Islam, Orientalism and Intellectual History

Islam, Orientalism and Intellectual History

Author: Mohammad R. Salama

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2011-03-30

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0857719491

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Debates on the relationship between Islam and the West rage on, from talk of clashing civilizations to political pacification, from ethical and historical perspectives to distrust, xenophobia and fear. Here Mohammad Salama argues that the events of 9/11 force us to engage ourselves fully, without preconditions, in understanding not just the history of Islam as a religion, but of Islam as a historical condition that has existed in relationship to the West since the seventh century. Salama compares the Arab-Islamic and European traditions of historical thought since the early modern period, focusing on the watershed moments that informed the two traditions' ideas of intellectual history and perceptions of one another. He draws attention to European intellectual history's entangled links with the Islamic philosophy of history, especially the complexities of orientalism and modernity. Recent critical reflections on the work of Ibn Khald?n confirm this intertwined and troubled relationship, reflecting major disparities and contradictions. At the same time, recent Arab writings on Europe's intellectual history reveal a struggle against erasure and intellectual superiority. Calling for a new understanding of the relationship between Islam and the West, Salama argues that Islam has played a major role in enabling and positioning various paths of Western historiography at crucial moments of its development, leaving palpable imprints on Islamic historiography in the process. He proposes an answer to a fundamental question: how to make sense of the mechanics of production in Arab-Islamic and Western historiographies, or how to identify the ways in which they have both failed to make sense of themselves and of each other in an increasingly disenchanted postnationalist world. Spanning an impressive array of recent writings on these themes as well as older foundational texts in both traditions - including al-Tabar?, Ibn Khald?n, Hegel, al-Jabart?, Toynbee, Foucault, Edward Said, and Hourani - this book is both timely and crucial for all those interested in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, Western and Islamic philosophies of history, modernity, and the relationship between Islam and the West.


Book Synopsis Islam, Orientalism and Intellectual History by : Mohammad R. Salama

Download or read book Islam, Orientalism and Intellectual History written by Mohammad R. Salama and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-03-30 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Debates on the relationship between Islam and the West rage on, from talk of clashing civilizations to political pacification, from ethical and historical perspectives to distrust, xenophobia and fear. Here Mohammad Salama argues that the events of 9/11 force us to engage ourselves fully, without preconditions, in understanding not just the history of Islam as a religion, but of Islam as a historical condition that has existed in relationship to the West since the seventh century. Salama compares the Arab-Islamic and European traditions of historical thought since the early modern period, focusing on the watershed moments that informed the two traditions' ideas of intellectual history and perceptions of one another. He draws attention to European intellectual history's entangled links with the Islamic philosophy of history, especially the complexities of orientalism and modernity. Recent critical reflections on the work of Ibn Khald?n confirm this intertwined and troubled relationship, reflecting major disparities and contradictions. At the same time, recent Arab writings on Europe's intellectual history reveal a struggle against erasure and intellectual superiority. Calling for a new understanding of the relationship between Islam and the West, Salama argues that Islam has played a major role in enabling and positioning various paths of Western historiography at crucial moments of its development, leaving palpable imprints on Islamic historiography in the process. He proposes an answer to a fundamental question: how to make sense of the mechanics of production in Arab-Islamic and Western historiographies, or how to identify the ways in which they have both failed to make sense of themselves and of each other in an increasingly disenchanted postnationalist world. Spanning an impressive array of recent writings on these themes as well as older foundational texts in both traditions - including al-Tabar?, Ibn Khald?n, Hegel, al-Jabart?, Toynbee, Foucault, Edward Said, and Hourani - this book is both timely and crucial for all those interested in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, Western and Islamic philosophies of history, modernity, and the relationship between Islam and the West.


Orientalism

Orientalism

Author: Edward W. Said

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2014-10-01

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 0804153868

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More than three decades after its first publication, Edward Said's groundbreaking critique of the West's historical, cultural, and political perceptions of the East has become a modern classic. In this wide-ranging, intellectually vigorous study, Said traces the origins of "orientalism" to the centuries-long period during which Europe dominated the Middle and Near East and, from its position of power, defined "the orient" simply as "other than" the occident. This entrenched view continues to dominate western ideas and, because it does not allow the East to represent itself, prevents true understanding. Essential, and still eye-opening, Orientalism remains one of the most important books written about our divided world.


