IAN SINCLAIR draws attention to the powerful role that literature plays in foreseeing the way humanity will deal with climate crisis
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The Islamic renaissance man
STEVE ANDREW is fascinated by the life of a 16th century Islamic polymath that demonstrates an internationalism that may come as a shock to western observers
orientalism
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Beyond Orientalism: Ahmad Ibn Qasim Al-Hajari, Between Europe and North Africa
Oumelbanine Zhiri
University of California Press, £25
MOST conversations on the left about the concept of Orientalism generally focus around it being a Western-imposed project underpinned by racist and colonial narratives.
Characterising what renowned Palestinian writer Edward Said was to term the “other,” countless nations, and particularly Islamic ones, are seen as religiously intolerant, fanatical and in need of strong rule. Western society is likewise assumed to be superior on the basis that it is progressive and enlightened while the “Orient” is inherently traditional and reactionary, a rationale for dominance and in turn exploitation if ever there was one!
By concentrating on the life and work of little-known scholar Ahmad al-Hajari, Zhiri’s important book argues for a far more nuanced and multifaceted approach.
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