Yesterday DH and I attended the Seventh Tun Razak Lecture on “The West and Islam: Rethinking Orientalism and Occidentalism” by Professor Dr. Carl W. Ernst. DH was invited as he is OU alumni and got permission for me to tag along. It was very interesting, especially because some of what he said is stuff I have been thinking myself - except I obviously don’t say it as well as he did. But I have often wondered at the whole Islam versus the West thing. It may sound simple enough, but as a Muslim with Western roots I know that it isn’t. Because what exactly is “the West” and what exactly is Islam? Neither is a uniform and unvarying entity.

I går fik jeg hjernemad til frokost. Var til en forelæsning af Professor Dr. Carl W. Ernst med titlen “The West and Islam: Rethinking Orientalism and Occidentalism”. Den var meget interessant for mig fordi han talte om et emne som jeg selv har tænkt en del over, nemlig den evindelige opstillling af “islam mod vesten”. Det lyder jo enkelt nok - og er det tilsyneladende for mange, men som muslim med vesterlandske rødder er jeg meget bevidst om at det er det ikke. For ingen af de 2 størrelser er jo een stor homogen masse.

Tags: islam