Orientalism: A Feeble Scheme, Weaponized For The Digital Age
Since the very beginning of Islam being propagated by the Prophet Muhammad and his companions, there has been strong opposition from those that disbelieved in, or felt threatened by its message of sincerely worshipping one creator and submitting to his way and instructed by his messenger. The Quraish used many tactics to try to stifle the growth of Islam, ranging from propaganda and slander, to boycotts and even waging war. This was not successful, and as Islam spread, the main opposition to Islam was no longer the Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula, but the Christians of the Roman Empire and Europe. Due to the Christians world’s need to know the Muslims in detail, not only to defeat them in warfare, but also to gain support for their effort from their own people, Orientalism was born. Form the time of the initial contact with the Muslims until now, orientalists have been at work, trying to show Christianity and western culture as superior to Islam. Some of the tactics have changed over time, especially now in the digital age, but the methodology, based on weak sources, fear, and bias, is still same.
Orientalism is defined by Edward Said as, 'Anyone who teaches, writes about, or researches the Orient and this applies whether the person is an anthropologist, sociologist, historian, or Philologist either in its specific or its general aspects is an Orientalist, and what he or she does is Orientalism.' But we can understand it a being the study of Islam by scholars of western and Christianity influenced culture. Orientalist have a methodology of taking aspects of Islam, and forming a narrative around it, that fits their narrative of Islam being a false, man-made religion, that is inferior to that of Christianity and western cultural views.
One of the main methods of attacking Islam is on women’s issues. They see aspects like Hijab, as being oppressive to women, so they portray the Muslim women as being forced to wear them, or ignorant and brain washed for choosing to do so freely. They also harp on the topics of the inheritance being less than that of the male, men being able to marry more than one woman, and women needing a male guardian or husband to travel. Women’s issues usual get people emotional and are a very powerful tool used by Orientalist repeatedly to try to malign Islam.
Another major part of the Orientalist methodology, is to create a narrative that Islam and Muslims are bent on exterminating Christians, Jews and western society in general by turning their countries into ones governed by “Shariah law”, which would strip them of their “freedom” to chase and act upon any desire that crosses their mind. They use verses from Quran to “support” their arguments, and as Sheikh Salih Al-Munajjid says, “The Orientalists wanted to slander Islam by claiming that it was spread by the sword.” Besides verses from Quran taken out of context, such as “Fight against those who believe not in Allah…” they also take mistakes by contemporary Muslims, as well as certain terrorist attacks carried out in western countries that Muslims are alleged to have done to show Islam and Muslims in a bad light.
These narratives are fueled and spread by two very powerful elements; media and higher education. The Orientalists are able to use the two synergistically to have maximum effect on the masses, though independently they have massive effect in multiple ways. Firstly, the higher education system teaches Islamic Studies in many western universities. However, these courses are usually taught by non-Muslims, who are teaching from the perspective that Islam is a manmade religion founded and taught by Muhammad. Furthermore, these teachers give lectures and assignments that are designed to cast doubts about Islam in the minds of the students. Edward Said points out how these academics infuse their bias beliefs into their work, 'These crude ideas are supported, not contradicted, by the academic whose business is the study of the Arab Near East.' If the one teaching the course happens to be Muslim, they are usually ones who have graduated from these types of western university Islamic studies programs, or have a view of Islam that is palatable to the west and furthers the agenda of the orientalists. This does two things; it makes the non-Muslim student have doubts about Islam and hesitate to accept it as the true religion ordained by God. The second thing it does is makes the Muslim student also have doubts and at best, buy into a western culture approved form of Islam, and at worst, leave the religion altogether.
The media, which is already used as a powerful tool to drive consumerism and public opinion, is used to promote Orientalist views and agendas through various ways. It used to be done mainly through newspapers and weekly magazines like Time and Newsweek. However, now the 24-hour cable News networks are a constant source for the Orientalist propaganda machine. And on top of that, the most powerful tool are the social media sites, like Facebook, twitter, and YouTube. These sites give constant access to anybody with an internet connection to spread their views.
By using the various forms of media to give a massive platform and promote the views of orientalist, as well as orientalist approved “Islam experts”, whether they be non-Muslim, liberal western culture approved Muslims, or their absolute favorite, which is the ex-Muslim. The ex-Muslim is usually the star of the orientalist propaganda because they are casualties of orientalist propaganda via higher education and or media, or had an experience in Islam that was riddled with misinformation, lack of authentic adherence to the religion, and oppressive actions of people who may be Muslim, being equated with Islam. At any rate, the sources they use are either taken out of context, fabricated, or even nonexistent, as Edward Said noted, 'One of the striking aspects of the new American social-science attention to the Orient is its singular avoidance of literature. You can read through reams of expert writing on the modern Near East and never encounter a single reference to literature. What seem to matter far more to the regional expert are 'facts,' of which a literary text is perhaps a disturber.'
