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Diana Darke's stumbling cultural critique of Islamic architecture, 'Stealing from the Saracens', shows how desperately Europe needs its own anti-racist language.

The poem, by Edward Pococke in 1660, celebrates the return of Charles II to Britain after years in exile following the English Civil War

April 5, 2021, 3:14 p.m. ET Credit...Illustration by Arsh Raziuddin/The New York Times In this age of anxiety, anger and contestations between the West and the Islamic world, many epoch-shaping stories of intellectual exchanges between our cultures are often forgotten. A powerful example comes from literature. Millions of Christian, Jewish and Muslim readers across the world have read that famed tale of the man stranded alone on an island: “Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe, the 18th-century British pamphleteer, political activist and novelist. Few know that in 1708, 11 years before Defoe ...

In this age of anxiety, anger and contestations between the West and the Islamic world, many epoch‐​shaping stories of intellectual exchanges between our cultures are often forgotten. A powerful example comes from literature. Millions of Christian, Jewish and Muslim readers across the world have read that famed tale of the man stranded alone on an island: “Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe, the 18th‐​century British pamphleteer, political activist and novelist. Few know that in 1708, 11 years before Defoe wrote his celebrated novel, Simon Ockley, an Orientalist scholar at Cambridg...

Those of us who grew up during the last years of the British Raj had little choice if we wanted a decent education but to go to Christian schools with such names as St Francis Xavier, run by Catholic priests. There, by the time we matriculated, we were brainwashed to be in awe of the religion of our rulers and to think of all things English as superior. Of the textbooks we were obliged to buy, the major ones were imported from Britain, beautifully illustrated with portraits of English kings and queens, all shown to be remarkable souls. We knew all about the British Queen Elizabeth and nothin...