Bernard Lewis Bernard Lewis , FBA ( born May 31 , 1916 ) is a British - American historian specializing in oriental studies who is also known as a public intellectual and political commentator . He is the Cleveland E . Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University . Lewis ' expertise is in the history of Islam and the interaction between Islam and the West , and is especially famous in academic circles for his works on the history of the Ottoman Empire . Lewis served as a soldier in the British Army in the Royal Armoured Corps and Intelligence Corps during the Second World War before being seconded to the Foreign Office . After the war , he returned to the School of Oriental and African Studies ( SOAS ) at the University of London and was appointed to the new chair in Near and Middle Eastern History . Lewis is a widely read expert on the Middle East , and is regarded as one of the West ’ s leading scholars of that region . His advice has been frequently sought by policymakers , including the Bush administration . In the " Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing , " Martin Kramer , whose Ph . D . thesis was directed by Lewis , considered that , over a 60 - year career , Lewis has emerged as " the most influential postwar historian of Islam and the Middle East . " Lewis is known for his controversial views on the Armenian genocide . He is notable for his public debates with the late Edward Said , concerning the latter ' s book " Orientalism " ( 1978 ) , which criticized Lewis and other European Orientalists . Biography . Bernard Lewis was born to middle - class Jewish parents in Stoke Newington , London . He became interested in languages and history while preparing for his bar mitzvah . Lewis graduated in 1936 from the School of Oriental Studies ( now SOAS , School of Oriental and African Studies ) at the University of London with a B . A . in history with special reference to the Near and Middle East ; and earned his Ph . D . three years later , also from SOAS , specializing in the history of Islam . Lewis also studied law , going part of the way toward becoming a solicitor , but returned to study Middle Eastern history . He undertook post - graduate studies at the University of Paris , where he studied with the orientalist Louis Massignon and earned the " Diplôme des Études Sémitiques " in 1937 . He returned to SOAS in 1938 as an assistant lecturer in Islamic History . During the Second World War , Lewis served in the British Army in the Royal Armoured Corps and as a Corporal in the Intelligence Corps in 1940 – 41 , before being seconded to the Foreign Office . After the war , he returned to SOAS , and in 1949 , at the age of 33 , he was appointed to the new chair in Near and Middle Eastern History . In 1974 , aged 57 , Lewis accepted a joint position at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study , also located in Princeton , New Jersey . The terms of his appointment were such that Lewis taught only one semester per year , and being free from administrative responsibilities , he could devote more time to research than previously . Consequently , Lewis ' s arrival at Princeton marked the beginning of the most prolific period in his research career during which he published numerous books and articles based on the previously accumulated materials . In addition , it was in the U . S . that Lewis became a public intellectual . Upon his retirement from Princeton in 1986 , Lewis served at Cornell University until 1990 . Lewis has been a naturalized citizen of the United States since 1982 . He married Ruth Hélène Oppenhejm in 1947 with whom he had a daughter and a son before the marriage was dissolved in 1974 . In 1966 , Lewis was a founding member of the learned society , Middle East Studies Association of North America ( MESA ) , but in 2007 , he broke away and founded Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa ( ASMEA ) to challenge MESA , which the " New York Sun " noted as " dominated by academics who have been critical of Israel and of America ' s role in the Middle East . " The organization was formed as an academic society dedicated to promoting the highest standards of research and teaching in Middle Eastern and African studies , and related fields , with Lewis as Chairman of its academic council . In 1990 the National Endowment for the Humanities selected Lewis for the Jefferson Lecture , the U . S . federal government ' s highest honor for achievement in the humanities . His lecture , entitled " Western Civilization : A View from the East , " was revised and reprinted in " The Atlantic Monthly " under the title " The Roots of Muslim Rage . " His 2007 Irving Kristol Lecture , given to the American Enterprise Institute , was published as " Europe and Islam " . Research . Lewis ' influence extends beyond academia to the general public . He is a pioneer of the social and economic history of the Middle East and is famous for his extensive research of the Ottoman archives . He began his research career with the study of medieval Arab , especially Syrian , history . His first article , dedicated to professional guilds of medieval Islam , had been widely regarded as the most authoritative work on the subject