“I think confronted with the modern world or with the rest of the world, I think people are becoming aware that the Western and Islamic civilizations have more in common than apart. It was a German scholar, C. H. Becker, who said a long time ago that the real dividing line is not between Islam and Christendom; it's the dividing line East of Islam, between the Islamic and Christian worlds together on the one hand and the rest of the world on the other. I think there is a lot of truth in that.” PeopleThinkingWorldLongRealChristianTogetherCommonModernIslamWesternIslamicScholar Author:Bernard Lewis
“The Jewish Talmud says that the righteous peoples have an equal place in paradise. The Christians and Muslims agree in rejecting that; they claim that they are the fortunate recipients of God's final message and those who accepted will go to heaven and those who rejected go to hell. So there is a long struggle between the Dar al-Islam and the Dar al-Harb, which in effect was Christendom. This was the perceived enemy. And this has inevitably colored the perception of everything else.” LongChristianHeavenEnemyStruggleHellEqualPerceptionAgreeAcceptedRighteousRejected Author:Bernard Lewis
“Certainly Tunisia was the first in Muslim world. It's been like that for a long time and women play an important part in Tunisia. There are women in all professions. Doctors, dentists, lawyers, politicians, journalists and so on.” WorldLongImportantPoliticianProfessionLawyerJournalistDentist Author:Bernard Lewis
“In most of the countries in the Muslim world today, most of them are autocratic regimes that are unpopular if not detested by their people. They need a scapegoat and for a long time the imperialist served that purpose.” PeopleWorldLongCountryTodayPurposeScapegoat Author:Bernard Lewis
“If the conflict is about the size of Israel, then long and difficult negotiations can eventually resolve the problem. But if the conflict is about the existence of Israel, then serious negotiation is impossible.” IfsLongProblemDifficultExistenceImpossibleSeriousConflictSizeIsraelResolveNegotiation Book:Faith and Power: Religion and Politics in the Middle East Source: Faith and Power: Religion and Politics in the Middle East
