Different understandings of Islam arose during
the 18th and 19th centuries as Western scholars
began to study the Middle East using the methods
of Enlightenment rationality. Islam, like other
religions, was studied in the light of the new sci-
ences of history, language, and culture instead of
traditional theology. Critical editions of Arabic
and Persian texts, including the Quran, were
translated and published in modern European
languages. Scholars such as Sylvestre de Sacy (d.
1838), Edward W. Lane (d. 1876), W. Robertson
Smith (d. 1894), Ignaz Goldziher (d. 1921), and
Theodor Noeldeke (d. 1930), who specialized in
these studies, called themselves Orientalists, based
on the belief at the time that the Orient began east
of Greece in the Near/Middle East. They began to
present their findings in Orientalist journals and
societies in the mid-1800s. One of these organiza-
tions was the American Orientalist Society, which
was founded in 1842 and still publishes a highly
respected scholarly journal. For all the advances
the Orientalists made in the study of Islam and the
Middle East, the objectivity of their research was
colored by different degrees of bias and self-inter-
est. Some looked to the East to explain the origins
of European civilization, while many sought to
demonstrate the superiority of European culture
at the expense of non-European cultures and civi-
lizations. orientalism also became involved with
actual European colonization of Muslim lands and
was used to help administer colonial territories
from North Africa to India and indonesia. Conse-
quently, Europeans viewed Islam in various ways:
sometimes as a backward, violent religion; some-
times as an arabian nights fantasy; and sometimes
as a complex and changing product of history and
social life.
Scholars engaged in the scientific study of
religion, having broken free of the restrictions
of the Christian church, no longer were satisfied
with treating Islam as a heretical religion. Orien-
talists began to treat it as a Semitic religion, along
with Judaism, in contrast to Indo-European and
“primitive” religions. Some even renamed Islam
mohammedanism and called Muslims Moham-
medans. This was done in conformity with the
classification of other religions, such as Chris-
tianity (named after Christ), Buddhism (named
after the Buddha), and Zoroastrianism (named
after the ancient Persian sage Zoroaster). Most
Muslims have rejected Mohammedanism as a
designation for their own religion because they
argue that submission to God is the focus of
their religion, not Muhammad. Islam has also
been classified with Judaism and Christianity as
a monotheistic religion, as a “revealed” religion,
and as one of the “Western” religions. Other
scholars have regarded it as one of the world
religions, which, like Buddhism and Christian-
ity, made a home for itself in many countries and
actively sought converts. More recently, it has
been understood as an Abrahamic religion.
Today, understandings of Islam continue to
be shaped by the interactions, debates, and overt
conflicts between Muslims and non-Muslims. The
growing strategic and economic importance of
oil and the introduction of secular law codes and
ideologies into lands where Islam is the majority
religion during the colonial era and after World
War II have intensified these interactions. Many
of the world’s proven oil reserves are located in
newly independent Muslim countries, with the
mixed blessing of greater per capita incomes but
also more social and political instability. Western-
style secUlarism has brought great advances in
terms of edUcation and political participation, but
it has also confined religion to the private sphere.
While many Muslims have come to understand
their religion in secular terms, many others have
rejected this understanding as they look to their
religion for solutions to problems and crises fac-
ing their society, politics, and culture in a time of
rapid changes. Slogans such as “Islam is a religion
and a state” and “Islam is the solution” have
gained wide currency in many Muslim countries.
Since the 1970s, when many Muslims started call-
ing for a “return” to Islam after experiencing the
shortcomings of their national governments andK 374 Islam