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a851e5e
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Secularism in the Christian world was an attempt to resolve the long and destructive struggle of church and state. Separation, adopted in the American and French Revolutions and elsewhere after that, was designed to prevent two things: the use of religion by the state to reinforce and extend its authority; and the use of the state power by the clergy to impose their doctrines and rules on others. This is a problem long seen as purely Christ..
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Bernard Lewis |
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74e5f89
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In 1940, we knew who we were, we knew who the enemy was, we knew the dangers and the issues," he told me when I pressed him for a reading of the struggle against Islamic radicalism. "In our island, we knew we would prevail, that the Americans would be drawn into the fight. It is different today. We don't know who we are, we don't know the issues, and we still do not understand the nature of the enemy."
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Bernard Lewis |
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6362c97
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As Osama bin Laden puts it: "In this final phase of the ongoing struggle, the world of the infidels was divided between two superpowers--the United States and the Soviet Union. Now we have defeated and destroyed the more difficult and the more dangerous of the two. Dealing with the pampered and effeminate Americans will be easy."
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Bernard Lewis |
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15982e5
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To a Western observer, schooled in the theory and practice of Western freedom, it is precisely the lack of freedom--freedom of the mind from constraint and indoctrination, to question and inquire and speak; freedom of the economy from corrupt and pervasive mismanagement; freedom of women from male oppression; freedom of citizens from tyranny--that underlies so many of the troubles of the Muslim world. But the road to democracy, as the Weste..
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Bernard Lewis |
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ea3d256
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America is harmless as an enemy but treacherous as a friend.
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foreign-policy-of-the-us
united-states
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Bernard Lewis |
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bc3dcc3
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Those who are unwilling to confront the past will be unable to understand the present and unfit to face the future.
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Bernard Lewis |
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712e692
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The difference between Middle Eastern and Western economic approaches can be seen even in their distinctive forms of corruption, from which neither society is exempt. In the West, one makes money in the market, and uses it to buy or influence power. In the East, one seizes power, and uses it to make money.
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Bernard Lewis |
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a093b07
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Different groups in the [Middle East] drew two lessons from [return of the shah in Iran] - one, that Americans were willing to use both force and intrigue to install or restore their puppet rulers in Middle Eastern countries; the other, that they were not reliable patrons when these puppets were seriously attacked by their own people, and would simply abandon them. The one evoked hatred, the other contempt - a dangerous combination. Clearly..
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Bernard Lewis |
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dba952b
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The value of Israel to the United States as a strategic asset has been much disputed. There have been some in the United States who view Israel as a major strategic ally in the region and the one sure bastion against both external and regional enemies. Others have argued that Israel, far from being a strategic asset, has been a strategic liability, by embittering U.S. relations with the Arab world and causing the failure of U.S. policies in..
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Bernard Lewis |
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a49a423
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I think I can say quite clearly and explicitly that the various types of actions which we call terrorism are only , they are explicitly by Sharia Law .. It is true that waging war is a religious obligation, but because it is a religious obligation , it is regulated by religious law .. medieval Sharia texts go into into what is permitted and what is permitted .. The Sharia requires that before beginning hostilities .. it has ..
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Bernard Lewis |
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4ab30ca
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The signatories quote various Muslim authorities and then proceed to the final and most important part of their declaration, the fatwa, laying down that "to kill Americans and their allies, both civil and military, is an individual duty of every Muslim who is able, in any country where this is possible, until the Aqsa mosque [in Jerusalem] and the Haram mosque [in Mecca] are freed from their grip, and until their armies, shattered and broke..
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Bernard Lewis |
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50e5859
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For the study of Middle Eastern history, and at the present time one might even add of world history, some knowledge of Islam's origins and of its scriptures is necessary. Already in my student years I was reading the Koran, the biography of the Prophet, and the extensive literature concerned with them. But at no time did I specialize in these topics. I am not an expert in theology or scripture, and I looked at these, if at all, only with a..
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Bernard Lewis |
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e1864ae
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Terrorism requires only a few. Obviously, the West must defend itself by whatever means will be effective. But in devising means to fight the terrorists, it would surely be useful to understand the forces that drive them.
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Bernard Lewis |
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9c7fc34
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The social institutions and attitudes inherited from earlier times and maintained with increasing rigidity made it difficult to adapt to changing circumstances or to create new political and economic institutions which would facilitate such an adaption. An attitude towards unbelievers that varied from condescension in good times, to hostility and mistrust in bad times, made it difficult to learn from them, or even to understand them, at a t..
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Bernard Lewis (Author) |
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b6b06b3
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wholly given up to villainy and debauchery, and ride the steed of perfidy and presumption, and dive into the sea of error and impiety, and are united under the banner of Satan.
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Bernard Lewis |
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5f1ad3d
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With few exceptions the pietists are assigned a minor role in the creation of the Arab Empire.
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Bernard Lewis |
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f185d7a
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Not being interested in other cultures is the normal state of mankind.
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mankind
history
cultures
islam
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Bernard Lewis (Author) |
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d883bbb
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Black slaves seem to have cost from two to three hundred dirhams; black eunuchs, at least two or three times as much. Female black slaves were sold at five hundred dirhams or so; trained singing girls or other performers, at ten or even twenty thousand.
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Bernard Lewis |
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c019643
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The cultivation of cotton and sugar, which the Arabs brought from the East across North Africa and into Spain, most probably entailed some kind of plantation system.
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Bernard Lewis |
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d01e50a
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In medieval times most singers, dancers, and musical performers were, at least in origin, slaves.
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Bernard Lewis |
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e09ca80
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Uncertainty may be beneficial in that it invites further research and further thought. But uncertainty disguised as certainty is dangerous.
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Bernard Lewis |
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f0c9628
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Western technology made slavery unnecessary; Western ideas made it intolerable.
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western-civilization
west
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Bernard Lewis |
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b342cd7
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the governor of the Hijaz sent an order to the district governor of Mecca prohibiting the trade in slaves. The district governor was instructed to read the order aloud at the Shari a court of Mecca in the presence of the ulema and the sharifs. This took place on October 30, 1855 [...] This was the moment for which the sharif had been waiting. On his instructions, Shaykh Jamal issued a fatwa denouncing the ban on the slave trade as contrary ..
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Bernard Lewis |
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f45de68
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Clarity of thought will normally produce clarity of style; obscurity of thought will produce obscurity of style.
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Bernard Lewis |
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864cac5
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Fighters in a jihad are enjoined not to kill women, children, and the aged unless they attack first, not to torture or mutilate prisoners, to give fair warning of the resumption of hostilities after a truce, and to honor agreements.
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Bernard Lewis |
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ace962c
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In recent years, there have been some changes of perception and, consequently, of tactics among Muslims. Some of them still see the West in general and its present leader the United States in particular as the ancient and irreconcilable enemy of Islam, the one serious obstacle to the restoration of God's faith and law at home and their ultimate universal triumph. For these there is no way but war to the death, in fulfillment of what they se..
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Bernard Lewis |
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c92ac73
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The medieval European, who shared the fundamental assumptions of his Muslim contemporary, would have agreed with him in ascribing religious movements to religious causes, and would have sought no further for an explanation. But when Europeans ceased to accord first place to religion in their thoughts, sentiments, interests, and loyalties, they also ceased to admit that other men, in other times and places, could have done so. To a rationali..
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religion
theology
islam
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Bernard Lewis |