Analysis Of Karen Armstrong's Is A Holy War Inevitable?

Is a Holy War Inevitable? Analysis

Karen Armstrong’s, “Is a Holy War Inevitable?,” is an argumentative explanation to Islamic fundamentalism and Muslim extremism. Throughout the essay, Armstrong continually makes the point that Muslim extremism is not a result from the hatred of America, but from the hatred of American policies. She even goes on to explain how the United States is viewed the Great Satan. Western civilization is viewed by conservative members of the Islamic faith as being faithless and unethical. Karen describes how Western civilizations, including the United States and Britain, have become examples of modernization that much of the world wants to replicate. These countries are continually advancing, both in politics and industrialization. On the contrary, Islamic

fundamentalists believe that the government and a civilization should be ran based on the scriptures of the Koran. Overall, the essay, “Is a Holy War Inevitable?,” analyzes how Muslim extremism developed because of Islamic countries turning towards modernization. The Muslims believed that the United States had influenced each of the former fundamentalist countries to modernize, which is why extremists began to hate the policies of the United States and other Western civilizations. They feared annihilation due to the lack of faith.
“Is a Holy War Inevitable?” uses explanations to argue the main point.

To describe how Western policy is the root of Muslim extremists, Karen writes, “Muslims, see the rage rooted in Islamic cultures. Some feel a civilizational inevitability: that Islam is entirely incompatible with Western culture and that the West has long been heading for a major confrontation with the Islamic world” (Armstrong 43). Another way that Armstrong tries to persuade readers to agree with her is by using multiple historical illustrations. For example, to describe how modernization is contagious to other countries, Karen refers back to the 19th century Egyptian writer, Rifa’ah al-Tahtawi, who began to be captivated by European Enlightenment and modernization. Additionally, Armstrong tries to explain the problem of modernization taking time by informing the readers that European and American modernization took 300 years to develop. She uses this to show that many Islamic countries are trying to copy the Western civilization format overnight, creating a lack of religion. Lastly, Karen Armstrong uses comparative strategies to portray Islamic views. She compares the United States to the Great

Satan.
Overall, Karen Armstrong’s “Is a Holy War Inevitable?” is an argument that uses definitions, historical context, and comparisons to explain how the hate that Muslim extremists have has developed overtime. The way that Armstrong writes this essay, in a way, enrages skeptics and encourages them to backlash in disapproval. “Is a Holy War Inevitable?” is an interesting read, but can prove to be confusing at times, as the main points seem to change throughout the essay.

Works Cited
Armstrong, Karen. "Is a Holy War Inevitable?." The Norton Mix, edited by Elizabeth Rodriguez Kessler, W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2017, pp. 42-55.