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3 - Islam and the West: Theoretical Confusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2014

Hassan Hanafi
Affiliation:
Cairo University
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Summary

The discussion about Islam and the West is not one that only emerged in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in the United States, but is actually an old issue going back to the spread of Islam more than 14 centuries ago around the shores of the Mediterranean after the fall of the Roman Empire. Moreover, the conflict between the East and the West is older still; it goes back to the aggression between the Persians and the Romans; the conquests of Alexander the Great in the heart of Asia; the conflict throughout the Mediterranean between the European northern and African southern shores during the Classical Graeco-Roman era; the Christian–Islam period; and lastly the modern colonialism–liberation stage. This historical legacy and cultural accumulation have made the two shores of the Mediterranean akin to two combating knights with neither dominating the other throughout history, while a love–hate relationship and exchange of influences between the two shores—often referred to in current literature as “Islam and the West”. It is a civilization opposing a geographical area or more correctly two civilizations in opposition— Islamic and Western civilizations. It can also be called an opposition between two geographical areas – the West and the East – or Western and Eastern influences, or between departing and incoming influences. Therefore, dialogue between the North and South, the Arabs and the Europeans and all attempts at establishing Middle Eastern or Mediterranean civilizations have faltered, not only because of the “Zionist Entity” – which can be seen as the West in the East – but also because of this long historical legacy.

Type
Chapter
Information
Islam and the West
A Civilized Dialogue
, pp. 67 - 80
Publisher: Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research
Print publication year: 2012

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