Deciphering the 'othering' of Muslims
THE predominant Western view on Islam is very much informed by the orientalist discourse. In order to understand the “othering” of Muslims, we have to go back several centuries and situate the present state of affairs within the Western global/colonial designs. The relegation of Muslims as inferi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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New Straits Times Press (M) Berhad
2016
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| Online Access: | http://eprints.usm.my/37243/ http://eprints.usm.my/37243/1/Deciphering_the_%27othering%27_of_Muslims___New_Straits_Times___Malaysia_General_Business_Sports_and_Lifestyle_News.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848878139117142016 |
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| author | Ahmad Farouk, Azeem Fazwan |
| author_facet | Ahmad Farouk, Azeem Fazwan |
| author_sort | Ahmad Farouk, Azeem Fazwan |
| building | USM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | THE predominant Western view on Islam is very much informed by the orientalist discourse. In order to understand the “othering” of Muslims, we have to go back several centuries and situate the present state of affairs within the Western global/colonial designs.
The relegation of Muslims as inferior in relation to the West began when Spain’s Christian monarchy, as one of Christian Europe’s frontiers with the Muslim world, fought a battle to conquer the Islamic side of Spain, better known as Al-Andalus. In 1492, when the Spanish Christian monarchy finally defeated the forces of Al-Andalus, they expelled Jews and Arabs not without its pogroms and massacres.
From 1492 onwards, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim were defined on the basis of religious discrimination (praying to the wrong God). The Christian versus Islam struggle articulated the imperial difference, and historically, the expulsion of Arabs and Jews from Christian Spain in the name of “purity of blood” was a proto-racist process. With the onset of the colonial enterprise, however, a full racist perspective was put in motion, and the imperial powers started to characterise Muslims as “uncivilised” and “violent”. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T17:26:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | usm-37243 |
| institution | Universiti Sains Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T17:26:35Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | New Straits Times Press (M) Berhad |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | usm-372432017-10-26T09:01:14Z http://eprints.usm.my/37243/ Deciphering the 'othering' of Muslims Ahmad Farouk, Azeem Fazwan BP1-253 Islam H61-97 Policy sciences THE predominant Western view on Islam is very much informed by the orientalist discourse. In order to understand the “othering” of Muslims, we have to go back several centuries and situate the present state of affairs within the Western global/colonial designs. The relegation of Muslims as inferior in relation to the West began when Spain’s Christian monarchy, as one of Christian Europe’s frontiers with the Muslim world, fought a battle to conquer the Islamic side of Spain, better known as Al-Andalus. In 1492, when the Spanish Christian monarchy finally defeated the forces of Al-Andalus, they expelled Jews and Arabs not without its pogroms and massacres. From 1492 onwards, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim were defined on the basis of religious discrimination (praying to the wrong God). The Christian versus Islam struggle articulated the imperial difference, and historically, the expulsion of Arabs and Jews from Christian Spain in the name of “purity of blood” was a proto-racist process. With the onset of the colonial enterprise, however, a full racist perspective was put in motion, and the imperial powers started to characterise Muslims as “uncivilised” and “violent”. New Straits Times Press (M) Berhad 2016 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by http://eprints.usm.my/37243/1/Deciphering_the_%27othering%27_of_Muslims___New_Straits_Times___Malaysia_General_Business_Sports_and_Lifestyle_News.pdf Ahmad Farouk, Azeem Fazwan (2016) Deciphering the 'othering' of Muslims. New Straits Times. https://www.nst.com.my/news/2016/11/192292/deciphering-othering-muslims |
| spellingShingle | BP1-253 Islam H61-97 Policy sciences Ahmad Farouk, Azeem Fazwan Deciphering the 'othering' of Muslims |
| title | Deciphering the 'othering' of Muslims |
| title_full | Deciphering the 'othering' of Muslims |
| title_fullStr | Deciphering the 'othering' of Muslims |
| title_full_unstemmed | Deciphering the 'othering' of Muslims |
| title_short | Deciphering the 'othering' of Muslims |
| title_sort | deciphering the 'othering' of muslims |
| topic | BP1-253 Islam H61-97 Policy sciences |
| url | http://eprints.usm.my/37243/ http://eprints.usm.my/37243/ http://eprints.usm.my/37243/1/Deciphering_the_%27othering%27_of_Muslims___New_Straits_Times___Malaysia_General_Business_Sports_and_Lifestyle_News.pdf |