Islam

The word “Islam” (in Arabic, submission to God) was first introduced in the European Republic of Letters by Barthélemy d’Herbelot’s Bibliothèque Orientale (1697). Before that, Mahometism was used to designate the religion based on the Qu’ran, the book recording the revelation of Muhammad. Until the seventeenth century, there was little sustained study of the Qu’ran, while most efforts went into presenting Islam as a heretic forgery and Muhammad as an impostor. This was to change in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. True to the belief that the acquisition of knowledge was a universal human endeavor, European scholars sought to expand their understanding of Muslim peoples and cultures. Although the lack of education barred most women from scholarly efforts, they did engage with the views of Islam circulated in their societies, at times perpetuating prevalent prejudices, at others reversing them.