Have you read Orhan Pamuk’s My Name Is Red?
Posted by badger on 09/18 at 03:27 AM
Seg, what a read! Thank you. In my (short) 3 years of life in Istanbul (though one can argue that Istanbul is really in Europe), I have seen the world from the eyes of many a Turkish person. All I found was disappointement by the lack of tolerance and understanding coming from the Western world (whatever that means). It seems though as if Westerners behave that the only correct way of being, existing, is in fact, Western-like. A copy, a clone.
That’s why it’s a wonderful thing to find out what the other party actually thinks about you (the Westerners).
All in all, a great read.
Cheers!
Posted by Tim on 09/18 at 04:25 AM
Can you substantiate you claim that al-Biruni can up with a heliocentric theory ? I was aware of his great contributions but I have never read that.
Posted by on 09/18 at 08:56 PM
Badger: no, I haven’t read it yet but I think I might get hold of it soon, I’ve heard it is a masterpiece from too many people to ignore it!
OmegaSupreme: I think it is in Kitab al-qanun al-Masud where he outlines his observations that the rising and setting of the stars is due to the rotation of the earth. Following on from this he supports the belief in a heliocentric model which was already current - I don’t think he was original in this, it was a well known theory amongst Arab astronomers but it was not necessarily accepted.
Although Al-Biruni did believe that the earth rotated around the sun he still also seems to have believed that the earth was the centre of the universe. Later he abandoned these views because he could not actually prove them.
Posted by on 09/19 at 08:39 AM
re #5. The desire for…
yeah, one of the reasons is kinda psycho-social: our subtle highly-evolved sophisticated marketing technology, which many oriental youngsters just **adore**, embrace uncritically. funny thing is that they believe western civilization is so eager to embrace them as people (it is only interested in them as consumer units). there’s this incredible naivete about them: they miss out on our cynicism a bit, i guess. and take us too seriously perhaps as well.
but then again, if i start judging by the ex-patriate egyptian (coptic) youngsters and their families i got to know here in dublin: they are extremely, savagely consumeristic in a plain western way. less of that oriental innocence, more european savagery. it’s still to be researched how immigration to the west affects oriental mind and psyche.
Posted by magergut on 10/09 at 03:57 AM
Through Eastern Eyes
I recently went to see an exhibition here in Barcelona called West by East which attempts to chart perceptions of the West from the perspective of the Islamic world, as opposed to the other way around which is usually the only view that is presented. The idea is a novel one and the exhibition does in fact provide some significant insights.
The exhibition is running at the Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona until the end of September when it moves to Valencia and is the brainchild of the Tunisian writer Abdelwahab Meddeb who was inspired to create the project in the wake of 911.
The exhibition is essentially about how Westerners (ie Europeans) have traditionally been perceived in the Islamic world. According to the exhibition notes, the layout of the show “allows visitors to observe how Islam has been divided in the way in which it sees the West and highlights the different viewpoints and attitudes that have existed side by side throughout history”. In particular it focuses on how concepts which we in the West see as being in opposition - ie, conflict, solidarity, interchange, fascination - actually have existed side by side throughout Islamic history rather than successively superseding each other as is the traditional Western view.