All orientalist scholarship is built on the premise of the more enlightened outsider being free of bias, but has western Judeo-Christian tradition ever allowed room for supposed objectivity? Where are these Jewels of wise discourse in the subjective and vulgar catalog of historic western writing? Vulgar, I say, because anyone can compare the reverence with which Muslim scholars treat Jesus, the virgin Mary, Moses, Aaron, Issac, Abraham, Solomon, lot etc to the crude wrathful rantings of Jews against christians, or christians against jews, of catholics against protestants, and of ancient Romans against everyone. Adrian Reeland, professor of the Oriental Tongues at the University of Utrecht, who in 1705 composed a unique work in latin, subsequently translated and published in london under the title, Four treasties concerning the doctrine, Discipline and worship of the Mahometans (1712) (for full text pls see title pages 5-6)
The Revisionist school insisting that no Muslim document bears any semblance of truth unless other, non_muslim accounts provides verification (see Yehuda Nevo's definition of revisionism pp 7-8) Given how maliciously Christians and Jews have lashed out against Muslims from the very dawn of Islam, what hope can we possibly have of priests and rabbis 'verifying' Mslim accounts, attesting to the accomplishment of their bitterest rivals with objectivity? Under no condition do western scholars validate the indoctrinate abuse what christians and Jews hurled against each other, each group barricades by its own ignorance and superstition ( see example the apologist attitude inherent in the articles of both Joseph Blenkinsopp and Baraclay Newman [bible review, oct 1996 pp 42-43] so then on what grounds in their inordinate abuse against Muslims, hatched of the selfsame ignorance and superstition can be accepted as now truth?
Here are a few charges levelled against Muslims 17th and 18thc western scholars writing in latin that the Muslims worship Venus (2) and worship created beings, (3) and sins taken away by frequent washing.. etc
Orientalist motivation: a study of subjectivity pp327-329) Dr. Al-Azami __________________