| Abstract
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This article addresses the Qurʾan in light of Peter Sloterdijk’s etymologically founded understanding and elaboration of askēsis as “training” or “exercise.” Approaching asceticism as a broad cultural phenomenon and not as, for example, renunciation, self-denial, or privation exclusively, the article demonstrates that the Qurʾan is a text characterized by ascetic norms and values. The Qurʾan is an educational project, employing a variety of pedagogical strategies to train its adherents how to think and react in a particular way. Through an outline of four examples of such strategies (the use of “learning terms,” metaphorical language, formulaic repetition, and polemical speech), I argue that the Qurʾan follows other (post-)axial religions in constructing an ascetic, deliberate, and self-reflexive mental training program for its followers. This article addresses the Qurʾan in light of Peter Sloterdijk’s etymologically founded understanding and elaboration of askēsis as “training” or “exercise.” Approaching asceticism as a broad cultural phenomenon and not as, for example, renunciation, self-denial, or privation exclusively, the article demonstrates that the Qurʾan is a text characterized by ascetic norms and values. The Qurʾan is an educational project, employing a variety of pedagogical strategies to train its adherents how to think and react in a particular way. Through an outline of four examples of such strategies (the use of “learning terms,” metaphorical language, formulaic repetition, and polemical speech), I argue that the Qurʾan follows other (post-)axial religions in constructing an ascetic, deliberate, and self-reflexive mental training program for its followers.
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