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I suspect that Carl Ernst’s Following Muhammad would not be recognized by Snouck Hurgronje, or St. Clair Tisdall, or Sir William Muir, or Tor Andrae, or Maxime Rodinson, or David Margoliouth, or Joseph Schacht, or Ignaz Goldziher, as presenting a recognizable view of Muhammad. On the other hand, the straightforward presentation of Muhammad's life as set down by the most authoritative Muslim biographers, which is what Robert Spencer has given us in his forthcoming (October 9) biography of Muhammad will no doubt be dismissed as "polemical" and "unscholarly" by Ernst and three-quarters of the membership of MESA Nostra. The remaining ¼, however, will be secretly delighted with Spencer's book, even if they will not be so brave as to assign it(though they may list it among "Other Reading" on their syllabi, giving the students a hint). They will only wish that they had dared to produce something similar, but they had too much, departmentally, to lose. It required an intelligent outsider to do the necessary job, and Spencer came along and did it.
Carl Ernst's book on Muhammad leaves out all the unsettling and disturbing and indelicate parts. Instead, it gives us something as if viewed through Karen Armstrong's vie-en-rose tinted glasses,
Carl Ernst is too modest. He is a prize-winning author, recognized for his services to the better worldwide appreciation of Muhammad with his book. Following Muhammad is a masterpiece of haute vulgarization -- what Robert Spencer only pretends to be able to do -- and might as well hold the haute. That book, or rather that series of essays, is by authorial intention devoid of the usual apparatus criticus of scholarly books. Apparently Carl Ernst wished to put off, off, those scholarly lendings, and to let down his hair, and deliberately present an "unscholarly text" (no doubt contributors to the Encyclopedia of Islam will sniff, but let them -- what do they know?), easy on the footnotes, in order to find and please that wider audience that perhaps had eluded him with his previous scholarly contribution, The Shambhala Guide to Sufism.
I am informed, given Ernst’s contempt, documented here at Jihad Watch, for non-scholarly presses, that that was a book that Clarendon Press would dearly like to have published, if Shambhala Publishing hadn't gotten there first. And as for the reaction to that book in the Departments of Islamic Studies at Leiden, Aix-en-Province, and Cambridge at the news, later on, that the author of The Shambhala Guide to Sufism had received tenure at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill -- well, I don't have to tell you.
Last year I offered a write-in nomination for Karen Armstrong to be awarded the King Faisal Prize, in the category of Services to Islam. But apparently Armstrong did not make the Saudi grade. Perhaps her bizarre flitting from this to that (what is it this week from the fingers and mind of Karen Armstrong? A treatise on Buddhism? How to Bring World Peace? The Search for Bridey Murphy?) offended them, or perhaps there was something in her favorite forms of recreation that might have offended those dour and judgmental Saudi judges. She didn't win, and I suspect now that she won't. She's become, in the Western world, too well-known and too much a figurine of fun.
But I have another candidate waiting in the wings, not quite so obviously silly as Karen Armstrong. True, there is that little matter of all those Shambhala shambolic sham books on Sufism, which Saudis would hardly find to their liking but there is one way to free those judges of their doubtful minds and warm their cold cold hearts. And that way is to point not only to the hagiographical Following Muhammad but far more important, to take note of the tireless toiling in the vineyard of the Lor-- no, make that toiling or perhaps lolling in the conquered oases of Muhammad. Let us point to Ernst’s ongoing effort -- really, beyond the call of dhimmi duty -- in inveigling or forcing non-Muslim students, right in the heart of what Saudis no doubt think of as hopelessly Christian evangelical country (unaware as they must be of the special case of Chapel Hill, and even of North Carolina, the state that in the last century produced, inter alia, Ava Gardner and Walter Clay Lowdermilk, and is hardly part of the Deep South), to read not only Sells's Approaching the Qur'an but also large doses of both Esposito and Armstrong.
If such an achievement, which required ignoring criticism by parents and students, does not merit recognition as a Service to Islam, and beyond that, a well-endowed (va-va-va-voom) prize, offered in recognition of that recognition, then one hardly knows what would.
And thus it is for me both a rare privilege, and an honor, to nominate at this very posting, at this most relevant website, Professor Carl Ernst, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, to be the 2007 recipient of the King Faisal Prize.
I am sure a great many people, some of them no doubt Professor Ernst's faculty colleagues, will be happy to second that nomination.
Please note, students of prizes, that in the categories of science and medicine, the King Faisal awards go to recipients who are genuinely and entirely worthy. The results are skewed only by one thing -- no one identifiably Jewish has ever won the King Faisal Prize. That does narrow the number of potentially worthy candidates. The Infidels who have won the prize in the category "Services to Islam" deserve to be treated as the object of a separate study. For all you intrepid undergraduates casting about for a thesis topic, here's the ungainly title you are free to use: "Paying the Scholarly Jizyah: Winners of the King Faisal Prize for Services to Islam." Make it a prosopographic analysis, year by year, Infidel winner by Infidel winner. Make Sir Lewis Namier proud.
