ABSTRACT
Initially cast as barbarians, infidels, and apostates, cultural bogeymen for Europeans, later images of Muslims emphasized erotic and exotic qualities alongside governments in decay. The tone and tenor with which the Islamic world was viewed by Christian Europe shifted. The Rebellion allowed Britons to exhibit "greater confidence in race as a marker of difference", which in turn fed scientific racism and reinforced the principles of Muscular Christianity. In the late nineteenth century, British imperial policy rarely distinguished race from religion, particularly outside Christian Europe. Alfred Mond's supposition about the quasi-barbarian nature of Arabs derived from on a long tradition of viewing the populations of the Middle East as dichotomously different from Europeans. A clear testimonial to the nature of Europe's current political environment, Lord Cromer's view placed the British Empire above its European counterparts, while simultaneously locating the 'Subject Races' well below all Europeans on the sociopolitical ladder. Palestine's Arab inhabitants "always had more connection with Europe than with Iraq".
