The Islam/West Debate: Documents from a Global Debate on Terrorism, U.S. Policy, and the Middle East

by David Blankenhorn, Abdou Filali-Ansary, Hassan I. Mneimneh, Alex Roberts

Overview

In 2002, sixty prominent American intellectuals released an open letter defending the use of military force against al-Qa'ida. The letter sparked an impassioned international debate unlike any other, in which jihadists, journalists, liberal Muslims, and German pacifists engaged one another on the most pressing issues of our time: terrorism, U.S. policy, and Islam-West relations. A valuable resource for specialist and non-specialist alike, this volume chronicles that debate and includes contributions from both sides of the political spectrum in America and the Middle East-and even from al-Qa'ida.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780742550070
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	09/15/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 8.94(h) x 0.66(d)

About the Author

David Blankenhorn is the president of the Institute for American Values. He is the author of Fatherless America: Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem (1995) and has co-edited seven other books. Abdou Filali-Ansary is director of the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, Aga Khan University in London. He co-founded the bilingual Arabic and French journal Prologues: revue maghrébine du livre. Hassan I. Mneimneh is the vice president of the Iraq Memory Foundation and the director of its Documentation Project. In 2004, he was the executive director of the Iraq Foundation, a nonprofit organization promoting democratic change in Iraq. Alex Roberts is a research assistant at the Institute for American Values. In addition to Islam/West relations, his research areas include marriage in the African-American community and the well-being of children.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introducing the Debate Chapter 2 What We’re Fighting For: A Letter from America Chapter 3 What We’re Fighting For: A Follow-Up Chapter 4 Key Intellectualism Chapter 5 The Letter is American, the Schizophrenia Islamic Chapter 6 Options Are Limited Chapter 7 How We Can Coexist Chapter 8 Please Prostrate Yourselves Privately Chapter 9 Letter to the American People Chapter 10 Reading an Enemy: Analyzing al-Qa‘ida’s “Letter to America” Chapter 11 What We’re Defending: A Letter from Makkah in Response to the Open Letter from Sixty American Intellectuals Chapter 12 Can We Coexist? A Response from Americans to Colleagues in Saudi Arabia Chapter 13 Saudis Ban Paper with U.S. Scholars’ Letter Chapter 14 American Values Abroad Chapter 15 The First Point of Disagreement Chapter 16 Learning through Letters Chapter 17 The New Intra-Arab Cultural Space in Form and Content: The Debates Over an American “Letter” Chapter 18 The Need for a Paradigm Shift in American Thinking: Middle Eastern Responses to “What We’re Fighting For”; “Together with the Democratic Iraq Initiative and the Sharon Initiative” Chapter 19 Pre-Emption, Iraq, and Just War: A Statement of Principles Chapter 20 A World of Justice and Peace Would Be Different Chapter 21 Letter from U.S. Citizens to Friends in Europe Chapter 22 Is the Use of Force Ever Morally Justified? Chapter 23 The U.S.-German Conversation Chapter 24 In the Twenty-First Century, There Is No Longer Any Justification for War Chapter 25 Just War and Internationalism: Oppositional or Complementary? Chapter 26 The Arab World and the United States: A Just War?

Editorial Reviews

Gathered here in one place is a remarkably comprehensive display of the clashes—some strident, some more thoughtful—over “the clash of civilizations.” There is no substitute for listening to both friends and enemies having their say in their own words. Following September 11, the question was frequently asked, “Why do they hate us so?” The Islam/West Debate is a good place to find out. But be warned that finding out will not necessarily, will not probably, result in greater hopefulness about alleviating disagreements.

First Things