Abstract:

With the involvement of German-Jewish orientalists in Islamic studies in the 19th century, there was a noticeable break in the negative orientalist Islamic discourse that has been going on for nearly a thousand years. Leading German-Jewish orientalists such as Abraham Geiger, Gustav Weil, Gottlieb Leitner and Ignaz Goldziher saw Islam as a monotheistic, moral religion and that has an orderly legal system. They also saw Muhammad not as a dishonest, liar or sick, but rather a sincere, devout and great leader. The biggest reason behind doing this is that they were uncomfortable with same negative discourse applied to Islam in the West. Based on the similarities between belief and worship between Islam and Judaism, they claimed that Islam was of Judaic origin and tried to reposition Judaism against Christianity by emphasizing that Jews lived their golden ages under Islam rather than Christianity. According to them, Islam has become a great gift of Judaism to Europe, thanks to the magnificent civilization it derives from Judaism. In other words, the German-Jewish orientalists who rolled up their sleeves to save Judaism from orientalist discourse, used Islam as a tool in doing so. The emphasis of German-Jewish orientalists on similarities with Islam was not only included in their writings but also reflected in the synagogues their place of worship. In addition, Islam was seen by these researches, mostly from reformist Jews, as “the ideal state of Judaism”.

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