The Issue Of Orientalism In Knowledge And Academia
In this present paper, I would like to focus on the issue of Orientalism in the academia and see in what sense the Islamization of knowledge is a way out of it. Thus, my research question would be in what sense the decolonization of Orientalism leads us to the Islamization of knowledge in the Muslim world. For this, I will base my research and work on a variety of studies that has been done in that field, mainly Edward Said’s Orientalism but also Talal Asad’s “The idea of an anthropology of Islam”, Naquib Al-Attas’s “Islamization of knowledge”, Ali Shariati “On Sociology of Islam” and other expert in that field of study. In order to do so, I will divide my study into 3 parts; I will start by focusing on the concept of Orientalism and grasp how it was the starting point of post-colonial studies, then I will focus on the generalization of Western source of knowledge, especially in the Muslim world and try to see the general aspects of the colonization of the minds and the stagnant situation of the Muslim world nowadays. To finish, I will be exploring the Islamization of knowledge and try to see how it can be a way out of the Orientalism in knowledge and academia.
Knowing that once Muslims were shining before the rest of the world with their power and knowledge, we can wonder how nowadays situation appeared. Indeed, the situation of Muslims in the major parts of the world does not cease of deteriorating, it is legitimate to wonder the causes and dig into it in order to prevent it in the future. Orientalism: The self and the Other In his book, Edward Said provides us with a multitude of definitions of the term Orientalism, the academic definition he gives for the term Orientalism is “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 in its general aspects, is an Orientalist, and what he or she does is Orientalism” (1978: 2)
Of course, this definition is not specific and doesn’t give the inner meaning of the term as known and applied in the academia. Further, he continues his definition by stating that “Orientalism is a style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between “the Orient” and (most of the time) “the Occident” (1978: 2). As for the last one, he attests that “Taking the late eighteenth century as a very roughly defined starting point Orientalism can be discussed and analyzed as the corporate institution for dealing with the Orient –dealing with it by making statements about it, authorizing views of it: in short, Orientalism as a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient” (1978: 3).
In this last definition, we can understand from Said that Orientalism is similar to a state of mind and a global idea of the East or the “other” that was shape by Westerners and especially European through their colonial conquest. Orientalism is, therefore, underlying preconceived ideas on the East and more specifically on the Muslim world that was one of the targets of colonialism. In a simplified explanation that I find plausible, Orientalism is an accumulation of preconceived ideas on the East by the West. In other words, the knowledge, culture, art presented are not totally honest nor innocent, rather, it hides a long tradition of imagination and exaggeration created on the East. It participates in the relation of power and the process of domination of a category of people, community, countries over others. The colonization is surely geographical and political but also cultural and intellectual, European work on the orient had a big part in the colonial hegemony. We will see in the second section an issue related to the colonization of the minds and its repercussions in the Muslim world.
The Colonization of the Minds
Colonialism is surely relaying on economical and geo-strategic interests but not only. It can also take forms in culture, education and in politics as well. Nowadays, countries of the “third world” are in my sense in a way still colonized; the mind, the education system, the cultural references are still heavily influenced by the ex-colonizers. We can say that Malek Bennabi’s theory of colonizability of Muslim societies is still present in all aspects of life, starting from knowledge. In spite of the fact that most Muslim countries are militarily independent, thus decolonized, we are still witnessing a cultural, political and economic attachment to the West. In my sense, if we had to Islamize something, we should start by re-Islamizing Muslim societies from the bottom. Knowledge is certainly one of the most important aspects that guides the trajectory of a society, but Muslims -especially those from colonized countries- are living a deep identity crisis.
Here, I will focus on the generalization of the Western source of knowledge in the Muslim world and see why and how it is a reason of knowledge stagnation as everything is being imported from the West. For that, let’s analyze the situation in the Muslim world towards knowledge in general, by focusing on Ismail Raji Al-Faruqi’s book “The Islamization of Knowledge: General Principles and Work Plan”. Al-Faruqi gives us a very clear description of the latent and deteriorated situation of the Muslim world in general and towards knowledge also. He proposes throughout ideas for the application of a new methodology aiming to “Islamize” knowledge and bring into life a new generation of Muslims with an Islamic oriented education in order to vivify the spirit of the Ummah.
Indeed, the analysis made by the author of the Muslim world’s state is quite harsh and emphasize on the seriousness of the situation following his words “In today's global mass media, the 'Muslim' is stereotyped as aggressive, destructive, lawless, terroristic, uncivilized, fanatic, 'fundamentalist; backward and anachronistic.” One cannot refute this statement as of its truthiness, the image of Muslims around the world has never been that distorted and related to backwardness and terrorism and as he says, Muslim countries have been at the center of many issues related to colonialism, exploitation, and massacres.
Adding to that, Media are the most powerful tool that portrays Islam as the dangerous entity that is invading the west and vehicles ideas of fear and ignorance that shapes the societies ideas on Islam. This assumed incompatibility of Islam with western ideals is surely well thought about. In doing so, naturally, a multitude of interests are behind it, namely politics, economics and geopolitical. What stood out to me is that portraying Islam in a bad way on media or other massive communication tools is a way to carry on colonization.
