Chapter 28

Derrida and Islamic Mysticism: An Undecidable Relationship

First published: 12 August 2014

Summary

This chapter describes the place of Islam in Jacques Derrida's writings and emphasizes its quasi-centrality for deconstruction. This would gives rhizomatic traces for a comparative investigation between the Islamic negative theology and deconstruction. The author proposes to read some of the mystical texts in Islam with an eye of deconstruction. In this way, he points to a different kind of negative theology which can accompany Derrida's deconstruction. The term, “Islamic negative theology” should be crossed out or written under erasure, because it fails to embrace the plurality within Islam; indeed, “Islamic mysticism” is the name that accommodates best that irreducible multiplicity.

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