for about thirty years . However , after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 , scholars of Jewish origin found it more and more difficult to conduct archival and field research in the Arab countries , where they were suspected of espionage . Therefore , Lewis switched to the study of the Ottoman Empire , while continuing to research Arab history through the Ottoman archives , which had only recently been opened to Western researchers . A series of articles that Lewis published over the next several years revolutionized the history of the Middle East by giving a broad picture of Islamic society , including its government , economy , and demographics . Lewis argues that the Middle East is currently backward and its decline was a largely self - inflicted condition resulting from both culture and religion , as opposed to the post - colonialist view which posits the problems of the region as economic and political maldevelopment mainly due to the 19th - century European colonization . In his 1982 work " Muslim Discovery of Europe , " Lewis argues that Muslim societies could not keep pace with the West and that " Crusader successes were due in no small part to Muslim weakness . " Further , he suggested that as early as the 11th century Islamic societies were decaying , primarily the byproduct of internal problems like " cultural arrogance , " which was a barrier to creative borrowing , rather than external pressures like the Crusades . In the wake of Soviet and Arab attempts to delegitimize Israel as a racist country , Lewis wrote a study of anti - Semitism , " Semites and Anti - Semites " ( 1986 ) . In other works he argued Arab rage against Israel was disproportionate to other tragedies or injustices in the Muslim world : the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and control of Muslim - majority land in Central Asia , the bloody and destructive fighting during the Hama uprising in Syria ( 1982 ) , the Algerian civil war ( 1992 – 98 ) , and the Iran – Iraq War ( 1980 – 88 ) . In addition to his scholarly works , Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public : " The Arabs in History " ( 1950 ) , " The Middle East and the West " ( 1964 ) , and " The Middle East " ( 1995 ) . In the wake of the September 11 , 2001 attacks , the interest in Lewis ' s work surged , especially his 1990 essay " The Roots of Muslim Rage " . Three of his books were published after 9 / 11 : " What Went Wrong ? " ( written before the attacks ) , which explored the reasons of the Muslim world ' s apprehension of ( and sometimes outright hostility to ) modernization , and " The Crisis of Islam " , and " Islam : The Religion and the People " ( published in 2009 ) . Armenian Genocide . The first two editions of Lewis ' " The Emergence of Modern Turkey " ( 1961 and 1968 ) describe the Armenian massacres of World War I as " the terrible holocaust of 1915 , when a million and a half Armenians perished " . In later editions , this text is altered to : " the terrible slaughter of 1915 , when , according to estimates , more than a million Armenians perished , as well as an unknown number of Turks . " Lewis was later one of 69 scholars to co - sign a 1985 petition asking the US Congress to avoid a resolution condemning the events as genocide . The change in Lewis ' textual description of the Armenian massacres , and his signing of the petition against the Congressional resolution , was controversial among some historians and journalists , who suggested that Lewis was engaging in historical revisionism to serve his own political and personal interests . The original text had already drawn criticism for what some historians believe to be its exaggeration of unity and strength among Armenians : " [ Lewis ] implies that both had equal military and political force at their disposal to defend their interests . The fact is that the Armenians had neither a police force nor an army " . Lewis later called the label " genocide " the " Armenian version of this history " in a November 1993 " Le Monde " article , for which he faced a civil proceeding in a French court . He was ordered to pay one franc as damages for his statements on the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey . Lewis has stated that while mass murders did occur , he did not believe there was sufficient evidence to conclude it was government - sponsored , ordered or controlled and therefore did not constitute genocide . The court stated that " by concealing elements contrary to his opinion , he neglected his duties of objectivity and prudence " . Three other court cases against Bernard Lewis failed in the Paris tribunal , including one filed by the Armenian National Committee of France and two filed by Jacques Trémollet de Villers . When Lewis received the National Humanities Medal from US President George W . Bush in November 2006 , the Armenian National Committee of America objected : " The President ' s decision to honor the work of a known genocide denier — an academic mercenary whose politically motivated efforts to cover up the truth run counter to the very principles this award was established to honor — represents a true betrayal of the public trust . " Lewis ' views on the Armenian Genocide