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by Fethi Benslama , translated from French by Robert Bononno, University of Minnesota Press, Minneappolis, MN, 2009, 272pp.
When I was first asked to write a commentary on Fethi Benslama's book, I was delighted to learn that such a book even existed. Islam is so poorly known in our field and easily misinterpreted that anything that would help us see Islam in a softer light or from a different angle is a welcome addition, if not a dire necessity. I wasn't surprised to learn that Dr. Benslama was a French psychoanalyst of Tunisian origins, explaining his prolific writing style, erudite philosophical tone, historical grasp of the subject at hand, and somewhat Lacanian complexity.
The book opens up with a reminder of Freud's view of religion and the fact that he referred to Islam directly only very briefly before relegating it for future investigation (p. vii). In a way, Benslama's book is one such investigation. In this context, Freud's future is our present. And let's hope it's not just an illusion! But a challenge of squeezing the broad mosaic of diverse Muslim populations into Freud's psychoanalytic method, which was crafted single-handedly in the late 19th and early 20th century, Judeo-Christian Viennese era.
Benslama's thesis, as he succinctly describes in an interview with Gabriela Keller for Qantar.de on June 13, 2006, is as follows:
Freud says that religious belief is an illusion, a construction. This construction is based on the despair of the abandoned child. Religion offers consolation and relief from the despair by promising redemption from the forlorn state. Freud views God as an idealized father figure from whom the faithful anticipate protection and salvation. The Jews call God the Father, and in Christianity God has even put forth a human Son. Islam, on the other hand denies any connection between God and a father figure. In fact God is far removed from humanity, because He may not be compared in anyway with mankind, which makes for an abstract religion and abstract God.
If I understood it correctly, Benslama's central psychoanalytic question is this: Considering that the "father" is central to Freud's theory of religion, how are we to analyze or understand Islam, for which the Divine is not held by the symbolism of the father?...