BALANCING TEXT AND CONTEXT IN ARABIC AND ISLAMIC STUDIES: OVERCOMING THE ACCUSATIONS OF

"ORIENTALISM"

Simeon EvsTATIEV St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia

In 1961 the Arab scholar and intellectual Mui:tammad al-Bahl (1905-1982) published in Egypt a short essay entitled "The Position of Missionaries and Orientalists on Islam" . 1 With himself being an orien­talist, a graduate from Hamburg, he saw a close relation between the scholarly interests of orientalists and the colonial goals of the Christian missionaries. Missionary activity by that time ha<L long ago turned into a favourite theme of Muslim intellectuals but al-Bahl was perhaps the first one to relate the accusations directed towards it with oriental stud­ies. Mui:tammad al-Bahl has hardly realised that in this way he contributed to laying down the basis of the contemporary debate going around "Orientalism" which ran passionately with a particular intensity about a decade and a half later. In the same year the Egyptian religious scholar Mui:tammad al-Ghazzall (1917-1996) pronounced a statement directed against the historical criticism of Islamic tradition made by the noted Hungarian scholar lgnaz Goldziher (1850-1921). The arguments of al­GhazzaH, who stands close to the Muslim Brotherhood, stem out of his conviction that the Islamic faith should be protected from the oriental­ists who have a lot of weak points in their work. In the words of the German islamicist an<,! translator of the Qur'an Rudi Paret, his colleagues accepted the attacks of Sheikh al-Ghazzall unmoved.2 Still, this was only the beginning.

Two years after these first Muslim accusations directed at the European Islamic studies, in 1963 the historian Abd al-Latif al-Tibawi (1910-1981) and the sociologist Anouar Abdel-Malek (born 1924) restarted this criti­cism again with a new strength. A key role was played by the article of Abdel-Malek "Orientalism in Crisis"3 which became widely known and ,.,

1 M. ai-Blihl, Al-mubashshirim wa 1-mustashriqim fi mawqifihim min al-islam (Cairo, 1961 ). 2 R. Paret, Arabistik und ls/qmkunde an deutschen Universitiiten. Deutsche Orientalisten

seit Theodor Noldeke (Wiesbaden, 1966), p. 5. 3 A. Abdel-Malek, "L'Orientalisme en crise" , Diogene, 44 (1963). The article was

translated into Arabic and published in the magazine Al-fikr a/- 'arab!, 31 ( 1983).

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provoked sharp critical reactions from a number of prominent oriental­ists among whom were Francesco Gabrieli , Claude Cahen and Maxim Rodinson.4 This however did not solve the problem. Al-Tibawi, on the other hand, expressed the assertion that only Muslims could compre­hend Islam, which in fact tried to defy the legitimacy of the monopoly on Islamic studies exercised by western scholars. Anouar Abdel-Malek was perhaps the first scholar who challenged orientalists in a serious way and provoked their exasperation. By taking a stance against orientalism he supported the thesis that oriental studies were closely related to impe­rialism and perceive the inhabitants of the Orient only as a subject of study.

Though from a different perspective some Western scholars from other academic disciplines also joined the debate developing a criticism towards oriental studies. Still in the 1960s the British historian Norman Daniel (d. 1992), who studied the relations between Europe and the Muslim world in his two well-known books5, reached the conclusion that the academic discourse about Islam has been shaped from the point of view of European cultural history: A similar perspective, but this time from within Religious studies, is shared by Jacques Waardenburg, who devel­oped the idea of reflecting the European identity upon the oriental stud­ies.6 From the very beginning, no one in Europe has ever suspected that this critique of oriental studies will very soon grow into a real intellec­tual fight between ides, approaches and interpretations. Abdel-Malek and al-Tibawi wrote in western languages and thus their theses reached a large audience in Europe and America; what is even more important, they sought a deliberate collision of ideas with the orientalists and in the final analysis succeeded in achieving their goals. The subsequent discus­sions to a great extent followed the course of the public debates around the relations between the Muslim world and the West.

In his analysis of those first manifestations of the accusations of " Orientalism", Reinhard Schulze distinguished in them three permanent theses, which laid down the basis of a long-lasting debate. According to him, these three basic principles are a sort of a "creed" of anti-orientalism.

4 F. Gabrieli, " Apologie de l'orientalisme" , Diogene, 50 (1965); C. Cahen, " Cor­respondance" , Diogene, 50 (1965 ); M. Rodinson, "Situation, acquis et problemes de l'orientalisme islamisant", Le mal de voir, 10/18, N 1101 (Paris, 1976).

5 N. Daniel, Islam tmd the West: the Making of an Image (Edinburgh, 1960; repr. Oxford, 2003) ; idem. Islam, Europe and the Empire (Edinburgh, 1966).

6 1. Waardenburg, L 'Islam dans le miroir de ['Occident. Comment quelques orientalistes se sont penches sur /'Islam et Sf sont fermes une image de cette religion: I. Goldziher, C.S. Hurgronje, C.H. Becker, D.B. Macdonald, L. Massignon (Paris- LaHaye, 1962).

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First, oriental studies did not acknowledge their political dependency in the colonial age. Besides, they have built up their own "fundamentalist" discourse on Islam according to which the age of early Islam has turned into a focus of analysis and understanding. This would not allow for per­ceiving the phenomena and processes that develop while every type of explanation of modernity is understood through the prism of historical continuity or lack of it. And last, oriental studies refused accepting that its own image of Islam has been born out of the bourgeois strivings in the quest for the exotic.7 It turned out that these accusations were not refuted in the 1970's. The collision between "orientalism" and "anti-orientalism" was still to come. Although for many Arabists and islamicists this is no more a painful dilemma many non-experts in the academic study of the Arab world and Islam started to make confusion between "oriental stud­ies" and "Orientalism" which necessitates the need of a clear distinction.

The true advocate of the idea of "Orientalism" was the late world famous intellectual Edward Said (1935-2003)- a Christian from Pales­tine, who was Professor of Comparative Literature at Columbia Univer­sity in New York. His book "Orientalism" published in 1978 provoked vehement discussions in the 1980's. According to Said, the simplified schemes8 of "Oriental ism" have established a distorted image of the East and the Arab Muslims in particular an image that was spread in the Euro-American world. According to Said, "[ ... ]as both geographical and cultural entities - to say nothing of historical entities - such locales, regions, geographical sectors as 'Orient' and 'Occident' are man made".9

Just like many influential thinkers who left a lasting trace in the history of ideas, Edward Said remained a too polemically minded author being sometimes too partially wedded in his passionate arguments. The extrem­ities of his criticism cannot be denied; neither could be denied the fact that- on the basis of some of the activities of the English and French, and consequently American experts in the field of Arabic, Islamic or Middle East studies -he imputed too much guilt to the Western schol­arship as a whole. The accusations made by Said soon met the critical response of orientalists such as Bernard Lewis 10 and Maxim Rodinson. 11

7 R. Schulze, "Orientalistik und Orientalismus", in Der Islam in der Gegenwart, ed. Ende & Steinbach (MUrlthen, 1996), p. 711.

