&amp;amp;#7778;ūfī Motifs in Ibrāhīm &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;Al&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt;-Kōnī’s &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;The Fetishist&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt;

Jamal Assadi

doi:10.4236/als.2021.93016

Abstract

In his The Fetishists, Ibrāhīm al-Kōnī uses Ṣūfī themes, motifs, language and symbols to present the legendary epic thought of the nature of life in the desert where he lived in his childhood and youth. His goal is to ask questions about the meaning of existence, human adventure, destiny, power and civilization through using the world of the Tuareg as an imaginary source of fiction. Al-Kōnī depicts the elements of the desert world, as if it were a mystical redeemer, with which he unites to reach the ultimate universal truth. What energizes the Ṣūfī context in the novel is the vital presence of Ṣūfī characters—dervishes, wanderers, disciples, saints and the various conflicts inflamed amongst individuals, groups, communities, philosophies, and cultures and between man and nature represented by the desert, sands, winds and droughts. Furthermore, in the manner of the Ṣūfī thinking, al-Kōnī manages to grant a living spirit to every element present in the desert, human and non-human, and animate and non-animate. All share in the construction of the soul of the world to attain through joint prayers the great universal truth of God. That is a major ingredient that goes into the fabric of Ṣūfī philosophy.

Highlights

Ibrāhīm al-Kōnī, (1948-), a Libyan writer, and one of the most cherished and famed writers in Arabic today, employs Ṣūfī motifs, themes, and symbols so extensively that references to Ṣūfism, Ṣūfī figures, practices and ideas, and Ṣūfī contexts are deployed everywhere in his fiction
In his The Fetishists, Ibrāhīm al-Kōnī uses Ṣūfī themes, motifs, language and symbols to present the legendary epic thought of the nature of life in the desert where he lived in his childhood and youth
What energizes the Ṣūfī context in the novel is the vital presence of Ṣūfī characters—dervishes, wanderers, disciples, saints and the various conflicts inflamed amongst individuals, groups, communities, philosophies, and cultures and between man and nature represented by the desert, sands, winds and droughts

Summary

Introduction

Ibrāhīm al-Kōnī, (1948-), a Libyan writer, and one of the most cherished and famed writers in Arabic today, employs Ṣūfī motifs, themes, and symbols so extensively that references to Ṣūfism, Ṣūfī figures, practices and ideas, and Ṣūfī contexts are deployed everywhere in his fiction. Like iben Khaldūn, as Marcia Lynx Qualey thinks, Ibrāhīm al-Kōnī traces the conflicts of human generations, between established peoples and the nomadic peoples. His novel, she adds, is replete with Hegelian-Ṣūfī concepts related to the free and enslaved man, the traveling and the stable person, the believer in God and the disbeliever. She adds, is replete with Hegelian-Ṣūfī concepts related to the free and enslaved man, the traveling and the stable person, the believer in God and the disbeliever She concludes that events are often magical in the sense that they are mystical or Ṣūfic (Qualey, 2019). For the purpose of concentrated discussion, I will examine the setting of the novel, the range of characters, the conflict and the plot

The Setting

The Characters

The Plot

Conclusion