wocihac2011_human_development

called orientalism, and setting up learning institutions devoted to the thought
funded by the Church and the authorities. In this discussion, the theorization on
Islam that is related to thought of Hourani is the end product of the development.
Admittedly, past European scholars initiated the study of Islam because Islam had
long come into the European soil and moulded its civilization as can be seen in the
history of Muslim Spain. The initiative can be seen as counter-intellectualism or
counter-influence by European scholars who were concerned and eager in
asserting self-identity after sort of long being diluted in the previously Muslim
dominated Spanish society for about eight centuries.
The European counter-intellectualism brought about the European
enterprises in exploring the Muslim world in various fields of religion, culture and
history. Thus, arose such European scholars as Huart, Nicholson, Goldziher and
so on who were part of the scholars interested in Islam and were later
acknowledged in the west as prominent scholars on Islam. Then their works were
successively studied and their worldview on Islam was institutionalized as
academic field, as been mentioned by Ismail Ali Muhammad (2000) and Edward
Said (1991). Personally, Said is quite clear in his view on the institutionalization of
the study of Islam when he suggests the study of Islam was not mere scholarly
interest but adopted by European Church institution, and later financed by
European and American universities until Islam became the subject of interest
throughout the west.
Basically, the work presently being analyzed is an edited and reviewed
compilation of Hourani’s previously published articles, as has been admitted in his
introduction, regarding the most conspicuous viewpoints of prominent European
scholars on the three previously stated questions of prophecy, scripture and
culture. The title of the work underlines a chapter within his work that bears the
similar title, and generally represents the main thesis of the work, except for the
last three chapters that seem to be devoted to lessen the implication that Islam is
adapted from Christianity and Judaism. However, the three chapters are hardly
antithetical to the traditional western views on Islam. The last chapters can be
regarded as a distraction from the density of the hostile western views on Islam to
a more lenient stance, i.e. the emphasis on the establishment of Islam itself, rather
than its origin. At the same time, he leaves the western hostility to Islam unsolved
by merely reflecting on the hostility without transcending the boundary to Islamic
perspective, i.e. Islamic references.
As of the work being analyzed here, it can be said as representative of the
theorization phase of orientalism because the writer tries to be conclusive and final
in his coverage of the diverse views on principles and foundation underlying
orientalism. Generally, he seems to try to rediscover the orientalists of various era
and Eropean nationalities. It is necessary to mention here that it was European
scholars who pioneered orientalism on Islam to the extent of their woks being
considered to form the tradition and works being used in institutionalizing both
European and American academic interests on Islam (Muhammed A. Al-Da’mi,
2002). Exclusively, Hourani’s analysis emphasizes a strong underlying message
on the existence of a cultural vacuum that paved the way for the coming of Islam,
Muslim society and Islamic Scripture.
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