were criticized by a number of historians and sociologists , among them Alain Finkielkraut , Yves Ternon , Richard G . Hovannisian , Albert Memmi , Pierre Vidal - Naquet , Stephen Zunes described Lewis as a " notorious genocide - denier " , and Yair Auron suggested that " Lewis ' stature provided a lofty cover for the Turkish national agenda of obfuscating academic research on the Armenian Genocide " . Israel Charny wrote that Lewis ' " seemingly scholarly concern . . . of Armenians constituting a threat to the Turks as a rebellious force who together with the Russians threatened the Ottoman Empire , and the insistence that only a policy of deportations was executed , barely conceal the fact that the organized deportations constituted systematic mass murder " . Charny compares the " logical structures " employed by Lewis in his denial of the genocide to those employed by Ernst Nolte in his Holocaust negationism . In response , Lewis argued that : Lewis stated that he believed " to make [ the Armenian Genocide ] , a parallel with the Holocaust in Germany " was " rather absurd . " In an interview with " Ha ' aretz " he stated : Views and influence on contemporary politics . In the mid - 1960s , Lewis emerged as a commentator on the issues of the modern Middle East , and his analysis of the Israeli - Palestinian conflict and the rise of militant Islam brought him publicity and aroused significant controversy . American historian Joel Beinin has called him " perhaps the most articulate and learned Zionist advocate in the North American Middle East academic community " . Lewis ' s policy advice has particular weight thanks to this scholarly authority . Dick Cheney remarked that , " in this new century , his wisdom is sought daily by policymakers , diplomats , fellow academics , and the news media . " A harsh critic of the Soviet Union , Lewis continues the liberal tradition in Islamic historical studies . Although his early Marxist views had a bearing on his first book " The Origins of Ismailism " , Lewis subsequently discarded Marxism . His later works are a reaction against the left - wing current of Third - worldism , which came to be a significant current in Middle Eastern studies . Lewis advocates closer Western ties with Israel and Turkey , which he saw as especially important in light of the extension of the Soviet influence in the Middle East . Modern Turkey holds a special place in Lewis ' s view of the region due to the country ' s efforts to become a part of the West . He is an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Turkish Studies , an honor which is given " on the basis of generally recognized scholarly distinction and . . . long and devoted service to the field of Turkish Studies . " Lewis views Christendom and Islam as civilizations that have been in perpetual collision since the advent of Islam in the 7th century . In his essay " The Roots of Muslim Rage " ( 1990 ) , he argued that the struggle between the West and Islam was gathering strength . According to one source , this essay ( and Lewis ' 1990 Jefferson Lecture on which the article was based ) first introduced the term " Islamic fundamentalism " to North America . This essay has been credited with coining the phrase " clash of civilizations " , which received prominence in the eponymous book by Samuel Huntington . However , another source indicates that Lewis first used the phrase " clash of civilizations " at a meeting in Washington in 1957 where it is recorded in the transcript . In 1998 , Lewis read in a London - based newspaper " Al - Quds Al - Arabi " a declaration of war on the United States by Osama bin Laden . In his essay " A License to Kill " , Lewis indicated he considered bin Laden ' s language as the " ideology of jihad " and warned that bin Laden would be a danger to the West . The essay was published after the Clinton administration and the US intelligence community had begun its hunt for bin Laden in Sudan and then in Afghanistan . Views on Islam . Lewis presents some of his conclusions about Islamic culture , Shari ' a Law , jihad , and the modern day phenomenon of terrorism in his text , " Islam : The Religion and the People " . He writes of jihad as a distinct " religious obligation " , but suggests that " it is a pity " that people engaging in terrorist activities are not more aware of their own religion : Muslim fighters are commanded not to kill women , children , or the aged unless they attack first ; not to torture or otherwise ill - treat prisoners ; to give fair warning of the opening of hostilities or their resumption after a truce ; and to honor agreements . . . . At no time did the classical jurists offer any approval or legitimacy to what we nowadays call terrorism . Nor indeed is there any evidence of the use of terrorism as it is practiced nowadays . " In Lewis ' view , the " by now widespread terrorism practice of suicide bombing is a development of the 20th century " with " no antecedents in Islamic history , and no justification in terms of Islamic theology , law , or tradition . " He further comments that " the fanatical warrior offering his victims the choice of the Koran or the sword is not only untrue , it is impossible " and that " generally