Book Reviews

Bernard LEWIS, The Muslim Discovery of Europe (New York/London:W.W. Norton & Co., 1982), 350 pp., Index & Illustrations. Price $19.95.The Muslims have had a long history of relations with WesternEuropean peoples. Some part of it was tumultous and violent and theother was peaceful and harmonious. It was the Muslims who held thetorch of civilization when the lights went out in Europe and elsewhere inthe world. And indeed it was the Muslims who passed on to Europe in theMiddle Ages the coveted intellectual jewels of the ancient world.However, such transactions and ties between the Western Europeanpeoples and the Muslim world have led to two major historicaldevelopments. The first was the renaissance in Europe, whichinterestingly enough led to the distancing of Europe from the MuslimWorld. The second was the subsequent development of learning and thesciences in Europe and the rise of European power to challenge,threaten, and finally defeat Muslim power in the world.It is indeed against this background that one can examine this book bythe well-known but controversial British orientalist, Professor BernardLewis. His book is certainly an important contribution to the limitedliterature on early and medieval Muslim transactions with theEuropean world. But in order to do justice to the work and its author, letus analyze its contents and see how and to what extent the authorcaptures the salient points about the Muslim discovery of the West.The book is divided into twelve chapters with a preface and a note onthe source of illustrations. In the first chapter, entitled "Contact andImpact", Professor Lewis traces the rise of Islam in the Middle East andthe geopolitical revisions that accompanied the Muslim ascendancy. Hepoints out that at the time the Muslim armies made their sweep over theMediterranean region Christianity served as the dominant worldview ofthe area's inhabitants. But within a very short span of time the Muslimswere able not only to conquer Christian lands but also to Arabicize andIslamize the hitherto non-Arabic, Christian peoples.Professor Lewis goes on to identify important milestones in Islamichistory. Among these milestones four are of great importance. First ofall, he talks about the Western perception of the Islamic threat. This wasevident in the desperate attempt to check the tide of lslamism inByzantium and later in the southern part of Western Europe.particularly in the Iberian Peninsula. He brings out an important point ...