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Arabs and Westerners: A Historical View
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17280 |
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MODERN THOUGHT
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2 / 1990 |
5,049 Words |
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John O. Voll
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When the French army occupied Damascus after World War I, its commander is said to have gone to the tomb of Saladin. He banged on the grave and announced, "Saladin, we have returned!" In the 1950s, as Arab nationalist leaders like Nasser in Egypt began to achieve independence from European rule, they were often acclaimed as the "new Saladins." Saladin, the Muslim leader who defeated western European crusaders in the twelfth century, has become one symbol of Muslim-Western interaction.
The image of Saladin reflects the centuries of conflict between Muslims and Westerners. However, conflict is not the only style of relationship maintained between the two civilizations. Throughout the centuries there have also been profound cultural exchanges, which have importantly affected development of both the Islamic world and the West. These more positive experiences are usually overshadowed in the popular imagination by the dramatic events of holy wars. In world historical terms, however, the creative interaction has been at least as important as the hostile relations.
Contemporary world affairs are characterized by a high level of interdependence. The major societies are part of a global system of relationships that makes isolation impossible. At the same time, international relations are often characterized by mistrust and violence. This seems especially true of relations between some Western states and some Arab and Islamic states, such as currently between the United States and Libya and Iran. Today, as has long been true, the more positive relationships are often less visible than the hostile ones but are at least as important.
THE FOUNDATION OF THE RELATIONSHIPS
Arab-Islamic and western European civilizations emerged at roughly the same time in history. Throughout their histories, even from the earliest periods, there has been direct contact and interaction between these two societies. Both participated in creating a broad network of economic, political, and military relations. They also shared many of the same problems and experiences, since both were created on a sociopolitical base of earlier imperial societies and were inspired by particular religious visions of the world based on the traditions of ethical monotheism originating in the Middle East.
Western European civilization grew from the ruins of the western part of the Roman Empire and was identified with Christianity. It began to assume a distinctive identity by the eighth century, and its emergence is sometimes identified with the society created by Charlemagne (ruled 768-814) and his successors. Carolingian society was militarily strong, but complex economic organization and urban life and sophisticated intellectual activity only gradually reemerged following the disintegration of Roman urban society.
In the Middle East, the end of the older classical empires did not result in a significant decline of urban or economic life. In the sixth century, two great classical empires, the Eastern Roman (or Byzantine) and the Sassanid (heir to the Persian imperial tradition) Empire, dominated the region. Most of the Byzantine areas in the Middle East and all of the Sassanid Empire were conquered by a new major force in the seventh century, Islam. This conquest did not, however, weaken complex urban economic and intellectual
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