The Crisis Of Islam Bernard Lewis Summary

Islam in two Americas is a delayed thesis argument about the state of Islāmic/American relations in the US, post 9-11. As a delayed thesis, the author, Ross Douthat, opens the debate with a brief explanation of the “two Americas” as he sees it. Within the current political climate that is America today, it would be hard to argue that this divide does not exist.

Islam played a huge role in the historical development of the Middle East and in North Africa. In this essay, I will discuss the impact of Islam's conquest of the Levant region in the Middle East, and into North Africa, and Spain. I will also look at the affect that invading forces, namely the Mongols, had on shaping the development of Islam. Beginning in the Middle East, and looking at Abu Bakr, we see the overtaking of many cities. Using one of the sources provided for this course we are able to see how quickly Abu Bakr began his conquest of the Middle East, especially Western Syria in the region of the Levant, "After the death of Muhammad, Abu Bakr became king and sent an army of 30,000 Arabs to conquer Syria in the first year of his reign.

In Aug. of 1996, Osama bin Laden issued his first “fatwa.” The general grounds of the fatwa are that “the people of Islam had suffered from aggression, iniquity, and injustice imposed on them by the Zionist-Crusaders and their collaborators.” He cites the various “injustices” and states that, “it is no longer possible to be quiet. It is not acceptable to give a blind eye to this matter.” He argues that the most important duty is pushing Americans and American ideology out of the holy land and urges all Muslim brothers to fight and kill the enemy.

Tory Higgins, and Carol S. Dweck. "Religion and World Change: Violence and Terrorism versus Peace." Journal of Social Issues 61.4 (2005): 761-784. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.

I chose to read Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror written by Mary Habeck. This book attempts to educate the reader not only about the Qur’an and the Islamic faith, but it offers insight as to why nineteen men took it upon themselves to cause such agony to the United States. Many people around the world do not understand what would provoke these men to carry out a devious plot to cause so much harm to the American people. Habeck describes the history behind the Qur’an, how it has been interpreted, and how it has been used as a tool to justify the heinous acts that have occurred throughout time, primarily focusing on the events that unfolded on September 11, 2001. Habeck served as an associate professor in strategic studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies teaching courses on military history and strategic thought. She also taught American and European military history at Yale University. During 2006 to 2013, she was appointed by President George W. Bush to the National Council on the Humanities. During 2008 to 2009 she served as the special advisor for strategic planning on the National Security Council staff.

Before it completed 100 years of its origin, Islam had expanded across the Middle East and beyond. The rate and success of Islam 's expansion were nothing short of breathtaking. Due to Muhammad’s alluring message, personal charisma, political ingenuity, and his ability to appeal to his followers; their loyalty and devotion laid the foundation to Islam’s great conquest. When the Muslim armies swarmed through the Arab frontier, their experience with the terrain and their self-determination allowed them quickly pillage vast areas in short periods of time. As a result of the impoverished and war-torn state of both the Byzantine and Persian empires, the inhabitants of these domains were not ready for the Arab’s unexpected wave of attacks and

Bernard Lewis. The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror (United States: Modern Library, 2003). Pp. 224. Hard Cover $10.96.

This scholarly interest has resulted in a spate of research output from multiple disciplinary and theoretical perspectives. There are two ubiquitous trends in the literature on extremism and terrorism. First, a majority of the conversations locate the causes of contemporary extremism and radicalization in the religious edicts of one religion namely, Islam (Parent and Ellis, 2011). Second, a large number of

Religious terrorism occurs when the use of terrorism is systematized by an ideology and fanatical interpretation of a religious text. Terrorist group functioning in the absence of this pretext create junk. Religious terrorism functions on the basic of five essential principles. These are: means justify the end, holy war, blind obedience, absolute truth claims and the ideal times . Kimball explains that ‘truth claims’ are essential point in a religion “at which divergent interpretations arise. Extreme interpretations of ‘truth claims’ provoke the ideology upon which religious terrorism is based. However the “authentic religious truth claims are never as inflexible and exclusive as zealous adherents insist. The staunch ‘truth claims’ professed

