> [!note] New - 2026-03-22 ![[assets/covers/ethnocentrism.jpg]] Ethnocentrism is the evaluative framework by which one culture judges another culture or religion by the standards and norms of its own, rather than by universal or comparative criteria. In encounters between Western and Islamic civilisations, this tendency has produced systematic misrepresentations, prejudicial stereotyping, and a failure to understand different worldviews on their own terms. ## Western Literary and Intellectual Judgement The Western intellectual tradition has long subjected Islamic figures to unfavourable scrutiny through distinctly Christian frameworks. Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, does not escape this judgement; his presence in Dante’s *Inferno*, Canto 28, depicts him as a sower of discord and reflects a broader ethnocentric impulse.[^jabbour-crescent-p22] This literary condemnation assumes that Islamic religion and its foundational figures should be evaluated by Christian theological categories and moral standards, rather than understood within their own theological and cultural context. ## Contemporary Stereotyping and the Psychology of Collective Blame The post-9/11 era illustrates the persistence and human cost of ethnocentrism. When reflecting on the September 11 attacks, a Muslim scholar observed the painful contradiction at the heart of Western responses: people expressed deep anger at Muslim extremists whilst simultaneously applying collective blame to all Muslims as a monolithic threat.[^jabbour-crescent-p28] This reveals the psychological mechanism of ethnocentrism; the failure to extend to others the same analytical distinctions one applies to one’s own group. The prejudice extends into academic and personal spaces where Muslim peers face direct accusations of being hidden terrorists or sleeper agents, forced to prove their peaceful intentions and loyalty.[^jabbour-crescent-p29] The double standard extends beyond interpersonal accusation into geopolitical framing. An American citizen who joins the Israeli army and kills Palestinians draws no label of terrorism in Western perception, whilst a Palestinian American who uses only his body to resist occupation is immediately designated a terrorist.[^jabbour-crescent-p40] The challenge to read the Samson story and decide whether he qualifies as a terrorist (he destroyed many through his own body as weapon) reveals that the label tracks not the act itself but the political allegiance of the observer. Ahmad, presenting the Muslim worldview, presses this directly: does the Western reader perceive Samson as a terrorist for using his body as his only available weapon to kill those he saw as enemies?[^jabbour-crescent-p104] The question discloses that the asymmetry is not moral but tribal; it is the identity of the actor, not the nature of the act, that determines condemnation. ## Christianity Perceived as a Western Religion For many Muslims, the claim that Christianity is a Western religion is not a theological argument but an empirical one: centuries of Crusades, colonialism, and missionary enterprise conducted under Western cultural banners have fused Christianity with Western civilisation in the Muslim imagination.[^jabbour-crescent-p37] Jabbour’s instinctive counter-observation (that Christianity is not a Western religion) points to a deeper irony: Western cultural dominance has obscured Christianity’s own Middle Eastern origins, estranging Western Christians from the soil that produced their faith.[^jabbour-crescent-p38] The perception is thus itself a product of the very ethnocentrism it appears to name. ## Fanaticism as Attitudinal Superiority Ethnocentrism finds its most acute expression in the fanatic, who is driven not primarily by theology but by an attitude of hate, superiority, and self-righteousness.