The Impact of Orientalists on the Formation of Western Public Opinion on the Islamic Religion and Arab Peoples

Abstract

The topic of Orientalism is not one of the topics that has been touched upon for the first time, but has been touched upon in the last two decades repeatedly in writings, books, lectures, press articles, and investigations in magazines and periodicals. However; the perspective of Orientalism was constantly changing until it ended up with the image that could be considered clear in minds. As time passed, the image of Orientalism began to become obvious and its dimensions turned evident, but some scholars believe that this did not occur or did not become clear in the minds of the intellectuals of our nation until two decades ago. This does not imply that the notion of Orientalism was not frequently stated among peoples, and that some of the sayings of Orientalists circulated in scientific spheres and others were not known as Orientalist ideas and opinions; as one hundred and fifty years ago – until the present time, a book about Islam is published in Europe in its various languages. Therefore; Orientalists are the ones who portrayed the East before the very eyes of the West; they are the ones who said who Muslims are and what their mental characteristics are, what their culture is, what their customs and traditions are, towards what Islam pushes them, and how much it – Islam – affects them. At a time when military and economic plots are being drawn up to control the countries of the East culturally and militarily, this matter – portraying Easterners in the sight of the Westerners – was one of the major goals of the Orientalist movement; as it was required to give a specific image that would enable the military, economic and cultural conquest. Subsequently, studies that were characterized by ethnicity began at the beginning of the nineteenth century AD. The monetary method and the historical method were used during this research.