RUTHFULLY YOURS

Islam: conflict without and within 13a.1
13a Islam: conflict without and within
(with markers indicating the texts of the two slide shows)
Ronald Wiltse May 2009
This presentation exists in three forms:
1. This written outline (longest) (with markers indicating the text of the two slide show versions, and without
these markings)
2. A slide presentation, Islam: conflict w it hout and w it hin (the intended primary use of this information,
abbreviated from the written outline, omitting the small type in the written text),
3. A yet more abbreviated slide presentation, Int roduct ion t o Islam: conflict w it hout and w it hin (indicated
by bold brackets in the written text).
The author grants permission for any who want to this use this outline, with or without the slide shows. Either
slide show, however, may be distributed only with this written outline. Note that all visuals are from Wikipedia
and thus are in the public domain or used with permission. The author has other slide shows and outlines
on world history and art history topics he would like to similarly share. Contact Ron Wiltse, wiltse@swbell.net for
a list of current slides shows available (or see the end of the outline for a list available at the time of this
printing).
Table of contents:
Complete outline with markings 1
Vocabulary 16
Bibliography 20
Outline without markings 21
Student viewing guide (transcript minus 60 words) 38
List of available slide shows 45
Answer transfer sheet for ease of grading 46
Recommendation: read the Vocabulary notes first.
Summary outline:
[0. Introduction
I. Muslims often have negative feelings toward the West.
II. A history of conflicts between Islamic Civilization and Western Civilization
III. Muslims often have problems with each other.
IV. A history of conflicts within the Islamicate
V. Another story: Islam east of Islamic Civilization
VI. Mistakes Westerners have made in getting along with Islam
VII. Summary: Islam faces difficult challenges, both from without and within.
00. Conclusions]
[Title slide]
[Questions about Islamic conflict:
Why do Muslims resent the West?
Why do many Americans have negative feelings about Islam? Why do Muslims fight
among themselves?
Why do Muslims hate Israel so much?
Who or what do Muslims blame for their problems?
Why are Middle-Eastern Muslims not competitive with the West?]
except for information 1 from two footnotes at II.G[H].
2 Wahabbi influence fires terrorist acts against the United States and Europe. Shiite-controlled Iran finances
and enervates many actions against Israel. Alliances between normally enemy Islamic groups (such as
Shiites and Sunni, most generally) can be compared to the alliance between the USA and the USSR during
World War II—we were drawn together by a common enemy, Nazi Germany/Austria. Such alliances are
ephemeral.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.2
Outline:
(The print in smaller 10 pt. type does not appear in the main slide show; neither do the
footnotes1. Words in red are repeated from the slide presentation Islam and Islamic
Civ ilization.)
0. Introduction
Individuals and groups grow or fail to grow as they succeed in meeting challenges or fail to meet
them. Conflict is one kind of challenge. The story of Islam is naturally the story of a people and a civilization
facing challenges. The part of the story told here is concerned largely with challenges presented by conflicts,
both within Islam (religion and civilization), and between Islam and Western Civilization.
[Since the age of Imperialism, the incredible growth of power in Western
Civilization has challenged Islamic cultural and political independence. Additionally, the
lure of Western technology, wealth, and values have weakened traditional Islamic
values.
These represent external challenges facing Islam.
Islam also faces internal challenges, most fundamentally the Sunni/Shiite divide,
but also a liberal/conservative split.
The external and internal challenges sometimes intertwine, especially relating to
the liberal/conservative conflict, where conservatives are concerned with Western
influences on Islam adopted by Muslim “liberals.”
The underlying problem facing Islam here (religion and civilization) is the
difficulty in confronting modernity, the source of much Western power and advantage,
with the rise of Shi‘a since 1979 presenting a smaller challenge.]
Muslims assign blame variously. To a conservative minority the enemy is any
change to Islam, and their goal is the restoration of a successful past (an attitude seen
in other cultures in world history), either an earlier form–traditional Islam–, or the
earliest form–‘pure’ Islam. For a small part of this conservative minority violence
against innocent targets (in Islamic countries or elsewhere) constitutes a means of
moving toward pure Islam. Western Civilization is a target because it has had so much
modernizing influence on Islamic culture.2
Islam thrives in a core area–Islamic Civilization, roughly the Middle East–and in
peripheral areas–notably Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia.
The conflicts discussed here originate primarily in the core area, so much that
Westerners think of Arab Islam when they think of the problems between Islam and the
West.
[I. Muslims often have negative feelings toward the West.
3 But not individual Muslims
4 Lewis, What Went Wrong?, pages 4 & 6. The above synthesis of three waves is found here.
5 When George Bush called for a crusade against Islamic terrorism, the term crusade was taken very
negatively by many Muslims, who were reminded of this Western series of invasions, which themselves
could be described as terrorist activities, and who didn’t realize that the current American usage of the word
only marginally refers to these past events (cf. Eisenhower’s 1948 WWII narrative Crusade in Europe).
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.3
A. Muslims often feel mistreated by Western nations.]
1. Because Western nations are generally more powerful than Islamic
nations, they are prone to ride over Muslim sensibilities.
2. Muslims have difficulty forgetting past mistreatments.
B. Because Islamic society is in a different state of development than Western society, conflicts
naturally arise.
1. Countries of Western Civilization have secular governments, which means great
toleration of cultural and religious differences.
2. Countries of Islamic Civilization for the most part either have religiously dominated
governments or demands to make them more religious, which mean less toleration of
cultural and religious differences.
[B[C]. Muslims often lack respect for Western traditions and points of view. (The
Muslim relationship to the West is colored by the belief that Western beliefs
[whether Christian or atheist] are defective and therefore inferior to Islam.)
II. A history of conflicts between Islamic Civilization and Western Civilization.]
A. Western conflicts with Islam has primarily been in the context of conflict with Islamic Civilization,
but also includes conflict with the Islamicates of India and Southeast Asia (Islamicate refers to a
group of Muslims in an area, or to all Muslims).
A[B]. From its early days, Islam reacted aggressively toward its civilized
neighbors the Byzantines and the West.
[B[C]. Muslim attacks against the West can be viewed as occurring in three
waves.
1. The earliest wave broke against the Iberian Peninsula and across
the Mediterranean. That finally ended in 1492 with the expulsion of
the last Muslim power3 from the Iberian Peninsula.
2. The second wave occurred when Mongols attacked eastern
Europe in the mid-1200s and converted to Islam ca. 1292. This wave
ended in the 1500s with the reassertion of Russian rule.4
a. Although not Muslims at first, the western Mongols converted to
Islam.
3. The third wave built up when the Ottoman Turks, converted earlier
to Islam, began to spread into southeast Europe.]
a. Ottoman armies threatened Vienna in 1529 and 1683.
[C[D]. The West eventually became strong enough to begin its own waves of
aggression against Islam.
1. The first wave occurred with the Crusades against Palestine (and to a
lesser extent against Iberia). This ultimately failed.5
2. The conflict continued with Western aggression directed against
Of course, modernity has other elements. For example, Bernard L 6 ewis (pages 121-131) writes about
clocks, timekeeping, and schedules as an element of the modern which eventually penetrated the Islamic
world.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.4
Islamic areas, culminating in imperialism.]
a. European ships outpowered Muslim ships in the Indian Ocean.
b. European imperialism began to dominate Muslim areas.
[c. Islam, previously more advanced than medieval Europe in
scientific and intellectual areas, began to fall behind Europe.
What is modernity and why is it important here?
Modernity developed in the West and made the West so powerful that any
civilization that did not imitate the West in this regard was at a extreme
disadvantage. Modernism featured three characteristics:
1. High levels of technology, integrated into society, along with modern
science.
2. The creation of much wealth, which, with technology, makes the state
more powerful militarily.
3. An openness (in its most developed form called the Open Society by
Karl Popper), which features tolerance, pluralism, and has a secular governance.
All other civilizations today (that is, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, and Islamic) have
followed the West in modernizing to one degree or another. Any society
unaware of the power of modernization, or who rejected it for any reason, was
exploited by the West, whether they became colonies of Western nations or not.
Only the Japanese understood this and avoided a period of exploitation.
3. The move to the modern created a culture in the West whose wealth
and] consequent [power threatened Islamic independence and] whose general
seductiveness [challenged traditional Islamic cultural values.]
a. The failure of Islam to adopt modern ways and adapt them to
Islamic values, put Islam at a great disadvantage when dealing with the
West.6
1) While Westerners studied Islamic culture, Muslims
showed almost no interest in Western culture, remaining
ignorant of modernity and its impact.
b. Continued technological development empowered further
imperialism.
c. Industrial development created the wealth and power that
proved so seductive to others.
d. Ironically, in the area of scientific accomplishment, the relationship of Islam and
Europe reversed, with the West now occupying the leading role previously played
by Islam, to Islam’s disadvantage.
e. Parenthesis: Muslims distinguish between modernization and Westernization
Lewis, 7 What Went Wrong, page 73.
8 Lewis, What Went Wrong, page 64: “During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and a good part of
the twentieth, Middle-Eastern observers, increasingly aware of the disparity in military power between
Middle Eastern and Western states, turned their attention primarily to weaponry and the conduct of warfare
and then to economic production and government administration, seen as the primary sources of Western
preponderance. In looking at these, they tried to find what was most distinctive and different about the
Western way of dealing with these matters and thereby to identify the source of Western superiority. In
looking for this mysterious source they naturally gave most attention to what was visibly and palpably
different from their own way of doing things, and then tried to adopt, adapt, or simply buy it. They began
with the visible sources of power and prosperity–military, economic, political. It was in these three areas
that they concentrated their main effort–with limited and sometimes indeed negative results.”
9 “From fairly early in the nineteenth century, in fact, there were to be alert and respected Muslims to
declare that Europeans were leading a better life by Islamic standards than were Muslim societies
themselves.” (Hodgson, page 66)
10 Lewis, What Went Wrong, pages 51f.
“The Middle East’s brief but impressive “Liberal Age” grew from European imperialism and the 11
unsustainable contradiction between the progressive ideals taught by the British and French — the Egyptian
press has never been as free as when the British ruled over the Nile valley — and the inevitably illiberal and
demeaning practices that come with foreign occupation.” (Gerecht,”Speaking Truth to Muslim Power”)
12 Lewis, What Went Wrong, page 53.
13 Lewis, What Went Wrong, page 105.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.5
primarily in that Westernization adds equal status for women.7
[D[E]. Islamic Civilization belatedly began to become competitive in some ways.8
1. Muslims began to seek knowledge about the West (which some
Muslims hoped would lead to knowledge of its successes).9
2. Western military technology was copied.]
3. Western communications technology was adopted, starting with
the telegraph in the 1850s.10
a. Newspapers enabled a new level in the spreading of ideas and information.11
b. Railways, steamships, and more roads increased intercommunication.
[4. New secular laws suitable to the needs of the modern world (that is,
beyond Shari‘a law) made possible greater competitiveness with the
Western world.]12
a. On the other hand, secularism in general was problematic for
Muslims because the concept of secular in Arabic and Turkish
connotes “pagan” , “anti-Islamic”, and “anti-Shari‘a”, making it
difficult to separate non-religious from anti-religious.13
[5. Liberal ideas began to penetrate Islam, especially in the nineteenth
e.g., see Lewis, 14 What Went Wrong, page 71.
15 The Tanzimat reforms in the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century aimed at modernizing Ottoman
government (although there is some dispute about their real aims). Yott,”The empire from 1807 to 1920”
printed page 31.
16 Lewis, What Went Wrong, page 104.
17 “Customs” replaces “mores” in the slide show.
18 Lapidus, page 282.
19 Lewis, pages 153-154.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.6
century.14 15
6. Islam began to accept the study of modern science.
7. The French Revolution aroused special interest among some Muslims
because it attempted to remove Christian elements from society, which
they hoped would provide an uncontaminated look at the secrets of
Western success.16
E[F]. The conflict continued with Western influences “degenerating” Islamic
societies.
1. Alcohol consumption, dress mores17, and other social mores ran
counter to traditional Islamic beliefs.]
2. European influences in Christian Balkan areas stimulated movements
seeking independence18.
[F[G]. The conflict continues because the West, and the United States specifically,
support Israel (an outpost of Western Civilization surrounded by Islamic
Civilization), which Muslims generally dislike or hate.
1. Islamic enmity toward Israel is complicated, but hatred of Jews
and Israel can be traced at least to the success of Nazi anti-Jewish
propaganda starting in 193319.]
