Muslim World Chapter Summary

In The Idea of the Muslim World, Dr. Cemil Aydin discusses contemporary stereotypes and issues regarding the concept of the "Muslim World". His approach to the concept includes a historical examination of the Muslim religious community starting from the nineteenth century, achieving full flower in the 1870s (Aydin, 3). Aydin offers a "critical genealogy of the idea of the Muslim world, showing how, starting in the late nineteenth century, pan-Islamists and Islamophobes have used the assumption, ideal, and threat of Muslim unity to advance political agendas" (5). This approach is important as it demonstrates how the purpose of the creation of the Muslim world was so the Christian West could position it in everlasting conflict against Islam.

By the early 1880's this led to the racialization and discrimination of Muslims by white Europeans, establishing the idea of the Muslim world. Racism and prejudice are one of the reasons Muslims undertook the idea of pan-Islamism. The unity of Muslims would demonstrate to the white Christian Europeans that their negative thoughts on Muslims are not who Muslims truly are. The visions of the imperial world order were not fully defeated but they had to face these different races and deal with its political power. Aydin gives an example of derogatory Muslim comments when he writes about an 1883 speech given by Ernest Renan. In his speech, Renan claims that Muslim are "incapable of producing progress and science due to their fanaticism" (Aydin, 64). Muslim modernists responded to this racial remark in a way that indicated an important mark in the way the Muslim world was perceived in the new Eurocentric imperial world order. Even today, this idea of the Muslim world has negative connotations associated with it because non-Muslims fail to educate themselves on what Islam and Muslims actually believe