Published: 1 June 2008
Air & Space Power Journal - Summer 2008

The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror by Bernard Lewis. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, Orion Publishing Group (http://www.orionbooks.co.uk), 5 Upper Saint Martin’s Lane, London, WC2H 9EA, 2003, 192 pages, $19.95 (hardcover); 2004, 208 pages, $12.95 (softcover).

Author Bernard Lewis, Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Emeritus, at Princeton University, is one of the world’s foremost historians on the Middle East. His more than two dozen books include The Arabs in History (1950), The Emergence of Modern Turkey (1961), The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam (1967), The Muslim Discovery of Europe (1982), The Political Language of Islam (1988), The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years (1995), and What Went Wrong? The Clash between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East (2003).

His book The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror leads the reader through Islamic history as distant as the thirteenth century but uses events of the twentieth century as its primary focus. Lewis addresses the long, downward spiral of Muslim world dominance as an example of why we are seeing violent reactions today from Muslim fundamentalists.

He begins by defining Islam as a way to shift the standard Western paradigm. Traditionally, Westerners view the world in terms of nation-states with governing bodies and political leaders; however, Islam transcends this rudimentary model by representing over 1.3 billion people scattered from Morocco to Indonesia, bound by a common religion and separated by “state” demarcations, most of them drawn by Western European rulers without regard to Islamic culture or desires. Among many other problems, the book points to the creation and support of Israel as a prime area of confrontation in the region.

Perhaps the highlight of the book, the final two chapters—“The Marriage of Saudi Power and Wahhabi Teaching” and “The Rise of Terrorism”—effectively tie the previous seven chapters together to paint a vivid picture of why we find ourselves in our current situation. Although the author stops short of proposing solutions, he does give the reader an unbiased appreciation for some of the strife felt by Muslim fundamentalists and the continuing threat of Western democracy (and decadence) in the region.

Lewis does a good job of supporting his positions with hard-hitting examples, often citing the Quran to show how terrorists improperly use it as justification for their actions. The Crisis of Islam is not necessarily an easy read: readers should come to it with a basic knowledge of the appropriate geography and history. Despite the fact that I was not intrigued by Lewis’s writing style, I felt that he did present the material in a logical, comprehensible manner, and I therefore recommend it to anyone desiring to know more about Islam and the Middle East.

Lt Col Ken Sersun, USAF
Air Force Fellow, RAND
Santa Monica California

Disclaimer

The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.

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