Prophecy and Power

Heralded as the greatest living Arab poet, Syrian-born Adonis is also a staunch critic of violence and despotism in the Islamic world. In this book, he explores the nature of political power in Islam by focusing on the figure of the prophet Mohammed as both a political and a mythical leader. In conversation with Houria Abdelouahed, Adonis examines the Qur’anic intervention in establishing the prophet’s power, especially when the text is read based on faith and not reason. The authors discuss the historical developments before and after the prophet’s death, which established the power of the Caliph or the leader as absolute.

The second part of the book examines the consequences of these developments in the Arab and Islamic world today, where this ‘tyrannical’ understanding of power continues to hold sway. The authors conclude with a call for secularism in the Arab world and a passionate plea for the separation of religion from the political, legal and social spheres.

Epigraph

1 God, ‘The Messenger of Muhammad’?

Notes

2 The Ghazawāt: The Violence Involved in the Foundation of Islam

Notes

3 Putting the Text to Work

Notes

4 Saqīfa: Power in a Tizzy

Notes

5 The City of God and Entitlement

Notes

6 Tillage? Woman, the Most Noble of Words

Notes

7 ‘Love’s Capital Is Not to Have Any’

Notes

8 The West of the Enlightenment: What Does It Have to Do with the Orient?

Notes

Epilogue: Leaving the Cave!

Notes

Glossary

“Nobody can hold a mirror up to the Arabs, Arab culture, and the Arab malaise with Adonis’s conscientious erudition and affection. An irreverent fearless iconoclast from his early years, Adonis the nonagenarian remains an unflinching visionary and reformer, and a passionate advocate for the Arabs. Prophecy and Power is in line with this Adonisian tradition of franc-parler. Powerful, deeply searching, premonitory, and devastatingly veridical, this latest of Adonis’s gems is a must-read for anyone concerned for the Arabs, their predicament, their twilight.”
Franck Salameh, Boston College

“Adonis is indefatigable in his deconstruction of religious orthodoxy. These uninhibited conversations with Houria Abdelouahed, expertly translated by Julie Rose, dramatize the disquietudes between faith and reason, all the while championing the spiritual vitality of Sufism.”
Nouri Gana, University of California, Los Angeles

Adonis was born in 1930 in Qassabine, Syria, and has been writing poetry for over seventy years. Frequently tipped for the Nobel Prize for Literature, his achievements have been recognized with numerous international accolades, including the Goethe Prize in 2011.
Houria Abdelouahed is a psychoanalyst, lecturer and translator.