Book Synopsis Orientalism by : Edward W. Said

Download or read book Orientalism written by Edward W. Said and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2014-10-01 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than three decades after its first publication, Edward Said's groundbreaking critique of the West's historical, cultural, and political perceptions of the East has become a modern classic. In this wide-ranging, intellectually vigorous study, Said traces the origins of "orientalism" to the centuries-long period during which Europe dominated the Middle and Near East and, from its position of power, defined "the orient" simply as "other than" the occident. This entrenched view continues to dominate western ideas and, because it does not allow the East to represent itself, prevents true understanding. Essential, and still eye-opening, Orientalism remains one of the most important books written about our divided world.


Orientalism and Islam

Orientalism and Islam

Author: Michael Curtis

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2009-06-08

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 1139478079

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Through an historical analysis of the theme of Oriental despotism, Michael Curtis reveals the complex positive and negative interaction between Europe and the Orient. The book also criticizes the misconception that the Orient was the constant victim of Western imperialism and the view that Westerners cannot comment objectively on Eastern and Muslim societies. The book views the European concept of Oriental despotism as based not on arbitrary prejudicial observation, but rather on perceptions of real processes and behavior in Eastern systems of government. Curtis considers how the concept developed and was expressed in the context of Western political thought and intellectual history, and of the changing realities in the Middle East and India. The book includes discussion of the observations of Western travelers in Muslim countries and analysis of the reflections of seven major thinkers: Montesquieu, Edmund Burke, Tocqueville, James and John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, and Max Weber.


Book Synopsis Orientalism and Islam by : Michael Curtis

Download or read book Orientalism and Islam written by Michael Curtis and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-08 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through an historical analysis of the theme of Oriental despotism, Michael Curtis reveals the complex positive and negative interaction between Europe and the Orient. The book also criticizes the misconception that the Orient was the constant victim of Western imperialism and the view that Westerners cannot comment objectively on Eastern and Muslim societies. The book views the European concept of Oriental despotism as based not on arbitrary prejudicial observation, but rather on perceptions of real processes and behavior in Eastern systems of government. Curtis considers how the concept developed and was expressed in the context of Western political thought and intellectual history, and of the changing realities in the Middle East and India. The book includes discussion of the observations of Western travelers in Muslim countries and analysis of the reflections of seven major thinkers: Montesquieu, Edmund Burke, Tocqueville, James and John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, and Max Weber.


Islamic Intellectual History in the Seventeenth Century

Islamic Intellectual History in the Seventeenth Century

Author: Khaled El-Rouayheb

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2015-07-08

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 1107042968

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This book investigates the intellectual currents among Ottoman and North African scholars of the early modern period.


Book Synopsis Islamic Intellectual History in the Seventeenth Century by : Khaled El-Rouayheb

Download or read book Islamic Intellectual History in the Seventeenth Century written by Khaled El-Rouayheb and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-07-08 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book investigates the intellectual currents among Ottoman and North African scholars of the early modern period.


German Orientalism

German Orientalism

Author: Ursula Wokoeck

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2009-05-07

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 1134039387

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During the 19th century and the first part of the 20th German universities were at the forefront of scholarship in what we now call Orientalism. Drawing upon a survey of thousands of published works this book presents a history of the development of Oriental studies during this period.


Book Synopsis German Orientalism by : Ursula Wokoeck

Download or read book German Orientalism written by Ursula Wokoeck and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-05-07 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the 19th century and the first part of the 20th German universities were at the forefront of scholarship in what we now call Orientalism. Drawing upon a survey of thousands of published works this book presents a history of the development of Oriental studies during this period.


