The surest test of one's understanding of a text in another language is translating it into one's own.
— Bernard Lewis
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More quotes by Bernard Lewis
The emergence of the new monarchies, in which one man could determine the politics and religion of the state, made assassination an effective as well as an acceptable weapon.
The overwhelming majority of classical theologians, jurists, and traditionalists [i.e., specialists in the hadith] . . . understood the obligation of jihad in a military sense.
In most Muslim countries Islam is still the ultimate criterion of group identity and loyalty. It is Islam which distinguishes between self and other, between insider and outsider, between brother and stranger.
[T]ruth is in its usual place, somewhere in the middle between the extremes.
The New Antisemitism (2006)
You know the expression "My country, right or wrong." Well, these days, Americans are apt to think, "My country, wrong."
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