Psychoanalysis and the Challenge of Islam by Fethi Benslama

by Fethi Benslama

"Fethi Benslama is a psychoanalyst who, although a secular thinker, identifies himself as a person of Muslim culture who rejects ready-made explanations for Islamic fundamentalism. In that spirit, Benslama demythifies both Islam and Western ideas of the religion by addressing the psychoanalytic root causes of the Muslim world's clash with modernity and subsequent turn to fundamentalism." Tracing this ideological strain to its origins, Benslama shows that contemporary Islam consists of a fairly recent hybridization of Arab nationalism, theocracy, and an attempt (both naive and deadly) to ground science in faith. Combining textual analysis and Lacanian and Freudian psychoanalysis, he examines Islam's foundation, providing fresh readings of the book of Genesis, the Koran, The Arabian Nights, and the work of medieval Islamic philosophers.

Genres: Religion, Psychology, Islam, Psychoanalysis, Philosophy

Paperback

First published September 6, 2002

About the author

Fethi Benslama (born 1951) is a French psychoanalyst of Tunisian origin. He is a Professor of Psychopathology at Paris Diderot University, and the author of several books about political Islam.

Reviews

[Owlseyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Mjso...



A psychoanalyst in France, of Tunisian descent, performs the "cultural work" Freud antecipated when writing Totem and Tabu, or reflecting on Monotheism.

It looks like Benslama was deeply affected by the measures taken by Habib Bourguiba, in the early 1960's. Namely, shutting the theological university of Zitouna, scattering and transfering its professors to secondary schools; also, he removed the obligation for women to wear the veil and restructured the law of full adoption and filiation.

With awareness on the diversity of the Arab nations, the author focuses the first chapter on Origin, on pinpointing Transition from the "psyche of god" to that "of the unconscious". He points to a "break in civilization" and the unleashing of destructive forces within Islam, which, surely, is evolving. He finds a case against the biblical Genesis alluding the case of Hagar, a slave, whose body was used yet her rights not acknowledged. Benslama speaks about a "originary withdrawal". As Freud said, religious institutions are based on repression.

Then chapters 2 and 3 are on the role of the feminine. It's really the domain of the Repudiation of the Origin, or its Torment.

Chapter 4 deals with Masculine Narcissism.

I would like to refer that in chapter 1, there's an interesting analysis of the Rushdie affair, caused by the publication of The Satanic Verses. Benslama views the 'heretic' author as one like Oedipus, one entitled to his own truth, versus the Original and single truth. That is, "every man is an author". Where others saw blasphemy, Rushied replied, that does exist only in the domain of belief.

"In Moses and Monotheism in the Chapter titled "Difficulties" Freud confronts Islam. After excusing himself for his limited knowledge of the subject, he immediately eliminates it from his study. But in a short passage at the beginning of the chapter he provides a quick interpretation of the founding of Islam and the reason for its expansion."

And, indeed, the knowledge on Islam is so great in Benslama; it's just remarkable his analysis of the jealous relationship Sara-Hagar and how it impacted on future generations. The mark of the "slave-Hagar" would turn difficult to erase.

Though 9/11 is approached I sensed there is missing one (contemporary) book, yet to be written, by Benslama: "The psychoanalysis of Terrorism"; one which would help us make sense of the plethora of recent attacks on civilian and innocent people in Europe and the US, and elsewhere, in the name of Allah.*

That is my challenge to Benslama. I guess he's up to the task, way better than Freud. It's never too late to recall: Freud was born in a Jewish cradle.

UPDATE
I have a second challenge for Benslama; to try to figure out, the Canadian Trudeau flirt with Islam**.
23rd February 2018

*'ALLAH AKBAR': New York City Attack Suspect Shouted In Arabic As He Confronted Police
in: http://www.dailywire.com/news/22998/a...#

**https://stepfeed.com/justin-trudeau-j...

[Cybermilitia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hacer'in basina gelenler ve Hatice'nin rolu... Bunlarla basliyor tum hikaye. Adini anmadan Safa ve Merve tepelerinin arasinda 7 kez gidip gelmenin, ilk "bilenin" bir kadin olmasinin oykuleri. Eger yalnizca bu ikisi olsaydi Muhammed'in psikanalizi derdik. Ama isin icine Binbir Gece Masallarinin analizi de girince analiz devasalasiyor. Evet, Sehrazat'in yaptigi erkek narsisizmiyle delirmis bir erkegi sozle, anlatiyla, aklina da hitap ederek sagaltmak, tedavi etmek.