Considering Islam as a part of the Middle east is surely a Eurocentric perspective that should be criticized. Interestingly, he made the link between the production of knowledge and the power “...and they differ not according to the essential character of Islam or Christianity, but according to historically changing systems of discipline4”. What stood out of me is that Westerners interest on Islam and the part of the world related to it has definitely underlying causes that can be related to a position of power and superiority. Their interest of Islam was essentially political and distorted due to Orientalist visions of this part of the world.
The deterioration of the Muslims is surely anchored into their bloody history but not only. In fact, several characteristics are to be taken into consideration in order to grasp the situation. Naturally to start with, the political, economic, cultural and most of all the educational situations of Muslim countries are to be discussed and heavily criticized. Ismail Raji Al-Faruqi’s idea is to make us confront those issues methodologically with steadiness and apply a specific model suitable for the Muslims societies. While avoiding ready-western ideas and theories, he proposes to merge both systems (the secular and the Islamic one) and extract the benefits out of both of them, what he says about Islamic knowledge is to be taken into consideration as he says: “The knowledge of Islam and of its civilization is not meant for the few. The vision of Islam is not meant for, nor needed by, the specialist alone. It is for all humans and is designed to elevate all those who possess it to a higher level of existence.”
Towards an Islamization of Knowledge
The Orientalism of Edward Said (1978) is considered to be one of the pillars that led to the establishment of diverse movements among Arab intellectuals to reconsider and decolonize the knowledge on Muslim societies coming from the West. But also, Al-Faruqi and Naquib Al-Attas have been at the forefront of the efforts that lead to Islamize knowledge. When we refer to the Islamization of knowledge, we refer to knowledge that has been developed and based on Western secular and Orientalized point of views. Is this same knowledge acceptable and plausible to apply in all kind of societies no matter the culture and beliefs?
As states Merrly Wyn Davies in her book: “In recent decades Muslims have realizes that they need to find solutions to the onslaught of modernity and to shape the future according to the dictates of Islam. An essential part of this quest is the Islamization of knowledge, a movement that seeks to ground the quest for knowledge in the eternal principles of Islam” When we think of getting rid of the colonized mind and knowledge in the Muslim world, what first comes to our mind as Muslims is the return to our source of knowledge based on religion; in my point of view, a true understanding of religion needs a come back to the original sources.
Indeed, Western knowledge is worthy to be analyzed and represents a strong asset of a source of knowledge that was introduced to Muslim scholars as says Dr. Akbar. However, this same knowledge is heavily loaded and distorted with ethno-cultural characteristics that took shape together with Western history. This is to say that it comes with a batch of challenges and should be dealt with precaution by Muslim scholars. The influence of different historical and political event of westerner’s history such as Colonialism or Orientalism have distorted the methodology of the discipline.
The Quran and the Sunna directly addresses Muslims to contribute with good in this life, to quote one verse in the Quran “That man can have nothing but what he strives for; That (the fruit of) his striving will soon come in sight: Then will he be rewarded with a reward complete.” Muslims are constantly encouraged to work and to contribute in good in society and Islam has demonstrated the importance of work and has shown that it is an indispensable mean to achieve human development. Islamically speaking, Muslims and especially new generations need to undertake a radical change to revive the Islamic heritage and above all, engage in new forms of knowledge. This change is an intrinsic one, this dependence on the West is being witnessed in all aspects of our lives, it has to be conscious, constructive and thought of steps to take forward. This approach follows Allah’ world: “Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” For that, Muslims needs to go back to study their religion properly and be competent in all aspects it brought to humankind and from it construct a frame of methodology alongside western methodologies.
In my opinion, the aim here should not be to totally shift from the West but first, be aware of our differences and above all be aware of our past history that has shaped the Western school of thoughts. The change should be planned and structured as I said previously otherwise, it would be a reactionary one that can have a temporary existence. The multiculturalism and diversity of the world civilization have indeed created a big gap between people, Muslims have been throughout history under the yoke of western civilization in all aspect, be it intellectually, culturally and economically and until nowadays even politically. The quest to understand the other start by decolonizing our minds from the other. Allah has created mankind with differences, and this is for me the beauty of existence, to come and to know the other is, as stated in the Holy Quran, one of Muslim’s duty: “O men! Behold, We have created you all out of a male and a female, and have made you into nations and tribes, so that you might come to know one another.”
I believe that the knowledge of Islam leads to the Islamization of knowledge, simply because both are intimately related. If Muslims themselves aren’t aware nor well educated about their beliefs and ancient traditions, one cannot hope for the establishment of this Islamization. To conclude with Allah’s world: “Verily! Allah will never change the condition of the people until they change it themselves (with state of Goodness)”. In my deep opinion, I would say that we Muslims, are not aware of the responsibility we are holding because our religion has given us all the necessary tools to be successful and prosperous nations.
