Page 2 of 5. Covering Islam. Although most of the “stuff” we study in the culture
course at college is flat, Edward Said's philosophy is the only one that caught my
...
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Covering Islam
Covering Islam By: Edward Said
Explored by: Hoda Alnimr
Hoda Alnimr
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Covering Islam
Although most of the “stuff” we study in the culture course at college is flat, Edward Said’s philosophy is the only one that caught my attention, because he has precisely analysed the stereotypical thinking of the West about the Orient; especially Muslims and Islam. His philosophy is still applicable today in a most astonishing manner that show how people’s lives may progress or advance with their minds static and stagnant. “Covering Islam” is the third in a series of books by Edward Said tackling the relationship between the Orient and the West. There is a pun in the title. In one sense, all Western media began launching a hectic “coverage” of Islam all of a sudden. On the other hand, with applying Said’s philosophy of generalizing and totalising, the reality of Islam is being covered as well. It is the lack of objectivity and the clinging to ragged stereotypes that acquits Christianity and Judaism and incriminates Islam and the Muslim world, where the West’s oil supplies and colonial aspirations happen to exist! Before exploring the main issues of the book, this is a brief explanation of the Said’s philosophy of stereotyping the other: The process of stereotyping is assigning certain oversimplified features to a certain category and insisting that all members of that category must necessarily have those features. Therefore, stereotyping implies repetition and generalizing. It also overlooks individual and even collected differences: type, race, gender, origin, class, status, or generation. The process of stereotyping is static, unchanging, innate and inborn, as those assigned features become part of the essence of those being stereotyped, which Said defines as essentialism. By time, this inaccurate generalization gains power through repetition. For instance, judging the Orient as generally despotic is necessary to define the West as democratic. This is the need for the other to strengthen our own identity which rests on negativity and oppositeness. The author begins the problematic issue of the media that “covers” Islam: reporters cover a great deal “of what [they] know nothing about.” Instead of first-hand experience and trying to discern the truth, they mould their pre-conceived notions they were brought up to into the usual clichés their readers expect to find in their writings (like, for instance, connecting Islam to terrorism). Thereby, the only serve as stereotype-generating machines, adding to the heaps of illusions their nations labour under.
Hoda Alnimr
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Covering Islam
On the other hand, this process is based on the authority of previous texts. The other has certain ideas in mind meeting his cultural expectations of the investigated matter rather than trying to find out the truth. Writers, historians or any of the humanists come to study a certain society with preconceived ideas from their culture. They try to find examples that reinforce their preconceptions, and they do find because these preconceptions are not necessarily false, but not necessarily general either. In such process, they overlook any opposition to their pre-set expectations or stigmatized categories. The colonial tendency in the West is brought into light by citing a quote for J.B. Kelly, a “one-time adviser to Sheikh Zayid of Abu Dhabi,” which blatantly demonstrates “sheer desires of imperial conquest and barely concealed racial attitudes.” (I believe they still exist today but in a more blatantly concealed way). To begin with, Kelly views the East as the “inheritance” of the West. At the time of Western colonialism, “tranquillity reigned,” but as the West withdrew its forces, that tranquillity crumbled into “fragile peace [that] cannot last.” Kelly applies the overused stereotypes of Asia as despotic and Africa as barbaric. He believes that the peoples there have not changed and are even likely to relapse into their “old habits” once the West takes its hands off them. Kelly calls on the West to “have the boldness” to claim their “inheritance,” save the “fragile peace,” and eternalise “ephemeral calm”!
>(*) Said then proceeds to discuss the misconception of “Islamic behaviour.” Religion cannot be blamed for the behavioural patterns of its followers, bearing in mind those who claim to follow rather than really do. Many like to coat their cakes with a cream topping; that is, religion may well be manipulated as a cover for hidden agendas and mischievous ends. The infamous Crusades and the Inquisition Tribunals in Andalusia both hid behind the curtains of Christianity that had nothing to do with their heinous deeds. In the same manner, there is a discrepancy between the
Hoda Alnimr
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Covering Islam
conceived image of Islam and what it really is. This is what Said calls: “scapegoat theory.” Although little is known about Islam, it has become a universal truth” (quoting Jane Austin) that it stands for “everything we do not happen to like.” Edward Said is not being defensive of Islam, as he states, but his point is that: “Islam is doctrinally as blameless in this regard as any other of the great universal religions.” The lack of objectivity in covering Islam is brought to the surface again when Said states that “objectivity is assumed to inhere” in the studies of Islam rather than be truly inherent. This is because most “experts” on Islam were employees of the government. That is, they were affiliated to their interests, and therefore, blinded by the pre-set misconceptions. Accordingly, “truths” about Islam are relative to who produces them rather than to Islam itself.
> (*) Said ends with stating the aim of his book. He wants people to stop relying on their misconceptions and cease to live in cocoons of pre-set, dictated notions. If they want to reach a “realistic” understanding of the Muslim world, they should try to probe into the real motives behind actions rather than ascribing everything to Islam. This has been more of a hindrance than a help in understaing Islamic societies and agonies. The West should try o ask “the right answer” and expect pertinent answers” rather than stereotypical clichés. It is at that point that they may reach the objective truth and see the situation in its true colours.
Hoda Alnimr
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Fragrant Regards,,, Hoda Alnimr Jul 2010 http://thefreelancer2011.wordpress.com
************************* (*) My Personal Opinion & Comments.
Hoda Alnimr
