4.10. THE INTELLECTUAL DIALOGUE (WITH ORIENTALISTS)
The religious dialogue with the West should be coupled with another dialogue that complements it: this is the intellectual dialogue with Orientalists and Western writers who are interested in the studies related to Islam and its Quran, Messenger, Creed, history, culture, knowledge, peoples, present and future, especially those scholars who are interested in intellectual trends, modern revivalist movements and contemporary awakening upheavals.
Such a dialogue is necessary for correcting concepts, bringing viewpoints nearer, clearing the air between the two sides and paving the ground for better relations.
If dialogue is possible with clergymen and representatives of the Church, who are more zealous by virtue of their positions and deep-rooted ideological beliefs that have been handed down to them across the generations, then dialogue with orientalists and intellectuals should be easier and more beneficial, though many people say that there is no difference between Western clergymen and Western men of thought, or, in other words, between missionaries and orientalists. They say that the only difference is that the former are dressed in priests’ attire while the latter don the cloaks of scholars, but the two of them are only two faces of the same coin.
However, a dialogue should not be impossible if it is sought with a strong will, if the objective is known, and if the road is clear. Universities and intellectual fore can take the initiative by bringing representatives of the two sides together to launch research work on certain topics that be decided in an academic, objective atmosphere that is free from bias or provocation.
We have to take also account here that Orientalists are not equal in their attitude towards Islam, the Muslim Nation and the Islamic Awakening.
Many books have been written about Orientalists, such AlAqiqi’s book, while others were written to reply to their allegations or to defend them. Still other works classified them, such as the treatise prepared by Dr. Mohammad AlBahayy, May Allah grant him forgiveness, for which he had chosen the topic of “Orientalists and their attitudes towards Islam”.
I have to say that there are several points of weakness that are almost common in most orientalists. These are:
Firstly, orientalists are not wellversed in Arabic and cannot fully grasp its different implications, which naturally affects their comprehension of the original Islamic sources, especially the Holy Quran and Sunna . Therefore, their understanding of Islam and its Message is hazy and incomplete.
Secondly, Orientalists suffer from the complex of superiority of the Western man, the Western mind and Western civilization. They regard the West as the master of the world and Europe as the mother of all countries, and they think that history began in the West and will end there.
Thirdly, they start their research from points that are not subject to testing from their point of view, as they believe that the Quran was not sent down by Allah and that Mohammad is not the Messenger of Allah. This way, they form their ideas in advance, prior to starting their research, then direct their research in such directions that may enable them to prove these ideas by any means, thereby accepting narratives of poor credibility, believing lies, magnifying small events, making a mountain out of a molehill, taking suspicion as evidence and rejecting all that contradicts their ideas even if it hits them in the face!
Fourthly, the studies made by Orientalists are often directed toserving practical goals that are required from the authors by certain countries. In many cases, millions are allocated to these research works, which makes these studies not completely free of bias or illintentions.
Nevertheless, the dialogue is still required in many fields, and it can still be held with the number of free men that is increasing every day as more people shed old complexes and rid themselves of new influences.
When we set ourselves to start this dialogue, it should be reasonable to choose those Orientalists who are nearer to fairness and moderation among all nationalities, such as Professor J. Berque who was invited to Qatar’s University several times.
However, we can feel from the translated works of contemporary Orientalists that today’s Orientalists are closer to fairness and farther from exaggeration and fanaticism than yesterday’s Orientalists, especially as Muslims now read their works, discuss what they say and counter what they do not like in their statements, while the old Orientalists wrote for themselves, i.e. one for the other, so that their writings were more like special reports than general topics.
Source: Islamic Basics by Yusuf Al-Qaradawi
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