A Critical Review of Orientalists' Perspectives on the Compiled Qur'an

Abstract

When we examine the scholarly work of the Orientalists, we realize that they have actually been unable to understand the true spirit of the revelation. Whether the reasons for this were their pre-determined goals or their inability to gain a true understanding of the sources of Islam, their research writings seemed to reflect the feelings of skepticism about the sources of Islam as opposed to honest attitudes while the compilation of the Qur'an has been carried out from a special angle. The Orientalists have claimed that there is no God on behalf of the Qur'an and they bring evidences from Islamic history and traditions that prove the Qur'an as a book compiled by the Prophet or the people of that time, but all these claims are denied and the arguments given by the Orientalists are rejected by the scholars of Islam. These arguments are rejected either by saying that these hadiths are weak and subjective, or they are said to be the result of a difference of understanding. The writing under review is between the arguments of the Orientalists that the Qur'an is not the source of the Qur'an and the rejection of these arguments by Islamic scholars in style of comparison.