A small 1800s movement, Zionism, began seeking a Jewish-controlled state. After rejecting
the island of Madagascar Zionists settled on Palestine, the historic homeland of Jews until
they were chased away by the Roman government in AD 70. At the time, Palestine was in
the (Turkish Islamic) Ottoman Empire. The movement was not popular among European
Jews, who had in the 1800s became increasingly accepted by fellow Europeans. Since the
end of World War One Palestine had been under the control of Great Britain, who at first
welcomed the hardworking Jewish settlers. They made the most of the harsh conditions,
bringing economic success to an area that had for a very long time been poor. (Note the
similarity to the wealth brought to Iberia by the Muslims which revitalized the economy that
had stagnated under Visigothic leadership.) Arab natives also welcomed the newcomers.
But as the number of Jewish settlers increased and their economic success
contrasted sharply with the economic backwardness of the Palestinian Arabs, the Arab
attitude began to change.
The Holocaust convinced the survivors that they couldn’t trust non-Jews of Europe
and more Jewish refugees began to flow into Palestine. The Arabs became alarmed (the
arrival of many newcomers often upsets oldtimers). The British tried to block the new
immigrants, but gave up in 1948. At that point Jewish leaders declared the creation of the
state of Israel, a democratic state (in a region without democratic states). It was also a
There are two issues here. First, creating a concept that gives a group 20 of people a name: every named
group represents such a construct. It interesting, for instance, to see how the British colonists in North
America (excluding those that came later to be called Canadians!) came to see themselves as a group and
therefore needing a name–Americans. “Palestinian” is merely one of the newest such conceptualizations.
Second, the idea that every group that so identifies itself with a name should have its own government if it
wants, can be at least partly traced back to Woodrow Wilson’s pernicious idea of “self-determination” that
has encouraged so much divisiveness since (his Secretary of State warned him against announcing support
for this concept). Of course that is not necessarily an argument against the formation of a Palestinian state,
only that one should not assume that every named group should have its own government.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.7
Western society in an Islamic region. Jewish citizens formed the majority, with a large
minority of Muslims.
Immediately, all its Arab neighbors declared war on Israel. As a result of this war,
the territory of Israel expanded somewhat, and many Arab citizens of Israel fled to a small
corner of Israel called the Gaza Strip.
The Arab states refused to admit these refugees, preferring them to stay there as
a testimony to the evil of the Jewish state.
They are still there.
These Arabs began calling themselves Palestinians and demanding a state of their
own.20
A later war gave Israel the part of Jordan between it and the Jordan River,
including East Jerusalem (which Israel had originally left outside its borders).
Widespread Arab hatred of Jews (not just Israeli Jews) is fueled by lies spread by
Arab media. An example is the belief that 9/11 was caused by Jews, who supposedly even
warned fellow Jews working in the twin towers not to go to work that day.
2. Some Middle Eastern Islamic organizations are devoted to destroying Israel.
a. Al Fatah and Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
b. Hezbollah in Lebanon.
3. Hezbollah (Arabic: ‘party of God’) was founded in Lebanon in 1982, when Israel, for
security purposes, occupied southern Lebanon. It wanted Israel out of Lebanon, a goal
accomplished. It became powerful in the government of Lebanon. One of its goals is the
destruction of Israel.
4. Differences between Hezbollah and Wahhabi theology.
To understand this easily, one must note the differences between Shi’a and Sunnism (in its
Wahhabi form). Hezbollah are Shiites (remember, they are from Lebanon), while Wahhabi
are Sunni. The Wahhabi deny that Shiites are true Muslims. They share practical concerns,
such as damaging Western ideas.
5. Fatah is a Palestinian Sunni secular political movement that lost control of the Gaza Strip
due to its corruption. Its major enemy is Israel. It currently controls the West Bank.
6. Hamas is a radical Palestinian Sunni religious terrorist movement, opposed to the
corruption within Fatah. Its major enemy is Israel. It currently controls the Gaza Strip.
7. Al-Qaeda represents both an internal and an external danger. Under the leadership of
Osama bin Laden, it seeks to change the government of Saudi Arabia to a more
conservative one and engage in violent activities against the United States and other
countries.
[2[8]. The Taliban, discussed below, represents perhaps the first
significant danger to the West, as they move into Pakistan and threaten
the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. This could far surpass any threat
presented so far by Al-Qaeda.
G[H]. Some key markers in the shifting balance of power between the Islam, the
West, and Russia (Islam up:•, Islam down:–)]
21 Waldman, pages 13 and 27.
22 Waldman, page 20.
23 Waldman, page 29.
24 Lapidus, pages 356f.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.8
• 632ff Muslims took North Africa from the Byzantine Empire.
• 634-ca 870 Islam moved from being the religion of a small group
of Arabs to becoming the religion and culture of an
empire stretching from the edge of Central Asia to
the Atlantic21.
• 710ff Islam began to spread into the Indian subcontinent.
• 711-719 Muslims conquered the Iberian Peninsula.
– 732 A Muslim raiding party defeated at the Battle of Tours
(but raids on the French coast continued for several
years22)]
– 800s Muslim reverses began in Iberia and Mediterranean islands
• 900s Spread of Islam into Central Asia
• ca 990 First Muslim contact with black Africa as Ghana
reached northward to the southern boundary of
Muslim occupation23
• ca 1000 definitive Islamic invasions of the Indian subcontinent from
Afghanistan (tentative invasions occurred as early as 71124)
• 1071 Seljuk Muslims defeated the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert.
• 1076 Muslims made a major inroad into sub-Saharan Africa
when Muslim general (Abû-Bakr Ibn-Umar)
conquered Ghana.
[– 1096 European crusades against Palestine began.]
• 1200s Islamic traders reached Southeast Asia.
• 1223-1480 Mongols invaded and dominated “Russia”; eventually
3 of 4 khanates converted to Islam.
• 1295 Mongol conversion to Islam began.
• 1302 Muslims defeated the last of the crusaders.
• 1453 Constantinople fell, effectively ending the
Roman/Byzantine Empire.
– 1400s Under Ivan the Terrible, Russia conquered the Muslim khanates of
Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia.
[– 1487 Bartolomeo Dias discovered the Cape of Good Hope,
opening the ‘Islamic Lake’ (the Indian Ocean) to
superior European ships (Vasco da Gama reached
India in 1498). This paved the way for European
domination of Islamic areas.
– 1492 Last Muslim authorities driven from Spain (seen by
Muslims as peripheral and therefore minor from their
point of view)]
25 Lapidus, page 275.
26 This event marks a critical point in Islamic history. After the failure of the second siege of Vienna,
Middle-Eastern Muslims–that is, the Ottomans–began to look to the West for the secret of its power. The
resulting changes began the process so bemoaned by today’s return-to-the-past conservatives (Lewis,
pages 114f).
27 This event–because it introduced Western influences into the heart of a Muslim area–is considered the
beginning of the modern era for Middle-Eastern Islam (Lewis, page 130).
28 On nineteenth century liberalism in the Ottoman Empire: “ The old pluralistic order, multi denominational
and polyethnic, was breaking down, and the tacit social contract on which it was based was violated on both
sides. The Christian minorities, inspired by Western ideas of self-determination, were no longer prepared to
accept the tolerated but inferior status accorded to them by the old order, and made new
demands–sometimes for equal rights within the nation, sometimes for separate nationhood, sometimes for
both at the same time. Muslim majorities, feeling mortally threatened, became unwilling to accord even the
traditional measure of tolerance. By a sad paradox, in some of the semi-secularized nation-states of modern
times, the non-Muslim minorities, while enjoying complete equality on paper, in fact have fewer
opportunities and face greater dangers than under the old Islamic yet pluralistic order. The present regime
in Iran, with its ruling clerics, its executions for blasphemy, its consecrated assassins, represents a new
departure in Islamic history. In the present mood, a triumph of militant Islam would be unlikely to bring a
return to traditional Islamic tolerance–and even that would no longer be acceptable to minority elements
schooled on modern ideas of human, civil, and political rights. The emergence of some form of civil society
would therefore seem to offer the best hope for decent coexistence based on mutual respect.” (Lewis, page
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.9
– 1500s Portuguese contested the Ottoman control of the Indian Ocean
trade25.
– 1529 Austrians won the First Siege of Vienna.
– 1571 The Battle of Lepanto–West defeated Ottomans (seen by Muslims
as peripheral and therefore minor from the their point of view)
– 1606 In the Treaty of Sitvatorak the Ottoman ruler recognized the
Emperor as his equal for the first time.
– 1681 First serious Ottoman defeat by Russia
[– 1683 Austrians won the Second Siege of Vienna26.]
– 1686 Buda and Pest were lost (i.e., Hungary) to the Hapsburg
monarchy. Muslim withdrawal from Hungary soon followed.
– 1689 Hapsburgs took control of Serbia
– 1699 Treaty of Carlowitz–the first peace treaty ever signed by Ottomans
with the West
– 1699 Ottomans lost Romania as a tributary (to the Austrians).
[– 1768-1783 Several Ottoman defeats by Russia (including the core
Islamic area of the Crimea) made Russia a Black Sea
power in the Ottoman backyard.
– 1798 Ottomans unable to keep a small French force from
occupying Egypt.27 (Later, the English forced the
Ottomans out of Egypt permanently.)]
– 1800s Ottomans began to face internal uprisings, perhaps
due to the influence of the French Revolution.
– 1818 British dominance over Muslim rulers in India completed.
– 1821-1829 Greece broke away from the Ottoman Empire28.
115)
29 Lapidus, page 489.
30 That is, in the Rumelia, the part of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan Peninsula
31 Lapidus, page 490.
32 Lewis, page 152-154.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.10
– 1878-1914 Most of the Balkans lost29 30.
– 1878 Treaty of San Stefano forces Ottomans to concede the
independence of Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro31.
– 1882 British occupied Egypt.
[– 1920 Treaty of Sevres ended WWI for the Ottoman Empire
and resulted in the dismantling of the Empire.
Strange countries such as Iraq resulted.
• 1930s Discovery of oil fields in the Middle East paved the
way for a new assertion of Islamic power.
• 1950s-present Hatred for Israel stimulated political and military
developments in the Middle East.
• 1991- Islamic areas of the USSR became independent
(Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan).
H[I]. In the eyes of Muslims, various explanations have been put forward for the
decline of Islamic power relative to other, especially Western, power:
1. The Mongol incursions
2. Turkish Muslims weakening Arab Muslims.
3. Arab Muslims weakening Turkish Muslims.
4. Western Imperialism
5. The United States
6. The Jews
a. Nazi dissemination of anti-Semitic ideas influenced and continues
to influence Middle-Eastern Muslims.
b. The victory of young Israel over five Arab states in 1948
stunned Arabs.
7. Islamic conservatives, who impede the move to modernity.
8. Islamic liberals, who impede the move back to the past.
a. The arch-enemy is the Turkish secularizer Kemal Atatürk, the
Father of modern Turkey, who secularized the remains of the
Ottoman Empire in 1923, eliminating Shari‘a law from the Turkish
constitution and secularizing the new Turkish government.
b. Later secularizers such as the Shah of Iran, Gamal Abdel Nasser
(President of Egypt 1956-1970), and Saddam Hussein are also
condemned32.
III. Muslims often have problems with each other.
Shiites (who rule only Iran) resumed control of the government after the Ayatollah 33 Khomeini took control
of Iran in 1979 and began a policy of exporting Shi’a to other countries.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.11
A. The Sunni/Shiite conflict
1. The theocracy (religious government) of Iran wants to export its ideas.
a. Shiites, the vast majority in Iran, have ruled Iran since 1979,
bringing about a modern resurgence of Shiite power.
b. Iraq, the other country with a Shiite majority, faces conflict
between Sunnis and Shiites.
(Iraq is not only split religiously, but also ethnically, between Arabs and Kurds. Like the
Arabs, some Kurds are Shiites and some Sunnis.) (Source: CIA)
c. Shiites aim not only to remove Western influences in Islamic
countries, but to overthrow Sunni governments (especially those
that are Western in orientation).33
d. Iran has become increasingly aggressive in attacking Sunni
Islam and Sunni-oriented governments.]
2. Religiously influenced governments like Saudi Arabia and Egypt allow
some deviation from religious rules.
3. Secular governments like Turkey and Indonesia allow more freedoms.
[B. The conservative (Wahabbi and Taliban)/liberal conflict
1. Wahabbis do not want a return to traditional Islam but a return to an
even earlier form of Islam, which they see as a pure Islam before it
became polluted by various traditions.
