Orientalism is a form of domination (albeit loving domination) whereby a discrete identity is conferred upon the other while also the knowing observer supplies himself with a standpoint from which to see without being seen, to read without interruption.
Orientalism is the corporate institution for dealing with the orient dealing with it by making statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, by teaching it, settling it, ruling over it: In short, orientalism as a western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the orient.
Orientalism is the sense of islam (developed during the colonial period) as a threatening other, with muslims depicted as fanatical, violent, lustful, irrational... an idea rooted in the fact that islam is seen as a kind of competitor of Christianity.