Religious Intertextuality in Ayman Al-Otoum’s His Name Is Ahmad

Linguistic and Narrative Sacredness in Modern Arabic Fiction

Bibliographic Data

ID22431376
AuthorsKhaled Igbaria (0000-0002-0175-6497, Achva Academic College, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume17
Issue7
Pages827
Publication date2026-07-10
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel17070827
OpenAlexW7167910594
LanguageEN
References cited21

Ayman Al-Otoum is a major contemporary Jordanian novelist whose fiction is marked by sustained engagement with Qur’anic language and religious discourse. This study argues that religious intertextuality in His Name Is Ahmad functions not as ornamental reference but as a form of narrative ethics that shapes moral resistance and readerly interpretation. Rather than offering a descriptive account of Qur’anic echoes, this study adopts a close-reading approach to examine how sacred discourse functions within the novel’s narrative architecture. The analysis focuses on two interrelated dimensions: linguistic intertextuality, manifested in Qur’anic diction, devotional formulas, ritual terminology, and theophoric naming, and narrative intertextuality, expressed through prophetic stories, sacred history, and archetypal scriptural patterns. The findings demonstrate that religious intertextuality functions as a central narrative mechanism through which the novel articulates its ethical vision. Sacred discourse further emerges as an internally persuasive ethical language through which institutional authority and social power are critically evaluated without overt ideological confrontation. This study proposes a refined analytical model for examining the narrative productivity of sacred discourse in contemporary Arabic fiction. This study thus reaffirms the continuing analytical significance of Qur’anic intertexts for current debates at the intersection of religion, literature, and cultural critique.

Arabic · Ideology · Intertextuality · Narrative · Power (physics) · Representation (politics) · Resistance (ecology) · Ethics, Aesthetics, and Art · Islamic Studies and History · Narrative Theory and Analysis

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access