Los contrarrevolucionarios y el islam: Un análisis del pensamiento antiislámico de Louis de Bonald

Abstract

Enlightenment was the main ideological target of late eighteenth and early nineteenth century French counter-revolutionaries. They considered that it had undermined the religious foundations of the Ancien Régime, leading, ultimately, to the Revolution.
Among the evils the counter-revolutionaries pinned on the philosophes was their «predilection» for Islam, in line with their alleged desire to destroy the Christian foundations of society. It was for this reason that the counter-revolutionaries took it upon themselves to combat the «falsehoods» concerning Islam spread by the philosophes.
In this article, we will analyse Louis de Bonald's take on Islam. Bonald was one of the main counter-revolutionary thinkers and he was determined to dissipate the «falsehoods» spread by the philosophes and restore the «truth». To this end, Bonald availed himself of the view upheld by the anti-Islamic Christian tradition, but he also introduced novelties influenced —paradoxically— by the Enlightened thought. Thus, while maintaining intact the foundations of the anti-Islamic tradition, Bonald introduced discursive innovations that helped the anti-Islamic tradition to adapt to a new context, preparing it for the Colonial period.