Historian who coined ‘clash of civilisations’ dies aged 101
THE BRITISH-AMERICAN historian Bernard Lewis died in New Jersey on Saturday at the age of 101.
Born in London in 1916, halfway through the First World War, he published his first scholarly article in 1937, two years before war broke out again in Europe.
Lewis was a scholar of Islam known for his work on the history of the Ottoman Empire and for coining the phrase “clash of civilisations” to explain the state of the religion today.
His work attracted interest from Bush administration officials in the United States — and scorn from their opponents — after September 11, 2001, when he argued Islam was in longterm decline and that extremists such as Osama bin Laden exploited this frustration to commit acts of terror.
It was a view that established him as an adviser to President George W Bush, who was seen with Lewis’s briefing documents in the months before and after the 2003 Iraq War.
In a tribute, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote: “Bernard Lewis was a true scholar and great man. I owe a great deal of my understanding of the Middle East to his work
“He was a man who believed, as I do, that Americans must be more confident in the greatness of our country, not less.”
He was also lauded by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said: “Bernard Lewis was one of the great scholars of Islam and the Middle East in our time. We will be forever grateful for his robust defense of Israel.
“I will always feel privileged to
have witnessed first-hand his extraordinary erudition and I gleaned invaluable insights from our many meetings over the years.
“I was also deeply moved by his wide ranging conversations with my late father, Professor Ben Zion Netanyahu.”
One of his strongest critics was Edward Said, a literature professor born in Mandatory Palestine who later moved to the United States.
The two professors developed a rivalry, with Said — who died in 2003 — accusing Lewis of promoting a patronising and racist view of Islam.
It was a position held by many Palestinian and left-wing critics, leading Lewis himself to remark to the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2012: “For some, I’m the towering genius [while] for others, I’m the de v i l incarnate.”