2. Wahabbi religious conservatives want to overthrow “liberal”
governments like Saudi Arabia, and are enemies of countries that exercise
liberal influences like the USA.]
34 Waldman, page 59.
35 Many Wahabbis prefer the term Salafism. Wahhabism may be spelled with one or two ‘h’s and one or
two ‘b’s. Scholar Ahmad Ibn Taymiyya (1263-1328) called for a careful examination of the Quran and was
influential on the founders of Wahhabism in the 1700s
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.12
3. What we think of as Islamic terrorism stems from the activities of those
who advocate wahabbism. This movement, considered a part of Sunni
Islam, dates to the 1700s, when an Arabian “reformer” sought to remove
all changes from “pure”, early Islam. The enemy of Islam, according to
the Wahhabis, is traditional Islam, which had departed from
fundamental–that is, original–Islam.34
[Their watchword is “restore Islam”.]
This Sunni movement was opposed to mainstream Sunni, Sufi, and, later, to all
Western influences. The movement thrived because it allied itself with the House of Saud,
whose leaders were on their own mission to increase their power. Each supported the
other, to the benefit of both.
When the Saudis managed to take over rule of Arabia in 1924 (thus forming the
modern state of Saudi Arabia), Wahhabism was boosted. Especially after of oil began to
enrich the kingdom after 1938, Wahhabis began to attract new followers by financing
religious schools, madrassas.
But the Saudis soon found that the Wahhabism conflicted with Saudi secular values
and some Wahhabis turned against the Saudi goverment. Osama bin Laden is an example
of such an enemy.
Thus, Wahhabis such as al Qaeda are enemies not only of Western nations. The
USA looms so large in their eyes because of its power. Even Muslim-friendly governments
such as France and Britain are targets of Wahhabi hatred. They hate all forms of Islam that
deviate from their beliefs.35
Wahhabis can be compared to some protestant sects who reject not only the
superstition and idolatry they say infuses the Roman Catholic Church, but also the practices
and teachings of many protestant churches.
[4. Taliban conservatives want to rule Afghanistan and, perhaps, western
Pakistan.
a. The Taliban, a conservative Sunni movement in Afghanistan
and northwestern Pakistan, represents both an internal challenge
for Muslims who disagree with it and a danger for the West. In
1996 the Taliban overthrew the Afghanistan government. Al-Qaeda
became a close ally of the Taliban. There, Al-Qaeda now trained its
members in safety. In 2001, after the World Trade Center
destruction, the Afghanistan government refused demands of the
US and NATO to turn over Osama Bin Laden. In October of 2001
the US overthrew the Taliban government.
5. Other conservative forces, such as in Turkey, want to increase religious
influence on their governments.
IV. A history of conflicts within the Islamicate [Islamicate refers to a group of Muslims
in an area, or to all Muslims].
A. The first conflict: who should rule?
It is the position in this outline that the problems Islamic Civilization has vis-36 a-vis the West is due to its
failure to adopt modernity with its secular, tolerant, and pluralistic stance, “or by [its failure to find] some
other successful response to Western influence” (quoting from the Conclusions). Since the early days of
Islam some Muslims have contended that a return to past ways is desirable, either for internal reasons or,
later, as a response to the challenge of Western modernism. In the past thirty years or so this approach has
gained momentum. In revising his A History of Islamic Societies Ira Lapidus adopted the position that these
efferts of recent years mark the beginning of a new phase in the history of Islam. It seems to the present
writer that this rather is a continuation of an old recurring theme–reform–in Islam, and not something
fundamentally new.
37 Lapidus, page 493.
38 Lapidus characterizes the result as “Indian-Islamic Civilization,” (page 356) and “a distinct kind of Muslim
civilization” (page 357).
39 part of Turkmenistan today
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.13
1. Those who believed the most competent leader in each generation
should rule became the Sunni Muslims.
2. Those who believed the rulers should be direct descendants of the
Prophet became the Shiite Muslims.
B. A more recent conflict: should Muslim countries have secular or religious
governments?]
1. Many Muslim countries have not “advanced” to the position that secular
governments are preferable to religious governments (the US government
is the oldest secular government in the world).36
2. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Ottoman reformers were divided between those who
wanted to “return to the laws. . . of Sullayman the Magnificent” (Restorationists) and those
who wanted to modernize along European lines (Modernists)37.
V. Another story: Islam east of Islamic Civilization
A. Introduction: The religion of Islam has spread beyond the core area of Islamic Civilization. It
eventually found that new areas resisted conversion to one degree or another and thus could not
become fully part of Islamic Civilization. These areas included the Iberian Peninsula, the Indian
subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and much of the Balkans.
B. Indian subcontinent:
1. Islamic Civilization replaced the older civilizations in Byzantine and Sasanian areas.
2. Islamic Civilization did not replace the older Indian Civilization, but only superimposed
Islamic governance, architecture, and controlling ideas on a populace that for the most part
did not convert to Islam.
a. A similar situation occurred in the Iberian Peninsula where the Romano-
Visigothic Christians did not generally convert to Islam while under Islamic
control).38
3. As the Indian subcontinent broke away from British control, two regions formed Islamic
governments (initially West and East Pakistan, with East Pakistan soon breaking away from
West Pakistan and renaming itself Bangladesh).
C. Central Asia
1. The gateway to Central Asia was Iran and Transoxania39 (generally the region just
southeast of the Aral Sea, which has been a crossroads for the region since ancient times).
a. This was the route of both Muslim traders “outward” and Turkish tribes
“inward.”
40 Lapidus, page 337.
41 Perhaps their relationship to mainstream Islamic Civilization might be analogous to the Greeks who existed
on the fringe of Cretan Civilization, partaking in many of the values of Cretan Civilization but not full-fledged
members, or like perhaps some Indian villages in the interior of Mexico or Bolivia, who are partly
acculturated to Western Civilization.
42 Lapidus, page 337.
43 Lapidus, page 342.
44 Lapidus, page 382.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.14
b. Sufis also helped bring Islam to Central Asia.40
c. Since the target Central Asian populations were primitive they were at least to a
degree brought into Islamic Civilization.41
d. This connection and the Transoxiana roundabout provided both an Islamic
connection to the Mongols when they began their rise and a road connecting them
with Iran.42
2. The major interaction in this area was between sedentary peoples and pastoral peoples.
Governance among pastoral people was by tribes, with clan divisions, whereas sedentary
people had developed other methods of rule. Some tribes converted to Islam and then
moved south and westward.
3. The Golden Horde was highly influenced culturally by Arabic Islam, and began to decline
when the Ottomans cut them off from Middle-Eastern connections.
4. The modern Islamic states of Central Asia are:
a. Azerbaijan (a secular state)
b. Kazakhstan (successors to the Golden Horde) (about 44% Muslim) (secular
state?)
1) converted largely in the 18th century, Kzakhs mixed Islam with pagan
beliefs, much like Mexican Indians43.
d. Tajikistan (secular state)
c. Kirghizstan (secular state)
e. Turkmenistan (land immediately north of Iran) (secular state?)
f. Uzbekistan (Transoxiana and nearby land) (secular state?)
g. [eastern Turkestan is today’s Sinkiang province of China]
D. Southeast Asia
1. Between the 1200s and 1400s Islamic culture spread from India and the Arabian
Peninsula to the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian archipelago.
2. The medium was merchants and Sufis.
3. The method of leadership lay not in founding new leadership regimes (as in India) but in
converting existing native leaders.44 The retained local culture was of such a degree that
the resulting Islamic culture would not be considered a part of Islamic Civilization.
[V[VI]. Mistakes Westerners have made in getting along with Islam.
A. Arrogance and lack of respect
1. Believing that Muslims come from an inferior culture.
B. Lack of knowledge
1. Belief that most Muslims are terrorists.
2. Too little understanding of Islamic beliefs.
C. Is insisting that Muslims meet certain standards valued by Westerners a
mistake? If the initial answer is “no”, is the answer still “no” when women’s
Such a failure to meet new challenges is a mark of decline in all 45 civilizations sooner or later.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.15
rights is specified as such a value?
VI[VII]. Summary: Islam faces difficult challenges, both from without and within.
A. Muslims face internal challenges of getting along with each other (the Sunnis
with a newly resurgent Shi‘a, and conservatives with liberals).
B. Muslim response to the power and influence of the West has at most been
partly successful, and continues to roil Islam, as shown in the
liberal/conservative conflict.
C. Hatred of Israel and the West (especially the USA) colors Middle-Eastern
Islamic views of conflict and incites conflict.
00. Conclusions]
Islam was incredibly successful in meeting its challenges during its formative
years and even created a civilization that was also successful in meeting its challenges for several
centuries (although the religion of Islam has spread far beyond the boundaries of the civilization).
Islamic Civilization faced a new challenge with the arrival of Western explorers
and expansionists with little success.45 At about the same time the West began to generate
great power vis-a-vis other civilizations of the world because of the Western Renaissance and
the subsequent development of modernization. To this increased power Islamic Civilization
has so far failed to find an adequate response. Its challenge today remains the same (this is
typical of civilizations in decline–they face the same challenges over and over): meet the power of the West
by secularizing and modernizing, or by finding some other successful response to Western influence.
(Empirically, a study of history shows that trying to return to a previously successful past has never before
worked.)
It is difficult to separate Islam the religion from Islam the civilization, but those parts of Islam
(the civilization) that have achieved a measure of success–such as Turkey and
Indonesia–are exactly those regions where modernization has been to a degree
accomplished–whatever the cost to the religion (none, little, or great, depending on one’s point of view).
Whatever disruption the conservative terrorists accomplish, their ultimate goals, if the
past is any guide, will not be achieved by such activities.
[Islam the religion is doing better than Islam the civilization.] It faces its own sets of
conflicts and other challenges, both within the context of Islamic Civilization and apart from it. [The
religion, in fact, could thrive without the civilization,] at least its members living in areas of
Western Civilization,[ where freedom of religion is the rule.] This might be difficult for Muslims to
accept because the Muslim community is historically so closely connected with a Muslim government.
[A challenge in the West is to keep the small number of Islamic terrorists from
coloring our view of Islam] (religion and civilization), muddying the waters and [poisoning our
relationship with the majority of Muslims. Whether Muslims can tolerate the West is
another question.] Muslims may feel that conflicts with the West are inherent in the current situation;
we needn’t.
A further challenge in the West is to avoid demanding that Islamic states
conform to Western democratic standards. By demanding that they meet our cultural
standards we create tensions (or should we encourage justice for women and other
minorities?). Instead, [we should show good will toward Islam and Islamic states while
“It’s obviously not for non-Muslims to decide what Islam means. Only the faithful 46 can decide whether
Islam is a religion of peace or war (historically it has been both). Only the faithful can banish jihad as a
beloved weapon against infidels and unbelief. Only Muslims can decide how they balance legislation by men
and what the community — or at least its legal guardians, the ulama — has historically seen as divine
commandments.
Westerners can, however, ask probing questions and apply pressure when differing views threaten
us.” (Gerecht, “Speaking Truth to Muslim Power”)
47 This phenomenon is so widespread that some can see only one civilization in the world, rather than
separate Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Islamic, and Western civilizations. It is surface similarities–an overlay of
Western-derived characteristics such as clothing, technology, and the widespread use of the English
language, that make it seem as if there were only one world-wide civilization today.
48 “Al Qaeda is certainly not a mainstream Muslim group — if it were, we would have had far more terrorist
attacks since 9/11. But the ideology that produced al Qaeda isn’t a rivulet in contemporary Muslim thought. It
is a wide and deep river. The Obama administration does both Muslims and non-Muslims an enormous
disservice by pretending otherwise.
Theologically, Muslims are neither fragile nor frivolous. They have not become suicide bombers
because non-Muslims have said something unkind; they have not refrained from becoming holy warriors
because Westerners avoided the word ‘Islamic’ in describing Osama bin Laden and his allies. Having an
American president who had a Muslim father, carries the name of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, and
wants to engage the Muslim world in a spirit of ‘mutual respect’ isn’t a ‘game changer.’ This hypothesis
trivializes Islamic history and the continuing appeal of religious militancy. . . .
To not talk about Islam when analyzing al Qaeda is like talking about the Crusades without
mentioning Christianity.” (Gerecht, “Speaking Truth to Muslim Power”)
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.16
fighting Islamic inspired acts of violence.
Although hampered by the conservative Muslims who (rightly or wrongly) resist
change,46 the prospects for Islamic resurgence–religious or civilizational–are enhanced
by global communications and trade.47
Concluding questions:
Would secularization and modernization solve Islam’s problems without damage to the
Islamic faith?
