ZERO SUM GAMES - ISLAM AGAINST EVERYBODY ELSE. CONTENT ANALYSIS AND NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES IN ISLAMIC PRIMARY SOURCES
ZERO SUM GAMES - ISLAM AGAINST EVERYBODY ELSE. CONTENT ANALYSIS AND NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES IN ISLAMIC PRIMARY SOURCES

Summary/Abstract: The current paper analyses narratives used within the Quran regarding Islam and its relationship/opposition to other religions – focusing on how Islam portrays its mission against other religions as a zero-sum-game.Born in times of war, conquer and geographical expansion, Islam understands its da’wah mission (the act of calling people to embrace Islam) and calculates its gains in terms of losses for its adversaries. As Jihad sums up to be an obligation of any orthodox Muslim, and since many Ayyat (Quranic verses) describe conflict, revenge, war-waging and punishment for the kufr (disbelievers), Islam seems to understand its rapport to other religions in a zero-sum-game logic; briefly put, in order for the one true religion to win, all others must lose.Complementary, after every historical win, a victorious Islam continued to perpetuate this zero-sum-game logic in relations to non-Muslims, described as disbelievers, constructing a system of “you are either on our side, or against us” when addressing communities from conquered regions; this rationale is perpetuated by DAESH today in Syria, and by Boko Haram in Nigeria. In light of the above, the present paper uses content analysis to describe how Islam and its primary source - Al Kitab (The Book, referring to the Quran) see Islam’s relation to the other two Abrahamic religions. Our conclusions indicate that Islam views itself and its scope as a photographic negative (and better option) to other religions, and while it defines its primary objective to defeat others, in its perception of itself, Islam can only win as long as everybody else loses.

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