Faith and Power: Religion and Politics in the Middle East
Bernard Lewis
Oxford University Press 2010
£10.49
Bernard Lewis, Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, is widely acclaimed to be one of the world’s top scholars on the Middle East. His scholarship is surrounded by controversy, however, as his theories about What Went Wrong (2001) in the Middle East formed the intellectual justification for the war in Iraq. Indeed, Dick Cheney, who headed the guest list at Lewis’ 90 birthday party, stated, “ [Lewis’] wisdom is sought daily by policymakers, diplomats, fellow academics, and the news media.” American scholar Edward Said, on the other hand, has accused him of “downright ignorance.”
Lewis’ new collection of lectures and articles both confirms the controversy and solidifies his position as one of the most influential academics in his field. Drawing on his vast historical knowledge of the region, Lewis analyses the relationship between religion and politics in the Middle East, the prospects for democratic governance in the region, and how this relates to the Western world.
An underlying theme throughout the book is the separation between religion and politics, or lack thereof. According to Lewis, the formative scriptural narratives of Islam are very different from those of Judaism and Christianity. Whereas Moses was not permitted to enter the Promised Land and Christ was crucified, Muhammad conquered his promised land and hounded his own state. In other words, the separation of church and state was a Christian solution to a Christian dilemma, and has had little or no meaning in the classical Islamic context. Lewis views Christendom and Islam as civilizations that have been in perpetual collision since the latter’s advent in the 7th century. This tends to give his analysis a somewhat deterministic flair, insinuating that future clashes are inevitable.
Lewis argues that the Middle East is currently backwards and its decline was a largely self-inflicted condition resulting from both culture and religion, as opposed to the post-colonialist view. Thus, the West and America in particular tend to be portrayed as a somewhat passive receiver of Muslim hostility. Lewis argues that Muslims have been outraged by the rise of the West and that it is “natural” that the greatest anger is turned against that power which is seen as the leader of the West, i.e. America. The recent interventions in the Middle East are also presented in this light, with Lewis emphasizing the peaceful response to the numerous attacks on US government installations during the 1980s and 1990s. “It was not until 9/11 that Washington felt compelled to respond with force, first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq, which were perceived as the sources of these attacks,” Lewis asserts, while somehow leaving out the importance of the very confrontational policies of the Bush administration.
However, at times Lewis also proves his critics wrong by offering a thoroughly nuanced view of the history of Middle East, arguing that understanding is the only way forward and accentuating that at “no point do the basic text of Islam enjoin terrorism and murder.” He further asserts that “to speak of dictatorship as being the immemorial way of doing things in that part of the world is simply untrue. It shows ignorance of the Arab past, contempt for the Arab present, and unconcern for the Arab future.” In other words, the traditional system of Islamic government is both consensual and contractual and that oppressive Middle Eastern regimes are modern, indeed recent, and very alien to the foundations of Islamic civilization.
Nevertheless, while Lewis argues that “conditions have never been better for democracy to take root” he fails to clarify exactly how to best take advantage of this precious historical moment. One statement asserting that “democratic ideas have deep roots in these countries, and given the chance, they may soon prevail, and in so doing, inspire others” is curiously followed by quite another argument in the following chapter: “No one can give, still less impose, freedom.” This is then contradicted in yet another chapter, where Lewis controversially contends: “Either we bring them freedom, or they destroy us.”
Faith and Power is thus a somewhat confusing mix of assertions highlighting that something must be done, offset by an unwillingness to specify how to proceed. Lewis underlines continuously that as a historian he has very little to say about the future, and yet he makes very powerful statements about it.
Bernard Lewis’ perhaps most important message is the essential importance of cooperation and understanding in what he calls a clash of civilizations, “[and] in this clash, in this generalized mood of resentment, every difference is exaggerated, every quarrel exacerbated.” In such an age of growing tension, Lewis’ work certainly constitutes an important contribution to an ever-relevant debate about the relations between faith and power.
