A pioneering Jewish orientalist embraced Islam while remaining an observant Jew

Evidence

To have become a professor, however, would have entailed his conversion. This he would not consider, becoming filled with resentment and bitterness for his stymied progress and the practical consequences of that intolerance (more of which will be discussed below). — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 400 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Jewish religious literacy made Islam intuitively legible to Jewish orientalists; A Jewish scholar of Islam came to consider Islam more philosophically satisfying than Judaism; A Jewish orientalist admired Islam as rationally superior while still seeking to reform Judaism — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 401 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• A distinguished Jewish orientalist had to convert to obtain a university professorship #complicates (0.80) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 400
• A converted Jew supplied the Latin West’s foundational anti-Islamic polemic #complicates (0.75)