Why Did Mordecai Refuse to Bow?

In this chapter, it is argued that a pivotal episode in Esther, Mordecai’s refusal to bow to Haman, is to be read literarily, as a topos, rather than literally, as a historical event. Drawing on materials from the ancient Near East, the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, Late Antiquity, the Qur’an, and the Islamic era, it is shown that Mordecai’s refusal to bow to Haman is but one link in a very long chain of comparable episodes in Near and Middle Eastern literature. Furthermore, in tracing this topos through history, we are able to cast new light on the Qur’anic passages in which Satan (“Iblis”) refuses to bow to the newly created Adam.