Page 349 - History of The Quranic Text | Kalamullah.Com

ORIENTALIST MOTIVATIONS: A STUDY OF SUBJECTIVITY 329

that Luther would bring the Kingdom of Mahomet into these Parts, and
that his Ministers and Followers would quickly fall into Mahomeuinismr"
Certainly if ever any Religion was perverted by Adversarys, had in
Contempt, and thought unworthy of Refutation, it was this Religion
[of Islam]. If one would design an abominable and base Doctrine by
the fittest Epithet, he calls it Mahometan; and the very TUrks don't allow
such a Doctrine: As if there was nothing good in the Mahometan Creed,
hut every Article corrupted. Nor need we wonder at this, since there
is the greatest Agreement betwixt the Devil and Mahomet, as the Author
of the 4th Oration against Mahomet has shewn by many Arguments... , If
anyone of our Youth apply himself to the Study of Theology, and is
fir'd with a certain generous Ardor of understanding the Mahometan
Religion, he is sent to [study treatises by Western authors who write
with ignorance]. He is not advis'd to learn theArabick, tohear Mahomet
Speak in his own Tongue, toget theEastern Writings, and to see with his own
Eyes, not with other Peoples: Because 'tis not worth while (st?J' many) to undergo
so much Trouble and Fatigue, only to consult the Dreams and Ravings if a
Fanatick. 25

To a good measure this last sentiment holds true to this day, the re-
visionist school insisting that no Muslim document bears any semblance
of truth unless other, non-Muslim accounts provide verification." Given
how maliciously Christians and Jews have lashed out against Muslims
from the very dawn of Islam, what hope can we possibly have of priests
and rabbis from the Middle Ages verifying these Muslim accounts, attesting
to the accomplishments of their bitterest rivals with objectivity? Under
no condition do Western scholars validate the inordinate abuse thatJews
and Christians hurled against each other, each group barricaded by its own
ignorance and superstition;" so then on what grounds is their inordinate
abuse against Muslims, hatched of the selfsame ignorance and superstition,
to be accepted now as truth?28

24- ibid, pp. 7-8.
25 ibid, p. 12. Emphasis (last sentence) added.
25 See Yehuda Neve's definition of Revisionism in this work, pp. 7-8.
27 See for example the apologist attitude inherent in the articles of both Joseph Blen-
kinsopp and Barclay Newman [Bible Review, vol. xii, no. 5, Oct. 1996, pp. 42-43], not
reflected in my quotations from pp. 291-2.
28 Here are a few of the charges levelled against Muslims by 17th and lBthcentury
Christian scholars writing in Latin: (l) That Muslims worship Venus; (2)And worship
all created beings; (3) And deny the existence of Hell; (4-) And believe sins are taken
away by frequent washing of the body; (5)And believe the devils to be the friends of
God and of the Prophet Muhammad; (6)And believe that all the devils will be saved;
(7)And believe that women shall not enter Paradise; (8)And believe Mary conceived
Jesus by eating dates; (9)And believe Moses is amongst the damned. [See Reeland's
Four Treatises, pp. 4-7-102.]