Did secularization and modernization in the West damage Christianity?
How does fantasy in Muslims’ beliefs about the causes of their problems hurt Islam?
Does understanding Islam’s dilemma help in evaluating and reacting to Islamic
terrorism?]
Vocabulary:
Al Qaeda (no “u”) Founded ca 1989 by Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda (“the Base”)
originated in defending Afghanistan against Soviet incursions,
and became a general extremist Wahabbi organization
dedicated to the restoration of an earlier–purer–form of Islam
in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. According to bin Laden,
Taliban-controlled Afghanistan was the only true Islamic
nation, that is, one ruled by Shari‘a law.48
Fatah Palestinian political/military organization (“victory”, reverse
acronym for Palestine National Liberation Movement) dedicated
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.17
to the independence of Palestine under Palestinian control and
to the destruction of Israel. Corruption in Fatah led to its
legislative defeat (2006) for control of the West Bank and the
Gaza strip. It now controls only the West Bank.
Hamas Palestinian political/military organization currently more radical
than Fatah. It won control in the 2006 elections because of its
anti-corruption stance and because of its outreach to Gaza Strip
inhabitants.
Hezbolah Lebanese political/military organization originally dedicated to
the removal of Israeli troops from Lebanon and to the
destruction of Israel. It still wants the destruction of Israel.
Iberian Peninsula The European peninsula currently comprising Spain and
Portugal. It is an anachronism to refer to this region as Spain,
especially before the creation of Spain in the 1400s. Iberia also
refers to the southern and eastern part of the nation of
Georgia, which is sometimes called Caucasian Iberia.
Islamic Civilization This outline distinguishes between Islam the religion and Islam
the civilization, a distinction that has a degree of usefulness,
but should not be taken for more than it is. Islamic Civilization
refers to a rigorously conceptualized unit of historical study
(the use here). Geographically this roughly corresponds to the
Islamic world west of Pakistan. Most historians seem not to be
concerned with distinguishing clearly between Islamic
Civilization and areas outside the civilization where Islam is a
powerful force or even a dominant force.
A comparison with Western Civilization might clarify
the point: Western Civilization and Christianity were more or
less indistinguishable during the European medieval period
(but Greco-Roman Civilization in its Byzantine period was also
Christian and Christianity was practiced in other regions of
Asia). Later, the civilization turned secular and pluralistic, while
Christian areas continued to thrive there and elsewhere. Islam
and Islamic Civilization should be viewed similarly. The
difference is that Islamic Civilization is now at the point of
confronting secularism and pluralism.
The difficulty distinguishing between the civilization
and the religion is caused by our habit of not making this
distinction. The editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica seem to
prefer the term “The Islamic World”. Ira Lapidus, in A History
of Islamic Societies, seems to use “Islamic Society” in the
singular in the sense of Islamic Civilization (and also “Middle
Eastern Islamic societies”), and in the plural to refer to any
community where Islam is the major religion.
Islamic Civilization did not emerge free from outside
influences. When Muslim warriors conquered parts of the
Eastern Roman Empire (at a time when Western historians
Edmund Burke’s comment on Islamic Civilization (from Hodgson, Rethinking 49 World History, page xviii) is
relevant: “The global reach of Islam as a religion spawned a host of Islamic societies, and in the process
broke down the walls between regional civilizations of Afro-Eurasia. The interaction between local societies
and the formative ideals of the religion led to the proliferation of myriad new social and cultural hybrid
forms, which while undeniably Islamic, were also patently Chinese, African, Turkic. . . . Islamic Civilization,
by the messy way it spills over the conventional regional boundaries between world civilizations to assert its
presence throughout Afro-Eurasia, points toward a more global, pluralistic, and interactional image of the
history of world societies. At the same time, it subverts the dominant idea of world history as the story of
static civilizational essences . . . . As a world historian, Marshall Hodgson instinctively grasped the
subversive potential of Islam’s ubiquity for the study of civilizations.”
50 Waldman, page 1.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.18
often rename it the Byzantine Empire), they picked up the
administrative practices of the Byzantines. When they
conquered the Sasanian Empire (the last iteration of
Mesopotamian Civilization) they similarly picked up other
civilizational practices. The new Islamic Civilization also
syncretized both religious practices from both sources.49
Samual Huntington’s definition of Islamic Civilization
(map from Wikipedia, “Western World”)
Islamicate “The term Islâmicate refers to the social and cultural complex
that is historically associated with Islâm and the Muslims, even
when found among non-Muslims.”50 As I understand it, it can
be used in the singular to refer to the entire Islamic
community, or to the Islamic community in a region. Thus, it
is both broader and narrower than Islamic Civilization. (Lewis
discusses the term on pages 57f. of The Political Language of
The Ottomans’ name derives from that of their 51 founder Oslan I (ruled 1281-1324).
52 Waldman, page 61.
53 Lapidus, pages 67f.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.19
Islam). The term originated with Marshall Hodgson.
modernity, the modern The features of Western Civilization developed since the
Renaissance which, according to the view of the current
author, are the primary reason of the ascendancy of Western
Civilization over all other civilizations. See the text box on page
4 or page 24 for more specific information. Not to be confused
with modernism, which is a movement in Western art
(although this term is used by some when referring to
modernity).
Ottoman Empire The Islamic empire built on the former lands of the Byzantine
Empire by the Osmanli51 (a.k.a. Ottoman) Turks. One historian
considers the Roman Empire/East Roman Empire/Byzantine
Empire/Ottoman Empire to constitute a single meaningful unit.
Salafîyah A movement whose followers “identified with an ideal time in
history, that of the ‘pious ancestors’ (salaf ) in the early Muslim
state of Muhammad and his companions, , and advocated pastoriented
change to bring present-day Muslims up to the
progressive standards of an earlier ideal.”52 See Wahabbi
Sasanian (Sassanian,
Sasanid) Empire AD 224-651 (defeated by Muslim armies between 636-651).
Created with the overthrow of the Parthian Empire. Last
successor to the Persian iteration of Mesopotamian Civilization.
It provided Iranian administrative practice, literature (in Arabic
translation)53 for the emerging Islamic Civilization.
secular non-religious, as in a government that does not base its
powers on a particular religious point of view (although its
moral ethic may be built on a religious tradition). An Islamic
secular government would undoubtedly rest on the Judeo-
Islamic (or should this be called the Judeo-Christian-Islamic?)
tradition
Shari‘a traditional Islamic law
Shiite Muslim tradition that originally based its existence on the belief
that a/the leader of Islam should be a descendant of the
Prophet
Sunni Muslim tradition that originally based its existence on the belief
that a/the leader of Islam should be based on competency
Taliban Afghanistan-based Islamic movement that calls for Islamic
governments based on [their interpretation of] Shari‘a law.
Wahabbi, Wahabbism
Wahhabi conservative [Saudi] Arabian religious movement aiming at
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.20
recovering an earlier, “purer” form of Islam. See Salifayah
Western Civilization,
Western nations,
the West, Western “Western Civilization” refers to a rigorously conceptualized unit
of historical study (the use here). “Europe” is a looser concept
when used to refer to roughly the same unit. “The West” is a
synonym used rigorously or loosely. “Western”, when
capitalized, is an adjectival form, used loosely or rigorously.
Bernard Lewis, in What Went Wrong?, seems to use “Christian
nations” to refer generally to Western Civilization.
Western Civilization refers to the particular society
that grew out the crisis caused by the decline of Greco-Roman
Civilization in its western regions (sometimes erroneously
referred to as “the fall of Rome”). [The eastern remains of the
Roman Empire is gradually referred to by modern historians as
the Byzantine Empire, although its inhabitants did not make
that nomenclature change.] The Western formulation became
so successful that it blinds many modern observers to the
continued existence of the other civilizations–Islamic, Indian,
Chinese, and Japanese (perhaps a couple of more, depending
where one draws the dividing line between civilizations). For
those erasing all dividing lines due to the great influence of
Western Civilization (exhibiting the ultimate in Eurocentrism),
much cultural diversity is hidden.
Bibliography:
Gerecht, Reuel Marc. “Speaking Truth to Muslim Power”, The Wall Street Journal, April
16, 2009, page A15.
Hodgson, Marshall G. S. (edited by Edmund Burke III). Rethinking World History:
Essays on Europe, Islam, and World History. Cambridge; Cambridge University
Press, 1993.
Lapidus, Ira. A History of Islamic Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2nd ed., 2002.
Lewis, Bernard. The Political Language of Islam. Chicago: The University of Chicago
Press, 1988.
Lewis, Bernard. From Babel to Dragomans. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Lewis, Bernard. What Went Wrong? New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. Islam: Religion, History, and Civilization. San Francisco: Harper,
2003.
Waldman, Marilyn R. “Islamic World”. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, DVD edition,
2009.
Yott, Malcolm Edward. “The empire from 1807 to 1920″, in “Ottoman Empire”.
Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, DVD edition, 2009.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.21
13a Islam: conflict without and within
(without markers)
Ronald Wiltse May 2009
This presentation exists in three forms:
1. This written outline (longest) (with markers indicating the text of the two slide show
versions, and without these markings),
2. A slide presentation, Islam: conflict without and within (the intended primary
use of this information, abbreviated from the written outline, omitting the small type in
the written text),
3. A yet more abbreviated slide presentation, Introduction to Islam: conflict
without and within (indicated by bold brackets in the written text).
The author grants permission for any who want to this use this outline, with or without
the slide shows. Either slide show, however, may be distributed only with this written
outline. Note that all visuals are from Wikipedia and thus are in the public domain or
used with permission. The author has other slide shows and outlines
on world history and art history topics he would like to similarly share. Contact Ron
Wiltse, wiltse@swbell.net for a list of current slides shows available (or see the end of
the outline for a list available at the time of this printing).
Recommendation: read the Vocabulary notes first (on page 16).
Summary outline:
0. Introduction
I. Muslims often have negative feelings toward the West.
II. A history of conflicts between Islamic Civilization and Western Civilization
III. Muslims often have problems with each other.
IV. A history of conflicts within the Islamicate
V. Another story: Islam east of Islamic Civilization
VI. Mistakes Westerners have made in getting along with Islam
VII. Summary: Islam faces difficult challenges, both from without and within.
00. Conclusion
Questions about Islamic conflict:
Why do Muslims resent the West?
Why do many Americans have negative feelings about Islam? Why do Muslims fight
among themselves?
Why do Muslims hate Israel so much?
Who or what do Muslims blame for their problems?
Why are Middle-Eastern Muslims not competitive with the West
Outline without markers:
54 Wahabbi influence fires terrorist acts against the United States and Europe. Shiite-controlled Iran finances
and enervates many actions against Israel. Alliances between normally enemy Islamic groups (such as
Shiites and Sunni, most generally) can be compared to the alliance between the USA and the USSR during
World War II—we were drawn together by a common enemy, Nazi Germany/Austria. Such alliances are
ephemeral.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.22
0. Introduction
Individuals and groups grow or fail to grow as they succeed in meeting
challenges or fail to meet them. Conflict is one kind of challenge. The story of Islam is
naturally the story of a people and a civilization facing challenges. The part of the story
told here is concerned largely with challenges presented by conflicts, both within Islam
(religion and civilization), and between Islam and Western Civilization.
Since the age of Imperialism, the incredible growth of power in Western
Civilization has challenged Islamic cultural and political independence. Additionally, the
lure of Western technology, wealth, and values have weakened traditional Islamic
values.
These represent external challenges facing Islam.
Islam also faces internal challenges, most fundamentally the Sunni/Shiite divide,
but also a liberal/conservative split.
The external and internal challenges sometimes intertwine, especially relating to
the liberal/conservative conflict, where conservatives are concerned with Western
influences on Islam adopted by Muslim “liberals.”
The underlying problem facing Islam here (religion and civilization) is the
difficulty in confronting modernity, the source of much Western power and advantage,
with the rise of Shi‘a since 1979 presenting a smaller challenge.
Muslims assign blame variously. To a conservative minority the enemy is any
change to Islam, and their goal is the restoration of a successful past (an attitude seen
in other cultures in world history), either an earlier form–traditional Islam–, or the
earliest form–‘pure’ Islam. For a small part of this conservative minority violence
against innocent targets (in Islamic countries or elsewhere) constitutes a means of
moving toward pure Islam. Western Civilization is a target because it has had so much
modernizing influence on Islamic culture.54
Islam thrives in a core area–Islamic Civilization, roughly the Middle East–and in
peripheral areas–notably Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia.
