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Looking for peace in troubled times

People of the Book -- The Forgotten History of Islam and the West By Zachary Karabell John Murray (Publishers), London, 2007 328 pages We seem to live in an age in which expressions using the word "clash" are quite commonplace and have even, to some degree, become clich*d

Simon Marcus Gower (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sun, August 3, 2008

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Looking for peace in troubled times

People of the Book -- The Forgotten History of Islam and the West

By Zachary Karabell

John Murray (Publishers), London, 2007

328 pages

We seem to live in an age in which expressions using the word "clash" are quite commonplace and have even, to some degree, become clich*d. It is almost a trend, even a norm, in thinking to use expressions like -- these are times of "clash of civilizations", "a clash of cultures", "a clash of religions", "a clash of Islam and the West".

The list of "clashes", real or imagined, could probably go on and on but it may be wondered whether talk of these "clashes" is negatively introducing and supporting ideas of conflict.

They may, in fact, be self-fulfilling prophecies that we could well do without.

It could, therefore, be considered refreshing to be able to read a book that seeks to shed a somewhat different light on the relationships between Islam and the West. "Relationships" -- the plural -- is appropriate here, as the book illustrates that throughout centuries the interactions between Muslims, Christians and Jews have been many and various.

The emphasis of the book is then to seek out examples and evidence of how people of these three different faiths have coexisted and cooperated; and a principal aim of the book is to illustrate that it has not all been animosity and violent clashes.

It is though, given this aim to highlight peaceful coexistence, rather ironic that the book does have to reflect on periods of conquest, conflict and so violence between peoples of differing religions.

However, the point is made consistently throughout the book that once such periods of conflict had passed, decades and even centuries of peaceful coexistence followed.

As the author notes: "For centuries ... coexistence was the norm but not one whose echo can be heard today."

The People of the Book is evidently written with the intent of trying to present a more balanced picture of how Islam and the West have existed and interacted through the centuries.

It does not cover up or ignore the fact that there have been bloody conflicts and indeed slaughters, but it does try to show that such awful collisions have not been the only history experienced here and that they should not be allowed to overshadow a history of peace.

The very title of the book may be seen as representative of the kind of respect that would seem to be so badly needed these days. The author notes that from the very beginnings of Islam, Jews and Christians were seen by Muslims as being different but related to them all the same.

It is noted that Muslims recognized that Jews and Christians worshipped the same god and were given the same revelation as Muhammad and so in honor of these facts they were called abl al-kitab -- the People of the Book.

Mutual respect and honor are obviously things that the author wishes to highlight and encourage in this book but in painting a more balanced picture of history the author does not shy away from recognizing that peace between peoples and cooperation within communities was often borne of dubious beginnings or motives.

The notion that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" is recognized as a motivating factor in alliances that effectively maintained the peace and produced a veneer of tolerance.

Similarly, political expediency to maintain power was often the source of tolerance and cooperation whether it was open and active partnerships or merely distant acceptance of the "other".

The Baghdad of some 1300 years ago is cited as an example of this.

The Caliph al-Mansur, having decided to build a new capital on the River Tigris that would become Baghdad, had to recognize early on that the majority of the population ruled by the Abbasid dynasty was in fact made up of Jews or Christians.

This led to deliberate policies of inclusion and developing awareness of alternative traditions and philosophies. The Abbasid caliphs included non-Muslims in the affairs of state. Both Jews and Christians held respected and important administrative positions that showed acceptance of difference.

Difference was often not only respected but actively pursued for, in effect, the greater good. Caliphs came to understand that diverse points of view could actually be a benefit to their states. They saw that diverse views could advance knowledge "and that such advancement was to the greater glory of God".

These were then times in which we could recognize highly democratic principles at work. But the extent to which such times are focused on is pitifully and regrettably small. Instead, what are more commonly focused on are the negative and nasty clashes of history.

The author really quite openly shows his abhorrence of the way in which the past has been allowed to or has even been used to negatively impact the present.

There are, practically, admonishments within the book for distortions of history; and so the author highlights that the past is viewed from a "lens formed by the bitterness and hatred of our present". But we may wonder how we arrived at such bitterness and hatred.

Again, this book would suggest that this predicament is caused by the circulating and swirling distortions of history. The Crusades were, quite literally, a bloody mess but they have come to be seen as symbolic of the conflict between Islam and the West.

The Crusades can be so misrepresented that it is believed that they are part of near ceaseless warring between Christians and Muslims, but as Karabell notes this is mere "myth".

The Crusades were, without question, instances of awful clashes and the causes of much death and destruction but again this is cited as an anomaly.

They were initiated by a Pope (Urban) with the intention of "liberating" Jerusalem from the Muslims but that Pope's call to arms was "unprecedented" and the Crusades were "sorry" and "pathetic" chapters in world history.

The author of this book, Zachary Karabell, is obviously deeply concerned and keen to encourage readers to question a representation of history predicated on hate, and he wants more people to reflect on a past of peace. His position is one of some knowledge and so authority, having studied history at Columbia and gone on to a "further degree" in Modern Middle East Studies from Oxford.

His background is, then, credit-worthy but his messages are consistently both common-sense and telling. Toward the end of the book, having brought us through centuries that were not all conflict and bloody hatred, he presents us with a modern day example of tolerance that he ponders over as a possible model for the future.

His suggestion that people can "turn their aspirations into reality because they are unencumbered by the history of conflict" is telling, as is his note that it is possible for people to look for the "betterment of themselves, and their families, uninterested in dogma, theology and hatred".

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