8 See E. Said, Convering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World (New York, 1981 ).

9 E. Said, Orienta/ism (New Yor~. 1978), p. 5. 10 B. Lewis, "La question de l'orientalisme", in Le retour de /'Islam (Paris, 1985). 11 M. Rodinson, "Introduction", in La fasciru:uion de /'Islam (Maspero, 1980).

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The main accusations of Said could be summarized in the thesis of "essentializing Islam"- the search and, consequently, the absolutization and generalization of the "Islamic essence" which turns into explanatory means of everything related to Muslim majority societies. Paradoxically, precisely due to his own extreme approach the American professor of literature succeeded into drawing the attention of contemporary scholars to the necessity of a more objective approach to the study of the "Other". To achieve this goal, Edward Said relied on the discourse analysis devel­oped by Michel Foucault ( 1926-1986) defending the position that the relation between knowledge and power not only created "the man of the Orient" but also erased him as a human being - an issue which - though being an intellectual one - does not have academic implica­tions only.12 Thus, according to Said, an influential and large-scale dis­course was established, called "Orientalism" and stemming out of the field of "oriental studies". In this case, "under siege" fell primarily the group of academic disciplines normally united at contemporary European Universities in departments of Arabic and Islamic Studies.

The initial European academic interest in Islam was inextricably related to Christian theology and eventually increased after the end of the Crusades (1096-1270), though its inception could be found before their end in the activity of Peter the Venerable, the Abbot of Cluny (1095-1156). He addressed Muslims not with arms but with "word", hoping to encourage the process of getting acquainted with them in order to win them for Christianity. That is why he established a group of translators in Toledo. They translated Islamic sources related to the dogmas and the main religious doctrines of Muslim Faith. In 1143, the first translation of the Qur'an in Latin was completed by Robert of Ketton, while texts from the f:zadlth-corpus were simultaneously trans­lated.13 This activity of Catholic theologians and intellectuals prepared the ground for the emergence of oriental studies as an academic field in Europe.

The study o~ oriental languages was introduced in Paris and Oxford as an auxiliary subject under the scaffolding of theology in the period after the Catholic Council of Vienna (1311-1312). Then, Western the­ologians realized that studying oriental languages and cultures was a

12 Said, Orienta/ism, p. 27. 13 See Y. Peev, "Otnosheniata hristianstvo-islam - debat i dialog" ["The relations

between Christianity and Islam- Debate and Dialogue"], in Hristianstvoto i nehristian­skite religii [Christianity and Non-Christian Religions] , ed. I. Merdjanova (Silistra, 2003), p. 190.

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prerequisite for a better understanding of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament. Arabic studies became institutionalized in Euro­pean universities as early as 16th and 17th centuries. As a result, by 1600 an academic discourse was developed which included also the study of oriental languages. Departments of Arabic Studies were established in Leiden (1599), Cambridge (1631), and Oxford (1635), without cutting off relations with Christian theology. The German scholar Johann Flick points out as a starting date of the emancipation of oriental studies from theology 1730 - a year related to the European Enlightenment. 14 This process, however, became more visible considerably later - at the end of the 18th century. This also coincided with the gradual building up the image of an "exotic" Orient in European cultural circles, which is one of the main themes of Edward Said.

These new trends in Europe resulted from the gradual change in the attitude of Western Christians towards Islam that started as early as the 16th century, because of the increased self-confidence of the Europeans, who realized that they had already culturelly outmatched "the old rival", Islamic civilization. Leaders of the Reformation in Western Christianity, such as Martin Luther (-1483-1546), even mocked the medieval pictures of Islam in Europe calling them "superstitions and prejudices of the Pope". Luther also condemned the Crusades and called to a tolerant attitude toward the Turks in whom he saw a just chastisement, inflicted by God because of the sins of Christians. After the Ottoman siege of Vienna (1529) the discourse on Muslims started to change again and the "medieval" images were re-born. Islam was again depicted as a "religion of violence" - an image that obviously has appeared in times of great historical collisions. Luther was also the first one to introduce Islam not only to the debate with Muslims, but also to inter­nal Christian theological and religious polemics: "The Pope and Islam are two irreconcilable enemies of Christ and the Holy Church but if Islam represents,. only the body of the Antichrist, then the Pope repre­sents his head". 15

Oriental studies has reflected this ambivalent attitude toward Islam during a couple of centuries. The European Enlightenment in the 17th cen­tury set in motion some important processes that defined the course of the further history of oriental studies. While theologians kept on studying the ·

14 See Schurze, , Orientalistik und Orientaiismus", p. 707. 15 A.V. Juravskii, Hristianstvo i islam: sociokulturnie problemyi dialoga [Christianity

and Islam: Sociocultural Problems of Dialogue] (Moscow, 1990), p. 38 . •

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Arabic language motivated by their interests in the field of Biblical stud­ies and Christian exegesis, a new mysterious, fascinating and exotic image of the Orient infiltrated the bourgeois circles of the elite and per­meated the atmosphere of the courts and palace halls. The activity of a new type of intellectuals, to whom belonged the famous translator of the Arabian Nights, Antoine Galland (1646-1715), turned out to meet those new needs. Together with the attempt to explain the encounter of Islam and Christianity, the authors like Galland had a second goal, not less important than the first one, namely to illustrate the power of the French penetration of the Orient which was considered to be involved in an irreversible process of westernization. Has that idea been an expres­sion of one of the most enduring Western misconceptions of "Islam" in modem times?

Another French orientalist - the encyclopaedist Barthelemy d'Her­belot - contributed to the formation of the European discourse on the Islamic Orient by publishing in Paris the famous Bibliotheque orientale (1697), which was in a way a precursor of our conventional multi-volume Leiden Encyclopaedia of Islam. The Bibliotheque underwent a scathing criticism by Edward Said because it legitimated the specific language of "Orientalism" by statements such as the one that the Prophet Muham­mad was just a charlatan and an impostor. 16 In that sense, "Orientalism" has really acquired islamophobic features. At the same time it is an exag­geration to assert that this was an opinion imposed by the "orientalist" d'Herbelot, whose work practically constituted a part of the Zeitgeist, when Europe was dominated by a negative perception of Islam inherited from the Middle Ages.

