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Perception of Islam

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Submitted By mtl1993
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Pages 2
Religion 216

According to Bernard Lewis West and Islam are drastically different and the conflict between them started centuries ago. Historically both of them have a past of violence against each other. During the middle age the Muslim empire invaded part of Europe in order to convert and spread Islam to Europeans “infidels”. Decades after the Christian Europeans kingdoms went on a Holy War, known as the Crusades, against the Muslims who controlled Jerusalem. In fact the Muslim empire and the Islam civilization considered Christians as their “primary rival in the struggle for world domination”(Course Pack, Bernard Lewis, p195) and Jews and Christians living under an Islam State are compared as “second-class citizens”

Moreover since the attack of the World Trade Center in New York, in 2001, Islam has been associated with terrorism and violence. Ossama Bin Laden, Al Qaida’s leader, claimed and stated that this was the beginning of a “war for Islam and against infidels […] therefore against the United States”(Course Pack, Bernard Lewis, p 193). Of course they do not represent Islam in any ways but due to massive media coverage and the fact that the media emphasizes the bad aspects of some muslims created a distorted vision about this religion and culture. Ever since Westerners have a biased opinion about Islam and especially radical Islam and are frightened by idea of religious fundamentalism. Indeed a lot of Muslims fundamentalists perceive Western society as godless and blasphemous, but on top of all they’re against the imperialism that some Western countries apply in the middle east especially America. It is true, though, that the USA used its influence and money to “control” countries and leaders in the middle east, which created a lot of tensions and unfortunate deaths among Muslims. Ayatollah Khomeini, an extreme radical and fundamentalist spiritual leader of Iran, qualified the United States as “the Great Satan” (Course Pack, Bernard Lewis, p 199) because of its imperialism and their vision of the “Free World”.

In my opinion Bernard Lewis’s point of view is a little biased. I think he shows a fraction of what Islam really is. Of course there is a lot of tension between the West and Islam, due to the fact that it is completely different cultures. Of course there is some muslims that vow the destruction of America and Europe, but Islam is only the vector of their hatred. They could’ve been Christians, Jews or Atheist it would be the same. I lived in India (the second largest muslim country in the world) and had the opportunity to visit Pakistan and other very muslim countries. The picture he draws about Islam and its culture did not reflect the feeling I had.

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