The importance of appealing to men through their minds by using their language. Having orient studies is not for entertainment but a policy. As was mentioned earlier, orients cannot rule themselves nor can they think for themselves. These must be done for them by the occidents. To be able to think for him, we need to get into his head. To control his mind, we need to learn his language. This is why we see Arabic and Islamic studies in every major North-Aemrican and western European universities. Arabic is the language of Islam. Closer a western country is to an Arabic (Muslim) country, more control they have on that country and the laws being passed in that country. Recently we have witnessed new and monumental events in the middle east such as new liberal rules and laws in the Kingdom to revelation and publicising of Arab-Israeli relations. What is incomprehensible is why this event was named as peace talks or peace treaties. Was there any war between the UAE and Israel? Or a war between Bahrain and Israel? The answer is definitely no. Then why is this treaty called a peace treaty. All these Arab countries have had relations with Israel for years. All they are doing now is making these relations public. The real war is between the Palestinians and Israel. Were the Palestinians part of this treaty or so-called peace talks? All these Arab/muslim governments are friends of the the big boss. Question is how much of these events are part of the US foreign policies? What is next?
Let’s not forget what was mentioned earlier: orients cannot represent themselves. They must be represented. Another point brought up by orientalist is the antiquity of Islam and that Islam needs to learn from the west and westerners. In another word, Islam needs to up-to-date itself since it is out-dated and needs to be revived and modernized. For this to happen, Islam need to adapt itself to the modernity of the western culture.
This article is a summary of the book: Orientalism by Edward W. Said and my thoughts and reflections from this book and current world events.
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