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Bernard Lewis

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For the founder of the River Island retail chain, see Bernard Lewis (entrepreneur).
Prof. Bernard Lewis

Bernard Lewis (born May 31, 1916, London) is the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. He specializes in Muslim History and the interaction between Muslims and the West. His writings range from the pre-Islamic period, through Islam's classical and medieval ages, its premodern "gunpowder" empires, and its contemporary crisis. His works on the history of the Ottoman Empire are considered authoritative on the subject.

Lewis is one of the most widely read scholars of the Middle East, whose advice is frequently sought by policymakers. The Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing has written that, over a 60-year career, he has emerged as "the most influential postwar historian of Islam and the Middle East." <ref name="EH">Kramer, Martin. "Bernard Lewis", Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing, Volume 1, Fitzroy Dearborn, 1999, pp. 719-20.</ref>

Contents

[edit] Biography

Born to middle-class Jewish parents in London, Lewis became attracted to languages and history from an early age. While preparing for his bar mitzvah service at the age of eleven or twelve, the young Bernard, fascinated by a new language, and especially a new script, discovered an interest in Hebrew. He subsequently moved on to studying Aramaic and then Arabic, and later still, Latin, Greek, Persian, and Turkish. As with foreign languages, Lewis's interest in history was stirred thanks to the bar mitzvah ceremony, during which he received as a gift a book on Jewish history. <ref>Lewis, Bernard (2004). From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting The Middle East. Oxford University press, pp. 1–2. ISBN 0-19-517336-8. Retrieved on 2006-05-23.</ref>

He graduated in 1936 from the then School of Oriental Studies (SOAS, now School of Oriental and African Studies) at the University of London with a B.A. in History with special reference to the Near and Middle East, and obtaining his Ph.D. three years later, also from SOAS, specializing in the History of Islam. <ref name=princeton>"Bernard Lewis, Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Emeritus", Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Princeton, retrieved May 26, 2006.</ref> Lewis also studied law, going part of the way toward becoming a barrister, but returned to study Middle Eastern history. He undertook post-graduate studies at the University of Paris, where he studied with Louis Massignon and earned the "Diplôme des Études Sémitiques" in 1937. <ref name="EH">Kramer, Martin. (1999). "Bernard Lewis". Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing Vol. 1: pp. 719–720. London: Fitzroy Dearborn. Retrieved on 2006-05-23.</ref> He returned to SOAS in 1938 as an assistant lecturer in Islamic History.

During the Second World War, Lewis served in the British Army in the Royal Armoured Corps and Intelligence Corps in 1940-41, before being seconded to the Foreign Office. After the war he returned to SOAS, and in 1949 he was appointed to the new chair in Near and Middle Eastern History at the age of 33.<ref>Lewis (2004), pp. 3–4</ref>

In 1974, Lewis accepted a joint position at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study, also located in Princeton, New Jersey. The terms of his appointment were such that Lewis taught only one semester per year, and being free from administrative responsibilities, he could devote more time to research than previously. Consequently, Lewis's arrival at Princeton marked the beginning of the most prolific period in his research career during which he published numerous books and articles based on the previously accumulated materials.<ref>Lewis (2004), pp. 6–7</ref> In addition, it was in the U.S. that Lewis became a public intellectual. Upon his retirement from Princeton in 1986, Lewis served at Cornell University until 1990.<ref name="EH"/>

Lewis has been a naturalized citizen of the United States since 1982. He married Ruth Hélène Oppenhejm in 1947 with whom he had a daughter and a son before the marriage was dissolved in 1974.<ref name="EH"/>

[edit] Research

Martin Kramer claims Lewis as "the most influential postwar historian of Islam and the Middle East", whose authority extends beyond the academe to the general public. He is the pioneer of the social and economic history of the Middle East and is famous for his extensive research of the Ottoman archives.<ref name="EH"/>

Bernard Lewis began his research career with the study of medieval Arab, especially Syrian, history.<ref name="EH"/> His first article, dedicated to professional guilds of medieval Islam, had been widely regarded as the most authoritative work on the subject for about thirty years.<ref name="Humphreys">Humphreys, R. Stephen (May/June 1990). "Bernard Lewis: An Appreciation". Humanities vol. 11 (3): pp. 17–20.</ref>

However, after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Arab countries no longer admitted scholars of Jewish origin to conduct archival and field research there. Therefore, Lewis switched to the study of the Ottoman Empire, while continuing to research Arab history through the Ottoman archives,<ref name="EH"/> which had only recently been opened to Western researchers. A series of articles that Lewis published over the next several years revolutionized the history of the Middle East by giving a broad picture of the Islamic society, including its government, economy, and demographics.<ref name="Humphreys"/>

Contrary to the position that the backwardness of Muslim lands is a result of Western colonialism, Lewis argues that the decline of the Ottoman Empire and other Muslim countries was largely self-inflicted. Their failure to keep up with the West stemmed from their cultural arrogance, which was a barrier to creative borrowing. Lewis analyzes the causes and consequences of the Muslim inflexibility in his work Muslim Discovery of Europe (1982).<ref name="EH"/>

Revulsed at the Soviet and Arab attempts to delegitimize Israel as a racist country, Lewis wrote a study of anti-Semitism, Semites and Anti-Semites (1986).<ref name="EH"/>

In addition to his scholarly works, Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public: The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995).<ref name="EH"/> In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the interest in Lewis's work surged, especially his 1990 essay The Roots of Muslim Rage. Two of his books were published after 9/11: What Went Wrong? (written before the attacks) and The Crisis of Islam.

