In the shadow of the Koran
In the shadow of the Koran ( Arabic في ظلال القرآن, DMG Fī ẓilāl al-qurʾān 'In the Shadow of the Koran') is the main literary work of the Egyptian Islamist scholar and theoretician of the Muslim Brotherhood Sayyid Qutb (1906–1966). This is a commentary on the Koran in 30 volumes, in which all 114 suras are dealt with. The 30 volumes correspond to the 30 Juzʾ units of the Koran.
The author began to write it down in 1951, which lasted until 1965. Most of the work was written or revised and supplemented in prison when Qutb was sentenced to a decade-long prison term after an attempt to assassinate Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1954.
In his detailed commentary on the Koran, the author outlines his views on the structure of an Islamic society and an Islamic state .
Meaning and reception
The German, repeatedly used translation Im Schatten der Koran only partially reflects the meaning of the work. The Arabic expression Fī ẓill ... used in the singular , literally "In the shadow of ...", means "in the protection of ..." as a phrase. Accordingly, the title could also be translated as “In the protection of the Koran”, which is in line with the author's understanding.
According to the American publicist Paul Berman (* 1949), Qutb's commentary on the Koran is one of the “most remarkable products of prison literature that has ever been produced”. In this “masterpiece” a theological criticism of the present is developed over many thousands of pages, which opens up the perspective of a “real life” from reading the Koran, free from materialism and idolatry. A kind of new person is being designed here, virtuous and not alienated, who is no longer subject to anyone: no state or clergy, only God. Hartmut Bobzin describes Im Schatten der Koran as "perhaps the most influential (Koran) commentary of the 20th century", emphasizing the legibility and penetrating text analysis.
The caliphs as leaders of the Ummah are also referred to in Islam as "God's shadow on earth". In his exegesis of the Koran, however, Qutb rejects all authorities such as the caliphate and the ulema as interpreters of the divine word. According to Qutb, the rule of Allah on earth does not mean that one or the other group is granted government rights, or that the word of God lies exclusively in the hands of the regime. The author also turns against traditions such as the veneration of saints and Sufism . According to Qutb, it is up to the believer himself to carry out God's will, and he does not need a mediator to do so.
In Qutb's commentary on the Koran, Judaism is portrayed as a dangerous competitor of Islam. According to the author, the Jews have tried again and again to harm Islam, using different methods in different eras. Qutb lists atheism , communism , capitalism and sexual immorality among the "vicious conspiracies" they allegedly instigated , and alleges that Jews have made a sham convert to Islam in order to infiltrate the Muslim communities since the days of Medina and to fight from within.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The freedom that lies in submission Robert Misik in: taz, January 27, 2004
- ↑ H. Bobzin: The Koran: An Introduction. CHBeck, 2014. p. 125. Partial online view
- ^ Background analyzes on Islamism April 3, 2012
- ↑ Malte Gebert: Fi Zilal al-Qur'an (Sayyid Qutb, 1952) . In: Wolfgang Benz (Hrsg.): Handbuch des Antisemitismus. Vol. 6: Publications . De Gruyter Saur, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-11-030535-7 , p. 198 (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
literature
- Tilman Seidensticker: Islamism: History, thought leaders, organizations. CH Beck, 2016. ISBN 978-3-406-66069-6 .