In modem times, studies in the field of oriental subjects were accom­plished from the perspective of Eurocentrism, while the inherited preju­dices towards Islam acquired a new impetus in the form of satirizing it by writers and musicians. Le Cid of Comeille, Le Bourgeois gentilhomme by Jean-Baptiste de Moliere and The Magic Flute by Mozart were just some 9f the eloquent artistic illustrations of the tendency to caricaturize Islam which lasted throughout the centuries in one from or another. Few were those persons like Goethe who perceived the Orient as a factor for the self-knowledge of the Europeans. Thus an ambivalent attitude towards Islam emerged in the European mind: from one side, it was attractive with its exotic features, but from another it turned out to be extremely dangerous and f:tnatical in a barbarous way. Answering this alleged

t6 Said, Orienta/ism, p. 72 ..

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threat and using the real social and economical backwardness of the Muslim world, the West put forth its expansionist political idea of its inevitable "civilizing mission" . Thus, the romantic perspective of some artists to the "exotic" Orient co-existed with the imperial and the acad­emic perspectives to the Muslim east.

With the advent of modernity in Europe oriental studies were also sub­ject to change. It cannot be denied, even though this was presented in a too exaggerated manner by Edward Said, that during the modem times European academic programs as well as scholars in the field of oriental studies were often related closely to the imperial policy. A great part of the academic institutions were established with the purpose to facilitate the colonial project. In spite of the Zeitgeist in the period between the l91h and the middle of the 20th centuries, oriental studies contributed in an indisputable way to the study of Arab and Muslim societies. In his book devoted to the anthropological approach in Middle Eastern studies, Dale F. Eickelman soundly emphasized on the "curiously ahistorical representation" of scholarship on the Middle East in the book of Edward Said. Eickelman writes that Said "is best when assessing the more imag­inary and literary eighteenth-century accounts on Islam and the Arab east. For later periods, as some of his Arab critics have pointed out, he dis­regards the evidence of "orientalist" scholarship that runs contrary to his own broad assumptions, sustains the very assumptions about the "essential" features of "East" and "West" that he decries in Western literature about on the Arab east, and places "orientalist" scholarship outside the main currents of history and politic;:s by assuming that it was static throughout period covered and had developed in an identical fash­ion in all Western countries"!7

Strangely enough, the German oriental studies from the beginning of the 19th century until the middle of the 20th century have been virtually ignored by Edward Said. This led to a deliberate underestimate of the indisputable ac~ievements of the European academic approach to the study of the Arab world and Islam. This fact to a certain degree belittled some of the important messages of the outstanding Palestinian intellectual and his thesis about "Orientalism". Prominent European scholars in this period have devoted their whole professional life for the better understanding of Islam by creating a scholarly and educational model, which was to play a

17 D.F. Eiolcelman, The Middle East and Central Asia: An Anthropological Approach (New Jersey, 20024) , p. 27. The previous three editions (1981 , 1989 and 1998) of the book were entitled The Middle East: An Anthropological Approach.

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role in academic circles for a long time. Critical philology reached its apogee in the works of Theodor Noldeke (1836-1930). In the field of Islamic Studies this was achieved due to the scholarly activity of the above-mentioned Hungarian Ignaz Goldzieher, the Dutch Snouck Hour­gronje (1857-1936) of Leiden University, and the Germans Carl Heinrich Becker (1876-1933) and Martin Hartmann (1851-1918).

The last two scholars started a long correspondence in order to find solutions for the problems of Islamic studies in Germany.18 This did not hinder Hartmann to simultaneously take part in German policy too. After defending a Ph.D. thesis in philology, he went working abroad in the German Consulate in Beirut where he spent more than ten years (1876-1887). Afterwards he started a teaching career of Arabic in Berlin, taking great pains to separate oriental studies from philology. By the end of the 191h century, Martin Hartmann initiated a campaign with the aim at persuading his kinsmen as well as the German statesmen that Germany had to abandon the Ottoman Empire as its ally, supporting the Arab independence. In fact, the German orientalist turned out to be a propagandist for the cause of Arab national emancipation years before the emergence of a true Arab national movement. 19 Just like Hartmann, many of the orientalists in this period were related to the policy of their own states in one way or another, but it is impossible to comprehend their serious academic achievements from the viewpoint of power and politics only. They will be remembered as scholars rather than state ser­vants engaged in colonial policy.

Middle East studies in America were also intrduced as an academic field in the universities after the analysis of the international situation showed that Islam is important for the interests of the United States. In 1953 the President Eisenhower established the Operations Coordinating Board, involving high representatives of the governing circles. Five years after that the workgroup of the board created/compiled a classified doc­ument regarding the activity of governmental and private Islamic orga­nizations and their attitude to US policy. The document included an opening statement entitled "The Status of Islam Today" which outlined five points turning Islam into a priority factor for American policy. On the first place, it had "compatible values" with the Christian world.

18 lslamkunde und lslamwissenschaft im deutschen Kaiserreich . Der Briefwechsel zwischen.Carl Heinrich Becker und Martin Hartmann ( 1900-1918), ed. L. Hanisch (Leiden, 1992).

19 M . Kramer, Arab Awakening and Islamic Revival: The Politics of Ideas in the Middle East (Ne"f Brunswick - London, 1996), p. 6.

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Besides that, communists (both Soviet and Chinese) exploited Islam in the ideological fight. Third, Islam was considered to be important for the maintenance of the balance of powers - then out of 81 member states on the United Nations organization 16 had predominantly Muslim popu­lation. The fourth factor was also an interesting one and has not lost its poignancy even today - the future of Islam is "insecure", i.e. it was not clear to what extent Muslim people have chosen "ultimately" the way of westernization and secularization of the western type. And finally , the fifth point was dedicated to the vast geography area inhabited by people professing Islam.20

Analysing this document and the reasons for the rise of Middle East studies in America, Richard W. Bulliet referred to this report empha­sising the beginnings of this academic field in the large framework of " regional studies" . The pioneers in this field were Harvard, Princeton, John Hopkins University, the University in Chicago, the universities of Pennsylvania and Michigan, Columbia University and the University of California in Los Angeles.2 1 Bulliet refutes the thesis of his colleague Martin Kramer, who devoted a whole book on the origins of Middle East studies in the United States of America. Kramer argued that in the very beginning they originated due to the enthusiasm of a team of scholars who almost entirely strove to receive a subsidy from the federal budget.22

Bulliet, contrariwise, demonstrates how Middle East studies originated as a result of a carefully planned governmental policy. He did not assert that this new academic field has been extremely successful but he looked for the reasons in another direction. The pioneers in this filed did not observe the recommendation to pay attention to Islam, but did just the opposite- they looked for " modernized" , " secularized" and "western­ized" Arabs, thus practically ignoring Islam.

