Daniel Pipes facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Daniel Pipes
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Pipes in June 2008
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| Born | September 9, 1949 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Occupation | Distinguished Visiting Professor at Pepperdine University's School of Public Policy (Spring '07); President of Middle East Forum; Expert at Wikistrat |
| Alma mater | Harvard University (AB, PhD) |
| Subject | Middle East, American foreign policy, Islamic terrorism, Islamism |
| Relatives | Richard Pipes (father) |
Daniel Pipes, born on September 9, 1949, is an American expert who writes and comments on foreign policy and the Middle East. He is the president of the Middle East Forum, an organization that studies the Middle East. He also publishes its journal, Middle East Quarterly. His work often focuses on how America deals with other countries and on his views about Islamism, which is a political movement based on Islamic ideas.
After finishing his studies at Harvard University in 1978, Pipes taught at several universities for short periods. These included Harvard, the University of Chicago, Pepperdine University, and the U.S. Naval War College. He later became the director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He then started the Middle East Forum. He also advised Rudy Giuliani during his 2008 presidential campaign.
Pipes has written sixteen books. He was also a special visiting scholar at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. His ideas have sometimes been debated by different groups, including some Muslim Americans and other scholars.
Contents
About Daniel Pipes
His Early Life and Schooling
Daniel Pipes was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1949. His parents, Irene and Richard Pipes, were from a Jewish family. They had both left Poland with their families during World War II. His father, Richard Pipes, was a historian at Harvard University who studied Russia. Daniel grew up mostly in Cambridge, Massachusetts, near Harvard.
Pipes went to a private school and also studied abroad. He started at Harvard University in 1967, where his father taught. For his first two years, he studied mathematics, but he found it too abstract. After traveling to the Sahara Desert in 1968 and the Sinai Desert in 1969, he became very interested in the Middle East. He changed his main subject to Middle Eastern history.
He earned his first degree in history in 1971. His main project was about Al-Ghazali and other Muslim thinkers. After graduating, Pipes lived in Cairo for two years. He then earned his advanced degree (a PhD) from Harvard in 1978. He also wrote a book about the everyday language spoken in Egypt, which was published in 1983.
His Career Path
Working in Universities
Pipes returned to Harvard in 1973. After more studies in Germany and Cairo, he earned his PhD in medieval Islamic history in 1978. His PhD paper later became his first book, Slave Soldiers and Islam, published in 1981. In the late 1970s, he changed his focus from old Islamic studies to modern Islam. This change happened with the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini and the Iranian revolution.
He taught world history at the University of Chicago from 1978 to 1982. He also taught history at Harvard from 1983 to 1984. From 1984 to 1986, he taught policy and strategy at the Naval War College. In 1982–83, Pipes worked on the policy-planning team at the U.S. State Department.
After Teaching Full-Time
After 1986, Pipes mostly left full-time teaching. However, he did teach a course called "International Relations: Islam and Politics" as a visiting professor at Pepperdine University in 2007. Pipes once said that his political ideas were simpler than those of many academics.
From 1986 onwards, Pipes worked for organizations called "think tanks." These groups do research and offer advice on public policy. From 1986 to 1993, he led the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) in Philadelphia. He also edited its journal, Orbis. In 1990, he started the Middle East Forum as part of FPRI. It became its own organization in 1994, with Pipes as its head. He edited its journal, the Middle East Quarterly, until 2001. He also started other projects like Campus Watch in 2002.
In 2003, President George W. Bush suggested Pipes for a position on the board of the United States Institute of Peace. Some senators disagreed with this choice. Senator Tom Harkin said he was "offended" by Pipes' comments on Islam. While defending the nomination, the White House said that President Bush did not agree with all of Pipes' views on Islam. Pipes eventually served on the board until 2005.
Campus Watch Project
Pipes' organization, the Middle East Forum, started a website in 2002 called Campus Watch. This website aimed to point out what it saw as problems in how Middle Eastern studies were taught at American universities. These problems included mixing politics with studies and not being open to different ideas.
Campus Watch asked students and teachers to share information about Middle East-related classes and activities. Some people criticized the project, saying it was too harsh. They felt it was trying to scare professors who criticized Israel. This happened when Campus Watch published "dossiers" (collections of information) on eight professors. In response, many academics asked to be added to what some called a "blacklist." In October 2002, Campus Watch removed these dossiers from its website.
Daniel Pipes' Views
On Different Kinds of Islam
Pipes has often warned about what he believes are the dangers of "radical" or "militant Islam" to Western countries. In 1985, he wrote that the goals of radical groups created new problems. In 1995, he wrote that a "war has been unilaterally declared on Europe and the United States."
He wrote this after the Oklahoma City bombing. At the time, some thought the bombing might have a "Middle Eastern trait." Pipes agreed, saying the United States was "under attack" by Islamic fundamentalists. However, police later found that the bombing was carried out by American anti-government terrorists.
In 2007, Pipes wrote that it is wrong to blame Islam, a religion that is 14 centuries old, for the harm caused by militant Islam. He described militant Islam as a political idea that is less than a century old. He believes that militant Islam is the problem, but "moderate Islam" is the solution. Pipes said that moderate Muslims are a small group. He believes the U.S. government should help and support them.
