Adam Mez, an unbiased orientalist the reception of Adam Mez in Arab orientalist studies

This paper is on Adam Mez, a renown German Orientalist whose works contributed greatly to the presentation and examination of the Islamic history, society and culture. His interest in the Muslim world guided him to explore the Islamic civilization compressively by studying its history and culture in more depth. His quest into the Islamic culture resulted in concluding all his findings in his book “The Renaissance of Islam”. The publication is considered as an invaluable resource offering an accurate examination of the different aspects of the Muslim world in the 10th century. The least that could be said about this book is its unbiasedness and unprejudicedness in introducing and addressing the historic, cultural and societal models of the Islamic world. Despite his comparatively short lifetime, he developed a significant study on Muslim civilization that constituted and still does a primary reference for researchers and students seeking an informed understanding of the Islamic world. As an orientalist, Adam Mez adopted a research construct that enabled him to produce a lucid and comprehensive study on a range of features of the Islamic world. His “Renaissance of Islam” encompassed the Islamic government and its structural design with an emphasis on the importance and role of the Caliphate. He addressed administration and how the Islamic state of the time run its territories with a focus on the functions of the existing institutions, hence the judiciary system and how this guided and shaped the Islamic social life of the time. In the further course, his view on the scientific, literary and religious development in the 4th/10th centuries is analysed in a way that offered a detailed account on an array of aspects of the Islamic civilisation of the time. Interestingly, Mez's could present his view on tolerance of Muslims, which is apparently observed by portraying the image of women in Muslim society for example, as well as a reference to openness to others who differ in ethnicity, religion, or social status. Mez's research clearly shows impartiality and openness while approaching the different aspects of the Islamic world. This is evident in his adoption of the multitude of contemporary Orientalists whose research models sought a strictly scientific methodology aiming at producing an objective and unbiased account on the Islamic world, its history, culture and social lives. In this context, the importance of reviewing the works of unbiased, academically rigorous Orientalists cannot be overemphasized. These form the common human denominator that establishes cohesion among different societies and international understanding.