Orientalism

Overview

The western construction of 'The Islamic Enemy'

Theme periods

Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje

Ignác Goldziher

Iosif Igelström

Key events

• The Baltic Baron
• The Crimea and the Last Khan
• The Empress and the Printed Qur'an
• The Spiritual Assembly
• The Steppe and the Mirror
• The Modern Theology
• The Prodigy of Székesfehérvár
• His birth
• The Journey to the East
• The Men of 1873
• His studies
• The Secretary of the Congregation
• The Meccan Festival
• The International Congress of Orientalists
• The Consul in Jeddah
• "Abdul Ghaffar"
• Indies Administrative Academy
• Adviser for Oriental Languages and Islamic Law
• The Islam Policy
• Pan-Islamism
• Muhammedanische Studien
• The Correspondence
• The Aceh War
• Return to the Study
• The Lectures and the Rejoinder

Frequently asked questions

What is Orientalism?

Orientalism is the academic and artistic tradition through which the West, from the 18th century onward, studied, imagined and categorised 'the Orient' (the Middle East, North Africa and the Islamic world). Edward Said showed in 1978 that this tradition was rarely neutral: it produced an 'otherness' that justified the colonial project. Orientalism is not a distant past; it still determines which images rise in our minds when we hear the word 'Islam'.

When did the Western image of the 'Islamic enemy' arise?

Its deeper roots reach back to the Crusades and the Reconquista, but the modern, systematic form arose in the 19th century with the European colonisation of Muslim lands: France in Algeria (1830), Britain in India and Egypt, the Netherlands in the East Indies. With the abolition of the Ottoman caliphate (1924), the image shifted from military threat to civilisational backwardness. The 'enemy image' is never purely religious; it is always embedded in the structures of power and fear of its own time.

Who was Edward Said and what did he write about the Orient?

Edward Said (1935–2003) was a Palestinian-American professor of literature at Columbia University. His book 'Orientalism' (1978) analysed how Western academic, literary and political texts constructed an imagined 'Orient' set in opposition to the 'rational West'. The book brought about a complete revolution in cultural studies. Said demonstrated that innocent images do not exist; whoever describes 'the other' first describes himself.

How did Napoleon's campaign in Egypt (1798) shape the Western image?

Napoleon's expedition to Egypt (1798–1801) brought along 167 scholars who mapped the country systematically, laying the basis for the monumental 'Description de lʼÉgypte' (1809–1828). At the same time it was the first modern military occupation of an Islamic land by a European power. Science and weapons travelled together; from 1798 onward the Muslim world became both 'object of study' and 'target', a double gaze that has never fully disappeared.

What is the difference between criticism of Islam and Islamophobia?

Criticism of Islam, as a religion, a legal tradition or a historical phenomenon, is a legitimate academic and public pursuit, and Muslims themselves have practised it for more than a millennium. Islamophobia is something else: an irrational, generalised fear of Muslims as a group, often accompanied by stereotyping, exclusion and discrimination. The difference lies in the direction of the gaze: criticism examines ideas, phobia condemns people.