Introduction to Orientalism
Lexical Meaning: The word "Orientalism" is derived from the word "Sharq" (East). It is a cognate of the verb form "Istif'al," which means to turn towards the East or to study Eastern sciences and arts.
Technical Meaning: Orientalism refers to the scholarly and practical research activity in which Western scholars acquire expertise in Eastern sciences and arts, especially studying and researching Islamic civilization and culture, language, and literature.
These Western scholars are also referred to as Orientalists in terminology.
They are viewed with great admiration and respect in academic and political circles of the West and the East due to their scholarly expertise, research dedication, and deep knowledge of Oriental studies. The research and theories of these Western scholars (Orientalists) are considered the final word in Eastern and Islamic issues, and their statements are seen as decisive verdicts...
History and Stages of Orientalism
The history of Orientalism is very old. It was systematically started in the thirteenth century AD when they decided to teach books on Eastern sciences and arts in other universities in Europe.
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Orientalism began to spread rapidly. Westerners became very interested in studying Islamic and Eastern sciences, and the number of Orientalists began to increase. Until the seventeenth century AD, the King of France began to preserve and write down Arabic history, and the process of translating Arabic books into Western languages began, so that a distorted face of Islamic history could be presented to the world.
A new era began from 1801. From this time, European armies occupied Muslim countries, subjugated Muslims, and presented a new style of education to Muslims. This educational system was presented as the best in the world to show the educational style of the Orientals and Muslims. Since Muslims were subjugated, they accepted their educational style. Meanwhile, Western scholars (Orientalists)
began to try to distance Muslims from their Islamic beliefs in their method of education. They could not distort the Quran, Hadith, and Islamic jurisprudence, so they prepared translations of these sciences and presented them to the Ummah in a wrong way. They distorted Islamic history and highlighted its oppression, barbarism, and inferiority. This series continued until 1925, during which the translations of Islamic books were changed so that Islamic history could be distorted.
From 1925 to 1972, a new era began in which these distorted Islamic history and incorrect translations of Islamic books, etc., were collected and presented as a form of religion in other regions, and Islam was declared an old and outdated religion (God forbid). And it was presented that if you study this prepared religion (which was named New Islam), you will progress in the world, otherwise you will remain in decline and oppression.
From 1974 to 2001, a new mission was started in which they introduced an educational system in the name of a successful style of education, which made it quite difficult for Muslims to remain with complete faith and beliefs. At the same time, it was a tragedy that the Muslim Ummah and the people of the East began to be influenced by the education system presented by Western scholars and Orientalists, and this education system began to spread rapidly in Eastern nations. As a result, Eastern society became unaware of its Islamic history and religious sciences and fell victim to their education system.
Since 2001, efforts to create Islamophobia are ongoing, and the propagation of distorted translations by Europe and religious books written by Orientalists is still ongoing, but alas! They are not gaining popularity.
In short, when centuries of hard work did not seem to bear fruit, efforts were made to defame the religion of Islam, and the titles of ancient and outdated were given so that the Ummah would read and become familiar with their distorted translations of religious books, but nothing was achieved.
Yes, some people with weak faith or addicted to the love of wealth and status became victims.
(To be continued)