In 1974 he immigrated to the united states and eight years later became a u. The author comes across as extremely principled, wise, witty, humble and grateful. He looks at the theological origins of political islam and takes us through the rise of militant islam in iran, egypt, and saudi arabia, examining the impact of radical wahhabi. For more than 60 years, he has specialized in the history of islam, particularly in the middle east, and the relationship between islam and the west, a relationship that has become arguably the single. How a profoundly learned and highly respected historian, whose career spans some sixty years, could. The conflicted legacy of bernard lewis foreign affairs.
The central islamic lands from preislamic times to the first world war edited by p. We are delighted to have professor bernard lewis with us today. Persians, christians, romans, and modern israelis operate on the fringes. Lewis is indeed a master scholar and expert on the turks, iranian and arabs see sample of. Professor bernard lewis photo below is an octogenarian expert of the middle east itself an invented geopolitical term. It was this iranian islam, a second advent of islam islami ajam that was brought to new areas and peoples the turks and india. Revolutionaries are, of course, conscious of this dramatic element. A careful reading of this book, however, poses difficulties. The return of islam bernard lewis, commentary magazine. With the histoical and still growing importance of the middle east in modern politics, historian bernard lewiss cogent and scholarly writing brings a wider. Bernard lewis, the legendary middle east historian, recounts his life. Iran and afghanistan were really the only muslim countries which retained full independence. He was also known as a public intellectual and political commentator.
The crisis of islam ranges widely through thirteen centuries of history, but in particular it charts the key events of the twentieth century leading up to the violent confrontations of today. Lewis expertise was in the history of islam and the interaction between islam and the west. Everyone knows bernard lewiss inclination, and he serves a purpose for western purposes, big deal, none of this is new at all. By 674, muslims had conquered greater khorasan which included modern iranian khorasan province and modern afghanistan, transoxania as bernard lewis has quoted these events have been variously seen in iran. Bernard lewis plan modern destruction of the middle east secret behind todays wars in 2017. With bernard lewis in this exclusive interview with tpq, bernard lewis attributes turkeys. Bernard lewis british svengali behind clash of civilizations by scott thompson and jeffrey steinberg pdf version of this articleon nov.
The ber nard lewis plan, as it came to be known, was a design to. Professor bernard lewis october, 23 2009, asmea annual conference. Professor lewis is one of the most influential scholars of islam of our time. The legacy and fallacies of bernard lewis consortiumnews. In the great medieval french epic of the wars between christians and saracens in spain. This is history in the toynbee tradition literate, sweeping, and imaginative and lewis, like toynbee, can be criticized on methodological, theoretical, and empirical grounds. But there is a libya, an iran, and a lebanon, and a surge of hatred that distresses, alarms, and above all baffles americans. Bernard lewis is one of the most antiislam personalities in the world who promotes divisions among muslims and tries to divide them based on race and ethnicity. When bernard lewis, the most highly regarded of the living orientalists, chooses to address the question that all students of muslim history love to ask, it is incumbent on us to give him a hearing.
Bernard lewis, fba 31 may 1916 19 may 2018 was a british american historian specializing in oriental studies. Na tional security adviser zbigniew brzezinskis arc of cri sis was a british plan to destroy the nationstate. At one point, he asserts that all muslims believe in the literal divine origin and textual inerrancy of the koran. Bernard lewis has a flair for communicating middle eastern history to the novice, but, in this book the reader also gets a sense of him as a person. First published in 1970, the cambridge history of islam is the most comprehensive and ambitious collaborative survey of islamic history and civilization yet to appear in english. This is evidenced by the almost universal use of such words as drama, stage, scene, role, even actor, in speaking of revolutionary events. A history of modern iran in a radical reappraisal of irans modern history, ervand abrahamian traces its traumatic journey across the twentieth century, through the discoveryofoil,imperialinterventions,theruleofthepahlavis,and,in 1979, revolution and the birth of the islamic republic. In some countries, such as turkey, iran, and egypt, geography and history have combined to give the inhabitants a special sense of separate identity and. No other person in our time has done as much to inform and inuence the wests view o the islamic world and the middle east. Click here for full issue of eir volume 19, number 43. New bernard lewis plan to carve up the middle east behind todays wars. Lewis describes iran s distinctive contribution to islam, including arabic poetry. Full text of the bernard lewis plan setting the globe.
