Author
Asiye Sezgin Tüylü, İlknur Tatar Kırılmış
Subject
Orientalism
Type
Book
Language
Arabic
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Royal Danish Library
Library Asset ID
EISSN: 2717-6916, DOI: 10.26650/jos.1356076
Record ID
cdi_doaj_primary_oai_doaj_org_article_6a3e3c6c07bd4cb19dfeaf064b4cbab7
Library Location
DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals
Notes
In 1852, French philologist and historian Ernest Renan delivered a lecture on Islam and Science in France. During this conference, he explored various factors contributing to the perceived “backwardness” of Islamic countries and, by adopting an orientalist perspective, linked the East’s lag in development to Islam. After surveying the East (which encompassed African nations), he posited that the inhabitants of these regions generally exhibited a mindset that was resistant to scientific advancements, harboring animosity toward Western ideas and spirituality. In this discourse, Renan’s assertions elicited numerous reactions in the Islamic world, prompting significant objections to his views/opinions. In 1883, Ottoman writer and scholar Namik Kemal vehemently expressed his dissenting opinions against Renan, culminating in the writing of “Renan Müdâfaanâmesi,” while imprisoned in Midilli (Greece) in 1908. This work has since been etched in history as one of the most impassioned refutations of Renan in the Islamic world. Specifically, it underscored Renan’s lack of understanding of Islam and Islamic thinkers, criticizing his numerous misguided judgments. Since then, prominent Islamic thinkers in the fields of science and philosophy have emerged to counter Renan’s negative perceptions of Islam, with “Renan Müdâfaanâmesi” serving as an Eastern response to the Western orientalist viewpoint. In this study, the conceptual framework of occidentalism will be drawn and Namık Kemal’s Renan Müdâfaanâmesi will be evaluated as an occidentalist discourse. The importance of Renan Müdâfaanâmesi in the context of the establishment of occidentalist discourse in Turkish literature will be revealed.
Görüntüle
Sarkiyat mecmuasi, 2024-04 (44), p.21-39
