Islam and Orientalism: An Analysis of Maryam Jameelah’s Thoughts

Abstract

Orientalists targeted Islam from all sides according to their own goals and their own mental level. People who possessed certain moral values or a sense of justice appreciated some of the teachings of Islam, but their stubbornness and prejudice against Islam prevented them from accepting the truth at every stage. Some of them were sound-natured orientalists who found the universal teachings of Islam close to nature and submitted to Allah by accepting it as a divine guidance. Orientalists misrepresented Muhammad's personal life, revelation, his family, Ahl-al Bayt, Companions, the Holy Qur'an and the principles of the Qur'an, hadiths, polygamy, slavery and jihad.Prophet Muhammadصلى الله عليه وسلم is the only source of Islam and we have received the religion of Islam through him in the form of proven Qur'an and Sunnah. Therefore, the Orientalists have made the most onslaughts on Prophetصلى الله عليه وسلم in order to cast a shadow of doubt on the very basis of the religion itself. That is why they made him a victim of their vile attacks. Similarly the Holy Quran has also been a major prey of their criticism from its origin to its compilation, preservation, and towards its practical implications in the Muslim society. Maryam Jameelah an outstanding writer on Muslim thought in the modern world has logically confronted the said approach of the orientalists by using her intellect and life experiences as the native inhabitant of America. She makes it evident to her reader that how Islam becomes a faith with purer values guiding the humanity towards perpetual
accomplishment in this world and in the Hereafter. She has refuted all the anti-Islamic ventures by the orientalists and penned down a valuable literature on their scholarship, though she also appreciated the positive work by the orientalists.