Islamic culture’s famed dignity can erupt into rage-driven violence in upheaval

Evidence

There is something in the religious culture of Islam which inspired, in even the humblest peasant or peddler, a dignity and a courtesy toward others never exceeded and rarely equalled in other civilizations. And yet, in moments of upheaval and disruption, when the deeper passions are stirred, this dignity and courtesy toward others can give way to an explosive mixture of rage and hatred which impels even the government of an ancient and civilized country—even the spokesman of a great spiritual and ethical religion—to espouse kidnapping and assassination, and try to find, in the life of their Prophet, approval and indeed precedent for such actions. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1584

Categorization

• XREF: This is THE ‘clash of civilizations’ thesis passage — anchors the whole Said-adjacent cluster on how Islamic rage is attributed to inherent religious culture.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: the essentializing move — locating Muslim violence in ‘religious culture’ rather than political/economic history — is exactly the move Said’s critique targets.