جدل الذاتي و الموضوعي في الدرس الاستشراقي للتراث العربي الإسلامي

Abstract

Orientalist studies have dominated many fields of knowledge within Arab-Islamic thought since the Church explicitly declared at the beginning of the fourteenth century the necessity of researching Eastern civilizations in general, and Arab-Islamic civilization in particular. From this point, Orientalist studies began to contemplate and analyze the history and civilization of the East, aiming to delve into the civilizational and cultural structures of Eastern nations. It became clear that the primary motivation behind many of these studies was a subjective one: to study the "other" in order to achieve the greatest possible control over it—in one way or another. While Orientalist production may initially appear to serve the Arab-Islamic heritage, the reality reveals the opposite. It demonstrates that in most of these studies, it was a major factor in distorting and obscuring facts, and in sowing doubt and suspicion in Islamic beliefs in order to undermine them under the guise of science and thought. However, it should be noted that some Orientalist studies in general, and German Orientalist studies in particular, have been distinguished by their objective approach. They have strived and added many scientific and cognitive facts to their studies, which have served the Arab-Islamic heritage by collecting, verifying, translating, and publishing manuscripts.