ABSTRACT
Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign (1798–1801) customarily marks the beginnings of Islam’s encounter with modernity. The Christian West’s reflections on Islam had, until then, been dominated by apologetic and polemical exchanges. Alexander Ross’ comment on his own English translation of André du Ryer’s French translation of the Qurʾān for King Charles I is indicative of the tone of inquiry: ‘There was no harm in reading the Qur’an as long as the reader bore in mind that he was first and foremost a Christian; he would not perjure his soul, but on the contrary, would learn what real heresy was’ (Khairallah 1988: 13). The Christian–Muslim encounter of modernity, though, is characterised by the forensic scrutiny of Islamic culture and anthropology by French scientists inextricably linked to the colonial aspirations of empire. The age of empire tended to conflate the Christian West’s religious and cultural condescension of Islam. That Muslims were deemed to be on the wrong side of any intellectual inquiry was compounded by the evidence of colonial expansion into Islamic lands that frames the Christian–Muslim engagement of the age of empire.
