The Middle East in the eighteenth century —an ‘Islamic society in decline?

Editor's Note: This article is the revised version of a paper originally read on 1 July 1975 at the Second Annual Conference of the Society, held at King's College, Cambridge. .It is published jointly with the Review of Middle East Studies. The work referred to in the title is H.A.R. Gibb and H. Bowen, Islamic Society and the West: A Study of the Impact of Western Civilization on Moslem Culture in the Near East, Vol.I, Islamic Society in the Eighteenth Century, Pt.1 (London, 1950), Pt.2 (London, 1957). Hereafter G/B I.