Perceptions of Islam in European Writings

This study contributes significantly to the dialogue between Islam and the West; a field which has tended to be dominated by mainly non-Muslim writers. Primarily concerned with an intellectual history of Western; mainly English and French; writers; responses to Islam from about 1787 to the 1890s; the author uses both European and Islamic source materials in his study. His thorough evaluation of writers including Toderini; Boulainvillier; Sylvestre de Sacy; Byron; Edward Lane; Gobineau and Renan; does justice to the European tradition of writing on Islam. At the same time; the scholarly Muslim point of view is sustained by the use of Islamic source materials which have won the esteem of the Muslim community throughout the centuries.