The Orientalist project reduced Muslim societies to Islam and Islam to Shari’ah

Evidence

Historically, however, Islam (itself a vastly cosmopolitan product of its many contexts) has of course always been integral to what is inevitably (but always with reservation) referred to as “Muslim societies” but never definitive to them. Over the past 200 years, the Orientalist project has reduced these multifaceted societies to Islam, and Islam to Islamic law (Shari’ah). — Hamid Dabashi, Brown Skin, White Masks, 424

Categorization

• XREF: Directly extends Edward Said’s Orientalism; connects to critique of essentialism in Dabashi’s broader project.

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