Malek Bennabiʾs Critique Of Orientalisme

Abstract

This study examines Malek Bennabi’s critical stance toward Orientalist scholarship, which he considered a negative phenomenon that exerted a profound influence on Islamic thought. Distinctively, Bennabi did not confine his analysis to Orientalism as a theoretical construct; rather, he explored the psychological dimension of its proponents. He categorized Orientalists along two axes: first, according to the historical period in which they emerged, and second, in terms of their general intellectual outlook in writings concerning Islam and Muslims. This twofold classification provided the structural framework of the present paper. The findings suggest that, in Bennabi’s estimation, the early generation of Orientalists engaged with Islamic thought while openly recognizing the pivotal role of Muslim scholars in shaping a refined and universal civilizational heritage. Such acknowledgment, he argued, cannot be dismissed. However, subsequent Orientalist discourse increasingly departed from this recognition, contributing instead to the distortion and devaluation of the Islamic intellectual legacy. Keywords: Orientalism, Islam, Malek Bennabi, critique, intellectual history