The Crisis of Islam Holy War and Unholy Terror by Bernard...

The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror is a book written by Bernard Lewis that ‘in particular charts the key events of the twentieth century leading up to the violent confrontations of today.’(Lewis) Lewis clearly and entirely pointed out key events explaining the choices to be made by the people of the Islamic faith. They must determine whether their religion takes its place alongside other religions in a global community, or whether it will revert back into conflict with non-Muslim nations. Islam is a religion that most Americans don’t understand but still have strong feelings towards. To clear things up, Islam is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion written in the Quran, a book considered by its believers to be the exact†¦show more content†¦The next point Lewis makes is, â€Å"As the Western European Empires faded, Middle Eastern anti-Americanism was attributed to other, more specific causes: economic exploitation,†¦.the support of cor rupt local tyrants who serve America’s purposes by oppressing and robbing their own people†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Lewis. 93-94) He goes on to say that it was the thought that America’s support for Israel and not the Palestinian Arabs in their conflict. An interesting point that Lewis makes in the following paragraph of the same page points out that during the 1930s and 1940s, Jews fled to Palestine which was a migration supported by the British and even the Nazis until the start of the war. However, it was reversed when Britain wanted to maintain Arab peace and limited Jewish immigration to Palestine. The Arab countries chose not to support the British, even though they were the ones trying to restrict the arrival of Jews to their area the most.(Lewis. 94) By far the most informative and understandable chapter of this book is the Double Standards chapter. The first point to mention from this chapter is, western opinions about the Islamic culture are not that of the US. It can b e inferred that Westerners in general identify the people of Islam inferior in some way and not just different from themselves. Violations of human and civil rights, as well as political freedoms are disregarded when taking place in Muslim countries. Lewis says, â€Å"Western spokesmen repeatedly overlook or even defend actions andShow MoreRelatedHist 410 Research Paper2519 Words   |  11 PagesLittle did the staff for each of the planes or the people boarding them know that plans had changed. Within the space of an hour, al Qaeda wreaked more direct damage on the United States than the Soviet Union had done throughout the entire cold war, a tragedy seen by more people than any other event in history. (Bergen, 2006) Many questions were garnered after September 11, 2001. What caused this horrific attack and who’s to blame for it? Was this attack forecasted, could we have seen it comingRead MoreBackground to the Quran Essays1134 Words   |  5 PagesTHE QURAN Background The Quran is a highly revered book in Islam. It is not only valued for its contents, but also more essentially for its status as Revelation. For this reason it is not a common practice among Muslims to make any significant reference to the history of the Quran. More appropriately, they make reference to the history of the Revelation of the Quran . According to the Islamic story, Allah revealed the entire Quran to Muhammad in the Night of Majesty. Afterwards, it then descended