Orientalist approaches to the Quran: The example of John Wansbrough

One of the most remarkable aspects of orientalist approaches which depict various forms of efforts made by the West to define the East has been with regard to their view of the Quran. While Muslims have looked at the Quran as the word of Allah, the orientalist approaches, the representatives of which are non-Muslims, defined it in many different ways. Some have defined it as an imitation of the Bible, some as a historical document which sheds light to the life of the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh), and some as a literary product. Differences in the aproaches stemmed from their motions with different methologies and postulates. The common point which brings together all the oriantalist approaches in the West is their denial of the Quran to be the word of Allah and of the Prophet to be his messenger. Sharing this common point with other orientalists, but as distinct from traditional approaches, John Wansbrough tried to apply the literary analysis method used in biblical studies to the Quran. In this study, as an example of orientalist approaches, the life, works, theories and methodology of John Wansbrough who asserted that the Quran was a book brought together first in the third/nineth century, and that Islam is a religion composed by Arabs under moral pressure in Mesopotamia in polemic with Judeo-Christian sects in a long period comprising approximately two centuries are examined. It has been inferred that Wansbrough with his thesis and assertions which do not overlap with social and historical facts studied the Islamic literature and the Quran by a prejudice rendering the Islamic historiography and the orientalist acquis, which at least accepts the attest of Islamic accounts to historical events down, and ascribing the whole Islamic literature to fictions of later generations. Key Words: Orientalism, John Wansbrough, Quran, West, East.