Crisis of Islam Holy War Unholy Terror

Lewis' the Crisis of Islam

On page 160 of The Crisis of Islam, Bernard Lewis states, "There is no doubt that the foundation of Al-Qa'ida and the consecutive declarations of war by Usama bin Ladin marked the beginning of a new and ominous phase in the history of both Islam and terrorism." Indeed, based on the historical outline of Islam that Lewis provides, the new and ominous phase applies equally to non-Muslim cultures. The Crisis of Islam examines the origins of Islamic fundamentalism and its deadly application as terrorism. The September 11 attacks made Americans more conscious than ever about the threat of anti-American sentiment, a threat that existed far before Al-Qa'ida. In his book, Lewis offers several insights into Islam's current social and political crisis. First, the author describes the flourishing of Islamic culture, noting in particular its theocratic foundations. The theocratic foundation of Islamic culture and religion allow Islam to spawn terrorist movements. Second, Lewis introduces Radical Islamism not as a theologically distinct from Muslim scriptures but as coincident with those scriptures. Moreover, jihad as a "religious obligation" underlies Islam and its general approach to the non-Muslim world (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 inextricably forged from the consequences of imperialism, for better or worse. Finally, Lewis offers a grim picture of the current state of affairs which gave rise to terrorism. He describes the "double standards" of Western nations, especially the United States, placing equal blame on "American economic dominance and exploitation, now thinly disguised as 'globalization,' as on the willingness of the United States to support Muslim tyrants. Lewis finally concludes that terrorism threatens both Islam and the West and that blame for the rise of terrorism today must be shared by both Western and Muslim civilization.

Although Lewis describes Islam as "a religious and cultural tradition of enormous diversity," he does not hesitate to generalize about Islam for the purposes of his book (3). In its heyday Islam enjoyed a clear political dominion, which waned over the past few centuries and perhaps reached a nadir after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Lewis also clarifies the significant similarities between Christianity and Islam, similarities that actually fuel the current struggle between Christian and Muslim worlds. However, the differences between Islam and Christianity create more immediate problems. Islam, unlike Christianity, is theocratic at its core. The inseparability of religion and state in Muslim discourse inevitably provides the foundations for state-supported terrorist regimes.

Lewis makes sure to underscore the difference between Islam in general and its radical, or fundamentalist, strains. Repeatedly throughout The Crisis of Islam the author states that Islam itself does not necessitate terrorism. On page 137, Lewis states, "Most Muslims are not fundamentalists, and most fundamentalists are not terrorists, but most present-day terrorists are Muslims and proudly identify themselves as such." Moreover, jihad applies equally to corrupt Muslim rulers as to infidels: Muslim leaders that are deemed deviant are primary targets of Islamic anger.

Islamic fundamentalism is largely a purification movement. After the Second World War, contact between the United States and Muslim nations in the Middle East increased dramatically. At first these contacts were relatively amicable, as America represented "freedom and justice and opportunity...wealth and power and success...when these qualities were not regarded as sins or vices," (89). However, a growing sense of mistrust and dislike for America arose in the Muslim world, ironically out of European philosophical thought. Thus a picture of America as an artificial society lacking a true identity emerged in Europe and spread readily throughout the Middle East. Nazism also found some sympathizers among Muslim fundamentalists. Coinciding with the spread of socialism throughout Europe, an anti-Western and more specifically anti-American sentiment set in. This anti-American sentiment was further fueled by what many Muslims perceived as Imperialism as well as by an increasing view of American culture as morally degenerate.

In fact, the Iranian Revolution in 1979 marked the culmination of anti-Americanism and set the stage for what would become the "war on terrorism." The Ayatollah Khomeini created out of the United States an arch enemy and rival to Muslim authority. Calling America the "Great Satan," the Ayatollah ignited a spark that spread rapidly throughout Islam. America was morally corrupt and promiscuous. Its loose values threatened civilization in general and particularly undermined Muslim efforts to create the ideal civilization rooted in Islamic beliefs. Radical Islam clung to these notions of the corrupt America because to promote its program of jihad, it required a solid enemy. The Soviet Union was not an apt target; although the Soviet Union represented as much moral degeneracy as America did, Radical Islam saw in the United States a more formidable but immediate threat.

American foreign policy particularly supported the notion that the United States was indeed the "Great Satan." A double standard was in place: Americans supported unjust, lethal tyrants in Muslim nations to safeguard their own political and economic interests. It was hard to deny the travesty of the American approach to Muslim affairs. American complicity with ruthless dictators in Muslim states, combined with economic imperialism over oil resources there, made a deadly mix. Lewis claims that many Muslims resent the United States not because they view it as being morally degenerate but because of the insensitive and hypocritical support of undemocratic regimes around the world.