speaking , Muslim tolerance of unbelievers was far better than anything available in Christendom , until the rise of secularism in the 17th century . " Stance on the Iraq War . Jacob Weisberg has described Lewis as " perhaps the most significant intellectual influence behind the invasion of Iraq " . Michael Hirsh has attributed to him the view that regime change in Iraq would provide a jolt that would " modernize the Middle East " and suggested that Lewis ' allegedly ' Orientalist ' theories about " What Went Wrong " in the Middle East , and other writings , formed the intellectual basis of the push towards war in Iraq . Writing in 2008 , Lewis did not advocate imposing freedom and democracy on Islamic nations . " There are things you can ' t impose . Freedom , for example . Or democracy . Democracy is a very strong medicine which has to be administered to the patient in small , gradually increasing doses . Otherwise , you risk killing the patient . In the main , the Muslims have to do it themselves . " Ian Buruma , writing for " The New Yorker " in an article subtitled " The two minds of Bernard Lewis " , finds Lewis ' s stance on the war difficult to reconcile with Lewis ' s past statements cautioning democracy ' s enforcement in the world at large . Buruma ultimately rejects suggestions by his peers that Lewis promotes war with Iraq to safeguard Israel , but instead concludes " perhaps he ( Lewis ) loves it ( the Arab world ) too much " : Alleged nuclear threat from Iran . In 2006 , Lewis wrote that Iran had been working on a nuclear weapon for fifteen years . In August 2006 , in an article about whether the world can rely on the concept of mutual assured destruction as a deterrent in its dealings with Iran , Lewis wrote in the " Wall Street Journal " about the significance of August 22 , 2006 in the Islamic calendar . The Iranian president had indicated he would respond by that date to U . S . demands regarding Iran ' s development of nuclear power ; Lewis wrote that the date corresponded to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427 , the day Muslims commemorate the night flight of the prophet Muhammad from Jerusalem to heaven and back . Lewis wrote that it would be " an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and , if necessary , of the world . " According to Lewis , mutual assured destruction is not an effective deterrent in the case of Iran , because of what Lewis describes as the Iranian leadership ' s " apocalyptic worldview " and the " suicide or martyrdom complex that plagues parts of the Islamic world today " . He then suggests the possibility of a nuclear strike on Israel on August 22 , 2006 : The article received significant press coverage though the day passed without any incident . In his 2009 book , Juan Cole responded that there was no evidence to suggest that Iran " had been working assiduously on a nuclear weapon for fifteen years . " He also takes issue with Lewis ' suggestion that Ahmedinejad " might deploy this weapon against Israel on August 22 , 2006 " : Debates with Edward Said . Lewis is known for his literary sparrings with Edward W . Said , the Palestinian - American literary theorist whose aim was to deconstruct what he called Orientalist scholarship . Said , a professor at Columbia University , characterised Lewis ' s work as a prime example of Orientalism in his 1978 book " Orientalism " . Said asserted that the field of Orientalism was political intellectualism bent on self - affirmation rather than objective study , a form of racism , and a tool of imperialist domination . He further questioned the scientific neutrality of some leading Middle East scholars such as Bernard Lewis on the Arab World . In an interview with " Al - Ahram " Weekly , Said suggested that Lewis ' knowledge of the Middle East was so biased it could not be taken seriously , and claimed " Bernard Lewis hasn ' t set foot in the Middle East , in the Arab world , for at least 40 years . He knows something about Turkey , I ' m told , but he knows nothing about the Arab world . " Edward Said considered that Lewis treats Islam as a monolithic entity without the nuance of its plurality , internal dynamics , and historical complexities , and accused him of " demagogy and downright ignorance . " Rejecting the view that western scholarship was biased against the Middle East , Lewis responded that Orientalism developed as a facet of European humanism , independently of the past European imperial expansion . He noted the French and English pursued the study of Islam in the 16th and 17th centuries , yet not in an organized way , but long before they had any control or hope of control in the Middle East ; and that much of Orientalist study did nothing to advance the cause of imperialism . " What imperial purpose was served by deciphering the ancient Egyptian language , for example , and then restoring to the Egyptians knowledge of and pride in their forgotten , ancient past ? " Debates with Noam Chomsky . In a 2002 interview with the CBC ' s " Hot Type " program , linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky stated : Chomsky claimed that Bernard Lewis omitted evidence of Western culpability for failures in the region . Lewis responded :