Posted by Hugh at September 1, 2006 7:49 AM
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I would be surprised if Carl Ernst is not a practicing Sufi mystic himself. But even Sufis have to make ends meet so he wrote this "Following Muhammad" whitewash which gets him cash prizes from Muslim patrons. Same benefactors get this book translated into Turkish and
Following Muhammad is being translated into Arabic, Indonesian, and Korean http://uncpress.unc.edu/book_news/news_ernst.html
http://uncpress.unc.edu/images/authors/ernst_prize.jpg CAPTION: Dr. Carl W. Ernst (right) receives the Distinguished Prize in the Humanities at the Bashrahil Prize award ceremony in Cairo on July 4.
Posted by: dennisw![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 1, 2006 9:02 AM
*******
Why Saudi benefators give this oleaginous stooge $30,000 payouts and not Robert Spencer
*******
http://uncpress.unc.edu/book_news/news_ernst.html
"I am particularly encouraged by this honor conferred by an Arab cultural organization, especially at this time," said Ernst, who presented a brief acceptance speech in Arabic. "This recognition of my book (Following Muhammad) is an important statement about shared humanistic values that transcend political boundaries. It is also a great honor for me to be recognized alongside such outstanding contributors to modern Arabic literature and culture."
Departing from the usual Arab–centric bias, Ernst's book addresses Euro-Americans and illuminates the diversity of Muslim societies and thought. It describes how Protestant definitions of religion and anti–Muslim prejudice have affected how Islam has come to be viewed in Europe and America. It also explores the contemporary importance of Islam in both its traditional locations and its new homes.
"Numerous publications repeat incessantly the charge that terrorism is inseparable from Islam," observed Ernst. "I argue to the contrary that we must seek instead what others have called a dialogue among civilizations. Knowledge and respectful exchange should be our goals, rather than conflict. I am hopeful that my book, both in English and in translations into other languages, will help enable increased communication and dialogue between Americans, Europeans, and Muslims around the world."
at September 1, 2006 9:07 AM
How can there be a dialogue between civilizations that is meaningful, when one believes in the inherent superiority of itself and the subjugation of the other?
Any belief system that teaches the inferiority of any human being cannot be tolerated.
Posted by: Stand fast in the liberty at September 1, 2006 1:46 PM
Re Ernst’s contempt for Robert's books,
I have a copy of the Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam on hand.
On the cover, it states "New York Times Bestseller."
On the inside are the usual laudatory comments, but take a look at this one from Dr. Walid Phares
"...Robert Spencer, an expert on historical jihad, responds with a 'politically incorrect' but academically sound and challenging work. Spencer displays an enormous amount of well-researched material. He throws the ball back into the camp of Arabist historians."
at September 1, 2006 2:57 PM
Sorry, I don't have the time (or intellectual capability, truth be told) for a full prosopographic analysis. The King Faisal Prize for Services to Islam is a nice prize, but I'm still waiting for "which three cities, and which three authors".
Posted by: special_guest at September 1, 2006 4:21 PM
... enable increased communication and dialogue between Americans, Europeans, and Muslims around the world.
--- Carl Ernst praising himself at a party where he won the top prize for praising Islam
Isn't all this Islam-Infidel dialogue mumbo jumbo really about civilization laying open its jugular for a rich infusion of poison?
Posted by: Alarmed Pig Farmer at September 1, 2006 4:29 PM
"I'm still waiting for 'which three cities, and which three authors.'"
-- from a posting above
It was not a tale of three cities, but of one city, and of three authors. And the answer, though not the details, were put up at this website.
The city in question was Constantinople.
The three writers were, in order of appearance, Andre Chenier (A), Aleksandr Pushkin (B), and Adam Mickiewicz (C).
A did not know B or C.
B knew of both A and C. Indeed, B admired his verse (along with that of Evariste Parny, the only Evariste I know of save for the Orientalist and scholar of Islamic Spain Evariste Levi-Provencal) and also wrote a poem about Chenier (so, for that matter, and much later, did Marina Tsvetaeva, and possibly Klyuev as well).
B and C knew each other in St. Petersburg, and B wrote his poem "Medniy Vsadnik" as a different version based on the same events -- a flood in St. Petersburg, as had already been written about by Mickiewicz. Furthermore, in one poem, Klevetnikam Rossii ("To the Slanderers of Russia") Pushkin explicitly takes issue with those, including Mickiewicz, were opposed to the Russian army's suppression of the Poles in Warsaw (N.B. The "Praga" in that poem is not Prague, but part of Warsaw, Varshava, Varsovie).
