Stay up during the night, except for a little' (Q 73:2): the qurʾānic vigils as ascetic training programs
In the field of history of religion, the Qurʾān and early Islam often seem to be ignored in discussions of asceticism and cultural evolution. With the usage of Peter Sloterdijk's definition of áskesis as training', this article proposes a new way to understand the qurʾānic attitude(s) to...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Routledge
[2019]
|
In: |
Religion
Year: 2019, Volume: 49, Issue: 4, Pages: 614-635 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Koran. Sure al-Muzzammil
/ Islam
/ Asceticism
/ Sleep deprivation
|
RelBib Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion BJ Islam |
Further subjects: | B
Vigils
B The Qurʾān B Early Islam B Asceticism B Peter Sloterdijk |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
Summary: | In the field of history of religion, the Qurʾān and early Islam often seem to be ignored in discussions of asceticism and cultural evolution. With the usage of Peter Sloterdijk's definition of áskesis as training', this article proposes a new way to understand the qurʾānic attitude(s) to ascetic practices. By seeing the text's articulations of vigils as two types of ascetic training programs, I argue that a hypothetical chronological development of the vigils takes place, and that this development illustrates a shift from the Prophet's own extraordinary improvement' to a more general maintenance' practice for the ordinary believer. That the Qurʾān calls the believers to participate in such training programs may also explain the text's divergent approach to other religious traditions' ascetic practices. Through Sloterdijk's definition of asceticism, it is made clear that the Qurʾān in its own way partakes in and negotiates the overarching ascetic tendency of its time. |
---|---|
ISSN: | 1096-1151 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion
|
Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2019.1578295 |