Ramadan, Abd El-Aziz

doi:10.21608/aafu.2019.94426

"The Medieval Western Perceptions of Islam" Reading Some Modern Western approaches from Norman Daniel to John Tolan

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Abd El-Aziz Ramadan

10.21608/aafu.2019.94426

Abstract

This research does not aim to discuss medieval European perceptions of Islam as much as it aims to analyze the development of modern Western approaches to this topic from the Norman Daniel in 1960 to John Tolan in 2003. The research suggests that there is a new trend in Western writings that arose during The interwar period, in addition to a new spirit of tolerance and a desire for mutual understanding, and it assumed that these pre-Second World War writings were characterized by a degree of neutrality and objectivity in their view of Islam, and then the growing tone of objectivity subsequently developed to what the research proposes to name "Sympathetic objectivity." The research seeks to monitor the beginning of this trend by reviewing Western studies before World War II, and then tracks its development by analyzing the studies published since 1960 until the beginning of the new millennium.

Main Subjects