al-Mustashriqun wa al-Turath

al-Mustashriqun wa al-Turath (Orientalists and Islamic Heritage) is a critical treatise by the Egyptian scholar and jurist Abd al-Azim al-Dib (d. 1431 AH / 2010 CE), examining the scope, intellectual inclinations, and methodological integrity of Western Orientalist scholarship in editing and publishing classical Islamic manuscripts al-Mustashriqun wa al-Tur…+1.

Background and Purpose

The treatise was composed to evaluate recurring claims in modern Arab and Islamic academic circles regarding the supposedly indispensable role and objective rigour of Orientalists in salvaging Islamic heritage al-Mustashriqun wa al-Tur…+1. The author first published the work in Bahrain around 1406 AH / 1986 CE, and a third edition was issued by Dar al-Wafa' in Mansura, Egypt, in 1413 AH / 1992 CE while al-Dib was serving as professor and head of the Department of Fiqh and Usul at Qatar University al-Mustashriqun wa al-Tur…+1.

Al-Dib argues that an accurate assessment of Orientalism requires addressing fundamental quantitative and qualitative questions: estimating the vast volume of Islamic heritage lost to historical catastrophes—such as the Mongol sack of Baghdad and the Crusades, during which historians estimated three million manuscripts were destroyed in Tripoli alone—and calculating the actual proportion and nature of manuscripts edited by Western scholars relative to native Muslim efforts al-Mustashriqun wa al-Tur…+1.

Structure and Content

The book is arranged into an introduction, four analytical chapters, and a concluding synthesis al-Mustashriqun wa al-Tur…:

Quantitative Analysis of Orientalist Publishing

In Ittijahat al-Nashr 'ind al-Mustashriqin ("Publishing Trends among Orientalists"), al-Dib conducts a sample statistical survey based on two major bibliographical registers: Salah al-Din al-Munajjid's Mu'jam al-Makhtutat al-Matbu'ah (surveying 1954–1970) and Abd al-Jabbar Abd al-Rahman's Dhakha'ir al-Turath al-Arabi al-Mustashriqun wa al-Tur…+1. His calculations indicate that Orientalist publications accounted for only approximately 7% to 10% of total printed classical works during the periods sampled al-Mustashriqun wa al-Tur…+1. He observes a notable spike in output immediately following World War II, followed by a sustained decline after 1960, which he correlates with the dissolution of European colonial ministries that historically funded and guided Orientalist institutions al-Mustashriqun wa al-Tur…+1.

Thematic and Ideological Directions

In al-Ittijah al-Fikri li al-Mustashriqin ("The Intellectual Direction of Orientalists") and Hadhihi Atharuhum ("These Are Their Works"), the author classifies Orientalist publications by subject matter al-Mustashriqun wa al-Tur…+1. Using al-Munajjid's catalog, he demonstrates that 43% of their published editions were concentrated in Sufism, philosophy, and speculative theology (ilm al-kalam), and 30% in biographies and history, whereas core Islamic sciences received marginal attention (Quranic commentary at 2.1%, jurisprudence at 4.3%, and hadith at ~3%) al-Mustashriqun wa al-Tur…+1.

Al-Dib contends that this thematic selection was purposeful: promoting heterodox theological treatises, extreme mystical sects, and works depicting moral decline served colonial policies of intellectual division and political pacification al-Mustashriqun wa al-Tur…+1. He cites Louis Massignon's scholarship on al-Hallaj in French-ruled Algeria, the exaggerated focus on Alf Laylah wa-Laylah (One Thousand and One Nights) as an alleged portrait of Islamic society, and the uncritical reliance on Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani's Kitab al-Aghani for historical judgments al-Mustashriqun wa al-Tur…+2.

Critique of Methodological Integrity

In Khiyanat al-Manhaj ("Betrayal of Methodology"), al-Dib provides detailed textual case studies to argue that prominent Western scholars manipulated Arabic historical and religious sources behind a facade of scientific objectivity al-Mustashriqun wa al-Tur…+1:

• Ignaz Goldziher: Accused of distorting biographical assessments, such as citing Waki' as having called the transmitter Ziyad ibn Abd Allah al-Bakka'i a liar (kadhub), whereas the original entry in al-Bukhari's al-Tarikh al-Kabir reads that he was "too noble to lie" (ashraf min an yakdhib) al-Mustashriqun wa al-Tur…+1. He also highlights Goldziher's removal of the definite article in a report concerning Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri to allege that Umayyad rulers coerced him into fabricating specific traditions rather than committing existing hadith to writing al-Mustashriqun wa al-Tur…+1.
• Will Durant: Criticized for asserting in The Story of Civilization that the Prophet ﷺ merely "imagined" that the Jews of Khaybar poisoned him—dismissing canonical narrations of the event—while uncritically amplifying baseless court gossip regarding Harun al-Rashid and Ja'far al-Barmaki al-Mustashriqun wa al-Tur…+1.
• Gerlof van Vloten: Censured for misconstruing a report in al-Tabari's chronicle regarding Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas taking a loan from the Kufan treasury into a sweeping claim that personal indebtedness was a rampant luxury trend in early Kufa, as well as advancing improbable figures regarding baggage trains in early Islamic military expeditions al-Mustashriqun wa al-Tur…+2.

Conclusions

In the book's conclusion (al-Khatimah), al-Dib summarizes his thesis into several key findings: the quantitative volume of Orientalist editing is minor compared to the broader corpus of Islamic printing; their publications deliberately favoured sectarian discord and demoralizing literature; their scholarly claims to neutrality were frequently breached; and their study of Islamic texts was guided primarily by the military-intelligence maxim of "know your enemy" to dismantle Muslim cultural resistance al-Mustashriqun wa al-Tur…+1.