Sami Zubaida tells us that in the late Ottoman Empire (19th century), Jews, Christians, Freemasons, and Muslims lived together, with exceptions to be sure,in an atmosphere of harmonious cosmopolitanism.  So, what went wrong?  Zubaida blames Arab nationalism and a renewed sectarianism that accompanied it. 

Go to article at OpenDemocracy.net

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 at 10:23 am and is filed under Culture, History, Islam and Politics, Middle East, Politics (General), Sectarianism, Turkey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.