The West’s Self-Perceived Mission: Bernard Lewis’s Views on Western Saviorism

Abstract

The confrontation and rivalry between the Western world and the Islamic world is not a new phenomenon; these two civilizations have each, at different points in history, sought to demonstrate their superiority over the other. Following the beginning of the Renaissance movement in the West, the balance gradually shifted in favor of the West. Through fundamental transformations at various levels, Western societies entered the path of development and progress. Since the West’s advancement over the East, various Orientalists have attempted to explain the reasons for this development and to offer prescriptions regarding how to manage the new conditions and how to deal with a world perceived as more backward. One of these thinkers is Bernard Lewis. He attributes the responsibility for Muslims’ backwardness to Muslims themselves and, in doing so, attempts to assign a mission to the West for reforming the Islamic world. The main objective of this article is to determine, first, the nature of the mission that Lewis assigns to the West; and second, the theoretical and epistemological foundations on which Lewis’s view is based, as well as whether these foundations are firmly established. According to the findings of this article, numerous epistemological objections can be raised against Bernard Lewis’s view of the “mission of the West.” Drawing on Feyerabend’s theories, Lewis’s views are understood not as knowledge about Islam and Islamic societies, but rather as a form of ideology placed in the service of power.