Bernard Lewis remains one of our greatest living scholars on Islam and the Middle East. His September 1990 Atlantic article "The Roots of Muslim Rage" remains essential reading, and his incisive comments re: the Saudis and freedom vs. tyranny in Arab political culture have also been covered here. In the May/June 2005 issue of Foreign Affairs, he pens Freedom & Democracy in the Middle East:
"To speak of dictatorship as being the immemorial way of doing things in the Middle East is simply untrue. It shows ignorance of the Arab past, contempt for the Arab present, and lack of concern for the Arab future. Creating a democratic political and social order in Iraq or elsewhere in the region will not be easy. But it is possible, and there are increasing signs that it has already begun."
Worth your time. (Hat Tip - Dr. Zin)
UPDATE: Dave Schuler notes that religions absorb some of the culture under which they arise, independent of their belief systems. "For Christianity that context was two-fold: Indo-European culture generally and Rome specifically... Islam, too, grew up in a context and that context was Arab tribalism and elitism."
JUSTICE = FREEDOM?
I remain skeptical of Lewis' claim that what the West calls Freedom, Muslims call Justice. When we talk about freedom, we generally talk about spheres of social, economic and political activity that are beyond governmental control. In effect, justice is reserved to how the government acts in the public sphere; freedom is what transpires in the private sphere. True, things don't divide themselves naturally into spheres, but the emphasis in justice (including in Lewis' precidents) is on the good that government can and should do, not on the individual.
The problem is that an emphasis on the State as the source of good is the diminishment of the intermediary "consulting" powers (the landed gentry, the city merchants, the tribal chiefs), whose weakening Lewis laments. Ultimately, Lewis seems to find historic support for a benign dictator that listens to others. Sort of like a Hashemite monarch.
re: Ancestor Worship.
Here's the text of an email I sent to David Frum of NRO:
"Hi, David;
In your VE Day+ article, you take on the German patriotism dilemma. My take, and this is a knock against almost all chauvinists everywhere, is that NO ONE can take credit for the achievements, or blame for the sins, of their ancestors. You weren't there, and had no influence on the events in question. To hear, e.g., some American patriots/nationalists talk, you'd think they helped compose the Declaration of Independence, or liberated Auschwitz, personally. And so on.
What CAN and should be shared with ancestors (if you intend to continue living in and with their heritage) is their goals and principles. Those you can indeed take credit for endorsing and supporting, if you choose to do so and follow through honestly. And here is where I think Germans are at a loss. What goals of their parents and founding ancestors can they take credit for? Germany as an entity dates only back to the days of Bismark, and was not born in any burst of inspiration or idealism even then, IIRC. So, in effect, modern Germans must cull some cultural ideals and priorities from their history and then build on them. In other words, they have to create a set of goals and principles to be proud of. To some extent, it may be that the establishment of the EU is filling this requirement for many, as is the project to revive and re-invigorate East Germany.
But in any case, without trying to specify or suggest what their goals should or should not be, they have to generate their own inspiration, a rather tougher task than most countries' citizens are currently faced with.
GWB's "stunning" success follows, I believe, directly from his appeal to past/current American goals and principles and his invitation to living Americans to advance same. People love an inspiring challenge.
The above analysis is very interesting when re-directed elsewhere, too: Japan, Iraq, China, Russia, France, Sweden, Taiwan, etc. What goals and principles can proud citizens of each of those countries sign on to and promote? The answers tell much about how individuals, groups, and institutions are currently reacting and behaving, and are likely to for the foreseeable future. IMHO."
Even more than Germany, the ME needs to get over the "sins and wins of the fathers" syndrome, and build on what's worthwhile, while repudiating what isn't.
The link to the Atlantic article is broken ("The Roots of Muslim Rage"). I found a pdf version on the internet archive.