Imprints of Islam on Edward Said’s Orientalism

Abstract

This article reviews orientalists’ misrepresentations regarding the Orient and Islam. Many Western scholars have touched on the differences between Westerners and Arab and Muslim Orientals. Orientalists have also drawn analogies between Christianity and Islam. In his book Orientalism, Said depicted the negative attitude of some orientalists’ texts towards Islam and the Orient. However, there are also literary works about the Orient in Western culture that employ objective criteria. The vision of Islam is analysed according to the orientalists whose names are mentioned in the book of Orientalism. However, other texts present greater equanimity. That vision is still present nowadays in the Western mindset towards the Middle Eastern situation. Said’s approaches explain the issue brilliantly, and could provide some clues for solutions.