The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror, Bernard Lewis - Book Report/Review Example

According to Lewis, the Islamic world is facing an internal struggle over how to deal with problems like economic inequality, poverty, the existence of dictatorial rulers, and the incapability to keep up with emerging first world countries. The Islamic world face two solutions which are entirely opposite to each other, the book concerns these choices the Islamic world has to face. He brings out the origins of politics in Islam and goes through the rise of militant Islam in Egypt, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.

He also examines the impact of Saudi oil money and Wahhabism on the rest of the Islamic world. Many Muslim Fundamentalists oppose those leaders and influential people within Islam, who fight for the peaceful spread of political and economic freedom as a way to solve these problems. One of the most notable Muslim Fundamentalist groups is the Wahhabism. These fundamentalists blame the modernization and Western influence the Islamic world has accepted for all these issues. They also support an unconditional denial of the West.

This denial includes violence and harm against irreverent Muslim leaders who have embraced and been influenced by the West. It also includes violence against Western interests and countries. The objective of these fundamentalists is to establish societies and stated on the basis of Islamic Law and traditional customs. Lewis does not provide a practical solution to this dilemma; he has done a remarkable job of putting together a great deal of information in a fairly short book. With his book, he manages to keep the attention of the readers and at the same time educate them.

Bernard informs that the decree of this fight or struggle between anti-Western and Western control inside the Islamic world will decide whether the Islamic world stands shoulder to shoulder with other countries, or whether it will relapse into an obstinate conflict with the non-Muslim countries. The growing unfriendliness towards the West has a varied history the Islamic world, its newfound interest in the United States of America. The suicide bombers cult is also a part of this unfriendliness.

Bernard Lewis helps us understand the why there has been an increased rigid denial of modernity by many people in the Muslim world, people who want to return to a sacred past.