As the world increasingly becomes more interconnected and globalization continues at an alarming rate, radical Islam is now at the forefront of the global agenda. While Islamic extremism is not a new concept, and has arguably been around since the dawn of Islam, it only now has become a truly global affair, engaging every nation in the world. With the rise of attention on radical Islam also comes another concept, the misunderstanding of Islam. Some choose to argue that Islam a religion of peace, while others, the greater majority, choose to argue it is a religion of violence, but frankly, neither are the case. The Quran, history, and modern politics all show that Islam is not a religion of peace or violence, but simply a religion of reaction;

An assumption presented by government analysts is that leaders of terrorist organizations recruit “naïve” and vulnerable people (especially young people) to be radicalized and perpetrate terrorist acts. In the case of Islamic groups, many scholars and analyst inaccurately blame Islam and the Quran as the origin or radicalization. The origin of political violence is not Islam; it is the description of Islamic terrorist groups’ ideology and subsequent deceptive assertion that fighting enemies (or infidels) is a way (if not the only way) to go to heaven .

In order to understand the costumes and future development of societies and religions, it is necessary to know the history of them. Dave Eggers’s novel, A Hologram for the King, not only discuses the origins of the extremist branch of Islam, but also mentions an important event in history, the massacre at Mecca,that marked the beginning of an era of terror caused by religious extremism and denounces how Saudi’s society of the 21st century follows the customs and precepts of the conservative ideology of Islam.

Arab unity, Lewis demonstrates, is now an oxymoron. Today no single Muslim polity exists, and this is part of the problem, or identity crisis, which the Islamic world faces. For many centuries there was one Islamic community united by one ruler. Even when that community splintered into various states, there was still a discernable unified state. No longer however. It is this divided and unstructured body that now is seeking to find its way in the modern world. Resentment, disorientation and despair have been part of the reaction and the rise of terrorism is one of the more pronounced responses to this loss of unity and hegemony. The loss of a coherent center in Islam, and its fall as a global power, is at the heart of the current crisis in Islam. Of course Islam is more than just a religion, it is a culture and civilization as well. For millennia it enjoyed the status as a world power. But the past century has witnessed a great reversal of fortune for this empire, and the responses have been

The root of modern ‘Muslim Terrorism’ does not reside within the teachings of a single theorist or scholar, as the term ‘terrorism’ itself is definitionally ‘problematic’ (Jackson, 2007, 195) and subjective, resulting from a Western discourse that seeks to ascribe a definitional blanket to a broad range of diverse organisations that invoke religious justification for their politically motivated actions, of which the causes are rooted within regional context. The report in question (9/11) claims that Al-Qaeda, ‘draws upon a tradition of extreme intolerance... from at least Ibn Taymiyya’ (362), yet this does not legitimately reflect Ibn Taymiyya’s ethical and political teachings. Whilst accepting that Al-Qaeda is ‘a network of networks’ (Gregory and Wilkinson, 2005, 2) that does not denote, in any meaningful sense, to a coherent philosophy or movement, this paper will demonstrate the disjuncture between Ibn Taymiyya’s teachings and the contemporary movements that invoke his teachings in their justification. The manner in which Ibn Taymiyya’s teachings have been engaged by the concerned organisations will be first examined. Following this establishment, this paper will address the discordance between Ibn Taymiyya’s ethical teachings and the actions of contemporary jihadi groups. This paper will penultimately display how Ibn Taymiyya’s political perspective does not correspond to the view held by those such as Al Qaeda. This paper will finally implore upon the imperative for

Today’s Islam as religion is primarily operated by egomaniacal, obsessive Ulema with their brand of faith within religion for public backing and finances from outside yet grumbling that today’s Islam is deprived of the authority and voice, and they are there to reclaim it. General Muslims on the other side are highly distressed that the faith is assuming a horrible shape and that their intellectual or religious scholars are failing to stop the trend. The religion once claiming the charm to attract others is on a path to terrorize the world and create hate.