Book Review - Epics and Sedition by Ibn Tawoos

Epics prove the authenticity of the Islamic grand narrative adopted by a particular group. They emphasize the role of the (assumed) reader in creating the narratives despite their textual and intellectual differences, and make the reader a structural and ontological part of them. They gamble on the importance of all this to confront, resist, and change the existing authority, if even after some time. It is essential to dissect critically this kind of narrative, which is still thought to be neglected and excluded, to divest it of its credibility, for in the end it is a narrative just like any other with its structure that belongs to a position on the world, which here represents a political position that can be understood and neutralized. Part of this understanding is to mitigate the sway of the sacred over people, the total hegemony of ideas or grand narratives, and the presence of the historical in the present. Then, the rational and critical will supplant the inherited and emotional, leading to the curtailment of violence and its replacement with dialogue and coexistence. Working on narrations overpowered by grand narratives and nullifying their action on people is essential to expose their inhumane (mostly creedal) objectives and the flagrant and horrific hostility to life and progress inherent within them.

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Abstract

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Epics prove the authenticity of the Islamic grand narrative adopted by a particular group. They emphasize the role of the (assumed) reader in creating the narratives despite their textual and intellectual differences, and make the reader a structural and ontological part of them. They gamble on the importance of all this to confront, resist, and change the existing authority, if even after some time. It is essential to dissect critically this kind of narrative, which is still thought to be neglected and excluded, to divest it of its credibility, for in the end it is a narrative just like any other with its structure that belongs to a position on the world, which here represents a political position that can be understood and neutralized. Part of this understanding is to mitigate the sway of the sacred over people, the total hegemony of ideas or grand narratives, and the presence of the historical in the present. Then, the rational and critical will supplant the inherited and emotional, leading to the curtailment of violence and its replacement with dialogue and coexistence. Working on narrations overpowered by grand narratives and nullifying their action on people is essential to expose their inhumane (mostly creedal) objectives and the flagrant and horrific hostility to life and progress inherent within them.

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