ecumenical Theological Seminary,
João Cezar de Castro Rocha, Universidade Detroit
do Estado do Rio de Janeiro Józef Niewiadomski, Universität Innsbruck
Benoît Chantre, L’Association Recherches Wolfgang Palaver, Universität Innsbruck
Mimétiques Ángel Jorge Barahona Plaza, Universidad Francisco
Diana Culbertson, Kent State University de Vitoria
Paul Dumouchel, Ritsumeikan University Martha Reineke, University of Northern Iowa
Jean-Pierre Dupuy, Stanford University, École Tobin Siebers†, University of Michigan
Polytechnique Thee Smith, Emory University
Giuseppe Fornari, Università degli studi di Verona Mark Wallace, Swarthmore College
Eric Gans, University of California, Los Angeles Eugene Webb, University of Washington
Toward an Islamic
Theology of Nonviolence
In Dialogue with René Girard
Adnane Mokrani
Michigan State University Press · East Lansing
Copyright © 2022 Adnane Mokrani
p
Michigan State University Press
East Lansing, Michigan 48823-5245
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Muqrānī, ʻAdnān, author. | Palaver, Wolfgang, 1958– other.
Title: Toward an Islamic theology of nonviolence : in dialogue with René Girard / Adnane Mokrani.
Description: First. | East Lansing : Michigan State University Press, 2022. |
Series: Studies in violence, mimesis, and culture | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021052840 | ISBN 9781611864304 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781609176990 | ISBN 9781628954678 | ISBN 9781628964615
Subjects: LCSH: Nonviolence—Religious aspects—Islam | Violence—Religious aspects—Islam |
Violence in the Qurʼan. | Girard, René, 1923–2015. Violence et le sacré.
Classification: LCC BP190.5.V56 M86 2022 | DDC 297.5/697—dc23/eng/20220113
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021052840
Cover design by David Drummond, Salamander Design, www.salamanderhill.com.
Cover art: Salaman and Absal repose on the happy isle, folio from a Haft awrang (Seven thrones) by Jami
(d. 1492) probably Mashad, Khurasan, Iran, Safavid dynasty, 1556–1565 (ink, opaque watercolour and
gold on paper). Bridgeman Images, used with permission.
Visit Michigan State University Press at www.msupress.org
To Paolo Dall’Oglio

Contents
ix Foreword, by Wolfgang Palaver
xix Introduction. Interpreting Girard’s Silence
1 chapter 1. Theory and Principles
43 chapter 2. The Qurʾānic Narratives
73 chapter 3. The Historical Narratives
93 Notes
107 Bibliography
115 Index

Foreword
Wolfgang Palaver
The French American cultural anthropologist René Girard has claimed
a universal significance for his mimetic theory and stated sometimes,
too, that it also represents a universal theory of religion. Following
the Swiss Jesuit Raymund Schwager who was one of my teachers in Catholic
theology in Innsbruck and one of the first theologians who collaborated with
Girard, I have focused over many years on the relationship between violence
and religion. When suddenly the 9/11 terrorist attacks occurred in 2001, I felt
that my research focus would need to shift in light of this event. Islam, for
instance, was not a religion that we studied in those days in groups influenced
by Girard. A first step was provided by Girard himself when he claimed in an
interview two months after the terrorist attacks that they mainly resulted from
an increased planetary competition and were not caused by Islam as such.1
Nevertheless, the question of how Islam may be understood from the view-
point of mimetic theory has since remained with me and many other scholars
dedicated to mimetic theory. There were some Girardians who started to
claim that Islam is an archaic religion and is therefore more prone to violence
than Christianity because it is rooted, like all early religions, in a scapegoat
mechanism. I was not convinced and did not follow this interpretation, even
when Girard himself sometimes leaned toward this side of the debate. My first
ix