“To accept the story of the Arab destruction of the library of Alexandria, one must explain how it is that so dramatic an event was unmentioned and unnoticed not only in the rich historical literature of medieval Islam, but even in the literatures of the Coptic and other Christian churches, of the Byzantines, of the Jews, or anyone else who might have thought the destruction of a great library worthy of comment. That the story still survives, and is repeated, despite all these objections, is testimony to the enduring power of a myth.” StillsStoriesMightChristianLiteratureChurchAcceptingRichEventsDestructionHistoricalIslamEndureLibraryJewScaryWorthyMythDespiteDramaticCommentTestimonyMedievalObjectionsUnnoticedChristian ChurchAlexandriaByzantine Author:Bernard Lewis
“In the West nowadays, it's very common to talk about the Judeo- Christian tradition. It's a common term. The term is relatively modern but the reality is an old one. One could with equal justification talk about a Judeo-Islamic tradition or a Christian-Islamic tradition. These three religions are interlinked in many signification ways, which marks them off from the rest of the world. And I think there is a growing awareness of this among Christians and among Jews, and even to some extent to some Muslims. That's happening for obvious reasons.” ThinkingWorldReasonRealityChristianTermCommonModernAwarenessEqualTraditionJewObviousJustification Author:Bernard Lewis
“If you look at the movement of refugees, in Vladimir Lenin's phrase, "the people who voted with their feet," the movement of refugees until comparatively modern times was overwhelmingly from West to East, not from East to West. Refugees of all kinds were constantly fleeing from Christendom to the Islamic lands. Jews of course and Muslims of course, but even some Christians and the movement of refugees went overwhelmingly that way.” PeopleKindChristianModernJewAll KindsIslamicRefugee Author:Bernard Lewis
“One reason which I find particularly fascinating about Israel is this. There is no such thing as a Jewish civilization. There is a Jewish culture, a Jewish religion, but there is no such thing as a Jewish civilization. The Jews were a component basically of two civilizations. In the Western world, we talk about the Judeo-Christian tradition and you talk about the Judeo-Islamic tradition because there were large and important Jewish communities living in the lands of Islam.” WorldImportantReasonCultureCommunityTraditionIslamWesternJew Author:Bernard Lewis
“When we talk about the Judeo-Christian or the Judeo-Muslim tradition, it's important to remember that we are speaking of a Jewish component of civilization, but not in itself a civilization. What is happening now in Israel is that you have a coming together of Jews from the Christian world and Jews from the Muslim world with different cultures.” WorldImportantDifferentChristianTogetherRememberCultureTraditionJewDifferent Cultures Author:Bernard Lewis
“They call themselves Sephardic Jews, but that's not the important thing. The important thing is that some come from the Muslim world and some come from the Christian world. I would call them the Muslim Jews and the Christian Jews. It sounds absurd but you know what I mean.” WorldMeanImportantChristianJewAbsurd Author:Bernard Lewis
“The golden age of equal rights in Spain was a myth, and belief in it was a result, more than a cause, of Jewish sympathy for Islam. The myth was invented by Jews in nineteenth-century Europe as a reproach to Christians.” AgeChristianBeliefCausesResultsRightsCenturyEqualEuropeIslamJewMythGoldenSpainEqual RightsNineteenth CenturyReproachGolden Age Book:Islam in History: Ideas, People, and Events in the Middle East Source: Islam in History: Ideas, People, and Events in the Middle East
