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‘U.S. Needs to Know History to Understand ME Conflict’, Jewish Historian
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Lewis - Middle East |
By
Ayub Khan, IOL Correspondent
CHICAGO,
May 31 (IslamOnline) - Professor Bernard Lewis, eminent historian and
Middle Eastern expert spoke on “Islam and the West” at a
lecture organized by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations at the
Field Museum. Accused, by some thinkers, of “deliberately
overlooking or ignoring well-known facts about the Islamic culture”,
Lewis stated that ultimately Muslims will themselves have to find a
way out of the crisis that is facing them.
He
said that knowledge of history is essential to understand the
current conflict in the Muslim world. Lewis remarked that Americans'
knowledge of history is abysmally low in marked contrast with the
Islamic world where even the illiterate people have a sense of
history. He said that time and again historical references are made to
Middle East conflicts, such as during the Iran-Iraq war when there was intensive
propaganda between the warring neighbors.
Lewis
also commented on the latest crisis facing the Muslim world, saying,
"Osama bin Laden in his various speeches makes historic
allusions. He refers to America as a ‘Crusader’ nation."
Lewis went on to say that while bin Laden was using the word
"Crusade" in a historical context, the same was not true
when U.S. President George W. Bush used it to describe his agenda
against Afghanistan. The word crusade has lost its original meaning in
the Western world and now stands for almost anything but
religious, he said. "In bin Laden's language it has a very
explicit meaning."
Lewis
also commented that Islam and Christianity are the only global
civilizations and that all other religions are regional in nature. He
commented that it was necessary to make a distinction between Islam
the faith and Islam the civilization (“Islamdom”, a term which
never really caught on). He emphasized that caution should be used
when describing the movements within “Islamdom”. "Hitler
arose in Christendom and yet we do not call his movement a Christian
movement. [The] same caution should be used with Islamdom."
Commenting
on religious tolerance in Islamic civilization, he said that during
the time when Islam was the ruling empire, “Jews and Christians had
their own courts. They had the right to their own laws. It was more
rather than less tolerant. It was a tolerant, open society."
He
said that during its height, Islamic civilization was best in all
human endeavors. Both the faith of Islam and human endeavor were
behind the glory of Islamic civilization, Lewis said in response to a
question. He listed the contributions made by Muslims in science,
mathematics and other fields. "Imagine doing your taxes in roman
numerals," he said referring to the development of the concept of
“zero” by Muslims.
He
said that the key to the current crisis in the Islamic world lies
in Muslims asking "what did we do wrong?" instead of the
question "who did this to us?" He said that while Israel is
an aggravating factor it is not the cause. Lewis criticized
the Western governments for their support of Middle Eastern
monarchies and dictatorships and asserted that much of the crises
facing Muslims are a result of their own leaders’ actions. He
commented that Western governments follow a racist assumption in the
Middle East, which subscribes to the belief that the rules of
democracy are not applicable there.
He
said that there are hopeful signs that the Middle East is going to
open up to the concept of freedom of press. If not then, the
Muslim world would fall behind as "the [Ottoman] caliphate fell
behind in the industrial revolution," he stated.
Lewis's
lecture was fifth in a series organized by the Chicago Council on
Foreign Relations. Past speakers have included renowned professor
and former Director of the Washington-based American Committee on
Jerusalem (ACJ) Rashid Khalidi, Professor Oleg Grabar, renowned
scholar Dr. Tariq Ramadan, Ambassador Frank Wisner.
Lewis
recently published his latest book “What Went Wrong”, a series of
essays (the core of which were given in Vienna in September 1999). The
main idea propagated in that book, as analysts in the Middle East see
it, is “an attempt to deepen the dispute between Islam and the West,
concluding that Muslim East committed the crime of September 11
attacks on the United States”.
“While
claiming to have dug deep into the 18th and 19th centuries diplomatic
events, Lewis briefly touched on intellectual history, sketching only
the broadest outlines of modern and reformist thought in Islam,”
several analysts said of the book.
Others
were more critical though, accused Lewis of “either accidentally or
deliberately overlooking or ignoring well-known facts about the Middle
Eastern culture”. Some of them accused him of just singing to the
choir of claiming the West’s superiority over Islam. They suggested
that his book “What Went Wrong”, should have carried the title
“We are Better – Just Get Over It”.
With
additional reporting by Khaled Mamdouh, IOL Cairo Staff
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