crisis of islam holy war unholy terror term paper

War On Terror, Iranian Trend, Nazism, Imperialism

Excerpt from Term Newspaper:

Lewis’ the Problems of Islam

On page one hundred sixty of The Turmoil of Islam, Bernard Lewis states, “There is no doubt that the first step toward Al-Qa’ida and the consecutive declarations of conflict by Usama bin Ladin marked quick a new and ominous phase in the great both Islam and terrorism. ” Without a doubt, based on the historical summarize of Islam that Lewis provides, the brand new and threatening phase can be applied equally to non-Muslim ethnicities. The Catastrophe of Islam examines the origins of Islamic fundamentalism and its lethal application while terrorism. The September 11 attacks made Americans even more conscious than ever about the threat of anti-American sentiment, a menace that been around far prior to Al-Qa’ida. In the book, Lewis offers a number of insights in Islam’s current social and political catastrophe. First, the author describes the flourishing of Islamic culture, noting particularly its theocratic foundations. The theocratic first step toward Islamic culture and religious beliefs allow Islam to offspring terrorist actions. Second, Lewis introduces Revolutionary Islamism less a theologically distinct coming from Muslim scriptures but as coincident with individuals scriptures. Moreover, jihad as a “religious obligation” underlies Islam and its basic approach to the non-Muslim universe (31). Third, Lewis poses the problem of Imperialism, especially as it affects the Islamic world. Muslim worldviews and Muslim societies over the past century have been with one another forged in the consequences of imperialism, pertaining to better or worse. Finally, Lewis offers a grim picture with the current state of affairs which provided rise to terrorism. This individual describes the “double standards” of Traditional western nations, especially the United States, positioning equal pin the consequence on on “American economic dominance and exploitation, now thinly disguised because ‘globalization, ‘ as for the willingness states to support Muslim tyrants. Lewis finally concludes that terrorism threatens both Islam as well as the West and that blame for the rise of terrorism today must be shared by the two Western and Muslim world.

Although Lewis describes Islam as “a religious and cultural tradition of substantial diversity, inch he would not hesitate to generalize regarding Islam pertaining to the purposes of his book (3). In its heyday Islam appreciated a clear politics dominion, which in turn waned over the past few generations and perhaps come to a nadir after the show up of the Ottoman Empire. Lewis also explains the significant commonalities between Christianity and Islam, similarities that actually fuel the present struggle between Christian and Muslim sides. However , right after between Islam and Christianity create more immediate concerns. Islam, in contrast to Christianity, is definitely theocratic in its core. The inseparability of faith and point out in Muslim discourse inevitably provides the footings for state-supported terrorist regimes.

Lewis makes certain to underscore the difference among Islam generally speaking and its revolutionary, or fundamentalist, strains. Frequently throughout The Turmoil of Islam the author claims that Islam itself would not necessitate terrorism. On page 137, Lewis says, “Most Muslims are not fundamentalists, and most fundamentalists are not terrorists, but many present-day terrorists are Muslims and proudly identify themselves as such. inch Moreover, jihad applies equally to corrupt Muslim rulers regarding infidels: Muslim leaders which might be deemed deviant are main targets of Islamic anger.

Islamic fundamentalism is largely a purification motion. After the Ww2, contact between United States and Muslim countries in the Middle East increased considerably. At first these kinds of contacts were relatively personable, as America represented “freedom and proper rights and option… wealth and power and success… the moment these features were not considered to be sins or vices, ” (89). Yet , a growing feeling of feeling and hate for America arose in the Muslim globe, ironically out of Euro philosophical believed. Thus an image of America as an