Colonial powers sought to control rather than eradicate Islam

Evidence

It is worth noting though that there is little evidence to suggest that european colonial powers intended at any time to eradicate Islam not least because religion – including Islam – was largely seen to be dying anyway. Instead, evidence would seem to suggest that colonialism’s intention was to control. As Murden put it, because of the position that the Orient found itself in, ‘its subordinate position meant that [Europe] could’. Europe’s nations, in particular Britain and France, shifted the balance of power severely against the traditional rulers in the Orient and imposed themselves as both heirs and successors, making it the first period in history since the birth of Islam that parts of the Muslim world had been ruled by non-Muslims. — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 191

Without doubt, the processes of Orientalism that were quasi-intellectually codified were also reflected in the military objectives and capabilities that afforded Europe the might to control the Orient as indeed it did other swathes of land throughout the world. However, it is worth reiterating Hussain’s observation about the West’s need to either fear or control the Orient, something that may have been particularly relevant to the development of colonialism across the Muslim world. It is worth noting though that there is little evidence to suggest that european colonial powers intended at any time to eradicate Islam not least because religion – including Islam – was largely seen to be dying anyway. Instead, evidence would seem to suggest that colonialism’s intention was to control. … Europe’s nations, in particular Britain and France, shifted the balance of power severely against the traditional rulers in the Orient and imposed themselves as both heirs and successors, making it the first period in history since the birth of Islam that parts of the Muslim world had been ruled by non-Muslims. — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 191

Categorization

• XREF: Causal mechanism here connects to the book’s earlier Orientalism material and disputes narratives treating colonial anti-Islamism as genocidal. — connects to: The belief that Muslims had different needs enabled colonial indifference.; Colonial ‘reforming Islam’ meant forcibly secularising it — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 192; Colonialist reform of Islam meant secularising a presumed dying religion (+4 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 191

Related

• Colonialist reform of Islam meant secularising a presumed dying religion (similarity 0.88)
• Colonial ‘reforming Islam’ meant forcibly secularising it (similarity 0.87)
• The belief that Muslims had different needs enabled colonial indifference. (similarity 0.83)
• Colonisation was not specific to Islam or the Muslim world (similarity 0.83)
• Colonization was not Islam-specific but Orientalism shaped its distinct form (similarity 0.82)
• The fear of Islam intensified amid Ottoman decline and colonial expansion (similarity 0.82)
• British colonial ideology consolidated the essentialized idea of Islam as a homogeneous threat (similarity 0.82)
• European powers ruled over three quarters of the Muslim world by the 1920s (similarity 0.81)
• Contemporary anti-Western sentiment and Western Islamophobia both stem from the colonial legacy (similarity 0.81)
• European awareness of Islam stems from direct colonial and demographic experience (similarity 0.80)
• Colonial power endowed scholarly knowledge about Islam with authority (similarity 0.80)
• Early colonial rule instrumentally praised Islam rather than demonizing it (similarity 0.80)
• Colonial expansion and Orientalist essentializing emerged together in the nineteenth century. (similarity 0.79)
• British Islamophobia intensified only when Muslims ceased to be a safely declining power (similarity 0.79)
• Colonial powers justified intervention by portraying colonized subjects as incapable of self-understanding (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Colonial ‘reforming Islam’ meant forcibly secularising it #contradicts (0.85) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 192
• Colonialist reform of Islam meant secularising a presumed dying religion #contradicts (0.80)
• British colonial ideology consolidated the essentialized idea of Islam as a homogeneous threat #expands (0.80)
• The belief that Muslims had different needs enabled colonial indifference. #expands (0.78)
• Colonial authorities aimed to manage subjects’ aspirations as a political necessity #expands (0.75)