Citation

Courban A. Topique 2010; 113(4): 57-71.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010)

DOI

10.3917/top.113.0057

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The Muslim martyr who gives his life to the spiritual cause of god goes straight to paradise - he does not die. The felicity he enjoys there is not a direct vision of god, for god cannot be seen. He however is 'seen' by god. In Christian martyrdom, it is god who reaches out to man. In Islam, it is man who reaches out to god and who, in Promethean style, grasps the plenitude of his own ontology. Martyrdom is then for the Muslim a more clearly-voiced political act. The current phenomenon of suicide attacks is not however an Islamic specificity. It also exists in other religious cultures, for example Sikhism. Moreover, Islam is not a perfectly homogenous religion. It is mainly in the Shiite world, where the Khomeini revolution has left its stamp and in which the notion of Malakut (mundus imaginalis) plays a key role, that martyrdom through acts of suicidal violence may be seen as the symbolic Deicide on which a political order is founded. In that it bears witness to death, martyrdom is also an expression of the desire for power, the libido dominandi, which causes the martyr to sacrifice their own life not in their own name but in the name of the Other within them who prevents them from attaining autonomy. In that it bears witness to life, martyrdom also bears witness to the perennity of the identity of the group as atemporal. The martyr's death is the instance in which this collective identity is founded and is a breeding ground for the most terribly violent acts. © L'Esprit du temps.

Language: fr

Keywords

Martyr; Martyrdom; Identity; Jihad; Political; Prometheus; 'Ilm al-ma'ãd; Eschatology; Exoteric; Faqih; Fatwas; Fedaï; Fedayin; Fiannaland; Fiqh; Gnostic Reversal; HRM; Imam; Interglobal; Ishrak; Islamic Revolution; Juriconsulte; Khomeini; Libido dominandi; Malakût; Malicide; Messianic; Mmundus imaginali; Moudjahiddin; Nabiyyîn; Occultation; Ontology; Promethean; Protology; RHM; Sâlihîn; Shahãda; Shãhed; Shahid; Shuhadã'; Shuhud; Siddîqîn; Uléma; Wilayat al faqih