[^jabbour-crescent-p85] The theological justification is secondary; the core impulse is the compulsion to demonise whoever dissents, paired with legalism and hypocrisy. This reframes fanaticism as a psychological posture rather than a doctrinal position, which means no religion or culture possesses an immunity from producing it. ## Selected passages > ‘==Christianity is not a Western religion,== I observed to myself.’ > > *The Crescent through the Eyes of the Cross*, p. 38 ([[assets/pages/jabbour-crescent/fulltext-p32.jpg|📖]] [[assets/pages/jabbour-crescent/notebook-p8.jpg|📓]]) > ‘==Christianity is a Western religion,== and we Muslims have a long history with you Christians.’ > > *The Crescent through the Eyes of the Cross*, p. 37 ([[assets/pages/jabbour-crescent/fulltext-p32.jpg|📖]] [[assets/pages/jabbour-crescent/notebook-p8.jpg|📓]]) ## Appearances - *The Crescent through the Eyes of the Cross*, Jabbour, Nabeel T. - Foreword by Jim Petersen, p. 12 - Chapter 2: Why Bother?, pp. 22–29 - Chapter 3: Ahmad’s Worldview, pp. 37–40 - Chapter 6: The Driving Force of Assumptions, p. 85 - Chapter 8: Militancy or Tolerance, p. 104 ## Related [[Interfaith Understanding]] . [[Islamic Mysticism]] . [[Western Evangelisation Methods]] . [[American Foreign Policy and Cultural Impact]] . [[Kingdom of God vs Christendom]] [^jabbour-crescent-p22]: [[The Crescent through the Eyes of the Cross]], p. 22 ([[assets/pages/jabbour-crescent/fulltext-p21.jpg|📖]] [[assets/pages/jabbour-crescent/notebook-p4.jpg|📓]]) . ‘Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, does not escape the judgment of the Western analyst and critic either. Dante puts him in Canto 28 of the Inferno.’ [^jabbour-crescent-p28]: Ibid., p. 28 ([[assets/pages/jabbour-crescent/fulltext-p25.jpg|📖]] [[assets/pages/jabbour-crescent/notebook-p4.jpg|📓]]) . ‘As he talked about his memories of 9/11, it was a very painful time for both of us. He recalled how he was glued to the TV for days and how he watched the events with deep pain and frustration. For days he was stunned and very angry with the fanatical Muslims. At the same time, he wished that […]’ [^jabbour-crescent-p29]: Ibid., p. 29 ([[assets/pages/jabbour-crescent/fulltext-p25.jpg|📖]] [[assets/pages/jabbour-crescent/notebook-p4.jpg|📓]]) . ‘On the verge of tears, he told me how one of the students at the university who was an evangelical Christian came and asked him bluntly to prove to him that he was not a “sleeper,” or a terrorist in disguise.’ [^jabbour-crescent-p40]: Ibid., p. 40 ([[assets/pages/jabbour-crescent/fulltext-p34.jpg|📖]] [[assets/pages/jabbour-crescent/notebook-p8.jpg|📓]]) . ‘If an American Jewish young man leaves this country, goes to Israel and upon his arrival obtains the Israeli citizenship. He volunteers to serve with the Israeli army, and with his machine gun kills Palestinians as he occupies their land, you do not perceive him as a terrorist. No doubt this is […]’ [^jabbour-crescent-p104]: Ibid., p. 104 ([[assets/pages/jabbour-crescent/fulltext-p86.jpg|📖]] [[assets/pages/jabbour-crescent/notebook-p13.jpg|📓]]) . ‘In his presentation of the Muslims’ worldview, Ahmad said, “When you read in your Bible how Samson died, do you perceive him as a terrorist? Do you blame Samson for using his only available weapon, his body, to kill innocent civilians?”’ [^jabbour-crescent-p37]: Ibid., p. 37 ([[assets/pages/jabbour-crescent/fulltext-p32.jpg|📖]] [[assets/pages/jabbour-crescent/notebook-p8.jpg|📓]]) . ‘Christianity is a Western religion, and we Muslims have a long history with you Christians.’ [^jabbour-crescent-p38]: Ibid., p. 38 ([[assets/pages/jabbour-crescent/fulltext-p32.jpg|📖]] [[assets/pages/jabbour-crescent/notebook-p8.jpg|📓]]) . ‘Christianity is not a Western religion, I observed to myself.’ [^jabbour-crescent-p85]: Ibid., p. 85 ([[assets/pages/jabbour-crescent/fulltext-p70.jpg|📖]] [[assets/pages/jabbour-crescent/notebook-p11.jpg|📓]]) . ‘I believe that fanatics are not primarily driven by theology but by an attitude of hate, superiority and self-righteousness. They demonize whoever does not agree with them, and they tend to be legalistic and hypocritical.’