The conflicts discussed here originate primarily in the core area, so much that
Westerners think of Arab Islam when they think of the problems between Islam and the
West.
I. Muslims often have negative feelings toward the West.
A. Muslims often feel mistreated by Western nations.
1. Because Western nations are generally more powerful than Islamic
nations, they are prone to ride over Muslim sensibilities.
2. Muslims have difficulty forgetting past mistreatments.
B. Because Islamic society is in a different state of development than Western
society, conflicts naturally arise.
1. Countries of Western Civilization have secular governments, which
55 But not individual Muslims
56 Lewis, What Went Wrong?, pages 4 & 6. The above synthesis of three waves is found here.
57 When George Bush called for a crusade against Islamic terrorism, the term crusade was taken very
negatively by many Muslims, who were reminded of this Western series of invasions, which themselves
could be described as terrorist activities, and who didn’t realize that the current American usage of the word
only marginally refers to these past events (cf. Eisenhower’s 1948 WWII narrative Crusade in Europe).
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.23
means great toleration of cultural and religious differences.
2. Countries of Islamic Civilization for the most part either have religiously
dominated governments or demands to make them more religious, which
mean less toleration of cultural and religious differences.
C. Muslims often lack respect for Western traditions and points of view. (The
Muslim relationship to the West is colored by the belief that Western beliefs
whether Christian or atheist] are defective and therefore inferior to Islam.)
II. A history of conflicts between Islamic Civilization and Western Civilization.
A. Western conflicts with Islam has primarily been in the context of conflict with
Islamic Civilization, but also includes conflict with the Islamicates of India and
Southeast Asia (Islamicate refers to a group of Muslims in an area, or to all
Muslims).
B. From its early days, Islam reacted aggressively toward its civilized neighbors
the Byzantines and the West.
C. Muslim attacks against the West can be viewed as occurring in three waves.
1. The earliest wave broke against the Iberian Peninsula and across
the Mediterranean. That finally ended in 1492 with the expulsion of
the last Muslim power55 from the Iberian Peninsula.
2. The second wave occurred when Mongols attacked eastern
Europe in the mid-1200s and converted to Islam ca. 1292. This wave
ended in the 1500s with the reassertion of Russian rule.56
a. Although not Muslims at first, the western Mongols converted to
Islam.
3. The third wave built up when the Ottoman Turks, converted earlier
to Islam, began to spread into southeast Europe.
a. Ottoman armies threatened Vienna in 1529 and 1683.
D. The West eventually became strong enough to begin its own waves of
aggression against Islam.
1. The first wave occurred with the Crusades against Palestine (and to a
lesser extent against Iberia). This ultimately failed.57
2. The conflict continued with Western aggression directed against
Islamic areas, culminating in imperialism.
a. European ships outpowered Muslim ships in the Indian Ocean.
b. European imperialism began to dominate Muslim areas.
c. Islam, previously more advanced than medieval Europe in
scientific and intellectual areas, began to fall behind Europe.
Of course, modernity has other elements. For example, Bernard L 58 ewis (pages 121-131) writes about
clocks, timekeeping, and schedules as an element of the modern which eventually penetrated the Islamic
world.
59 Lewis, What Went Wrong, page 73.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.24
What is modernity and why is it important here?
Modernity developed in the West and made the West so powerful that any
civilization that did not imitate the West in this regard was at a extreme
disadvantage. Modernism featured three characteristics:
1. High levels of technology, integrated into society, along with modern
science.
2. The creation of much wealth, which, with technology, makes the state
more powerful militarily.
3. An openness (in its most developed form called the Open Society by
Karl Popper), which features tolerance, pluralism, and has a secular governance.
All other civilizations today (that is, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, and Islamic) have
followed the West in modernizing to one degree or another. Any society
unaware of the power of modernization, or who rejected it for any reason, was
exploited by the West, whether they became colonies of Western nations or not.
Only the Japanese understood this and avoided a period of exploitation.
3. The move to the modern created a culture in the West whose wealth
and consequent power threatened Islamic independence and whose
general seductiveness challenged traditional Islamic cultural values.
a. The failure of Islam to adopt modern ways and adapt them to
Islamic values, put Islam at a great disadvantage when dealing
with the West.58
1) While Westerners studied Islamic culture, Muslims showed
almost no interest in Western culture, remaining ignorant of
modernity and its impact.
b. Continued technological development empowered further
imperialism.
c. Industrial development created the wealth and power that
proved so seductive to others.
d. Ironically, in the area of scientific accomplishment, the
relationship of Islam and Europe reversed, with the West now
occupying the leading role previously played by Islam, to Islam’s
disadvantage.
e. Parenthesis: Muslims distinguish between modernization and
Westernization primarily in that Westernization adds equal status
for women.59
Lewis, What Went Wrong, page 64: “During the eighteenth and nineteenth 60 centuries and a good part of
the twentieth, Middle-Eastern observers, increasingly aware of the disparity in military power between
Middle Eastern and Western states, turned their attention primarily to weaponry and the conduct of warfare
and then to economic production and government administration, seen as the primary sources of Western
preponderance. In looking at these, they tried to find what was most distinctive and different about the
Western way of dealing with these matters and thereby to identify the source of Western superiority. In
looking for this mysterious source they naturally gave most attention to what was visibly and palpably
different from their own way of doing things, and then tried to adopt, adapt, or simply buy it. They began
with the visible sources of power and prosperity–military, economic, political. It was in these three areas
that they concentrated their main effort–with limited and sometimes indeed negative results.”
61 “From fairly early in the nineteenth century, in fact, there were to be alert and respected Muslims to
declare that Europeans were leading a better life by Islamic standards than were Muslim societies
themselves.” (Hodgson, page 66)
62 Lewis, What Went Wrong, pages 51f.
“The Middle East’s brief but impressive “Liberal Age” grew from European imperialism and the 63
unsustainable contradiction between the progressive ideals taught by the British and French — the Egyptian
press has never been as free as when the British ruled over the Nile valley — and the inevitably illiberal and
demeaning practices that come with foreign occupation.” (Gerecht,”Speaking Truth to Muslim Power”)
64 Lewis, What Went Wrong, page 53.
65 Lewis, What Went Wrong, page 105.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.25
D[E]. Islamic Civilization belatedly began to become competitive in some ways.60
1. Muslims began to seek knowledge about the West (which some
Muslims hoped would lead to knowledge of its successes).61
2. Western military technology was copied.
3. Western communications technology was adopted, starting with
the telegraph in the 1850s.62
a. Newspapers enabled a new level in the spreading of ideas and
information.63
b. Railways, steamships, and more roads increased
intercommunication.
4. New secular laws suitable to the needs of the modern world (that is,
beyond Shari‘a law) made possible greater competitiveness with the
Western world.64
a. On the other hand, secularism in general was problematic for
Muslims because the concept of secular in Arabic and Turkish
connotes “pagan” , “anti-Islamic”, and “anti-Shari‘a”, making it
difficult to separate non-religious from anti-religious.65
5. Liberal ideas began to penetrate Islam, especially in the nineteenth
e.g., see Lewis, 66 What Went Wrong, page 71.
67 The Tanzimat reforms in the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century aimed at modernizing Ottoman
government (although there is some dispute about their real aims). Yott,”The empire from 1807 to 1920”
printed page 31.
68 Lewis, What Went Wrong, page 104.
69 “Customs” replaces “mores” in the slide show.
70 Lapidus, page 282.
71 Lewis, pages 153-154.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.26
century.66 67
6. Islam began to accept the study of modern science.
7. The French Revolution aroused special interest among some Muslims
because it attempted to remove Christian elements from society, which
they hoped would provide an uncontaminated look at the secrets of
Western success.68
F. The conflict continued with Western influences “degenerating” Islamic
societies.
1. Alcohol consumption, dress mores69, and other social mores ran
counter to traditional Islamic beliefs.
2. European influences in Christian Balkan areas stimulated movements
seeking independence70.
G. The conflict continues because the West, and the United States specifically,
support Israel (an outpost of Western Civilization surrounded by Islamic
Civilization), which Muslims generally dislike or hate.
1. Islamic enmity toward Israel is complicated, but hatred of Jews
and Israel can be traced at least to the success of Nazi anti-Jewish
propaganda starting in 193371.
A small 1800s movement, Zionism, began seeking a Jewish-controlled
state. After rejecting the island of Madagascar Zionists settled on
Palestine, the historic homeland of Jews until they were chased away by
the Roman government in AD 70. At the time, Palestine was in the
(Turkish Islamic) Ottoman Empire. The movement was not popular
among European Jews, who had in the 1800s became increasingly
accepted by fellow Europeans. Since the end of World War One Palestine
had been under the control of Great Britain, who at first welcomed the
hardworking Jewish settlers. They made the most of the harsh conditions,
bringing economic success to an area that had for a very long time been
poor. (Note the similarity to the wealth brought to Iberia by the Muslims
which revitalized the economy that had stagnated under Visigothic
leadership.) Arab natives also welcomed the newcomers.
But as the number of Jewish settlers increased and their economic
success contrasted sharply with the economic backwardness of the
There are two issues here. First, creating a concept that gives a group 72 of people a name: every named
group represents such a construct. It interesting, for instance, to see how the British colonists in North
America (excluding those that came later to be called Canadians!) came to see themselves as a group and
therefore needing a name–Americans. “Palestinian” is merely one of the newest such conceptualizations.
Second, the idea that every group that so identifies itself with a name should have its own government if it
wants, can be at least partly traced back to Woodrow Wilson’s pernicious idea of “self-determination” that
has encouraged so much divisiveness since (his Secretary of State warned him against announcing support
for this concept). Of course that is not necessarily an argument against the formation of a Palestinian state,
only that one should not assume that every named group should have its own government.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.27
Palestinian Arabs, the Arab attitude began to change.
The Holocaust convinced the survivors that they couldn’t trust non-
Jews of Europe and more Jewish refugees began to flow into Palestine.
The Arabs became alarmed (the arrival of many newcomers often upsets
oldtimers). The British tried to block the new immigrants, but gave up in
1948. At that point Jewish leaders declared the creation of the state of
Israel, a democratic state (in a region without democratic states). It was
also a Western society in an Islamic region. Jewish citizens formed the
majority, with a large minority of Muslims.
Immediately, all its Arab neighbors declared war on Israel. As a
result of this war, the territory of Israel expanded somewhat, and many
Arab citizens of Israel fled to a small corner of Israel called the Gaza Strip.
The Arab states refused to admit these refugees, preferring them
to stay there as a testimony to the evil of the Jewish state.
They are still there.
These Arabs began calling themselves Palestinians and demanding
a state of their own.72
A later war gave Israel the part of Jordan between it and the
Jordan River, including East Jerusalem (which Israel had originally left
outside its borders).
Widespread Arab hatred of Jews (not just Israeli Jews) is fueled by
outrageous lies spread by Arab media. An example is the belief that 9/11
was caused by Jews, who supposedly even warned fellow Jews working in
the twin towers not to go to work that day.
2. Some Middle Eastern Islamic organizations are devoted to destroying
Israel.
a. Al Fatah and Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
b. Hezbollah in Lebanon.
3. Hezbollah (Arabic: ‘party of God’) was founded in Lebanon in 1982,
when Israel, for security purposes, occupied southern Lebanon. It wanted
Israel out of Lebanon, a goal accomplished. It became powerful in the
government of Lebanon. One of its goals is the destruction of Israel.
4. Differences between Hezbollah and Wahhabi theology.
To understand this easily, one must note the differences between Shi’a
and Sunnism (in its Wahhabi form). Hezbollah are Shiites (remember,
they are from Lebanon), while Wahhabi are Sunni. The Wahhabi deny that
73 Waldman, pages 13 and 27.
74 Waldman, page 20.
75 Waldman, page 29.
76 Lapidus, pages 356f.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.28
Shiites are true Muslims. They share practical concerns, such as damaging
Western ideas.
5. Fatah is a Palestinian Sunni secular political movement that lost
control of the Gaza Strip due to its corruption. Its major enemy is Israel.
It currently controls the West Bank.
6. Hamas is a radical Palestinian Sunni religious terrorist movement,
opposed to the corruption within Fatah. Its major enemy is Israel. It
currently controls the Gaza Strip.
7. Al-Qaeda represents both an internal and an external danger. Under
the leadership of Osama bin Laden, it seeks to change the government of
Saudi Arabia to a more conservative one and engage in violent activities
against the United States and other countries.
