[Buddha-l] Yet again: Nietzsche and Buddhism

[sharif islam]

On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 9:47 PM, Weng-Fai Wong <wongwf at comp.nus.edu.sg> wrote:
> Richard wrote...
>
> > Yesterday I heard a paper by Paul Katsafanas, who argues that
>  > Nietzsche's "will to power" has been misunderstood by many who have
>  > dealt with it. Katsafanas maintains that the will to power is nothing
>  > more than the drive to overcome obstacles, whether they be internal or
>  > external.
>
>  Don't know much of philosophy... but this sounds a lot like the Jihad
>  concept of Islam. Did Nietzsche approve of Islam?

He hasn't wrote much about Islam but a recent book _The New
Orientalist_ by Ian Almond draws on  Nietzsche's idea of
how "'Mohammedans' are more blessed than Christians":

"Nietzsche, in whose works not a single quoted line from the Qur'ān to
be found (particularly not such familiar Qur'ānic description of the
world as a 'plaything and a distraction'), clearly felt there to be
something essentially life-affirming about Islam. Never appearing even
slightly troubled by the core meaning of word 'Islam' (meaning
'submission'), Nietzsche saw Islam more than not as a faith that
refuses to be ashamed of 'manly' instincts such as lust, war and the
desire to rule over others (Islam, is afte r all, 'the product of a
ruling class')." (Almond 2007 14)

My review of this book is <a
href=http://khepa.livejournal.com/105208.html>here</a>.

--sharif