What Went Wrong?
Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response
Bernard Lewis (2002)
Warning: For mature readers only
There was a time in world history when the Islamic world was like what America is today; the place of culture where people could sit down in coffee cafes to partake in intellectual discourses all day whilst the rest of the world, including Europe, was in the dark ages. Fast forward into the 21st century, one would find the situation reversed. People in the Islamic world cannot wait to get out of their toxic countries. If before, refugees used to move from the West to the East, now the tide is reversed. The author asks, 'What went wrong?'.
In essence, the event that marked the beginning of the end of the heydays of the Ottoman Empire must surely be the failure at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. It was the time that the improvement in the weaponry and the military planning of the Europeans started to manifest.
Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response
Bernard Lewis (2002)
Warning: For mature readers only
There was a time in world history when the Islamic world was like what America is today; the place of culture where people could sit down in coffee cafes to partake in intellectual discourses all day whilst the rest of the world, including Europe, was in the dark ages. Fast forward into the 21st century, one would find the situation reversed. People in the Islamic world cannot wait to get out of their toxic countries. If before, refugees used to move from the West to the East, now the tide is reversed. The author asks, 'What went wrong?'.
In essence, the event that marked the beginning of the end of the heydays of the Ottoman Empire must surely be the failure at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. It was the time that the improvement in the weaponry and the military planning of the Europeans started to manifest.
If before, coffee drinking was introduced by the Muslims after obtaining it from Ethiopia to call it theirs, their nemesis started procuring their supplies from their colonies. Instead of getting sugar from Persia and India, the West sourced it from the Carribean Islands.
The culture of wanting to learn and explore drove Muslims to greater heights during their earlier conquests had somehow dwindled. In many Islamic empires, concerted efforts that were made to translate, study, argue, and debate have lulled over the years. They had developed a superiority complex. Their old technologies soon were no match for what the rest of the world could offer.
The printing technology helped to disseminate information and educate the masses in Christendom, whilst the Muslim monarchs were quite content in keeping their subjects ignorant. In fact, printing in the Arabic language was considered sacrilegious as it was the language of the Quran.
The Muslims were comfortable with the sundial clocks and water clocks which kept time, albeit with its imperfections. The sundial could not be used when the sun was down and time varied on the position of the sun. The water clocks also had technical issues. The Europeans took the time-keeping concept seriously, improved it with mechanical clocks, and sold it back to the Turks. Timekeeping not only eased appointments but also aided transportation, ticketing and even music. Tempo helped to develop music.
The concept of freedom, which is a construct of the French, is relatively alien in the Islamic world. It fascinated citizens of the Muslim countries, but unfortunately, what they got were despots and authoritarian leaders who were happy to thump their citizens under their tight-fisted regimes. Democracy in the real Western sense is still sorely missing. Despite the many attempts to separate the State from religion, unlike their cousins in Christendom who learnt the hard lessons of the tyranny of the Church, it remains an uphill task. With most economic activities in the hands of the monarchs, real social justice seems hard to come by.
Music, art and culture are generally frowned upon. Even though Islam started off as a liberator of women and the oppressed at the time of its inception, it failed to keep up with the change of the seasons. Consequently, it is somehow construed as treating its women as second-class citizens.
Another two groups of individuals who feel discriminated against are the non-believers living in a majority Muslim population and the slaves. Even though modern societies have accepted the concept of human rights, freedom and liberty as their pillars, these people on the fringe of society feel left out of the race.
In conclusion, the author states that the once-mighty Islamic world is having a reversal of fortune. It is left poor, weak and ignorant behind the rest of the world in its military capability, economic achievements and political stability.
Its society, in reflection, tries to find the cause of their predicament. Besides the usual suspects of Jews, Mongols, Turks, Shias and Christians, their latest punching bags are the Saud family and the USA. I suppose it never dawned on them that change starts with the man with the mirror. In this hostile world, every leader would and should put the interest of their own people as their utmost priority and should put their God-given faculties to use. In a way, we all deserve the leader that we choose!
The culture of wanting to learn and explore drove Muslims to greater heights during their earlier conquests had somehow dwindled. In many Islamic empires, concerted efforts that were made to translate, study, argue, and debate have lulled over the years. They had developed a superiority complex. Their old technologies soon were no match for what the rest of the world could offer.
The printing technology helped to disseminate information and educate the masses in Christendom, whilst the Muslim monarchs were quite content in keeping their subjects ignorant. In fact, printing in the Arabic language was considered sacrilegious as it was the language of the Quran.
The Muslims were comfortable with the sundial clocks and water clocks which kept time, albeit with its imperfections. The sundial could not be used when the sun was down and time varied on the position of the sun. The water clocks also had technical issues. The Europeans took the time-keeping concept seriously, improved it with mechanical clocks, and sold it back to the Turks. Timekeeping not only eased appointments but also aided transportation, ticketing and even music. Tempo helped to develop music.
The concept of freedom, which is a construct of the French, is relatively alien in the Islamic world. It fascinated citizens of the Muslim countries, but unfortunately, what they got were despots and authoritarian leaders who were happy to thump their citizens under their tight-fisted regimes. Democracy in the real Western sense is still sorely missing. Despite the many attempts to separate the State from religion, unlike their cousins in Christendom who learnt the hard lessons of the tyranny of the Church, it remains an uphill task. With most economic activities in the hands of the monarchs, real social justice seems hard to come by.
Music, art and culture are generally frowned upon. Even though Islam started off as a liberator of women and the oppressed at the time of its inception, it failed to keep up with the change of the seasons. Consequently, it is somehow construed as treating its women as second-class citizens.
Another two groups of individuals who feel discriminated against are the non-believers living in a majority Muslim population and the slaves. Even though modern societies have accepted the concept of human rights, freedom and liberty as their pillars, these people on the fringe of society feel left out of the race.
In conclusion, the author states that the once-mighty Islamic world is having a reversal of fortune. It is left poor, weak and ignorant behind the rest of the world in its military capability, economic achievements and political stability.
Its society, in reflection, tries to find the cause of their predicament. Besides the usual suspects of Jews, Mongols, Turks, Shias and Christians, their latest punching bags are the Saud family and the USA. I suppose it never dawned on them that change starts with the man with the mirror. In this hostile world, every leader would and should put the interest of their own people as their utmost priority and should put their God-given faculties to use. In a way, we all deserve the leader that we choose!
No comments:
Post a Comment