German Jewish Scholarship on Islam as a Tool for De-Orientalizing Judaism

Orientalist Islamic studies lived its golden age in the 19th century. In this period when the works still used as the main reference sources were written, GermanJewish orientalists have an exceptional position. The involvement of GermanJewish orientalists in Islamic research has been more of a theological concern rather than a number of colonial and imperialist motives such as British and French orientalists. The “other” discourse applied to Islam was also applied to Judaism by the Christian-West at that time. German-Jewish scholars who wanted to save themselves and their religion from this situation participated in Islamic research. Thus, Islam was used as a tool; it is aimed to present a different Judaism to the European reader by positioning it against Christianity with the claim that Islam derives from Judaism. The works started under the leadership of Abraham Geiger created a rich literatüre and directed orientalist works for a long time.

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