Bir dinin, bir halkin, bir kulturun cekirdeginde bastirilmis feminist bir damarin olmasi, disi hazzini bastirmaya calisan erkek narsisizminin tespiti olagan ustu. Zaten baska turlu bal gibi de esit iki cinsin birinin torba icine kapatilmasi, eve tikilmasinin ne mantigi olabilir? Tedavi sozle, anlatiyla olacak. Devrim sorunlarin yalnizca altini cizer. Onlari sihirli degnekle duzeltmez. Onlari duzeltmek icin Sehrazat'in oykuleri gerek.

Kitaptaki tek problem, tek tatminsizlik noktasi her oykunun incik cincik analiz edilmemis olmasi. Bir de onunla alakali su "son anda analizi boca etmek" denen hadise. Mesela Isa hikayesinin analizi inanilmaz eksik. Ama birileri daha iyisini yazmadan bu kitaptan daha iyisi yok.

Oykuyu anlamak mi istiyorsunuz? Maxime Rodinson'in Muhammed'ini, bunu ve Kuran'i birlikte okuyun.

[Mona · Rating 2 out of 5]

J'ai commencé à suivre il y a peu un cours d'ethnopsychanalyse, discipline dont je ne connaissais même pas l'existence. C'est donc le premier ouvrage faisant partie de cette discipline que je lis, je n'ai donc pas un regard d'expert dessus. Mais l'islam m'intéresse de longue date, c'est d'ailleurs la raison pour laquelle je me suis tournée vers ce livre. L'auteur porte un regard tout à fait inédit sur l'Islam, puisque peu d'auteurs ont jusqu'à présent risqué de voir cette religion avec une telle méthodologie. J'ai trouvé très intéressant comment il a analysé le problème majeur de l'islam par rapport aux autres monothéismes, qui est l'absence de la figure du père. Il y a effectivement l'absence d'une continuation entre l'homme et Dieu, comme Fethi Benslama l'affirmera tout le long du livre, puisqu'il en est le point clé.
À partir de cette affirmation, Benslama abordera de nombreuses thématiques inhérentes à l'Islam, certaines que j'ai trouvées pertinentes comme la place de la femme dans l'Islam, d'autres beaucoup moins comme par exemple l'explication du narcissisme masculin via notamment les Mille et Une Nuits. J'ai en effet apprécié l'analyse de l'auteur sur comment la femme est devenue aujourd'hui un problème dans l'Islam, comment elle est passée d'un statut privilégié (la première musulmane aura été une femme) à un statut qui la résume à un corps qu'il faut à tout prix voiler. Je me posais beaucoup de questions sur cette thématique en particulier, et cet ouvrage m'aura apporté quelques éléments de réponse.
Toutefois, au-delà de la question des origines se pose la question de la méthodologie. Les analyses de Benslama sont certes inédites, mais ses méthodes et plus précisément les ouvrages qu'il utilise comme source d'analyse, sont sujettes à questions. Par exemple, il cite à plusieurs reprises des hadiths dont la véracité est sujette à débat. Est-ce vraiment pertinent de porter l'analyse de toute une thématique, comme par exemple le voile, sur des écrits qui n'ont peut-être aucune valeur historique véritable? L'auteur affirme le contraire, mais je pense qu'il faut tout de même tenir compte de ce point pour pouvoir prendre de la distance et porter un regard critique.
Globalement, je trouve cet ouvrage très intéressant, il permet de voir l'Islam avec un regard tout à fait nouveau. Néanmoins, du fait de sa méthodologie, c'est un ouvrage qui doit être lu avec prudence. Un autre point qui a rendu la lecture plus encore plus difficile est le manque de clarté. Même en ayant un bon bagage en psychologie et en sciences des religions, beaucoup de concepts clés ne sont pas abordés de manière suffisamment claire. Je pense particulièrement au dernier chapitre "De Lui à Lui" qui était particulièrement imbuvable. Peut-être que je le relirai lorsque j'aurai avancé dans mes études de psychologie...à voir.

[Sencer Turunç · Rating 5 out of 5]

Modernitenin tam gaz yola devam ettiği sırada bu fetiş-moderniteyle bütünleşmeye çalışan ve köken takıntılı bir taklit halindeki ümit var etmeyen bir devinim, açıkça yapısal yetersizlik durumu ortaya koymaktadır. Bu durumun sonucunda kitle, sürekli kendini tekrarlayan sembolik çağrılardan ve buna karşılık gelen duygusal hezeyanlardan başka bir şey üretememektedir.

