Eminent
French scholar and Islamologue Yahya Bono made the remark on Saturday,
September 14, while speaking at a forum in Tehran titled “Contemporary
Islamology Studies in France’s Academic Circles”.
He
said anti-Islamic groups that seek pretexts to attack Islam, say they do not
oppose Islam but oppose Islamism.
He
said in French dictionaries, the word Islamic is written in two forms, with a
capital letter and a lower case letter.
“When
written with capital letter, it refers to the Islamic civilization and
otherwise it means the religion of Islam. There is another word, that is
Islamism, which refers to Islam. In English and French dictionaries, this word
has no other definition than adherence to Islam.
“But
recently, anti-Islamic groups that seek excuses to attack Islam say they are
against Islamism and not Islam. Interestingly, they never provide an accurate
definition of the word.”
Mr.
Yahya Bono said while the word Islamism was first used by Arab Muslims to refer
to Islam itself, some Westerners have tried to separate it from Islam whereas
it has no other meaning than Islam.
Further
in his remarks, the French researcher said different views about Islam have
existed in the West that should be considered within four historical periods,
namely the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Colonialism era, and the
Post-colonialism era.
He
said historians believe that in the Middle Ages, a period between the ancient
times and the Renaissance, there was a lack of intellectuality but during the
Renaissance intellectuality entered the society and as a result a struggle
began with the east, Orthodox Christianity and at time the entire Christianity.
“Therefore,
the difference between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance was quite an
ideological one.”
The
Muslim convert noted that historians divide the world in the Middle Ages into
Latinas, Greeks and Arabs. “These were not three races but the division was
based on the languages they wrote in. That is why Avicenna was considered to be
Arab because he wrote in Arabic.”
Mr.
Bono noted that the first translation of the Quran was rendered in the Middle
Ages. “In this period, there was no understanding about Islam and Christian
missionaries wanted to know Islam to fight it. That is why the first
translation of the Word of God had many errors and it was actually a summary of
the verses of the Quran in Latin which was used by the Orientalists for five
centuries.”
He
said during the Renaissance, the conditions of Islamic studies changed and
orientalism, in its true sense started.
He
said orientalism is not about geography but it is about ideology. “In other
words, the West in the Renaissance referred to every country or group that
lacked the intellectuality present in Europe as orient.
The
French scholar said the third period, which was colonialism, began in 1830 with
the occupation of Algeria by France. He stated that Orientalism in this period
became completely ideological and confrontation between Western intellectualism
and the religious ideas in other parts of the world became more evident.
He
said in this period the West described Islam as lacking spirituality and
intellectuality in order to be able to spread the Western culture in the target
societies. “Of course, Louis Massignon rejected such a description and
underlined that the Quran is a majo0r example of intellectuality and
spirituality in the world. Also, Henry Corbin refuted the idea that Shia Islam
is a mere political movement… and discussed the spiritual aspects of this
school of thought.”
Yahya
Bono concluded by saying that in the current century, the Post-colonialism era,
there are two major groups in the West that oppose Islam, first biased Catholics
and second the advocates of secularism.
Source:
IQNA News Agency