Orientalists, Islamists and the Global Public Sphere

Orientalists, Islamists and the Global Public Sphere

Author: Dietrich Jung

Publisher: Equinox Publishing (UK)

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781845539009

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In light of the ongoing public debate that focuses on differences between Islam and the West, this book suggests a change of perspective. It departs from the observation that both western Orientalists and Islamist activists have defined Islam similarly as an all-encompassing religious, political and social system. In shifting from differences to similarities, it leaves behind the increasingly circular debate about the "true" nature of Islam in which the Muslim religion has been represented either as intrinsically hostile to or as principally compatible with modern culture. Instead, it associates the evolution of a particularly essentialist image of Islam with a complex process of cross-cutting (self)-interpretations of Muslim and Western societies within an emerging global public sphere. Putting its focus on the life and work of a number of paradigmatic individuals, the book investigates the intellectual encounters and discursive interdependencies among western and Muslim intellectuals. In a historical genealogy it deconstructs the essentialist image of Islam in uncovering its conceptual foundations in the modern transformation of European and Muslim societies from the nineteenth century onwards. Thereby, the changing infrastructure of the global public sphere has facilitated the gradual popularization, trivialization, and dissemination of a previously elitist discourse on Islam and modernity. In this way, the idea of Islam as an all-encompassing system has been turned into accepted knowledge in the Western and Muslim worlds alike.


Book Synopsis Orientalists, Islamists and the Global Public Sphere by : Dietrich Jung

Download or read book Orientalists, Islamists and the Global Public Sphere written by Dietrich Jung and published by Equinox Publishing (UK). This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In light of the ongoing public debate that focuses on differences between Islam and the West, this book suggests a change of perspective. It departs from the observation that both western Orientalists and Islamist activists have defined Islam similarly as an all-encompassing religious, political and social system. In shifting from differences to similarities, it leaves behind the increasingly circular debate about the "true" nature of Islam in which the Muslim religion has been represented either as intrinsically hostile to or as principally compatible with modern culture. Instead, it associates the evolution of a particularly essentialist image of Islam with a complex process of cross-cutting (self)-interpretations of Muslim and Western societies within an emerging global public sphere. Putting its focus on the life and work of a number of paradigmatic individuals, the book investigates the intellectual encounters and discursive interdependencies among western and Muslim intellectuals. In a historical genealogy it deconstructs the essentialist image of Islam in uncovering its conceptual foundations in the modern transformation of European and Muslim societies from the nineteenth century onwards. Thereby, the changing infrastructure of the global public sphere has facilitated the gradual popularization, trivialization, and dissemination of a previously elitist discourse on Islam and modernity. In this way, the idea of Islam as an all-encompassing system has been turned into accepted knowledge in the Western and Muslim worlds alike.


The Makings of Indonesian Islam

The Makings of Indonesian Islam

Author: Michael Laffan

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2013-12

Total Pages: 325

ISBN-13: 0691162166

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Indonesian Islam is often portrayed as being intrinsically moderate by virtue of the role that mystical Sufism played in shaping its traditions. According to Western observers--from Dutch colonial administrators and orientalist scholars to modern anthropologists such as the late Clifford Geertz--Indonesia's peaceful interpretation of Islam has been perpetually under threat from outside by more violent, intolerant Islamic traditions that were originally imposed by conquering Arab armies. The Makings of Indonesian Islam challenges this widely accepted narrative, offering a more balanced assessment of the intellectual and cultural history of the most populous Muslim nation on Earth. Michael Laffan traces how the popular image of Indonesian Islam was shaped by encounters between colonial Dutch scholars and reformist Islamic thinkers. He shows how Dutch religious preoccupations sometimes echoed Muslim concerns about the relationship between faith and the state, and how Dutch-Islamic discourse throughout the long centuries of European colonialism helped give rise to Indonesia's distinctive national and religious culture. The Makings of Indonesian Islam presents Islamic and colonial history as an integrated whole, revealing the ways our understanding of Indonesian Islam, both past and present, came to be.


