Yukio Mishima on Islam

I’ve been exploring what some great figures of Western culture have said about Islam — figures such as Goethe, Tolstoy, Ernst Jünger, and others. I was excited, then, to come across a quote by Yukio Mishima which I have never seen before. Mishima may not be a “Western” cultural figure in the traditional sense, but he certainly stands out as one of the most intriguing figures of the 20th century. His literary output alone was enough to ensure him a shining spot in the firmament of contemporary history — and certainly within the canon of Japanese literature.

I found this quote, incidentally, in the recent issue of Qwawwam, which is an exceedingly well-done online Muslim publication that I highly recommend.

These words come from an interview with Mishima in which he recalls visiting a Hindu temple and then a mosque. Mishima says:

Islam is a pure, manly religion — and I always liked it. There is something strange in mosque’s architecture, most of them are copies of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Endless variations of the Byzantine theme with the additional minarets. It must be that Muslims are celebrating in this way, their biggest triumph over Christianity. The Mosque of Aurangzeb, with this point of view, isn’t an exception — one of its walls is from the remains of an old Hindu temple. So, what do you think I found inside the mosque? The absolute void, and this always was to me an expression of an absolute cold asceticism. Here, in an empty, dark space, far from the flickering and noise of Hinduism, I regained my ability to think, feel, and understand. I remembered Nietzsche’s thoughts on the ascetic void: ‘Will to nothingness (not-being), disgust to life, riot against fundamental conditions of existence (being)’. The mosque was a materialized thought of Nietzsche.

Of course, this brings up the topic of Nietzsche and Islam, which I’ve hinted at from time to time in previous articles, but which I would like to cover in greater depth in the future.

For now, thank you for reading, and Eid Mubarak to you and yours! May God grant you a blessed year ahead!

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