Now as to the connections of A, B, and C with Constaninople -- also put up at this webiste, Mr. Complainer, Mr. Never Satisfied. Andre Chenier was born in Constantinople, the son of the French consul. I visited the building on which a plaque, a blackened plaque on a blackened out-of-the-way building, as I recall in Galata, up high and very hard to read (I took a photograph, but have no idea whree the picture is) exists, explaining only in French -- the Turks have no interest -- that in this building Andre Chenier was born.
Pushkin's connection to Constantinople is less straightforward. His great-grandfather was an African, taken by Arab slave traders in Abyssinia (accounts differ, and a recent book suggests that he may have come from the region of Lake Chad, different from the areas usually mentioned), and brought to the Islamic tslave-market at Constanintople, where he was bought by the Russian ambassador, a certain Count (Graf) Tolstoy. Tolstoy (yes, of that family) sent him as a present to his sovereign, Tsar Peter or Pyotr, Ptyor Velikii, Peter the Great. Gannibal learned Russian, studied war, and became a great favorite of the Tsar, and his patronymic reflected that favor: Gannibal Petrovich. His great-grandson, Aleksandr Sergeivitch Pushkin, was born in 1799 and died in a duel on January 29, 1837 Pushkin's last letter, written the night before that duel, was not to Vyazemsky or Del'vig or anyone of significance, but to a female writer of sentimental books.
During his lifetime Pushkin was conscious of his African ancestry, which he played with as a theme, ascribing his passionate nature to that ancestry, but too much can be made of that. He wrote about his African ancestor in "The Moor of Peter the Great." ("Arap Petra Velikogo").
As for Mickiewicz, he was not like Chenier, born in Constantinople. He did not, as Pushkin did, owe part of his ancestry, and possibly the most distinctive part, to a chance purchase of a human being in Constantinople. Mickiewicz's connection to Constantinople came at the end of his life. Mickiewicz arrived in Constantinople in 1855, hoping to raise, from among Jews living in the Ottoman Empire, a force that might help the Poles throw off the domination of the Russians; he reasoned that Jews, too, would wish to weaken Russia, then the leading antisemitic power in Europe. Mickiewicz had spent much of his adult life outside of Poland, and when not writing poetry he was working constantly for Poland's independence. The trip to Constantinople was fateful; within two months, Mickiewicz was dead, possibly of tuberculosis (I can't remember) and died.
These then were the tragic deaths of these three celebrated European writers. They are united by more than their connections to Constantinople. A and B both died relatively young. Chenier was executed during the French Revolution, taken from the prison atPicpus and guillotined just two days before guillotining was declared to be at an end. Pushkin died in a duel with D'Anthes (see Serena Vitale's "Il Bottone di Pushkin" or its English translation, for a full account of the mockery, the awarding of membership in the Club of Cuckolds, that led to the duel, over implied dalliances with pretty, light-headed Natalia (nee Goncharova) Pushkina, and the role of Baron van Heeckeren, and all the rest -- et le reste est litterature). As for Mickiewicz, he did not die young, but his death was, one will agree, also tragic.
That is the brief version of the answer.
You should see the long one.
[You can also google "Jihad Watch" and "Posted by Hugh" and "Andre Chenier" to find the answer, previously posted.]
Posted by: Hugh at September 1, 2006 8:14 PM
It's unfortunate I can't pay to be bullied by Hugh's ginormous (not a real word) intellect. I paid for far less intellect and far more bullying. Hugh's bookshelves... The mind boggles.
The King Faisal Official Website
Note with particular interest the Sudanese military leader who won in 2004. That speaks volumes.
at September 1, 2006 10:41 PM
Mr. Complainer? Me?
I apologize for missing the answer, previously posted. Sometimes life keeps me from JW/DW, sometimes not.
Yahoo!ing "Andre Chenier" finds this article, which is not the answer, but one absolutely stunning oratory by Hugh, that I also previously missed.
It also finds this winning answer from Liggett, and this second-place answer by Yojimbo. I've got some learning to do.
The theme is gratitude.
Posted by: special_guest at September 2, 2006 4:42 AM
Those who decide, on their own, to forward articles put up at JihadWatch, might try to make sure that their own accompanying remarks are kept to a minimum. "This may be of interest" or "FYI" is enough, is more than enough. The intended recipients should not be distracted from the text itself. The article's author, having no control over its being forwarded, deserves to have other words kept to an absolute minimum. The recipient who then chooses to read what is sent may then decide on its cogency without having that judgment affected by words written not by the article's author, but by the article's forwarder.
Posted by: Hugh at September 2, 2006 9:44 PM
I understand, I think. Like I said, I've got some learning to do, not only about 19th Century Belarusian poets who wrote about Lithuania in Polish, but about etiquette.
No harm intended. As moderator, if the post offends, pluck it out. Were that all of my misdeeds could so easily be rescinded.
Posted by: special_guest at September 3, 2006 3:13 AM
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