Document Type : Science - Research (Political Science)

Author

• Hamid Nassaj

Faculty member of Isfahan University

Abstract

Orientalism is a "discourse", a discourse in which the distinction between West and East, is the foundation of each type of discussion and argument. Orientalism as a tireless socio cultural force  continued the  process of  production and reproduction of the East and played an effective role in the formation and consolidation of Western colonialism.
The question that arises for scholars interested in the political thought of Islam and Iran is : what was the image and imagination  of the eastern people towards other eastern countries when they dominated and concurred them?  And Whether or not the studies by eastern people about other eastern countries can be labeled with the same orientalism components of western Orientalists? Reviewing  the book “the Indica “ by  al-Biruni, the present article shows that most components of orientalism raised by Edward said  are absent in this work.
If this research continues with other oriental works in some other aspects”, the foundation  for a theory of “impossibility of colonialism by eastern people " would be prepared. This paper follows a comparative research method.

Keywords

• Orientalism
• Colonialism
• Occidentalism
• the Indica
• Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī
• Edward Said