Although the American academic traditions are more recent we could outline two (not universally valid) similarities with Western Europe: the relation of "oriental studies" to missionary activity and their estab­lishment by a "state decree" . Consequently, it changed its image and functions according to the development of Western societies and their

20 Operations Coordinating Board, Washington, D.C., Inventory of U.S. Government and Private Organizations as an Aspect of Overseas Politics, May 3, 1957 (declassified 1991), pp. 1-2. •

21 R.W. Bulliet, The Case for lslamo-Christian Civilization (New York, 2004), pp. 99-102.

22 M. Kramer, Ivory Towers p n Sand: The Failure of Middle East Studies in America (Washington, D.C., 2001).

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academic systems. During the whole period since the mid-twenthieth century onwards there has been one major difference between the West­em European and the American scholarship. The first one is dedicated to the "classical orientalist approach" studying Arabic sources and texts from a historical and philological point of view. Meanwhile, the American school introduced methods from the field of social sciences, including the anthropological approach. This division could not be universal because there is a cross-disiplinary overlapping between the two schools, as well mutual influence. Still, generally speaking, in America the Arab world and Islam have been studied more from the point of view of social sciences than from the perspective of the old, "classical " oriental studies in approach typical for Europe.

Indeed, the social sciences approach was also introduced in Europe in the 18th century in the context of the commercial and industrial revolu­tion. Socials sciences were formed as disciplines during the 19th century and they have always been characterized by two opposing tendencies. The first one aimed at analysing and defining the social powers and the relation of ideas and beliefs to ·Society. The second one adhered to the "modem" view that societies are similar to physical structures and could be governed by mechanically directing their course toward achieving cer­tain social objectives. As Dale F. Eickelman writes " the strain between these two views on social sciences is most clearly evident in the colonial social sciences " 23 which tried to expand textual studies of the Qur'an and other major Islamic texts with new types of knowledge on historical development of religious rites, beliefs and practices.

Travellers with an excellent command of Arabic prepared the ground for the emergence of scholars later who tried to "discover" the Arab world and Islam within social sciences. Such travellers explorers were John Lewis Burckhardt (1784-1817) who was born in Switzerland and studied Arabic in Cambridge and Edward Lane (1801-1876) - an Englishman who engaged in oriental studies in order to work for the government but in fact became an engraver. Burckhardt left behind him a description of Egyptian manners and customs24 which was subsequently enlarged and commented by Lane25 who spent in Egypt almost twenty

23 D.F. Eickelman, " Social Sciences and the Qur 'an, " in Encyclopedia of the Qur 'an, ed. J. Dammen McAuliffe Leiden, 2006), V: 66-76, p. 66.

24 J.L. Burckhardt, Arabic Proverbs; or, the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (Totowa, NJ, 1972 [1 830)).

25 E. Lane, An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (New York, 19735 [1860)). •

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fi ve years by being completely immersed in the native customs without losing his English identity. Later representatives of this approach were people such as the Biblical scholar W. Robertson Smith (1846-1894) who at the very start of his career was actually involved in mathemati­cal studies. His interest in the "historical criticism" of the Bible quickly evolved into an interest in the Qur'an because he met the opposition of conservative Christians. In his immersion in the Arab environment Smith was not less active than Edward Lane and during his stay in the Mid­dle East and North Africa he even adopted the oriental name Abdullah Effend!.26 In his monograph "Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia" 27

he tried to transfer his interest as a Biblical scholar to the Qur'an by embarking on solving the task to discover the characteristics of the rela­tion between text and society. This effort of Smith to fix the systematic relation among social groups according to the way of their representa­tion in the text and the text structure itself was similar to the activity of some of his contemporaries, such as Goldziher.

During this period, influential thinkers from the field of social sciences, among whom were Karl Marx (1818-1883), Max Weber (1864-1920) and Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), also wrote on "the topic of Islam" affected by the tales of the early "orientalists" travellers. In this way ocial sciences were eventually introduced in oriental studies but we

could say that they assumed primacy in Arabic and Islamic studies not earlier than mid-twentieth century. Before that an important role in lhe process of reconsidering the attitudes toward Islam was played by me representatives of "classical" oriental studies whose arguments some­times defined as "Islamophilic" due to their obvious sympathy with Islam. They exerted influence on the studies of the classical Muslim east as

ell as on the relation of Western Christianity to Islam. Noted scholars uch as Sir Hamilton Gibb confidently emphasized upon the virtues of

- orthodox" Islam, while others such as the Spaniard Miguel Asfn Pala-. os ( 1871-1944) were especially interested in the positive results from

me mutual interaction of Islam and Christianity. Thus, the rise of a new trend in Islamic studies shaped among circles within the Catholic scholarship proved to be particularly important. A new type of convic­tion among some scholars like Louis Massignon (1883-1962) and his follower ffenri Corben (1903-1978) started being formed, namely that

e Christianity Islam is a great religion of revelation having a deep

26 See Eickelman, The Middle East and Central Asia, p. 34. 27 R.W. Smith, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia (Boston, 1967 [1885)).

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mystical spirit that underlies one of the major civilizations in the history of mankind. All this represented one of the important factors for a grad­ual but enduring change in the attitude of Western Christians towards Muslims.