Book Synopsis The Makings of Indonesian Islam by : Michael Laffan

Download or read book The Makings of Indonesian Islam written by Michael Laffan and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013-12 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Indonesian Islam is often portrayed as being intrinsically moderate by virtue of the role that mystical Sufism played in shaping its traditions. According to Western observers--from Dutch colonial administrators and orientalist scholars to modern anthropologists such as the late Clifford Geertz--Indonesia's peaceful interpretation of Islam has been perpetually under threat from outside by more violent, intolerant Islamic traditions that were originally imposed by conquering Arab armies. The Makings of Indonesian Islam challenges this widely accepted narrative, offering a more balanced assessment of the intellectual and cultural history of the most populous Muslim nation on Earth. Michael Laffan traces how the popular image of Indonesian Islam was shaped by encounters between colonial Dutch scholars and reformist Islamic thinkers. He shows how Dutch religious preoccupations sometimes echoed Muslim concerns about the relationship between faith and the state, and how Dutch-Islamic discourse throughout the long centuries of European colonialism helped give rise to Indonesia's distinctive national and religious culture. The Makings of Indonesian Islam presents Islamic and colonial history as an integrated whole, revealing the ways our understanding of Indonesian Islam, both past and present, came to be.


Interpreting Islam

Interpreting Islam

Author: Tamara Sonn

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 1996-10-10

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 9780195356564

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In this book, Sonn provides the first English translation of The History of Intellectual Movements in Islam (1928), a seminal text of Arab modernism written by the Palestinian intellectual Bandali al-Jawzi (1871-1942). In that book, Jawzi offered the first Marxist interpretation of the history and development of Islamic thought. The continuing importance of his work lies in Jawzi's critical method of reevaluating both European "orientalist" and classical Muslim accounts of Islamic history. Fifty years before Edward Said's landmark Orientalism, Jawzi identified the vested imperial interests as the weakness in both methodologies. Sonn's translation brings to life this skillful and entertaining critique of Islamic history. Her introduction places Jawzi's thought in context with both postmodern intellectuals and Muslim reformers who continue the struggle to apply Islamic principles to contemporary life.


Book Synopsis Interpreting Islam by : Tamara Sonn

Download or read book Interpreting Islam written by Tamara Sonn and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1996-10-10 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Sonn provides the first English translation of The History of Intellectual Movements in Islam (1928), a seminal text of Arab modernism written by the Palestinian intellectual Bandali al-Jawzi (1871-1942). In that book, Jawzi offered the first Marxist interpretation of the history and development of Islamic thought. The continuing importance of his work lies in Jawzi's critical method of reevaluating both European "orientalist" and classical Muslim accounts of Islamic history. Fifty years before Edward Said's landmark Orientalism, Jawzi identified the vested imperial interests as the weakness in both methodologies. Sonn's translation brings to life this skillful and entertaining critique of Islamic history. Her introduction places Jawzi's thought in context with both postmodern intellectuals and Muslim reformers who continue the struggle to apply Islamic principles to contemporary life.


Challenging the New Orientalism

Challenging the New Orientalism

Author: Mohammad Shahid Alam

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13:

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Over the past few decades, a new form of Orientalism has been developing. As exemplified by Elie Kedourie and Bernard Lewis, it points to Islam as the West's archenemy. The rise of political Islam and its opposition to Western domination of the Islamic world are seen as evidence of a deep, abiding hatred of all things Western. Accordingly, the new Orientalists call for thorough reforms, among them regime changes, wars, and the imposition of 'democracy' on Islamic societies. They warn that if the West shrinks from this challenge, the Islamists will surely gain power and destroy the West. The essays in this book "written after 9-11" dispute the new Orientalist presumption of an unchanging Islam, opposed to "Western" values and incapable of adapting to the modern world. The not-so-hidden objective of the new Orientalism is to promote acceptance of the US and Israel's imperialist push into the Islamic world as both a security imperative and a civilizing mission. Alam argues that the new Orientalists claim of a categorical split between Islam and the West is based on a biased, inaccurate interpretation of history. While recognizing the political and economic failings of the Islamic world, Alam shows that they are legacies of two centuries of Western imperialism and are shared by all regions at the periphery of the prevailing global capitalism. If the Islamic world lags behind China and India, it is because of two factors that have given a new edge to Western involvement in West Asia and North Africa: oil and Zionism. In Alam's view, Israel is a powerful destabilizing force in the region, whose survival depends upon turning the Western-Islamic conflict into a hot war. Not surprisingly, many of the new Orientalists are strong partisans of Israel.


