The East seen from the West

Courteous responses to critics of the Sira

Critical essay by Etienne Dinet and Sliman Ben Brahim - Héritage Éditions

Etienne Dinet , a famous French painter converted to Islam, wrote his masterpiece “The Life of Muhammad” in 1918. This book received public funding in memory of the brotherhood in arms between Muslim and non-Muslim soldiers during the Great War. This encouragement did not prevent criticism, since a certain number of orientalists reproached him for his too religious approach. Our author then decided to respond to them as well as to the methodology adopted to study Islam and Muslims through this work published in 1922 and which we are republishing today. While the current debates on Islam are marked by media aggressiveness, the reissue of the book “L'Orient vu de l'Occident” allows us to recall the calm force with which Dinet was keen to respond to his opponents.