"Of all these offenses the one that is most widely, frequently, and vehemently denounced is undoubtedly imperialism—sometimes just Western, sometimes Eastern (that is, Soviet) and Western alike. But the way this term is used in the literature of Islamic fundamentalists often suggests that it may not carry quite the same meaning for them as for its Western critics. In many of these writings the term "imperialist" is given a distinctly religious significance, being used in association, and sometimes interchangeably, with "missionary," and denoting a form of attack that includes the Crusades as well as the modern colonial empires. One also sometimes gets the impression that the offense of imperialism is not—as for Western critics—the domination by one people over another but rather the allocation of roles in this relationship. What is truly evil and unacceptable is the domination of infidels over true believers. For true believers to rule misbelievers is proper and natural, since this provides for the maintenance of the holy law, and gives the misbelievers both the opportunity and the incentive to embrace the true faith. But for misbelievers to rule over true believers is blasphemous and unnatural, since it leads to the corruption of religion and morality in society, and to the flouting or even the abrogation of God's law. This may help us to understand the current troubles in such diverse places as Ethiopian Eritrea, Indian Kashmir, Chinese Sinkiang, and Yugoslav Kossovo, in all of which Muslim populations are ruled by non-Muslim governments. It may also explain why spokesmen for the new Muslim minorities in Western Europe demand for Islam a degree of legal protection which those countries no longer give to Christianity and have never given to Judaism. Nor, of course, did the governments of the countries of origin of these Muslim spokesmen ever accord such protection to religions other than their own. In their perception, there is no contradiction in these attitudes. The true faith, based on God's final revelation, must be protected from insult and abuse; other faiths, being either false or incomplete, have no right to any such protection."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Bernard Lewis,
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kosovo
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Kosovo
Kosovo (Albanian: Kosovë, Kosova; Serbian: Косово or Косово и Метохија, Kosovo or Kosovo i Metohija) is a partially recognized country in the former Yugoslavia. In 2007 it unilaterally declared independence from Serbia. Its independence was recognized by most of the European Union, the United States, and their allies but not by Serbia itself, Russia, China, and other countries.
10 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Kosovo →
Related Quotes
"Kosovo is now the biggest problem confronting Yugoslavia."
"During the transition to the new Clinton administration, Madeleine Albright famously asked Gen. Colin Powell, then ch…"
"The Yugoslavs accuse us of allegedly being chauvinists, of interfering in their internal affairs, and of demanding a …"
"The Serbs do not want to renounce Kosovo and they remember how, by the late 13th century, the plain was conquered by …"
"When Communist dictator Josip Broz Tito took over in 1945, he attempted to quash Serbian nationalism. He preached tha…"
"Yugoslavia cannot exist without Kosovo! Yugoslavia will become disintegrated without Kosovo! Yugoslavia and Serbia wi…"
"Forget all the nonsense that you may have heard about Kosovo being "the Jerusalem" of Serbia. It may contain some bea…"
"It is very important to send a new signal of confidence and hope that this (Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, North Macedo…"
"And Dayton could not stop Serbia from launching one last campaign of ethnic cleansing, again with the most dire conse…"
"We lose something important if we forget Kosovo and the harrowing events that finally led to the self-determination o…"