Religious Superiority Complex: A Psychological Perspective

Abstract

The article discusses the mechanism of formation of the complex of religious superiority, as well as its practical consequences. The source of this complex is an inferiority complex and collective trauma, which is forced out through mental influence – appropriating the achievements of saints and heroes of the past, one's people and country. Collective trauma can cause a desire to transcend external superiority over others at any cost. When searching for a way out of a collective trauma, communities often seek help from ancient archetypal images stored in the sphere of the collective unconscious, which are reconstructed in the collective consciousness with the functions that they had in the past. The irrational way of reconstructing the past allows the elite to manipulate the collective will and direct it in the way they need.

In relation to Islam, these processes have been visible since the end of the 19th century, against the background of the struggle of a number of Muslim countries against Western colonialism and attempts to reconstruct the post-Ottoman caliphate. These processes led to the emergence of “Political Islam”, in which religious goals are replaced by earthly ones, namely, by religious and political superiority.