Among some of the most indicative examples in this aspect is the extensive correspondence of Louis Massignon with the Catholic clergy and his personal friendship with the future Pope Paul VI which to a great extent prepared the ground for the discussions around the rela­tions between the Catholic Church and the Muslims during the Second Vatican Council ( 1962-1965). Then a new position of Catholicism towards Muslims and Islam was worked out which was looked upon by some scholars as a turning point in the Christian-Muslim relations. 28 The decrees of this Council paid attention to the common Abrahamic ground of these two religions as far as their followers revere Abraham (Arabic Ibrahim) as their ancestor. Of course, Catholics still stick to the princi­ple that Christ was " the Way, the Truth and the Life"29 but at the same time it was acknowledged that in the world there are elements of reli­gious truth outside the structures of the Church as an organized com­munity. This laid down the basis for reconsideration of the ecclesiasti­cal centrism according to which it is only the Christian Church that leads to salvation. Thus, Jews and Muslims were also recognized as " submit­ted to God" . The Declaration on the Relation of the Church to non­Christian Religions (dated October 28'h 1965) emphasizes that the Catholic Church "regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all-power­ful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men" .30

Thus, in the West31 the official change of the attitude of the Catholic Church towards Islam occurred to a great extent under the influence of oriental studies in spite of Edward Said 's critique. This fact could be

28 Y. Peev, " Vtoriat Vatikanski sabor i povratat v otnosheniata hristianstvo-islam" ["The Second Vatican Council and the Turning Point in the Relations between Christian­ity and Islam], in Arabistika i isliamoznanie [Arabic and Islamic Studies] (Sofia, 2003), II: 413.

29 John. 14:16. 30 Nostra Aetate - Declaration of the view of the Church concerning non-Christian

religions, http ://www. vatican. va/archive/hist_ councils/ii_ vatican_council/documents/ vat-ii_decl_19651 028_n'tstra -aetate_en.html

31 The East Orthodox Church does not have any decision or formal statement analog­ical to Nostra Aetate, and its attitude towards Islam is as a rule justified either through relying on the Bible or through the local traditions of coexistence which does not contra­dict the Holy Scripture.

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perceived also as one of the arguments against the view of the manipu­lative "essentializing of Islam" with the only purpose of exerting power pressure and conducting imperial policy on behalf of the "West". This view of Said is deliberately polemical. Although he relies too heavily upon generalizations on the "Western view" of Islam, this hypercriticism attitude drew attention on the necessity of renewal of the academic methodology with the purpose to understand better the societies of the Middle east. In this sense the observation of the Danish Arabist Jorgen _ ielsen is quite precise, namely that in the process of developing his the­sis, the enthusiasm of Said grows while the power of his arguments decreases. In spite of that the attacks against essentialism should be taken seriously. Nielsen stresses, "even the great Max Weber presents a view of an essentially hedonistic Islamic ethic and a political structure which is essentially arbitrary".32

Accused by some and praised by others, Edward Said was a multi­faceted person and he definitely exerted a great influence in contempo­rary history of ideas. It became almost impossible for scholars to stand

ide from the debate ·around the "Oriental ism". The necessity to take a side in it in most of the cases leads to a clearer vision of the methods and approaches within Arabic and Islamic studies. If we perceive the critic ism of Said towards "Orientalism" not as purely academic thesis and argumentation but as an entity comprised of the purposeful efforts of a prominent public intellectual, we could outline another important -though an indirect one- result of his activity. It is related to the unveiling of two interrelated and equally misleading - the lack of

lance between the too persistent idealization of the " exotic oriental nature" and the ridiculous caricaturing depiction of Arabs and Islam.

Deliberately or not, these two types of attitude contribute to establish­ing a non-proper image of Islam in Europe and America by creating the impression that Arabs and Muslims are the representatives of an "anec­dotal" culture perceived sometimes as an "unsuccessful version" of the

estern (Christian) world. Being related in the past to the peculiarities f the Islamic religion and the medieval civilization that evolued from it,

nowadays the "anecdotal approach" is transferred also to complex and ·verse processes in political and spiritual life often too easily classified

er the general category of "Islamic fundamentalism ", as a rule in a

" 32 J.S. Nielsen, "Orientalism and anti-Orientalism- is there a middle way?", in £th­

eology of Sufi Orders and Practices: Theory and Practices, ed. A. Jelyazkova & J. Nielsen Sofia, 2001), pp. 337-3~1. p. 342.

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negative way. Edward Said was right when addressing such attitudes and ideas that underlie these distorted approaches. Probably his thesis could also be understood in another way, namely that it is necessary for the disciplines that study the "Orient" to take into account to a greater extent the methodological achievements of the systematic human and social sciences and to participate more actively in the ongoing mainstream aca­demic discussions.

The fact that in 1973 - not without pressure exerted on behalf of UNESCO - the term "Orientalism" had to be dropped away from the name of the world congress of all orientalist disciplines is by itself already indicative of the powerful influence of the debate on "Oriental­ism". At the end of the 1970s the designation of an "orientalist" had already started to sound offensive. Yet, oriental studies practically kept its academic independence, mainly due to the successful including of the social sciences approach in its activity.33 This led to the successful cross­ing of disciplines from the philological tradition and the social sciences, and the traditional textual study of the sources started being combined with additional exploration of the Islamic culture viewed through the prism of its own historical and social dynamics.

From the outset of this debate up to the present day, Western orien­talists have not agreed on their own concepts and methods. The Arab positions regarding Orientalism are not unanimous either. As noted, the beginning of the polemics that started around Orientalism was related to the names of Arab intellectuals and Muslim religions scholars. It is true that many Western scholars oppose Edward Said, but still there are also Arab authors whose criticism is no less explicit than that of Bernard Lewis. Sadiq Jalal al-Azm is one of the first who embarked on refuting the thesis of Said by publishing a book entitled "Oriental ism and anti-Orientalism" . Al-Azm stated that through his thesis Edward Said has achieved the opposite effect, contrary to the desired one, while his argument against the accusers of the oriental studies could be reduced to the following: "Here Orientalism is looked upon not as a product of def­inite historical conditions, but rather is analyzed in the from of a natural phenomenon, fixed in time and generated by the Western mind" .34

By the end of the 1980's there was already an enduring Arab interest in the study of the Orient by westerners. In Beirut Mishal Ju~a published a book entitl~ "Arabic and Islamic Studies in Europe" which represented

33 See Schulze, ,Orie talistik und Orientalismus" , p. 716. 34 AI-'A~m, $lidiq Jallil, Al-istishriiq wa 1-istishriiq ma 'kusan (Beirut, 1981), p. 8.

BALANCING TEXT AND CONTEXT IN ARABIC AND ISLAMIC STUDIES 235

a sort of a historical and bibliographical survey on the development of the centers of oriental studies as well as the works of scholars belonging ro different schools. The author formulated the main reasons which stim­ulated the European interest in the Arab world and Islam : missionary

tivity, colonial expansion, political factors , academic interest, discovery of petrol resources, geostrategical factors and personal motivation35• Here Arabic and Islamic studies were examined in the context of this classi­fication while the author sought to present and analyse available data conscientiously, without interfering with religious issues.

