The claim that Muslims cannot self-govern descends from Montesquieu’s climate theory.

Evidence

The great French Indologist, Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron, lived in Mughal India from 1755 to 1761. He published an edition of the Zoroastrian Zend-Avesta, as well as a narrative of his travels. He was hostile to the stereotypical portrait of Oriental despotism presented by L’Esprit des lois (1748), in which Montesquieu argued that despotism, conditioned by material and climatic factors, was pervasive throughout Asia and was savagely arbitrary, demanded blind obedience and was centred around the mysteries of the harem. As far as Anquetil-Duperron was concerned, such a portrait of Asian politics and society could only serve as an instrument of oppression over the peoples of Asia. In Législation orientale (1778), he used his close knowledge of Indian matters to refute Montesquieu’s contentions that Oriental despots were not bound by the law and that there was no private property under the Moghuls. — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 222 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Montesquieu’s discredited climate theory birthed the enduring myth that Eastern peoples suit dictatorship — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 172; Orientalist and modernization theories deny Muslims a capacity for self-rule; Montesquieu’s climate theory of Oriental despotism still shapes Western views today (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Anquetil-Duperron used Indian knowledge to refute Montesquieu’s Oriental despotism claims #complicates (0.78) — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 222