Flattening Islam into one object enabled civilizational judgments against it

Evidence

Said pushed forward, explaining how a cabal of formative Orientalists hijacked the very definition of Islam, ascribing to it a meaning that clashed with its essential being: “By using this single word they seem to regard Islam as a simple object about which grand generalizations spanning a millennium and a half of Muslim history can be made, and about which judgments concerning the compatibility between Islam and democracy, Islam and human rights, Islam and progress are quite unabashedly advanced.” Or in cogent War-on-Terror speak, Islam against civilization and everything that the civilized world valued, prized, and stood for. George W. Bush aptly summarized Samuel Huntington for the layman, proclaiming, “They hate our freedoms.” In both old and new crusades, “they” were Muslims. Those who adhered to the faith, domestically and abroad, were “they” unless and until they proved their allegiance to the United States and its new war. — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 270

Categorization

• DEFINE: Quotes Said on how Orientalism functions as grand generalization about Islam.
• XREF: connects to: Claiming Islam is a monolith requires denying its historical diversity; Singling out Islam for sexism serves a civilizational contrast narrative rather than fact. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 307; The decline-of-Islamic-science narrative is a Eurocentric fabrication.