Tag: Academia
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Between Orientalists and Their Critics: The Persistent Divide
The Encyclopedia of Islam defines Orientalists in Islamic studies as, “all impartial scholars of Islam, Muslim societies and cultures, whether of Western or non-Western, Muslim or non-Muslim origin and whether they work in the West or elsewhere.” As it stands, this definition is one that has been informally tweaked in recent years to include “non-Western,”…
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Logic as a Tool for Adab
There is something quite bizarre about walking into an Islamic studies lecture to hear figures of the past defined in modern terms. With ease, the figure of Rābi’ah al-’Adawiyyah is described not just as a Ṣūfī but someone who “emphasise[s] the autonomy and capacity to remain free of any male authority”; this definition is then…
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Islamic Studies Academics Must Know Arabic
Islamic Studies academics have recently taken to social media to critique certain aspects of their field. One major criticism was that Islamic Studies academics are constantly projecting various theories onto Islam without justifying why they are doing so.