Orientalism and Arabic Language: Evolutionary Analysis

Abstract

This article mainly focuses on the Orientalism related to the Arabic language and literature that dates back to the early Middle Ages when the West started to awaken, and the era of European Renaissance commenced heavily relying on the intellectual legacy built by the Islamic Civilisation spanning from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal, Southern France) to the North Africa, Middle East and Asia. This civilisation was established in the early 7^th century while it not only absorbed knowledge from the Byzantine, Persia, Ancient Greek and India but also contributed into it and later the same diverse wisdom was transferred by the Orientalists to the West.

As a matter of fact, the interaction between Orientalism and Arabic language has passed through different phases and seems clearly divided between two schools of thought. One of them consists of the orientalists who are impartial and fairly acknowledge the contributions of Islam and Arabic language to the Human Civilisation while the other one is utterly biased and always tries by all means to malign Islam, Arabic and everything related to them. This process continues in the same pattern and there are both of negative and positive outcomes of it. This article aims to analyse this evolutionary process with a balanced approach but historical and critical perspective.