A particularly great challenge to modern Western Arabists and islami­sists has been posed by the scholar Aziz al-Azmeh- Syrian by origin, be has worked in Great Britain and more recently has been a visiting professor at the Central European University in Budapest. In his academic studies and public service he has often spoken of the "Muslim question" taking as a point of departure the idea that it has acquired "more and more radical exotism ", particularly after September 11th 2001. According to al-Azmeh, "under the mask of social and academic innovations" the orientalist procedures of the 19th century have been revived - either through the form of the ideas of the " clash of civilizations", or through a " dialogue of civilizations". The author argues that this resulted into establishing - especially in America - of a new "postcolonial dis­course", similar to the one that had already been criticized by Edward Said.

What is the solution proposed by al-Azmeh? He is convinced that -if the Muslim question", if the phenomena defined as "Islamic" or as imposing one or another interpretation of Islamism are to be understood, the first step would be " decomposing" the idea of Islam. What should be examined are the recent conditions in which Islamism appeared: social power, historical mutations and developments, political conflicts, intel-

tual and ideological realities, pious and theological styles of behaviour d institutions. Alongside, attention should be paid to local ethnograph­

ical details. Without this decomposition the totalizing category of Islam will keep on playing the fabricated role to create things just by naming them.36 Similarly, Aziz al-Azmeh insisted upon removing the totalizing haracter of the " Islamic essence" in his polemic book "Islamizirig

35 Ju~a. Nfishal , Al-diriisiit al- 'arabiyya wa 1-isliimiyyafi 'uruba (Beirut, 1982), pp. 19-

36 Al-Azmeh, Aziz, " Postmodem Obscurantism and the 'Muslim Question'" , JSRI, ummer (2003): 26. ltttp ://hiphi.ubbcluj.ro/JSRI/html%20version{mdex/no_5/aziaalazmeh­

.Ucol.htm.

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Islam" : " Oriental science is a culturally specific substructure which stems out from a mythological classificatory tradition, from an instinctive rude division of the world, from a behaviour which reminds of the party spirit dominating over the supporters of a football club . " 37 In spite of the vehement style of presenting his criticism, al-Azmeh falls into the paradoxical extremity of Said, namely "essentializing" the oriental studies by classifying all its representatives under a common denomina­tor. And this could not remain unnoticed in the circles of the serious West­ern Arabists and islamicists, who often perceive such accusations, as well as the criticism coming from religious Muslims, as a "political" pressure on their academic autonomy and scholarly independence.

The arguments of Aziz al-Azmeh have been contested by the German Professor Tilman Nagel of Gottingen University- one of the "classical" orientalists today. Analysing the definition of al-Azmeh, the German islamicist is challenged by the accusations of "Orientalism" formulated by such scholars as al-Azmeh, because of whom he has to clarify some­thing which does not need be mentioned at all, "but the case is not such anymore" . It is about a simple rule which orientalists have been observing strictly for decades, namely , when analysing questions from the past and present of the Arab world and Islam, they rely on original sources in Arabic. This, however, has turned into one of the critiques of Edward Said and his followers - the excessive reliance on the sources leads to " essentializing" Islam and viewing everything through the prism of this religion.

Accusations of "Orientalism" by some historians of the Muslim world such as Reinhardt Schulze. In his opinion from the 16th century on there has been a "globalized" history in which human cultures have dissolved into one another. 38 "And if this is the case - Tilman Nagel starts his counter-argument in a sarcastic way - then only fools could speak about a specifically Islamic culture".39 He completely rejected the idea that from the 16th century onwards the Muslim world and Europe have had one and the same "globalized" history. Afterwards, he develops an argumentation against the thesis of al-Azmeh that "Islamic Studies which were born out of Oriental studies" in fact represent an ideologically charged image of the Muslims. Nagel adduced the thesis of the accusers

37 AJ-Azmeh, Aziz. Die lslamisierung des Islam. Die imaginiire Welten einer politischen Theo/ogie (Frankfurt/Main, 1996), pp. 177-78.

• 38 SeeR. Schulze, " Was ist islamische Autldiirung", WI, 36 (1996) : 276-325. 39 T. Nagel, Das islamische Recht: Eine Einfiihrung (Westhofen, 2001), p. 3

BALANClNG TEXT AND CONTEXT IN ARABIC AND ISLAMlC STUDIES 237

of oriental studies according to whom "orientalists"- similar to Islamic fundamentalists - are guilty of creating the image of the Orient as a counterpoint to the West, just as they create a wrong image of Islam too. Some of the academic theses of the accusers cited by Nagel sound ridicu­lous indeed. Such is the statement of Schulze that the 18th century was a period of Enlightenment in the Muslim world but "because of "Orien­talism" Muslim are not able to realize this until today" .40 In his tum

agel puts forth the question: "What then is the common thing between a Muslim from Morocco and a Chinese Muslim?" And then he explains: ·' Is there not a whole legion of opinions on what Islam is? Then it would be wrong to speak of Islam as a single given entity, which passes through time! Then it would be also wrong to write down an introduction in Islamic law. Both of the aforementioned statements disclose a reckless tubbornness in supporting this long-repeated "essentialism" .41 By using

the terms of the accusers of oriental studies, Tilman Nagel is right when tating the opposite - in cases such as that of Islamic law we have pre­

cisely an "essence". And this should not be confused with the existing political fragmentation and diversity in Muslim countries.

The debate around the "Orientalism" requires emphasising upon the fact that the common thing among all Muslims around the world regard­less of their geographical location is Islam. Meanwhile, the theses that burden Western scholarship with the duty of carrying the responsibility of Muslims' ignorance about their "Enlightenment" in the 18th century sound no less offensive for the "Orientals" than the imaginary "essen­tialism" of the Islamic studies in the West. We face a paradox- just like Muslim religious scholars, Western Arabists and islamicists understand the importance of Islam proceeding from its texts but they do it as "out-iders", from a secular academic perspective. This is understood in

Islamic religious circles and it is not a coincidence that they start study­ing in details the Western "oriental" Studies. A great portion of the mis­understanding in the whole debate on Oriental ism comes out of the desire of certain modem minded scholars that support secularization to come up with hypotheses such as the one of Aziz al-Azmeh on "decomposing Islam". Such scholars, however, are sometimes not specialists in Islam although they are Middle Easterners of origin, but they use the language of the mainstream human and social sciences, which makes their ideas widesprea'tl in academia. Very often these ideas come from outside of the

40 See T. Nagel, •'Die Ebenbiirtigkeit des Fremden", ZDMG, 148(1998): 367-378. 41 Nagel, Das islamische Recht: eine Einfohrung, p. 3.

