Idealizing a Dichotomy between Islam and Sharī‘ah: the Orientalist and Missiological Stereotype

Abstract

The contacts between civilizations and struggle for domination are parts of human historical facts. Religion is seen as a major denominator in tracing cultural and traditional identity of a given community of people. Objective accounts of these contacts establish the tendency of collaborative orientalist and missiological prejudices separating Islam from Sharī‘ah through treatises and media misrepresentations. This study uses a qualitative approach by applying analytical and descriptive methods through the use of documentary evidence and literary works. Ideological prejudices and constructs against Islam and its law; Sharī‘ah are identified. Both enthusiasts and rejectionists of the two wings of the proverbial birds of orientalism and missionary evangelism reveals that the good image of Islam and Sharī‘ah is the consistent target, hence its distortion. It is submitted that hate authorship should be discountenanced to afford harmonious and peaceful co-existence among major faith-based adherents.