Bernard Lewis, The Crisis of Islam
Research and Study Guide

Links

 

Use this guide to choose topics for your Reading Responses and possibly also for your Term Essay.  Use the History of the Middle East Database for basic facts and outlines of events and movements. Some of the more specific topics below are linked to items on the database.  Many links to related topics can be found at Models of Islamic Revivalism. The World Factbook (CIA) can be extremely useful.  See also Benchmarks in Islamic History , The Political and Religious Landscape of the Middle East at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century, History by Region or State, History According to Chronology, and Overview of Islam.  More on Bernard Lewis. 

Introduction	Chapter 5, Satan and the Soviets
Chapter 1, Defining Islam	Chapter 6, Double Standards
Chapter 2, The House of War	Chapter 7, A Failure of Modernity
Chapter 3, From Crusaders to Imperialists	Chapter 8, The Marriage of Saudi Power and Wahhabi Teaching
Chapter 4, Discovering America	Chapter 9, The Rise of Terrorism

 

Introduction

Benchmarks in Islamic History	Osama bin Laden
Overview of Islam	Post 9/11
The Ottoman Period	1991 Gulf War
World War I and Post-Ottoman Period
Wahhabis and Saudis

 

 

 

Chapter 1, Defining Islam

Benchmarks in Islamic History	High Middle Ages
Overview of Islam	The Ottoman Period
Muhammad's Life and Times	Organization of Islamic Conference
Islamic Conquests, 7th Century	Models of Islamic Revivalism
Early Middle Ages

 

Chapter 2, The House of War

Models of Islamic Revivalism	General History of Ottomans and Turkey
Jihad in the Qur'an	Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
The Crusades
Early Ottoman Period
Later Ottoman Period

 

Chapter 3, From Crusaders to Imperialists

The Crusades	Ottoman Period
Salah al-Din ("Saladin")	World War I Early Mandate Period
Final Siege of Vienna (1683)	Later Mandate Period, World War II
Napoleon Invades Egypt (1798)
European Colonialism in Middle East

 

Chapter 4, Discovering America

Ottoman Period	Sayyid Qutb
World War I Early Mandate Period	Models of Islamic Revivalism
Later Mandate Period, World War II	Iran's Mossadegh nationalizes oil (1951)
Ba'ath Party	Iranian Revolution (1979)
Nasser Period

 

Chapter 5, Satan and the Soviets

Iranian Revolution (1979)	Israel and the Arabs
Seizure of Great Mosque, Mecca (1979)	Baghdad Pact, 1955
Wahhabis and Saudis	Czech Arms Deal, 1955
Azerbaijan	Collapse of Soviet Union
Afghanistan

 

Chapter 6, Double Standards

U.S. Policy, 1950s - 1973	U.S. Policy, 2000-2001
U.S. Policy, 1974 - 1989	U.S. Policy, post-9/11-2003
U.S. Policy, early 1990s	U.S. Policy from 2003 Invasion of Iraq
U.S. Policy, mid 1990s	Siege of Hama, Syria (1982)
U.S. Policy, late 1990s	al-Qaeda

 

Chapter 7, A Failure of Modernity

Arab Human Development Report (2002)	Arab Human Development Report (2005)

 

Chapter 8, The Marriage of Saudi Power and Wahhabi Teaching

Wahhabis and Saudis
Models of Islamic Revivalism
Muhammad Abd al-Salaam Faraj

 

Chapter 9, The Rise of Terrorism

Jihad in the Qur'an	Palestine Liberation Organization (1960s)
Salman Rushdie Affair (1989)	Hizbullah
Ayatollah Khomeini	Islamic Jihad
"Assassins" (eleventh century)	Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda
Sunni-Shia Split (seventh century)	Interview with a Suicide Bomber
	Arab Reactions to Terror (2003)

Syllabus

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