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field of Arabic and Islamic studies and therefore stand far from the real problems inside Middle Eastern and Islamic studies.

The accusations of "Orientalism" sound so contradictory and difficult to sustain that in the last years voices of criticism became more moder­ate and phrasings - more balanced. The French sociologist of Islam Olivier Roy emphasized that the "culturalist approach" of the classical islamicists is in crisis. At the same time Roy writes that he does not express solidarity with the anti-orientalist theses that ignore the signif­icance of Islam.42 The purpose of Roy is different from that of "tradi­tional" critics; his goal is to demonstrate that not everything related to Muslims today could be interpreted through the Qur'an only; even re-Islamization could not be explained through Islam only. The signifi­cance of Islam in modem societies should not be overestimated but at the same time could not be ignored as an ideological and sociological factor. Few are the scholars like Olivier Roy who successfully break with the "traditional" approach of the "orientalists" in order to demon­strate not only original and abstract theses but rather a new type of argu­mentation from the viewpoint of social sciences.

At the same time some scholars write about "neo-Orientalism" stem­ming out from the thesis that Orientalism in fact encompasses not only "traditional oriental studies" but also social sciences. According to Yahya Sadowski neo-Orientalism included such scholars as, for example, Patricia Crone who according to him works in close cooperation with neo-Weberians. In her first book co-authored by Michael Cook43 she developed from a historical perspective a theory that had already been outlined from within religions studies by John Wansbrough in his impor­tant disputable book "Qur'anic Studies",44 namely that Islam is a sort of a "heresy" of Jewish messianism. As an autonomous religion and culture Islam was in fact formed during the Muslim conquests - long after it had originated, and this process was related to the search for identity. The historian R. Stephen Humphreys notices that "it is not surprising that the interpretation Crone-Cook failed in the attempt to become widely accepted among Western orientalists, let alone Muslim scholars".45

42 0 . Roy, Globalized Islam: The Search f or a new Ummah (New York, 2004), p. 331 43 M. Cook & If'. Crone, Hagarism, the Making of the Islamic World (Cambridge,

1977). 44 J. Wansbrough, Qur 'anic Studies. Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation

(Oxford, 1977). 45 R.S. Humphreys, Islamic History: A Framework/or Inquiry (London, 1995 [1991]),

p. 85.

BALANCING TEXT AND CONTEXT IN ARABIC AND ISLAMIC STUDIES 239

For Yahya Sadowski the activity of scholars as Patricia Crone, of policy driven analysts as Daniel Pipes and sociologists as Ernest Gellner ( 1925-1995) constitutes a sort of an attempt to vindicate traditional oriental studies. Sadowski thinks that these scholars represent Islam as a - social entity" the core of which is rendered immune against changes onder the influence of whatever historical processes: "They claim that Muslim efforts to build stable states - from Ibn Khaldiin's radical insights in the fourteenth century to Ottoman tax reformers in the seven­teenth century or Islamic revolutionaries today - have not and never can, bring about a change in the essential anti-state and therefore anti­modem core of Islamic dogma. "46 It is obvious that - although it has recently subsided in its "Edward Said" version- the debate around me "essence" of Islam and its significance for the understanding of the public and political life in Middle Eastern societies still continues on exerting its influence upon the scholarly discussions.

Methodologically, the ideas of "Oriental ism" and "neo-Orientalism" have an important consequence- the relations between the "old" Euro­pean oriental studies and the new methods of the social sciences, pene­rrating Middle Eastern Studies, became more dynamic and fruitful. Pre-

isely the "old" school of oriental studies has been accused of sticking to the text only, thus creating an imaginary reality. At the same time, those who enthusiastically left the texts aside, often go into the opposite extreme. They either explore insignificant phenomena or ethnographic details, which in fact poorly contribute to the understanding of the important social processes, or result into most ordinary simplifications and conclu- · ions, but this time without keeping to the texts. This fluctuation between

- essentialism" and "deconcentration" could hardly lead to positive results. The idea of looking for a "middle way" between Orientalism and anti­Orientalism expressed by Jorgen Nielsen47 is challenging, but it could hardly be applied in scholarship. The views of Tilman Nagel and those of Aziz al-Azmeh seem incompatible. Nevertheless, another approach that looks promising is possible, namely not a "middle way" but a balance between the diligence of the classical oriental school of Islamic studies

ith its innate respect to texts and a new type of involving methods from me social sciences such as sociology, anthropology, and ethnography.

,. 46 Y. Sadowski, "The New Orientalism and the Democracy Debate" , in Political

Islam, ed. J. Benin~ J. Stork (Berkley, Los Angeles, 1997), pp. 33-50, p. 42. 47 Nielsen, " Orientalism and anti-Orientalism- is there a middle way?".

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A typical example in support of this idea is the use of ethnographic data and anthropological methods. The American anthropologist of Islam Dale F. Eickelman analyses the methods of the early European orientalists from the 19th and the 20th centuries through the prism of the social sciences, and especially ethnography. His analysis leads to the conclusion that the development of the early European scholarship on the Arab east, including also the one of orientalists, could not easily be summarized as projecting a foreign view upon this region with the pur­pose to direct its development in " the right" direction, fitting the goals of the Western colonial and imperial interests. There are much more refmed grounds for the interest in the Arab world and Islam, namely their understanding. The Western scholars reproduce in a very precise way the views of the Arabs and Muslims studied by them - such as they were, according to the texts, created by the elite of those societies. And if "prior orientalist views of the Middle East can be criticized as too text­oriented, this fault is shared with the representations of the medieval (and contemporary) Muslim society held by the Muslim learned elite itself. Good ethnographic work requires a delicate balance between the under­standing of text and socio-cultural context" .48

If the ideas and methods of Tilman Nagel could hardly be combined with the ones of Aziz ai-Azmeh, they are compatible with those of Dale F. Eickelman. In this balance between the understanding of the text and socio-cultural context the issue of the selection of sources, and consequently the work with them is crucial. The possibilities that exist here are vast and the already existing academic arguments on this issue will inevitably go on. Angelika Hartmann suggests: "No work with the sources without a careful examination of the double framework in translating terminology" .49 This appeal to perceive Islamic terminology through its relation to the European one provides a sufficient ground for the statement of the French orientalist Maxim Rodinson who warns that there is a danger of ethnocentrism or even "xenocentrism" which is on its way to substitute the old Euro-centrism.50 In any case, the attention paid to texts in the field of Middle Eastern studies remains of a key importance. It is enough to mention here the indirect argument in the controversy between Patricia Crone and William Montgomery Watt, who

48 Eickelman, The Middle East and Central Asia, p. 41. 49 A. Hartmann, "Orientalistik und lslambegriff heute. Konzept und Gegenstand der

Forschung- von Wiirzburg aus betrachtet", in Angewandte interdiszipliniire Orient­forschung, eds. A.Jfartmann & K. Schliephake (Hamburg, 1991), p. 135.