Pipes has praised Mustafa Kemal Atatürk from Turkey and the thinker Mahmoud Mohamed Taha from Sudan. In a 2008 interview, Pipes said Muslims can be grouped into three types: "traditional Islam" (which he sees as practical and peaceful), "Islamism" (which he sees as dangerous and militant), and "moderate Islam" (which he sees as a new movement).
On Muslims in Europe
In 1990, Pipes wrote that Western European societies were "unprepared for the massive immigration of brown-skinned peoples cooking strange foods and maintaining different standards of hygiene." He later said that his goal was to describe how Western Europeans thought, not to share his own views. He wished he had made it clearer that he was explaining European attitudes.
In 2006, Daniel Pipes said that some areas in France were "no-go zones" where the French government no longer had full control. In 2013, Pipes visited some of these areas and said he was mistaken. In 2015, he stated that there are "no European countries with no-go zones."
When the Jyllands-Posten newspaper published cartoons of Muhammad, Pipes wrote that the main issue was whether Western countries would stand up for their customs, including freedom of speech. He supported the idea of standing with Denmark. He praised Norway, Germany, and France for their stance on freedom of speech.
Through his Middle East Forum, Pipes helped raise money for the Dutch politician Geert Wilders during his trial. Pipes has called Wilders "the most important politician in Europe." However, he also found Wilders' political ideas "bizarre" and said Wilders' understanding of Islam was "superficial."
On Muslims in the United States
In October 2001, Pipes said he was concerned that the growing presence and influence of American Muslims could pose dangers to American Jews.
Some American Muslims were upset by Pipes' ideas. For example, he suggested that Muslims in government and military jobs should be watched closely for security reasons. He also said that mosques could be "breeding grounds for militants." In 2004, Pipes wrote an article that supported the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. He compared that situation to the situation of Muslim Americans today.
Pipes has criticized the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). He says CAIR supports groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. CAIR, in turn, has said that Pipes' writings are full of misleading information.
Pipes was also involved in the debate around Debbie Almontaser. She was a Muslim woman known for being moderate. Pipes saw her as representing a new movement of "lawful Islamists." Almontaser resigned as principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, an Arabic-language high school in New York City. Pipes first called the school a "madrassa" (which means school in Arabic but can suggest Islamist teaching in the West). He later said his use of the term was "a bit of a stretch." Pipes explained his opposition by saying that promoting radical Islam could happen through schools, media, and government.
On American Foreign Policy
Pipes strongly supported the Vietnam War. When other students protested the war at Harvard in the 1960s, he supported the university's administration. Pipes used to consider himself a Democrat. However, after George McGovern, who was against the war, became the Democratic candidate for President in 1972, Pipes switched to the Republican Party.
Pipes once accepted being called a "neoconservative" (a type of conservative who supports using American power to promote democracy). But in 2009, he said he no longer used that label. He now considers himself a "plain conservative."
On Donald Trump and the Republican Party
In 2016, Pipes left the Republican Party after it chose Donald Trump as its presidential candidate. However, in October 2020, he announced he was voting for Trump in that year's election. He explained that he focused on the overall ideas of the two main parties rather than just the candidates themselves.
On the Arab–Israeli Conflict
Pipes supports Israel in the Arab–Israeli conflict. He does not support the idea of a Palestinian state. In 1990, he wrote that there could be either Israel or Palestine, but not both. He suggested that if Palestinians were given a state, it would lead to problems for either that state or Israel. Pipes has suggested a "three-state solution," where Gaza would go to Egypt and the West Bank to Jordan.
In 2008, he said that Palestinians do not accept the existence of a Jewish state. He believes that until this changes, there is no point in negotiations. He also said that the Israeli public was focused on a mistaken policy that he called "appeasement" (giving in to demands to avoid conflict).
Pipes supported Israel in the 2014 Gaza War. He said that Israel's actions were "civilized and moral." He has also defended the Canary Mission, which collects information on students. He believes this information helps show students that criticizing Israel is a serious matter.
On Iran
Pipes has long been against Iran's government. In 1980, he wrote that Iran had moved to an economy that did not rely on oil. He criticized the Reagan administration for its role in the Iran–Contra affair, saying it helped make the Ayatollah's actions seem acceptable.
In 2010, Pipes suggested that U.S. President Barack Obama should order the U.S. military to destroy Iran's nuclear weapons ability. He argued that the time was right for the U.S. to bomb Iran. He believed that a U.S. bombing of Iran would not require many soldiers on the ground and would have few casualties.
Pipes believes the U.S. should support the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) against the Iranian government. This group was once listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. and the European Union. Pipes had long argued for this listing to be changed. He writes that the MEK does not pose a danger to Americans or Europeans. He believes it does pose a danger to the Iranian government.
On Obama's Religion
On January 7, 2008, Pipes wrote an article claiming that he had "confirmed" that President Obama "practiced Islam." Some media outlets responded by saying Pipes relied on a disputed article. They said his claims were false or misleading statements about Barack Obama's religion.
Awards and Special Recognitions
- Pipes has received two special degrees called honorary doctorates. One was from the American University of Switzerland in 1988, and another from Yeshiva University in 2003.
- In May 2006, Pipes received the Guardian of Zion Award from the Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies at Bar-Ilan University in Israel.
See also
In Spanish: Daniel Pipes para niños
- Martin Kramer
- Fouad Ajami