8. The Taliban, discussed below, represents perhaps the first significant
danger to the West, as they move into Pakistan and threaten the security
of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. This could far surpass any threat presented
so far by Al-Qaeda.
H. Some key markers in the shifting balance of power between the Islam, the
West, and Russia (Islam up:•, Islam down:–)
• 632ff Muslims took North Africa from the Byzantine Empire.
• 634-ca 870 Islam moved from being the religion of a small group
of Arabs to becoming the religion and culture of an
empire stretching from the edge of Central Asia to
the Atlantic73.
• 710ff Islam began to spread into the Indian subcontinent.
• 711-719 Muslims conquered the Iberian Peninsula.
– 732 A Muslim raiding party defeated at the Battle of Tours
(but raids on the French coast continued for several
years74)
– 800s Muslim reverses began in Iberia and Mediterranean
islands
• 900s Spread of Islam into Central Asia
• ca 990 First Muslim contact with black Africa as Ghana
reached northward to the southern boundary of
Muslim occupation75
• ca 1000 definitive Islamic invasions of the Indian subcontinent
from Afghanistan (tentative invasions occurred as
early as 71176)
77 Lapidus, page 275.
78 This event marks a critical point in Islamic history. After the failure of the second siege of Vienna,
Middle-Eastern Muslims–that is, the Ottomans–began to look to the West for the secret of its power. The
resulting changes began the process so bemoaned by today’s return-to-the-past conservatives (Lewis,
pages 114f).
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.29
• 1071 Seljuk Muslims defeated the Byzantines at the Battle
of Manzikert.
• 1076 Muslims made a major inroad into sub-Saharan Africa
when Muslim general (Abû-Bakr Ibn-Umar)
conquered Ghana.
– 1096 European crusades against Palestine began.
• 1200s Islamic traders reached Southeast Asia.
• 1223-1480 Mongols invaded and dominated “Russia”; eventually
3 of 4 khanates converted to Islam.
• 1295 Mongol conversion to Islam began.
• 1302 Muslims defeated the last of the crusaders.
• 1453 Constantinople fell, effectively ending the
Roman/Byzantine Empire.
– 1400s Under Ivan the Terrible, Russia conquered the Muslim
khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia.
– 1487 Bartolomeo Dias discovered the Cape of Good Hope,
opening the ‘Islamic Lake’ (the Indian Ocean) to
superior European ships (Vasco da Gama reached
India in 1498). This paved the way for European
domination of Islamic areas.
– 1492 Last Muslim authorities driven from Spain (seen by
Muslims as peripheral and therefore minor from their
point of view)
– 1500s Portuguese contested the Ottoman control of the
Indian Ocean trade77.
– 1529 Austrians won the First Siege of Vienna.
– 1571 The Battle of Lepanto–West defeated Ottomans (seen
by Muslims as peripheral and therefore minor from
the their point of view)
– 1606 In the Treaty of Sitvatorak the Ottoman ruler
recognized the Emperor as his equal for the first time.
– 1681 First serious Ottoman defeat by Russia
– 1683 Austrians won the Second Siege of Vienna78.
– 1686 Buda and Pest were lost (i.e., Hungary) to the
Hapsburg monarchy. Muslim withdrawal from
Hungary soon followed.
– 1689 Hapsburgs took control of Serbia
– 1699 Treaty of Carlowitz–the first peace treaty ever signed
by Ottomans with the West
This event–because it introduced Western influences into the heart of 79 a Muslim area–is considered the
beginning of the modern era for Middle-Eastern Islam (Lewis, page 130).
80 On nineteenth century liberalism in the Ottoman Empire: “ The old pluralistic order, multi denominational
and polyethnic, was breaking down, and the tacit social contract on which it was based was violated on both
sides. The Christian minorities, inspired by Western ideas of self-determination, were no longer prepared to
accept the tolerated but inferior status accorded to them by the old order, and made new
demands–sometimes for equal rights within the nation, sometimes for separate nationhood, sometimes for
both at the same time. Muslim majorities, feeling mortally threatened, became unwilling to accord even the
traditional measure of tolerance. By a sad paradox, in some of the semi-secularized nation-states of modern
times, the non-Muslim minorities, while enjoying complete equality on paper, in fact have fewer
opportunities and face greater dangers than under the old Islamic yet pluralistic order. The present regime
in Iran, with its ruling clerics, its executions for blasphemy, its consecrated assassins, represents a new
departure in Islamic history. In the present mood, a triumph of militant Islam would be unlikely to bring a
return to traditional Islamic tolerance–and even that would no longer be acceptable to minority elements
schooled on modern ideas of human, civil, and political rights. The emergence of some form of civil society
would therefore seem to offer the best hope for decent coexistence based on mutual respect.” (Lewis, page
115)
81 Lapidus, page 489.
82 That is, in the Rumelia, the part of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan Peninsula
83 Lapidus, page 490.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.30
– 1699 Ottomans lost Romania as a tributary (to the
Austrians).
– 1768-1783 Several Ottoman defeats by Russia (including the core
Islamic area of the Crimea) made Russia a Black Sea
power in the Ottoman backyard.
– 1798 Ottomans unable to keep a small French force from
occupying Egypt.79 (Later, the English forced the
Ottomans out of Egypt permanently.)
– 1800s Ottomans began to face internal uprisings, perhaps
due to the influence of the French Revolution.
– 1818 British dominance over Muslim rulers in India
completed.
– 1821-1829 Greece broke away from the Ottoman Empire80.
– 1878-1914 Most of the Balkans lost81 82.
– 1878 Treaty of San Stefano forces Ottomans to concede the
independence of Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, and
Montenegro83.
– 1882 British occupied Egypt.
– 1920 Treaty of Sevres ended WWI for the Ottoman Empire
and resulted in the dismantling of the Empire.
Strange countries such as Iraq resulted.
• 1930s Discovery of oil fields in the Middle East paved the
way for a new assertion of Islamic power.
• 1950s-present Hatred for Israel stimulated political and military
84 Lewis, page 152-154.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.31
developments in the Middle East.
• 1991- Islamic areas of the USSR became independent
(Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan).
I. In the eyes of Muslims, various explanations have been put forward for the
decline of Islamic power relative to other, especially Western, power:
1. The Mongol incursions
2. Turkish Muslims weakening Arab Muslims.
3. Arab Muslims weakening Turkish Muslims.
4. Western Imperialism
5. The United States
6. The Jews
a. Nazi dissemination of anti-Semitic ideas influenced and continues
to influence Middle-Eastern Muslims.
b. The victory of young Israel over five Arab states in 1948
stunned Arabs.
7. Islamic conservatives, who impede the move to modernity.
8. Islamic liberals, who impede the move back to the past.
a. The arch-enemy is the Turkish secularizer Kemal Atatürk, the
Father of modern Turkey, who secularized the remains of the
Ottoman Empire in 1923, eliminating Shari‘a law from the Turkish
constitution and secularizing the new Turkish government.
b. Later secularizers such as the Shah of Iran, Gamal Abdel Nasser
(President of Egypt 1956-1970), and Saddam Hussein are also
condemned84.
III. Muslims often have problems with each other.
A. The Sunni/Shiite conflict
1. The theocracy (religious government) of Iran wants to export its ideas.
a. Shiites, the vast majority in Iran, have ruled Iran since 1979,
bringing about a modern resurgence of Shiite power.
b. Iraq, the other country with a Shiite majority, faces conflict
between Sunnis and Shiites.
Shiites (who rule only Iran) resumed control of the government after the Ayatollah 85 Khomeini took control
of Iran in 1979 and began a policy of exporting Shi’a to other countries.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.32
(Iraq is not only split religiously, but also ethnically, between Arabs and Kurds. Like the
Arabs, some Kurds are Shiites and some Sunnis.) (Source: CIA)
c. Shiites aim not only to remove Western influences in Islamic
countries, but to overthrow Sunni governments (especially those
that are Western in orientation).85
d. Iran has become increasingly aggressive in attacking Sunni
Islam and Sunni-oriented governments.
2. Religiously influenced governments like Saudi Arabia and Egypt allow
some deviation from religious rules.
3. Secular governments like Turkey and Indonesia allow more freedoms.
B. The conservative (Wahabbi and Taliban)/liberal conflict
1. Wahabbis do not want a return to traditional Islam but a return to an
even earlier form of Islam, which they see as a pure Islam before it
became polluted by various traditions.
2. Wahabbi religious conservatives want to overthrow “liberal”
governments like Saudi Arabia, and are enemies of countries that exercise
liberal influences like the USA.
3. What we think of as Islamic terrorism stems from the activities of those
who advocate wahabbism. This movement, considered a part of Sunni
Islam, dates to the 1700s, when an Arabian “reformer” sought to remove
all changes from “pure”, early Islam. The enemy of Islam, according to
the Wahhabis, is traditional Islam, which had departed from
86 Waldman, page 59.
87 Many Wahabbis prefer the term Salafism. Wahhabism may be spelled with one or two ‘h’s and one or
two ‘b’s. Scholar Ahmad Ibn Taymiyya (1263-1328) called for a careful examination of the Quran and was
influential on the founders of Wahhabism in the 1700s
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.33
fundamental–that is, original–Islam.86
Their watchword is “restore Islam”.
This Sunni movement was opposed to mainstream Sunni, Sufi,
and, later, to all Western influences. The movement thrived because it
allied itself with the House of Saud, whose leaders were on their own
mission to increase their power. Each supported the other, to the benefit
of both.
When the Saudis managed to take over rule of Arabia in 1924
(thus forming the modern state of Saudi Arabia), Wahhabism was
boosted. Especially after of oil began to enrich the kingdom after 1938,
Wahhabis began to attract new followers by financing religious schools,
madrassas.
But the Saudis soon found that the Wahhabism conflicted with
Saudi secular values and some Wahhabis turned against the Saudi
goverment. Osama bin Laden is an example of such an enemy.
Thus, Wahhabis such as al Qaeda are enemies not only of Western
nations. The USA looms so large in their eyes because of its power. Even
Muslim-friendly governments such as France and Britain are targets of
Wahhabi hatred. They hate all forms of Islam that deviate from their
beliefs.87
Wahhabis can be compared to some protestant sects who reject not
only the superstition and idolatry they say infuses the Roman Catholic
Church, but also the practices and teachings of many protestant churches.
4. Taliban conservatives want to rule Afghanistan and, perhaps, western
Pakistan.
a. The Taliban, a conservative Sunni movement in Afghanistan
and northwestern Pakistan, represents both an internal challenge
for Muslims who disagree with it and a danger for the West. In
1996 the Taliban overthrew the Afghanistan government. Al-Qaeda
became a close ally of the Taliban. There, Al-Qaeda now trained its
members in safety. In 2001, after the World Trade Center
destruction, the Afghanistan government refused demands of the
US and NATO to turn over Osama Bin Laden. In October of 2001
the US overthrew the Taliban government.
5. Other conservative forces, such as in Turkey, want to increase religious
influence on their governments.
IV. A history of conflicts within the Islamicate [Islamicate refers to a group of Muslims
in an area, or to all Muslims.
It is the position in this outline that the problems Islamic Civilization has vis-88 a-vis the West is due to its
failure to adopt modernity with its secular, tolerant, and pluralistic stance, “or by [its failure to find] some
other successful response to Western influence” (quoting from the Conclusions). Since the early days of
Islam some Muslims have contended that a return to past ways is desirable, either for internal reasons or,
later, as a response to the challenge of Western modernism. In the past thirty years or so this approach has
gained momentum. In revising his A History of Islamic Societies Ira Lapidus adopted the position that these
efferts of recent years mark the beginning of a new phase in the history of Islam. It seems to the present
writer that this rather is a continuation of an old recurring theme–reform–in Islam, and not something
fundamentally new.
89 Lapidus, page 493.
90 Lapidus characterizes the result as “Indian-Islamic Civilization,” (page 356) and “a distinct kind of Muslim
civilization” (page 357).
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.34
A. The first conflict: who should rule?
1. Those who believed the most competent leader in each generation
should rule became the Sunni Muslims.
2. Those who believed the rulers should be direct descendants of the
Prophet became the Shiite Muslims.
B. A more recent conflict: should Muslim countries have secular or religious
governments?
1. Many Muslim countries have not “advanced” to the position that secular
governments are preferable to religious governments (the US government
is the oldest secular government in the world).88
2. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Ottoman reformers were divided
between those who wanted to “return to the laws. . . of Sullayman the
Magnificent” (Restorationists) and those who wanted to modernize along
European lines (Modernists)89.