The Orientalist methodologies are cause for concern for the Muslims because we have to constantly combat the constant barrage of misinformation that the masses are feed through the media. If it was simply a matter of debating the people who have been influenced by Orientalism, then it would be a simple matter of providing the correct information and letting the people decide what is truth and what is falsehood. But the stakes for the Muslim world to combat Orientalist propaganda is much higher for, for many reasons. Firstly, the Orientalist methodology leaves the people misinformed about the true nature of Islam and causes confusion for non-Muslims when learning about or interacting with Islam and Muslims. So the general population in non-Muslim countries is usually ignorant of even basic practices of Islam and has wildly inaccurate understanding of what they do think they know. Secondly, the Orientalist methodology causes the people to have an irrational fear of Islam and Muslims. So, this makes it easy for those who already have hatred in their heart for Islam and Muslims, to discriminate verbally abuse and physically attack Muslims in western countries. Furthermore, it makes those who may not want to harm anyone, let alone a Muslim, stand by and do nothing when Muslims are being harmed in various ways due to them not being sure if the Muslims deserve the treatment due to the Orientalist propaganda.
The biggest concern for the Muslims when it comes to the Orientalists methodology is how it drives foreign policy. Just like the early orientalist methodology was used to gain support from the masses for the crusades against the Muslims, 'The system of ideological fictions I have been calling Orientalism has serious implications not only because it is intellectually discreditable. For the United States today is heavily invested in the Middle East, more heavily than any-where else on earth: the Middle East experts who advise policy-makers are imbued with Orientalism almost to a person.'
the digital age Orientalists Have Weaponized the various forms of social media to get the masses to support invasions and wars against Muslim majority countries, as well as bans against people immigrating for work, due to being refugees, or seeking asylum, from Muslim Majority countries. The devastation that has been unleashed on many countries due to the western countries foreign policy, which is steeped in Orientalist Ideology, has largely been looked at as justified by the populations of those western countries, due to the lens through which the Muslim world is seen from western eyes as Said alluded to regarding the invasion of Iraq by western forces; 'Without a well-organized sense that these people over there were not like 'us' and didn't appreciate 'our' values the very core of traditional Orientalist dogma as I describe its creation and circulation in this book there would have been no war.'
All this is due to the Orientalists methodology, which is now on steroids due to the wide reach of media today. With that said, the Orientalist methodology has many weaknesses, even though they have more powerful tools than ever before at their disposal, as Allah says, “Indeed, the plot of Satan has ever been weak.” Yes, they have been able to Weaponize the various forms of social media to maximize their reach and gain support for their policies and anti-Islamic agendas. But that very strength they have is one of their biggest weaknesses as well. This is because the Muslims who are promoting authentic Islamic teachings also have access to some of these sources of media; so many people are converting to Islam in spite of all the efforts to malign Islam. This is due to being able to compare true reports from real practicing Muslims who are educated in authentic Islamic knowledge, with the false reports from people who hate Islam and ex-Muslims who never truly understood or practiced the religion. In reality, the internet and social have actually allowed the Muslims to educate themselves better in the religion as well as better refute the false narratives of the Orientalists. This has led Islam to continue to be the fastest growing religion in the world, in spite of the efforts to stop it by the Orientalists and their supporters.
Because the Orientalist methodology is based on their belief that Islam is a man-made religion, they cannot truly understand or explain the religion in a non-biased way. 'In any event, the new Orientalist took over the attitudes of cultural hostility and kept them.' They must rely heavily on fabricated and inauthentic sources, which are easily refuted even by those with basic Islamic knowledge. If the Orientalists actually studied Islam in an unbiased way, hoping to find the truth, Allah would guide them to Islam due to their sincerity, but they are dishonest in their approach and must remain dishonest in order to carry out their agenda. But regardless of the perceived strength of their propaganda machine, in reality it is weak, and in spite of their best efforts, the end will be for the righteous. 'That is from the news of the unseen which We reveal to you, O Muhammad. You knew it not, neither you nor your people, before this. So be patient; indeed, the best outcome is for the righteous.'
