Orientalist scholarship framed Islam as an antihuman civilization lacking self-knowledge

Evidence

It is essential to realize that Muslim civilization is a cultural entity that does not share our primary aspirations. It is not vitally interested in the structured study of other cultures, either as an end in itself or as a means towards clearer understanding of its own character and history. If this observation were to be valid merely for contemporary Islam, one might be inclined to connect it with the profoundly disturbed state of Islam, which does not permit it to look beyond itself unless forced to do so. But as it is valid for the past as well, one may perhaps seek to connect it with the basic anti-humanism of this [Islamic] civilization, that is, the determined refusal to accept man to any extent whatever as the arbiter or the measure of things, and the tendency to be satisfied with the truth as the description of mental structures, or in other words, with psychological truth. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 751

Categorization

• DEFINE: Exhibits the Orientalist construction of Islam as unitary, non-self-reflexive, and anti-humanist — a core template later de-essentialization arguments must dismantle.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 751
• XREF: connects to: Enlightenment rationalists framed Muslims as intellectually incapable due to their religion.