Book Synopsis Challenging the New Orientalism by : Mohammad Shahid Alam

Download or read book Challenging the New Orientalism written by Mohammad Shahid Alam and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past few decades, a new form of Orientalism has been developing. As exemplified by Elie Kedourie and Bernard Lewis, it points to Islam as the West's archenemy. The rise of political Islam and its opposition to Western domination of the Islamic world are seen as evidence of a deep, abiding hatred of all things Western. Accordingly, the new Orientalists call for thorough reforms, among them regime changes, wars, and the imposition of 'democracy' on Islamic societies. They warn that if the West shrinks from this challenge, the Islamists will surely gain power and destroy the West. The essays in this book "written after 9-11" dispute the new Orientalist presumption of an unchanging Islam, opposed to "Western" values and incapable of adapting to the modern world. The not-so-hidden objective of the new Orientalism is to promote acceptance of the US and Israel's imperialist push into the Islamic world as both a security imperative and a civilizing mission. Alam argues that the new Orientalists claim of a categorical split between Islam and the West is based on a biased, inaccurate interpretation of history. While recognizing the political and economic failings of the Islamic world, Alam shows that they are legacies of two centuries of Western imperialism and are shared by all regions at the periphery of the prevailing global capitalism. If the Islamic world lags behind China and India, it is because of two factors that have given a new edge to Western involvement in West Asia and North Africa: oil and Zionism. In Alam's view, Israel is a powerful destabilizing force in the region, whose survival depends upon turning the Western-Islamic conflict into a hot war. Not surprisingly, many of the new Orientalists are strong partisans of Israel.


Post-Orientalism

Post-Orientalism

Author: Hamid Dabashi

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-28

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 1351295861

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Post-Orientalism is a sustained record of Hamid Dabashi's reflections over many years on the question of authority and power. Who gets to represent whom and by what authority? Dabashi's work picks up where Edward Said's Orientalism left off. Said traced the origin of the power of representation and the normative agency that it entails to the colonial hubris that carried a militant band of mercenary merchants, military officers, Christian missionaries, and European Orientalists around the globe. This hubris enabled them to write and represent the people they sought to rule. Dabashi's book is not as much a critique of colonial representation as it is of the manners and modes of fighting back and resisting it. He does not question the significance of Orientalism and its principal concern with the colonial acts of representation, but he provides a different angle that argues for the primacy of the question of postcolonial agency. Dabashi uses the United States as an example of a country that initiated militant acts of representation in Iraq and Afghanistan. He attempts to unearth and examine the United States' deeply rooted claim to normative and moral agency, particularly in light of the world's post-9/11 political reality.


Book Synopsis Post-Orientalism by : Hamid Dabashi

Download or read book Post-Orientalism written by Hamid Dabashi and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-28 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Post-Orientalism is a sustained record of Hamid Dabashi's reflections over many years on the question of authority and power. Who gets to represent whom and by what authority? Dabashi's work picks up where Edward Said's Orientalism left off. Said traced the origin of the power of representation and the normative agency that it entails to the colonial hubris that carried a militant band of mercenary merchants, military officers, Christian missionaries, and European Orientalists around the globe. This hubris enabled them to write and represent the people they sought to rule. Dabashi's book is not as much a critique of colonial representation as it is of the manners and modes of fighting back and resisting it. He does not question the significance of Orientalism and its principal concern with the colonial acts of representation, but he provides a different angle that argues for the primacy of the question of postcolonial agency. Dabashi uses the United States as an example of a country that initiated militant acts of representation in Iraq and Afghanistan. He attempts to unearth and examine the United States' deeply rooted claim to normative and moral agency, particularly in light of the world's post-9/11 political reality.