A genuflecting scholar
Bernard Lewis made his reputation as one of the great interpreters of the Islamic world to the West, as what used to be called an Orientalist. In a recent edition of The New Yorker he very rightly contrasted the American ignorance of history with the Muslim street’s ability instantly to pick up on references to seventh-century events. He responds to Western advocacy of an Islamic Reformation by pointing out that there has been one already, and that the protestants are called the Wahhabis. He advances the startling idea that haram, which (in one context) means the privacy of home life, serves to make economic inequality less visible; as opposed of course to ourselves, who have always preferred gleefully to rub the noses of the poor in that inequality.
So far, so good; but then he attributes the ‘official denial’ of Iraqi involvement in 911 to the ‘fear of confronting Saddam Hussein’. This is a most peculiar coda, given that the only reason anyone was ever given to think that Saddam might have had anything remotely to do with 911 was the black propaganda created precisely in order to sell the invasion. Lewis’ avowal of that propaganda is thus reminiscent of the ritual genuflection to the Party that Soviet academics were obliged to append to their scholarship.
2 Responses to “A genuflecting scholar”
The Wahhabis as Protestants? Now there is some food for thought!
Yes, Wahhabi rule bears more than a casual resemblance to Calvin’s Geneva. That wasn’t Hugo’s point, but it’s true as well.
Leave a Reply