Kökenin sicili her geçen gün çelişkilerle tırmalanarak bozulmaktadır. Köken, hem tehdit altındadır, hem de kurtuluş için gerekli görülen yerdir. Bu noktada ortaya çıkan gürültülü patırtılı bir dışavurum, aynı inanca sahip ama kökeni takıntı haline getirmemiş herkes için de tedirgin edicidir.

Ataerkil bir toplumsal tasarı tam gaz uygulanmaya devam etmektedir. Kadın bir öteki olarak tam da bu ataerkil bastırmanın merkezindedir. Gözlerimizin önünde acı çekmektedir.

Allah ile insan arasındaki boşluk kitlesel manipülasyon ve politika ile doldurulmaktadır. Ve bu politik uzam kurumsallaşmaktadır. Bu kurumsallaşmanın tek alterntifi ise nihilist bir köhneleşmedir.

[Cem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ouf! I'm finally finished plowing through this pioneering work. The difficulty was due primarily to the fact that my copy is a Turkish translation, therefore quite insufficient, since the author is from the French school of Psychoanalysis, even worse, who frequently cites Derrida and Lacan. As French will be French, much of the interpreting lies in coining new words, deconstructing both psychoanalytic theories, Islamic edicts and quotes from the Koran. Nevertheless, there are important insights here on the woman issue, problem of origins and the deconstruction of Abraham's sacrifice in Islam, that are explained in relation to "Islamism" (which is crossed over a la Derrida after the first half) Psychoanalysis is a difficult area to apply to Islam and Islamic communities for various reasons, but this book may be a good initiation. However, reading it in French if possible is much advised.

[Talal Al-ghammari]

حتى الآن مازلت في الصفحة ال64
لا استبق الأمور
ولكن لحد الآن

يتضح عداء الكاتب للحركات الإسلامية في المقابل تسويغه لسلمان رشدي وآياته الشيطانية.

تأثره بفرويد

وغير مقنع بالنسبة لي تحليله الحادثة التي تزعم شق صدر الرسول حين كان طفلا وهي مجرد ادعاء لا تستطيع التسليم بوقوعها بل الأرجح أنها تم تأليف هذه القصة من جملة تأليف عديد المعجزات الحسية التي نسبت للرسول عليه السلام. .


انتظر ما تحويه الصفحات التالية.

[Mesut Bostancı · Rating 5 out of 5]

It delved into many different topics in Islam using the psychoanalytic lens (even though I think the point was to do it the other way). I loved all of his use of Arabic etymology to draw connections. I came to him through an article written by Zizek.

[Ayse Bilgen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bu kitapta, dokunulmayan bir 'garabet' olarak dünyaya diklenen ve tüm yaşamımıza dokunan İslam'ın 'cesurca' bir psikanalizini bulacağımı ummuştum.

Hacerle başlayan öykü Hatice ile devam ediyor ve kitap alıntılanan öykülerin zayıf, üstünkörü analizlerini içeriyor. Kitabın orta yerine sokuşturulmuş Şehrazatın binbirgece masallarının kabataslak analizini ilkin anlamlandıramadım. Sanıyorum binbirgece masalları ile kadın hazzını bastırmaya çalışan erkekliğe gönderme yapılıyor ve sonrasında Hatice'in öyküsü geliyor. Okur İslamda asıl öznenin bastırılmış kadın olabileceği izlenimine kapılıyor.

Elbet psikanalizden pek anlamayan biri olarak yanlış değerlendirmiş olabilirim kitabı. Bana göre yazarın amacı aslında İslam' ın da diğer tek tanrılı dinler gibi güçlü tarihsel serüvenini olduğunu ve psikanalize açık olduğunu ortaya koymak.

Beklentilerimi karşılamasa da değerli, öğretici, düşündürücü bi çalışma

[Elham Naeej · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Book is absolutely a pioneering book in a psychoanalytical reading of Islam. It addressed many genuine ideas which were always serious questions in my mind. By referring back to the stories in Islamic tradition, the author tries to highlight why Islam faces many challenges when read from a psychoanalytical perspective, especially in terms of women. To have a general idea of what the book generally says, I recommend reading Zizek's The Archives of Islam and Beyond the Veil.

[Leonardo]

¿Qué es el islam, este exceso perturbador que representa Oriente para Occidente y Occidente para Oriente? En su obra La psychanalyse à l’épreuve de l’Islam, Fethi Benslama ofrece una búsqueda sistemática del «archivo» del islam, de su obsceno soporte mítico secreto que "ne cesse pas de ne pas s’écrire" y que, como tal, sostiene el dogma explícito.


Islam y modernidad: Reflexiones blasfemas Pág.47