[edit] Views and influence on contemporary politics

In the mid-1960s, Lewis emerged as a commentator on the issues of the modern Middle East, and his analysis of Arab-Israeli conflict and the rise of militant Islam brought him publicity and aroused significant controversy. Lewis's policy advice has particular weight thanks to his scholarly authority.<ref name="Humphreys"/> U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney remarked: "...in this new century, his wisdom is sought daily by policymakers, diplomats, fellow academics, and the news media."<ref>Remarks by Vice President Cheney at the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia Luncheon Honoring Professor Bernard Lewis (May 1, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-05-25.</ref>

A harsh critic of the Soviet Union, Lewis continues the liberal tradition in Islamic historical studies. Although his early Marxist views had a bearing on his first book The Origins of Ismailism, Lewis subsequently discarded Marxism. His later works are a reaction against the left-wing current of Third-worldism, which came to exercise significant influence over Middle Eastern studies.<ref name="EH"/>

Lewis advocates closer Western ties with Israel and Turkey, which he saw especially important in light of the extension of the Soviet influence in the Middle East. Modern Turkey holds a special place in Lewis's view of the region due to the country's efforts to become a part of the West.<ref name="EH"/>

Lewis views Christendom and Islam as civilizations that have been in perpetual collision ever since the advent of Islam in the 7th century. In a seminal essay The Roots of Muslim Rage (1990), he saw the struggle between the West and Islam gathering strength. It was in that essay that he coined the phrase "clash of civilizations", which received prominence in the eponymous book by Samuel P. Huntington.<ref name="Ajami">Ajami, Fouad (May 1, 2006). A Sage in Christendom: A personal tribute to Bernard Lewis. OpinionJournal. Retrieved on 2006-05-23.</ref>

In August 2006, in an article about whether the world can rely on the concept of mutual assured destruction as a deterrent in its dealings with Iran, Lewis wrote in the Wall Street Journal about the significance of August 22 in the Islamic calendar. The Iranian president had indicated he would respond by that date to U.S. demands regarding Iran's development of nuclear power; Lewis wrote that the date corresponded to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427, the day Muslims commemorate the night flight of the prophet Muhammad to heaven and back. Lewis wrote that it would be "an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and, if necessary, of the world." <ref>"August 22. Does Iran have something in store?", Wall Street Journal, August 8, 2006.</ref> The article received significant press coverage. <ref>August 22 coverage:

[edit] Criticism and controversies

Lewis is known for his literary sparrings with Edward Said, the Palestinian-American literary theorist, who criticized Orientalist scholarship, claiming Lewis's work to be a prime example of Orientalism, in his 1978 book Orientalism. Said asserted that Westerners are inherently prejudiced in their studies of Islam and the Middle East unless they share the political goals of the people they study and that Orientalism was a form of racism and a tool of imperialist domination. Rejecting the view that only Muslims and their political sympathizers can objectively write about Islam, Lewis responded that Orientalism developed as a facet of European humanism, independently of the European imperial expansion. <ref name="EH"/>

In a November 1993 Le Monde interview, Lewis said that the Ottoman Turks’ killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 was not "genocide", but the "brutal byproduct of war".<ref>Dhimmitude and Bernard Lewis revisited by Robert Spencer, February 4, 2004</ref> On June 21st 1995, the Tribunal de grande instance of Paris condemned Lewis for his statement because "by concealing elements contrary to his opinion, he failed to his duties of objectivity and prudence"<ref>Bernard Lewis Condemned For Having Denied The Reality Of The Armenian Genocide by Nathaniel Herzberg, Le Monde, p. 11, June 23, 1995</ref>. In 2002 Lewis stated "There is no evidence of a decision to massacre. On the contrary, there is considerable evidence of attempt to prevent it, which were not very successful. Yes there were tremendous massacres, the numbers are very uncertain but a million may well be likely," and that because of this and other significant differences between the Armenian massacres and the Holocaust, parallels are "rather absurd".<ref>Statement of Professor Bernard Lewis, Princeton University, "Distinguishing Armenian Case from Holocaust", Assembly of Turkish American Associations, April 14, 2002 (PDF)</ref> In 2006 he re-iterated this point, arguing that "the issue is not whether the massacres happened or not, but rather if these massacres were as a result of a deliberate preconceived decision of the Turkish government," and that "there is no evidence for such a decision."<ref>Getler, Michael. "Documenting and Debating a 'Genocide'", The Ombudsman Column, PBS, April 21, 2006. Retrieved October 9, 2006.</ref>

[edit] Books

[edit] References

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[edit] External links

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