Ibn Warraq, the world’s only professional ex-Muslim (that I know of), has an article out debunking Edward Said [1]. A much shorter version is also there for those who aren’t footnote hounds (thanks G Factor). I read Orientalism and found it rather uninteresting (and yes, there are obvious errors about Muslim history that makes you wonder what kind of expert this dude is-he’s an English professor actually!). Yeah, Orientalists did serve Imperialism and Racism and all that, and perhaps Bernard Lewis still does in some way, but that doesn’t mean that all they say is incorrect. I frankly don’t trust Arabs to report objectively on their societies at this point-though non-Arab Muslims might be a good compromise. To also be equal opportunity I’ve got to ask, what went wrong with Bernard Lewis? His last two books, What Went Wrong & Crisis of Islam seem to be nothing more than compilations of his ramblings on the Charlie Rose Show [2]. His earlier books, like The Middle East, are much more dense and pre-date his ubiquitous appearences on late night PBS talk-shows, they show how orientalism should be done.
[1] Folks like Salman Rushdie weren’t very Islamic to begin with and their books deal in broader topics than Islam. Also, Warraq has a new book out titled Leaving Islam.
[2] Charlie Rose is to Bernard Lewis what Larry King is to Marlon Brando, the guy needs to chill on his platonic crush big time.
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