Orientalist racial hierarchy of Muslims required European military superiority to arise

Evidence

Nabil Matar, who has written extensively on the relationship between Britain, Western Europe, and the Islamic Mediterranean, argues that English attitudes toward the Ottomans, whether as ally or enemy, always constructed the Muslim as equal. The Ottoman state was viewed as on par with England if not superior to it and other European states. Orientalism based on a notion of a superior Europe and an inferior Orient had not yet emerged, not least because it made no sense given the grandeur and advances of Muslim empires both in the Near East and South Asia. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 122

Categorization

• XREF: For the reader’s comparative thesis: this is a strong control observation — when the standing apparatus exists (Britain, Mercantilism) but the power balance favors Muslims, no Orientalist hierarchy emerges. Position matters as much as regime type. — connects to: Modern racism against Muslims required European military supremacy over Muslim empires — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 82; Europeans regarded Ottomans as equals before Orientalism’s hierarchy emerged — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 110; Muslims were constructed as equals only while their empires could not be dominated (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Full anti-Muslim racism required both Enlightenment freedom ideology and European military dominance #expands (0.92) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 729
• European superiority over Muslim empires enabled racial notions of Muslim inferiority #corroborates (0.90) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 1826
• Powerful Muslim empires prevented Europeans from fully racializing moriscos as inferior #corroborates (0.90)
• Enlightenment race theory about Muslims required colonial dominance and liberal societies #expands (0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 105
• Modern anti-Muslim racism required both rights-based societies and imperial domination #expands (0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 193
• Modern racism required first defeating rival Muslim empires #corroborates (0.88)
• Seventeenth-century Europeans did not yet dream of dominating the Muslim East #corroborates (0.80) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 181
• Islam’s territorial control was a precondition for orientalism’s rise #qualifies (0.75) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 110