Bernard lewis, a preeminent scholar of middle eastern history whose work profoundly shaped western views of the region including fears of a. Bernard lewis, iran in history discussion in iranian defence forum started by surenas, may 18, 2012. Another slogan, the end of history, would make its appearance with the demise of the cold war in the. Islamic revolution from the january 21, 1988 issue. To the editors in his islamic revolution nyr, january 21 mr. Na tional security adviser zbigniew brzezinskis arc of cri sis against the soviet union was a british. The history of iran, which was commonly known until the mid20th century as persia in the western world, is intertwined with the history of a larger region, also to an extent known as greater iran, comprising the area from anatolia, the bosphorus, and egypt in the west to the borders of ancient india and the syr darya in the east, and from the caucasus and the eurasian. S overthrow of the shah of iran in 1979 and his replacement by ayatollah khomeini, and the oct. Full text of bernard lewis plan modern destruction of. Muslims conquered iran in the time of umar 637 and conquered it after several great battles. Finally, the rivers of iran, racing swiftly through. A comprehensive history from the worlds foremost authority on the middle east.
The book is plagued with small errors that if committed in such abundance by a muslim. Yazdegerd iii fled from one district to another merv in 651. A geopolitical aim of the bernard lewis plan was the breakup of the edges of the soviet empire. The abbasid caliphate chapter 4 the cambridge history. Zilkha professor emeritus of jewish civilization in the near east at princeton. He looks at the theological origins of political islam and takes us through the rise of militant islam in iran, egypt, and saudi arabia, examining the impact of radical in his first. Bernard lewis made some statements which are, quite frankly, surprising coming as they do from a wellknown scholar of islamic civilization. A distinguished scholar of middle eastern history and a prolific writer, his education includes a diplome des etudes semitiques from the university of paris and a ph. Bernard lewis from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia bernard lewis, fba bom may 31, 1916 is a british american historian, scholar in oriental studies, and political commentator. In a sweeping and vivid survey, renowned historian bernard lewis charts the history of the middle east over the last 2,000 years, from the birth of christianity through the modern era, focusing on the successive transformations that have shaped it. It was a form of iranian civilization that the ottoman turks brought to the walls of vienna.
Dodge professor emeritus of near eastern studies at princeton university, a longterm member of the institute for advanced study in princeton, and the author of numerous works on the middle east. The bernard lewis plan, as it came to be known, was a design to fracture all the countries in the region, from the middle east to india, along ethnic, sectarian, and linguistic lines. As the birthplace of three religions as and many civilizations, the middle east has for centuries been a center of knowledge and ideas, of techniques and commodities, and, at times, of military and political power. In revolutions, even more than in other forms of political activity, there is an element of theater. Bernard lewis examines the historical roots of the resentments that dominate the islamic world today and that are increasingly being expressed in acts of terrorism.
New bernard lewis plan will carve up the mideast by joseph brewda in 1980, eir warned that the strategy behind thenu. As a legacy, and as a memorial in lewis 80th year, that is a remarkable achievement. No other person in our time has done as much to inform and influence the wests view of the islamic world and the middle east. At present two answers to the question of what went wrong command widespread support in the. But this is one of the benchmark books against which others will be compared. The 1990 jefferson lecture, nineteenth in the distinguished series sponsored by the national endowment for the humanities, was given by bernard lewis, cleveland e. Bernard lewis, historian of the middle east, passed away on may 19, just shy of his 102nd birthday.
From them also, thrust up in the wake of the volcanic activity of late pliocene times, came diorite and obsidian, both highly prized in antiquity. Dodge professor emeritus of near eastern studies at princeton university. In one of the sad paradoxes of human history, it was the humanitarian reforms brought by islam that resulted in a vast development of the slave trade inside, and still more outside, the islamic empire. On publication it was welcomed as a work useful for both reference and reading, for the general reader, student and. Bernard lewis, seen by some in the west as a giant of arab and muslim scholarship, left behind a legacy of falsehoods and politicallymotivated distortions, as asad abukhalil explains.
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