V. Another story: Islam east of Islamic Civilization
A. Introduction: The religion of Islam has spread beyond the core area of
Islamic Civilization. It eventually found that new areas resisted conversion to one
degree or another and thus could not become fully part of Islamic Civilization.
These areas included the Iberian Peninsula, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast
Asia, and much of the Balkans.
B. Indian subcontinent:
1. Islamic Civilization replaced the older civilizations in Byzantine and
Sasanian areas.
2. Islamic Civilization did not replace the older Indian Civilization, but
only superimposed Islamic governance, architecture, and controlling ideas
on a populace that for the most part did not convert to Islam.
a. A similar situation occurred in the Iberian Peninsula where the
Romano-Visigothic Christians did not generally convert to Islam
while under Islamic control).90
3. As the Indian subcontinent broke away from British control, two
regions formed Islamic governments (initially West and East Pakistan,
with East Pakistan soon breaking away from West Pakistan and renaming
91 part of Turkmenistan today
92 Lapidus, page 337.
93 Perhaps their relationship to mainstream Islamic Civilization might be analogous to the Greeks who existed
on the fringe of Cretan Civilization, partaking in many of the values of Cretan Civilization but not full-fledged
members, or like perhaps some Indian villages in the interior of Mexico or Bolivia, who are partly
acculturated to Western Civilization.
94 Lapidus, page 337.
95 Lapidus, page 342.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.35
itself Bangladesh).
C. Central Asia
1. The gateway to Central Asia was Iran and Transoxania91 (generally the
region just southeast of the Aral Sea, which has been a crossroads for the
region since ancient times).
a. This was the route of both Muslim traders “outward” and Turkish
tribes “inward.”
b. Sufis also helped bring Islam to Central Asia.92
c. Since the target Central Asian populations were primitive they
were at least to a degree brought into Islamic Civilization.93
d. This connection and the Transoxiana roundabout provided both
an Islamic connection to the Mongols when they began their rise
and a road connecting them with Iran.94
2. The major interaction in this area was between sedentary peoples and
pastoral peoples. Governance among pastoral people was by tribes, with
clan divisions, whereas sedentary people had developed other methods of
rule. Some tribes converted to Islam and then moved south and
westward.
3. The Golden Horde was highly influenced culturally by Arabic Islam,
and began to decline when the Ottomans cut them off from Middle-
Eastern connections.
4. The modern Islamic states of Central Asia are:
a. Azerbaijan (a secular state)
b. Kazakhstan (successors to the Golden Horde) (about 44%
Muslim) (secular state?)
1) converted largely in the 18th century, Kzakhs mixed Islam
with pagan beliefs, much like Mexican Indians95.
d. Tajikistan (secular state)
c. Kirghizstan (secular state)
e. Turkmenistan (land immediately north of Iran) (secular state?)
f. Uzbekistan (Transoxiana and nearby land) (secular state?)
g. [eastern Turkestan is today’s Sinkiang province of China]
D. Southeast Asia
1. Between the 1200s and 1400s Islamic culture spread from India and
96 Lapidus, page 382.
97 Such a failure to meet new challenges is a mark of decline in all civilizations sooner or later.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.36
the Arabian Peninsula to the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian
archipelago.
2. The medium was merchants and Sufis.
3. The method of leadership lay not in founding new leadership regimes
(as in India) but in converting existing native leaders.96 The retained local
culture was of such a degree that the resulting Islamic culture would not
be considered a part of Islamic Civilization.
VI. Mistakes Westerners have made in getting along with Islam.
A. Arrogance and lack of respect
1. Believing that Muslims come from an inferior culture.
B. Lack of knowledge
1. Belief that most Muslims are terrorists.
2. Too little understanding of Islamic beliefs.
C. Is insisting that Muslims meet certain standards valued by Westerners a
mistake? If the initial answer is “no”, is the answer still “no” when women’s
rights is specified as such a value?
VII. Summary: Islam faces difficult challenges, both from without and within.
A. Muslims face internal challenges of getting along with each other (the Sunnis
with a newly resurgent Shi‘a, and conservatives with liberals).
B. Muslim response to the power and influence of the West has at most been
partly successful, and continues to roil Islam, as shown in the
liberal/conservative conflict.
C. Hatred of Israel and the West (especially the USA) colors Middle-Eastern
Islamic views of conflict and incites conflict.
00. Conclusions
Islam was incredibly successful in meeting its challenges during its formative
years and even created a civilization that was also successful in meeting its challenges
for several centuries (although the religion of Islam has spread far beyond the
boundaries of the civilization).
Islamic Civilization faced a new challenge with the arrival of Western explorers
and expansionists with little success.97 At about the same time the West began to
generate great power vis-a-vis other civilizations of the world because of the Western
Renaissance and the subsequent development of modernization. To this increased
power Islamic Civilization has so far failed to find an adequate response. Its challenge
today remains the same (this is typical of civilizations in decline–they face the same
challenges over and over): meet the power of the West by secularizing and
modernizing, or by finding some other successful response to Western influence.
(Empirically, a study of history shows that trying to return to a previously successful
“It’s obviously not for non-Muslims to decide what Islam means. Only the faithful 98 can decide whether
Islam is a religion of peace or war (historically it has been both). Only the faithful can banish jihad as a
beloved weapon against infidels and unbelief. Only Muslims can decide how they balance legislation by men
and what the community — or at least its legal guardians, the ulama — has historically seen as divine
commandments.
Westerners can, however, ask probing questions and apply pressure when differing views threaten
us.” (Gerecht, “Speaking Truth to Muslim Power”)
99 This phenomenon is so widespread that some can see only one civilization in the world, rather than
separate Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Islamic, and Western civilizations. It is surface similarities–an overlay of
Western-derived characteristics such as clothing, technology, and the widespread use of the English
language, that make it seem as if there were only one world-wide civilization today.
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.37
past has never before worked.)
It is difficult to separate Islam the religion from Islam the civilization, but those
parts of Islam (the civilization) that have achieved a measure of success–such as Turkey
and Indonesia–are exactly those regions where modernization has been to a degree
accomplished–whatever the cost to the religion (none, little, or great, depending on
one’s point of view). Whatever disruption the conservative terrorists accomplish, their
ultimate goals, if the past is any guide, will not be achieved by such activities.
Islam the religion is doing better than Islam the civilization. It faces its own sets
of conflicts and other challenges, both within the context of Islamic Civilization and
apart from it. The religion, in fact, could thrive without the civilization, at least its
members living in areas of Western Civilization, where freedom of religion is the rule.
This might be difficult for Muslims to accept because the Muslim community is
historically so closely connected with a Muslim government.
A challenge in the West is to keep the small number of Islamic terrorists from
coloring our view of Islam (religion and civilization), muddying the waters and
poisoning our relationship with the majority of Muslims. Whether Muslims can tolerate
the West is another question. Muslims may feel that conflicts with the West are inherent
in the current situation; we needn’t.
A further challenge in the West is to avoid demanding that Islamic states
conform to Western democratic standards. By demanding that they meet our cultural
standards we create tensions (or should we encourage justice for women and other
minorities?). Instead, we should show good will toward Islam and Islamic states while
fighting Islamic inspired acts of violence.
Although hampered by the conservative Muslims who (rightly or wrongly) resist
change,98 the prospects for Islamic resurgence–religious or civilizational–are enhanced
by global communications and trade.99
Concluding questions:
Would secularization and modernization solve Islam’s problems without damage to the
Islamic faith?
Did secularization and modernization in the West damage Christianity?
How does fantasy in Muslims’ beliefs about the causes of their problems hurt Islam?
Does understanding Islam’s dilemma help in evaluating and reacting to Islamic
terrorism?
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.38
Islam: conflict without and within Viewing Guide
Ronald Wiltse May 2009
Questions about Islamic conflict:
Why do Muslims resent the West?
Why do Muslims fight among themselves?
Why do Muslims hate Israel so much?
Who or what do Muslims blame for their problems?
Why are Middle-Eastern Muslims not competitive with the West?
Here are the main topics we will discuss: External conflicts, Internal conflicts, The
challenge of Western Civilization
Outline:
0. Introduction
Since the age of Imperialism, the incredible growth of power in Western Civilization has
challenged Islamic cultural and political _______________. Additionally, 1 the lure of Western
technology, wealth, and values have weakened traditional Islamic 2____________.
These represent 3____________ challenges facing Islam.
Islam also faces 4____________ challenges, most fundamentally the Sunni/Shiite divide,
but also a liberal/conservative split.
The external and internal challenges sometimes intertwine, especially relating to the
liberal/conservative conflict, where conservatives are concerned with Western influences on
Islam adopted by Muslim “liberals.”
The underlying problem facing Islam here (religion and civilization) is the difficulty in
confronting 5_____________, the source of much Western power and advantage, with the rise
of Shi‘a since 6________ presenting a smaller challenge.
Muslims assign blame variously. To a conservative minority the enemy is any change to
Islam, and their goal is the restoration of a successful past (an attitude seen in other cultures
in world history), either an earlier form–traditional Islam–, or the earliest form–7 ‘________’
Islam. For a small part of this conservative minority violence against innocent targets (in
Islamic cultures or elsewhere) constitutes a means of moving toward pure Islam.
8___________ Civilization is a target because it has had so much modernizing influence on
Islamic culture.
Islam thrives in a 9______________–Islamic Civilization, roughly the Middle East–and in
peripheral areas–notably Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia. The
conflicts discussed here originate primarily in the core area, so much that Westerners think of
Arab Islam when they think of the problems between Islam and the West.
I. Muslims often have negative feelings toward 10____________.
A. Muslims often feel mistreated by Western nations.
1. Because Western nations are generally more powerful than Islamic nations,
they are prone to ride over Muslim 11_________________.
2. Muslims have difficulty forgetting past 12_________________.
B. Muslims often lack respect for W estern traditions and points of view. (The Muslim
relationship to the West is colored by the belief that Western beliefs [whether Christian
or atheist] are defective and therefore 13____________ to Islam.)
II. A history of conflicts between Islamic Civilization and Western Civilization.
A. From its early days, Islam reacted aggressively toward its civilized neighbors the
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.39
Byzantines and the West.
B. Muslim attacks against the West can be viewed as occurring in
14_______________.
1. The earliest wave broke against the Iberian Peninsula and across the
Mediterranean. That finally ended in 1492 with the expulsion of the last
Muslim power from the Iberian Peninsula.
2. The second wave occurred when 15__________ attacked eastern
Europe in the mid-1200s and converted to Islam ca. 1292. This wave ended in
the 1500s with the reassertion of Russian rule.
a. Although not Muslims at first, the western Mongols converted to
Islam.
3. The third wave built up when the 16_________________, converted
earlier to Islam, began to spread into southeast Europe.
a. Ottoman armies threatened Vienna in 1529 and 1683.
C. The West eventually became strong enough to begin its 17_____________ of
aggression against Islam.
1. The first wave occurred with 18_______________ against Palestine (and
to a lesser extent against Iberia). This ultimately failed.
2. The conflict continued with Western aggression directed against Islamic
areas, culminating in 19______________.
a. European ships outpowered Muslim ships in the Indian Ocean.
b. European imperialism began to dominate Muslim areas.
c. Islam, previously more advanced than medieval Europe in scientific
and intellectual areas, began to fall behind Europe.
What is modernity and why is it important here?
Modernity developed in the West and made the West so powerful that any
civilization that did not imitate the West in this regard was at a extreme disadvantage.
Modernism featured three characteristics:
1. High levels of 20_____________, integrated into society.
2. The creation of much 21_________, which, with technology, makes the state
more powerful militarily.
3. An openness (in its most developed form called the Open Society by Karl
Popper), which features tolerance, 22_____________, and has a secular governance.
All other civilizations today (that is, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, and Islamic) have
followed the West in modernizing to one degree or another. Any society unaware of the
power of modernization, or who rejected it for any reason, was exploited by the West,
whether they became colonies of Western nations or not. Only the 23___________
understood this and avoided a period of exploitation.
3. The move to 24______________ created a culture in the West whose
wealth and power threatened Islamic independence and challenged traditional
Islamic cultural values.
a. The failure of Islam to adopt modern ways and adapt them to Islamic
values, put Islam at a great 25_______________.
1) While Westerners studied Islamic culture, Muslims showed almost
no interest in Western culture, remaining ignorant of modernity and
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.40
its impact.
b. Continued technological development empowered further imperialism.
c. Industrial development created the wealth and power that proved so
seductive to others.