50 See Schulze, "Orientalistik und Oriental ism us", p. 714.

BALANCING TEXT AND CONTEXT IN ARABIC AND ISLAMIC STUDIES 241

- in spite of his being a sort of a doyen of the British oriental studies, has been accused by the next generations of not paying sufficient atten­tion to the sources. Such authors as Andrew Rippin and Michael Cook also made a contribution in that aspect.51 This peculiar academic aspect of the debates around "Orientalism" will continue on engaging scholars in discussions.

When conducted in the form of public discussions "for" or "against" oriental studies and "Oriental ism", the debate contains a great deal of ideology in it- a religious, as well as a political one. In the final analy­sis, the stimuli to the popularization of the thesis of "Orientalism" -successfully carried out by Edward Said- is related much more to polit­ical motives than those of classical orientalists. This fact is also remarked by the Arab author Hashim ~alii~ in a fascinating way. He emphasized that the position of Said could not be understood if taken out of the con­text of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Palestine problem:

Here we face an extremely important issue. It honours Said that he addresses it in his book but he cannot reach to a reasonable solution. This is the prob­lem of the relation between knowledge and power or between the will to know and the will to rule. Edward Said put forth this issue by stemming out from the ideas of Michelle Foucault who was not an orientalist but criti­cized the fundaments of Western civilization. As far as Orientalism is an indispensable part of Western civilization, this criticism is also related to the civilization itself. But is it true according to this theory that there is no knowledge without power or that power is knowledge and knowledge is power? Could not truth be emancipated from the mutual relation to power, domination and authority? The complexity of this issue affects the episte­mology of knowledge. 52

The conclusion of ~alil:t is clear - we cannot reproach Said for his criticism of "Orientalism", when it has been developing as an academic field alongside colonialism and the colonisation of Palestine by Jews, which is perceived by the Arabs as the most painful manifestation of colonial policy. This fact, however, does not mean that knowledge should be looked upon as a sole "servant of authority, by denying its relative independence whatsoever" .53

51 See MI'Cook, Early Muslim Dogma: A Source-Critical Study (Cambridge, 2003 [ 198 1 ]). Without entering into polemics, the author presents in an interesting way the philological approach to Arabic and Islamic studies.

52 Sali~, Hashim, 4itroduction to Al-istishrtiq bayna du 'titihi wa mu 'tiritfihi [Oriental­ism between its Protagonists and Opponents] (Beirut, 1994), p. 12.

53 ~iili~ , Introduction to Al-istishrtiq, p. 13.

242 S. EVSTATIEV

The fact that Arab scholars are not unanimous on the issue of Said's ideas is an indicative one. A similar case is the reverberation of his ideas on the Far East studies, where it turned out that oriental studies have also played a role in constituting modernity.54 Despite his extremely contro­versial thesis and his exceptionally polemic views of oriental studies, in 2002 Edward Said was awarded with the first prize for a general contri­bution in the filed of Middle East studies, presented to him in Mainz, Germany, during the First World Congress in Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES). The date of presenting the award was also symbolic -September 11, while part of the international "orientalist" community also attended the ceremony. Like in many other conferences of this kind, a party followed the work. This time it was organized at a boat on the Rhine and scholars enjoyed the songs of the charming Palestinian singer Reem Kelani. She often stopped singing in order to tell curious and touching stories of her childhood in Palestine -joyful and sad alike. In one of the culmination moments she suddenly stopped her performance. In the silence that followed, and the curious looks of everyone, Reem Kelani turned to Edward Said with a good-intentioned, though a chal­lenging smile: "I am sorry, Professor Said, but the Orient still exists! "

Islam should not be "essentialized", especially for the purposes of the current policy and without taking into consideration the social and cultural specifics of every single region under study. However, if we use the expression of Talal Asad, "the argument here is not against the attempt to generalize about Islam, but against the manner in which this generalization is undertaken" .55 In spite of all accusations of "Oriental­ism", still very often the scholarship on the Arab world and Muslim societies has to draw inevitably upon its "essential" principles and texts. In other words, the study of Islamic history remains extremely impor­tant: Islam is not only the most important " meta-language" for all its followers. What has happened in the Muslim world from the 7m century till today clearly shows that Islam plays a role of an important unifying and mobilizing factor for its followers. This is not an opinion of the orientalists, but rather one of the Muslims elsewhere. It is grounded in

54 L.A. Bereznyi, "Postmodemizm i problemyi orientalistiki. Zametki ob odnoi diskusii sinologov S.Sh.A. " ["Postmodemism and the Problems of Oriental Studies: Remarks onta Discussion among Scholars of China in the USA"], Vostok (Oriens), 2 (2004): 153.

55 T. Asad, "The Idea of an Anthropology of Islam" [Occasional Papers Series, Georgetown Universi'y Center for Contemporary Arab Studies) (Washington DC, 1986), p. 5.

BALANCING TEXT AND CONTEXT IN ARABIC AND ISLAMIC STUDIES 243

the Qur'an (2: 256), which defines Islam as the "firmest tie " (al- 'urwa al-wuthqii). The Muslim religious and political community (umma) also has a universal and transnational character including all Muslims, regard­less of their race, language, and location. Islam may be perceived as only one of the factors in the whole complex "knotwork" of past and present problems related to Muslims but still it plays a major role. It is difficult, not to say impossible, to entirely "decompose" Islam for the purposes of modem sociological methods no matter how attrative they may sound as an innovative theoretical framework. Nevertheless, Arabists and islami­cists will finally overcome the accusations of "Orientalism" only if their scholarship deliberately seeks for a balance between text and socio­cultural context.

ORIENT ALIA LOY ANIENSIA ANALECTA

---171---

CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN THE REALMS OF ISLAM

Studies in Honour of Professor Urbain Vermeulen

edited by

K. D'HULSTER

and

J. VAN STEENBERGEN

UITGEVERIJ PEETERS en DEPARTEMENT OOSTERSE STUDIES LEUVEN -: PARIS- DUDLEY, MA

2008