When historians destroy history

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Jun 5, 2022 at 12:41

Dear Dr Pipes, I don't know whether Emily Greble is just ignorant or wilfully ignorant. I will give her the benefit of doubt. Her book may be a good resource to learn about Europe or Eastern Europe but not a good one to learn about Islam.

Europe (or the West) has a tendency to be Euro-centric. That is understandable. But, if the goal is to learn about Islam, the Western scholars must also look at the East.

Islam tried to spread westward and eastward symmetrically and identically. It was as violent, aggressive, and selfish in the West as in the East. And, had the same kind of early successes against the Jews and Christians of the West as against the Hindus, Zorostrians, and Buddhists of the East. The only difference was that Christianity woke up and learned to provide a solid challenge to Islam but the East did not. In fact, after a few centuries of defeats, the West, in fact, defeated Islam. The East never defeated Islam.

I have a simple advice to the western historians: do not make theories about Islam by just looking at Islam's interaction with the West. Also, look at the east and probably more deeply.

In your review of Emily Greble's book you asked her to expand her thesis to Western Europe as well. I will ask her to focus on Islam around the world and not just Europe.

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