D. Islamic Civilization belatedly ________ to become 26 competitive in some ways.
1. Muslims began to seek knowledge about the West (which some Muslims
hoped would lead to knowledge of its successes).
2. Western military technology was copied.
3. Western communications technology was adopted, starting with the
telegraph in the 1850s.
4. New secular laws suitable to the needs of the modern world (that is, beyond
27__________ law) made possible greater competitiveness with the Western
world.
a. On the other hand, secularism in general was problematic for Muslims
because the concept of secular in Arabic and Turkish connotes “pagan”
,28 “_______________”, and “anti-Shari‘a”, making it difficult to separate
non-religious from anti-religious.
5. Liberal ideas began to penetrate Islam, especially in the nineteenth century.
6. Islam began to accept the study of modern science.
7. The 29______________________ aroused special interest among some
Muslims because it attempted to remove Christian elements from society, which
they hoped would provide an uncontaminated look at the secrets of Western
success.
E. The conflict continued with Western influences 30“_______________” Islamic
societies.
1. 31________________________, dress customs, and other social customs ran
counter to traditional Islamic beliefs.
2. European influences in Christian Balkan areas stimulated movements seeking
independence.
F. The conflict continues because the West, and the United States specifically, support
32_________ (an outpost of Western Civilization surrounded by Islamic Civilization),
which Muslims generally dislike or hate.
1. Islamic enmity toward Israel is complicated, but hatred of Jews and
Israel can be traced at least to the success of 33_______________________
propaganda starting in 1933.
2. The Taliban, discussed below, represents perhaps the first significant danger
to the West, as they move into Pakistan and threaten the security of Pakistan’s
nuclear arsenal. This could far surpass any threat presented so far by Al-Qaeda.
G. Some key markers in the shifting balance of power between the Islam, the West,
and Russia (Islam up:•, Islam down:–)
• 634-ca 870 Islam moved from being the religion of a small group
of Arabs to becoming the religion and culture of an
empire stretching from the edge of Central Asia to the
Atlantic.
• 710ff Islam began to spread into the 34__________
subcontinent.
• 711-719 Muslims conquered the 35__________ Peninsula.
– 732 A Muslim raiding party defeated at the Battle of Tours
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.41
(but raids on the French coast continued for several
years)
• ca 990 First Muslim contact with black 36_________ as Ghana
reached northward to the southern boundary of
Muslim occupation
• 1076 Muslims made a major inroad into sub-Saharan Africa
when Muslim general (Abû-Bakr Ibn-Umar) conquered
Ghana.
– 1096 European 37___________ against Palestine began.
• 1200s Islamic traders reached Southeast Asia.
• 1302 Muslims defeated the last of the crusaders.
• 1453 Constantinople fell, effectively ending the
Roman/Byzantine Empire.
– 1487 Bartolomeo Dias discovered the Cape of Good Hope,
opening the ‘Islamic Lake’ (the Indian Ocean) to
superior European ships (Vasco da Gama reached
India in 1498). This paved the way for European
domination of Islamic areas.
– 1492 Last Muslim authorities driven from 38__________
(seen by Muslims as peripheral and therefore minor
from their point of view)
– 1683 Austrians won the Second Siege of Vienna. (a critical
turning point in Islamic history)
– 1768-1783 Several Ottoman defeats by Russia (including the core
Islamic area of the Crimea) made Russia a Black Sea
power in the Ottoman backyard.
– 1798 Ottomans unable to keep a small French force from
occupying Egypt. (Later, the English forced the
Ottomans out of Egypt permanently.) (This event is
considered the beginning of the modern era for
Middle-Eastern Islam.)
– 1800s Ottomans began to face internal uprisings, perhaps
due to the influence of the French Revolution.
– 1878-1914 Most of the 39__________ lost.
– 1882 British occupied Egypt.
– 1920 Treaty of Sevres ended WWI for the Ottoman Empire
and resulted in the dismantling of the Empire. Strange
countries such as 40_______ resulted.
• 1930s Discovery of oil fields in the Middle East paved the way
for a new assertion of Islamic power.
• 1950s-present Hatred for Israel stimulated political and military
developments in the Middle East.
• 1991- Islamic areas of the USSR became independent
(Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan).
H. In the eyes of Muslims, various explanations have been put forward for the decline
of Islamic power relative to other, especially Western, power:
1. The Mongol incursions
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.42
2. __________ 41 Muslims weakening Arab Muslims.
3. Arab Muslims weakening Turkish Muslims.
4. Western 42_______________
5. The United States
6. 43______________
a. Nazi dissemination of anti-Semitic ideas influenced and continues to
influence Middle-Eastern Muslims.
b. The victory of young Israel over five Arab states in 1948 stunned
Arabs.
7. Islamic conservatives, who impede the move to modernity.
8. Islamic liberals, who impede the move back to the past.
a. The arch-enemy is the Turkish 44________________ Kemal Atatürk,
the Father of modern Turkey, who secularized the remains of the
Ottoman Empire in 1923, eliminating Shari‘a law from the Turkish
constitution and secularizing the new Turkish government.
b. Later secularizers such as the Shah of Iran, Gamal Abdel Nasser
(President of Egypt 1956-1970), and Saddam Hussein are also
condemned.
III. Muslims often have problems with each other.
A. The Sunni/Shiite conflict
1. The theocracy (religious government) of Iran wants to export its ideas.
a. Shiites, the vast majority in Iran, have ruled Iran since 1979,
bringing about a modern resurgence of Shiite power.
b. Iraq, the other country with a Shiite majority, faces conflict between
Sunnis and Shiites.
c. Shiites aim not only to remove Western influences in Islamic countries,
but to overthrow 45________ governments (especially those that are
Western in orientation).
d. Iran has become increasingly aggressive in attacking Sunni Islam and
Sunni-oriented governments.
2. Religiously influenced governments like Saudi Arabia and Egypt allow some
deviation from religious rules.
3. Secular governments like Turkey and Indonesia allow more freedoms.
B. The conservative (W ahabbi and Taliban)/liberal conflict
1. 46____________ do not want a return to traditional Islam but a return to an
even earlier form of Islam, which they see as a pure Islam before it became
polluted by various traditions.
2. Wahabbi religious conservatives want to overthrow “liberal” governments like
Saudi Arabia, and are enemies of countries that exercise
liberal influences like the USA.
3. What we think of as Islamic terrorism stems from the activities of those who
advocate Wahabbism. This movement, considered a part of Sunni Islam, dates
to the 1700s, when an Arabian “reformer” sought to remove all changes from
“pure”, early Islam. The enemy of Islam, according to the Wahabbis,
47__________________________, which had departed from fundamental–that
is, original–Islam.
Their watchword is “restore Islam”.
4. Taliban conservatives want to rule Afghanistan and, perhaps, western
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.43
Pakistan.
a. The Taliban, a conservative Sunni movement in 48_______________
and northwestern Pakistan, represents both an internal challenge for
Muslims who disagree with it and a danger for the West. In 1996 the
Taliban overthrew the Afghanistan government. Al-Qaeda became a
close ally of the Taliban. There, Al-Qaeda now trained its members in
safety. In 2001, after the World Trade Center destruction, the
Afghanistan government refused demands of the US and NATO to turn
over Osama Bin Laden. In October of 2001 the US overthrew the
Taliban government.
5. Other conservative forces, such as in 49_________, want to increase religious
influence on their governments.
IV. A history of conflicts within the Islamicate [Islamicate refers to a group of Muslims in an
area, or to all Muslims].
A. The first conflict: 50_____________________?
1. Those who believed the most competent leader in each generation should
rule became the Sunni Muslims.
2. Those who believed the rulers should be direct descendants of the Prophet
became the Shiite Muslims.
B. A more recent conflict: should Muslim countries have secular or 51_____________
governments?
1. Many Muslim countries have not “advanced” to the position that secular
governments are preferable to religious governments (the US government is the
oldest secular government in the world).
V. Mistakes W esterners have made in getting along with Islam.
A. Arrogance and lack of 52____________
1. Believing that Muslims come from an inferior culture.
B. Lack of knowledge
1. 53_________ that most Muslims are terrorists.
2. Too little understanding of Islamic beliefs.
C. Is insisting that Muslims meet certain standards valued by Westerners a
54__________? If the initial answer is “no”, is the answer still “no” when women’s rights
is specified as such a value?
VI. Summary: Islam faces difficult challenges, both from without and within.
A. Muslims face internal challenges of getting along with each other (the Sunnis with a
newly resurgent Shi‘a, and conservatives with liberals).
B. Muslim response to the power and influence of the West has at most been partly
successful, and continues to 55_______ Islam, as shown in the liberal/conservative
conflict.
C. Hatred of Israel and the West (especially the USA) colors Middle-Eastern Islamic
views of conflict and incites conflict.
00. Conclusions
Islam was incredibly successful in meeting its challenges during its formative years.
Islamic Civilization faced a new challenge with the arrival of Western 56_____________
with little success. At about the same time the West began to generate great power because
of the Western Renaissance and modernization. To this increased power Islamic Civilization has
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.44
so far failed to find an adequate ____________. Those parts of 57 Islam (the civilization) that
have achieved a measure of success–such as Turkey and Indonesia–are exactly those regions
where modernization has been to a degree accomplished. Whatever disruption the
conservative terrorists accomplish, their ultimate goals, if the past is any guide, will not be
achieved by such activities.
Islam the religion is doing better than Islam the civilization. The religion, in fact, could
thrive without the civilization where freedom of religion is the rule.
A challenge in the West is to keep 58_______________________ of Islamic terrorists
from coloring our view of Islam poisoning our relationship with the majority of Muslims. W hether
Muslims can tolerate the West is another question.
A further challenge in the West is to avoid demanding that Islamic states conform to
Western democratic standards. By demanding that they meet our cultural standards we create
59_____________ (or should we encourage justice for women and other minorities?). Instead
we should show good will toward Islam and Islamic states while 60______________ Islamic
inspired acts of violence.
Although hampered by the conservative Muslims who (rightly or wrongly) resist change,
the prospects for Islamic resurgence–religious or civilizational–are enhanced by global
communications and trade.
Concluding questions:
Would secularization and modernization solve Islam’s problems without damage to the Islamic
faith?
Did secularization and modernization in the West damage Christianity?
How does fantasy in Muslims’ beliefs about the causes of their problems hurt Islam?
Does understanding Islam’s dilemma help in evaluating and reacting to Islamic terrorism?
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.45
Available slide shows:
World History (numbers and letters are for my reference):
1 The geographical setting of world history
1a Introduction to world history
1b The QUESTION (W here is the evidence)
1c NOW!
2 Civilization invented!
4 China slides
6 The Greeks
7 Rome, the Roman Empire, and Greco-Roman Civilization
7c The Rise of Christianity slides
8 Western Civilization Begins
13 Islam and Islamic Civilization
13a Islam: conflict without and within
13a Introduction to Islam: conflict without and within
14a Renaissance Art: Rebirth or something new?
14a Renaissance Art—shorter version
18 The Industrial Revolution: In Great Britain and elsewhere (with sound) [separate file
folder]
19b The Enlightenment
21b [American] Revolution and Union [Constitution]
21c Paradise Lost—The French Revolution [and Napoleonic Period] (with sound)
27 31 Years of Disaster: World War I – Causes, Course of the War, Effects [separate file
folder]
29 31 Years of Disaster: World War II – Causes, Course of the War (with sound)
[separate file folder]
33a You and time
A Key Dates in History
F Revolution!
G Diffusion: Plants, Animals, Diseases
H Diffusion: The Black Death
The above have print transcripts or expanded texts, and sometimes worksheets (as PFD files,
Word 2003 files, or WordPerfect files). Note: I have made some slide shows (using PowerPoint
2003) in a 9×16 format to match the new American TV standard. These were produced on a
widescreen computer; I have had problems getting them to show properly–that is, without
distortion–on a 3×4 computer.)
Art and architecture:
Art and Architecture comparisons
Famous Buildings (sets 1-5): pictures for identification quizzes (visual flash
cards)
Famous American Buildings and other structures: pictures for identification
quizzes (visual flash cards) [The above two are accompanied by an identifier file
partially annotated]
I.M. Pei
Icons in Western Art [with parodies of some of them]
Islam: conflict without and within 13a.46
D:\Islam project 2009\#d 13a Islam-conflict without and within.wpd, printed May 20, 2009 (10:50am)
Date: Period: