Journal of Ilahiyat Researches

Abstract

Western imperialism, hoping to dominate the east under the influence of the Enlightenment, geographical discoveries, industrial revolution and similar factors, started orientalist studies to recognize the societies they invaded and decipher their internal dynamics. These studies, which started in the first half of the 19th century and continue today by gaining different dimensions, are versatile and diverse. Studies on the history of Arabic literature constitute an important part of these studies. Although some orientalist claims about Arabic poetry have been the subject of polemics, orientalist copyright style has been accepted among Arab writers and has shaped the general books written on the history of Arabic literature. The subject of this article is the criticisms of the Egyptian scholar and man of letters, Mustafa Sadik al-Rāfiʻī, towards the orientalist approach and writing style on the history of Arabic literature, and the evaluation of these criticisms. We gathered these criticisms, which we extracted from the beginning of Al-Rāfiʻī’s book on this field, under the headings of term criticism, stereotype criticism, intention criticism, and practical utility criticism. The common point of the criticisms we have examined under these headings is that they are essentially a paradigm criticism.