The article makes an overview of the work of Bryan Stanley Turner, prominent expert on Islam and the author of an original theory as reflected in his papers recently put together in the volume called «Sociology of Islam». The crucial point of most of the chapters included in the volume is a thorough analysis of Orientalism and its implications to current Islamic Studies. Beginning with a critique of the sociology of Max Weber, which Turner believes to have created the modern false paradigm in Islamic studies, he then methodically identifies obvious and hidden forms of Orientalism, demonstrating how to try avoiding it in research. The article discusses elements of Turner’s theory showing its strengths and revealing its weaknesses.