I offer you the Crusades.
The Crusades are often cited a major justification for terrorism, especially by the tall dog, Osama bin Laden who never fails to describe the American war against terrorism as a new Crusade against Islam. It is this kind of historical ignorance that contributes to the sad situation and feeds the fire burning in the Islamic world. Muslims seem predisposed, indeed eager to believe this tripe. And it appears, so do many of us in the west. I have heard this statement so many times that I began reading about the Crusades extensively and what I found indicates that the Christians did not strike Islam first. It is often said that those who do not understand the past are doomed to repeat it. That is a relevant statement, for it appears we in the west do not understand that Islam has been a religion of violence since it's inception and throughout history. Let us take a few moments to examine the history of the Crusades.
It begins with the holy book of Islam, the Koran. According to the Koran. In my research I discovered some passages in it, that indicate to me that Islam is a religion based on not only submission, but violence and warfare! Take a look for yourself:
"Slay them wherever you find them...Idolatry is worse than carnage...Fight against them until idolatry is no more and God's religion reigns supreme." (Surah 2:190-)
"Fighting is obligatory for you, much as you dislike it." (Surah 2:216)
"The only true faith in God's sight is Islam." (Surah 3:19)
"Believers, do not make friends with any but your own people...They desire nothing but your ruin....You believe in the entire Book...When they meet you they say: 'We, too, are believers.' But when alone, they bite their finger-tips with rage." (Surah 3:118, 119)
"If you should die or be slain in the cause of God, His forgiveness and His mercy would surely be better than all the riches..." (Surah 3:156-)
"Seek out your enemies relentlessly." (Surah 4:103-)
"The Jews and Christians say: 'We are the children of God and His loved ones.' Say: 'Why then does He punish you for your sins?" (Surah 5:18)
"Believers, take neither Jews nor Christians for your friends." (Surah 5:51)
"Believers, when you encounter the infidels on the march, do not turn your backs to them in flight. If anyone on that day turns his back to them, except it be for tactical reasons...he shall incur the wrath of God and Hell shall be his home..." (Surah 8:12-)
"Make war on them until idolatry shall cease and God's religion shall reign supreme." (Surah 8:36-)
"If you fear treachery from any of your allies, you may fairly retaliate by breaking off your treaty with them." (Surah 8:51-)
"...make war on the leaders of unbelief...Make war on them: God will chastise them at your hands and humble them. He will grant you victory over them..." (Surah 9:12-)
"It ill becomes the idolaters [non-Muslims] to visit the mosques of God..." (Surah 9:17)
"Fight against such as those to whom the Scriptures were given [Jews and Christians]...until they pay tribute out of hand and are utterly subdued." (Surah 9:27-)
"It is He who has sent forth His apostle with guidance and the true Faith [Islam] to make it triumphant over all religions, however much the idolaters [non-Muslims] may dislike it." (Surah 9:31-)
"If you do not fight, He will punish you sternly, and replace you by other men." (Surah 9:37-)
"Prophet make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home." (Surah 9:73)
"Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Deal firmly with them." (Surah 9:121-)
"Fight for the cause of God with the devotion due to Him...He has given you the name of Muslims..." (Surah 22:78-)
"Muhammad is God's apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers but merciful to one another." (Surah 48:29)
"Shall the reward of goodness be anything but good?...Dark-eyed virgins sheltered in their tents...They shall recline on green cushions and fine carpets...Blessed be the name of your Lord..." (Surah 55:52-66-)
So, you see, the Koran demands, orders, compels muslims to seek the destruction of all who will not bow to Islam. I didn't bother to post the Koran's guidance about the issue of owning slaves, marrying more than one wife, etc. I think these passages are enough to illustrate my point. Islam is a religion of domination.
You might ask yourself, why not all muslims pick up the rifle and fight? I submit to you, that violence is not the only option available to muslim crusaders. Take a look at the immigration rates of muslims to Europe, how about the use of oil as a weapon? The use of the media to spread propaganda, brainwashing their children? Give it some thought, you'll find that the muslim crusader is quite devious. But, the goal is the same, to make Islam the dominate religion on earth.
To further illustrate my point take a look at this:
Omar M. Ahmad founder of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) said:"Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant" he said. "The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America , and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth," he said.
Are you paying attention now?
Misconceptions about the Crusades are all to common. The Crusades are generally portrayed as a series of holy wars against Islam led by power hungry popes, fought by fanatical Christians. They are often further defined as having been an early breed of imperialists bent on forcing western ways on poor peaceful muslims in the Middle East.
To begin, the Crusades were in every sense, defensive wars, a response to muslim aggression. The Crusades were an attempt to defend against muslim conquests of Christian lands!
The Christians of the eleventh century weren't paranoid religious fanatics. The muslims were attacking them, invading and conquering their lands. During this period in history, Islam was spread almost exclusively by the sword! Muslims divide the world into two abodes, the abode of Islam and the abode of war. No other religion, in the eyes of Islam has an abode. As a rule, Christians and Jews can be tolerated but only in a muslim state, dominated by Islam! But by traditional Islamic teaching, Christian and Jewish states must be destroyed, their lands conquered and their people subjugated, converted to Islam, or killed. In the seventh century when Mohamed was waging a war against Mecca, Christianity was the predominant religion of the region.
Islam struck against the Christians shortly after Mohammed's death. They achieved successes in Palestine, Syria and Egypt which were at the time, the most heavily Christian areas of the known world, but the were vanquished quickly. By the eighth century, muslim soldiers had conquered all of Christian North Africa and Spain. In the eleventh century, the Seljuk (Turks) conquered Asia Minor (modern day Turkey), which had been Christian since St. Paul. The Roman Empire, known then as Byzantine, was reduced to little more than Greece. Out of these desperate circumstances, the emperor in Constantinople sent word to Christians in western Europe that they would fall next without their intervention.
This is what gave rise to the Crusades. It was not the brainchild of a power hungry pope or rapacious knights seeking plunder. It was an understandable response to more than four centuries of muslim aggression, and by that time they had conquered two-thirds of the old Christian world. At some point, Christians had to defend themselves or be subjugated by Islam. The Crusades were that defense!
Pope Urban II, called upon the knights of Christiandom to push the muslims out during the Council of Clermont in 1095. The knights responded. Thousands took the vow of the cross and prepared for battle. The generally accepted portrayal is that they were eager for plunder, that they were nothing more than lackeys of the pope. But think about this. Scholars verify that most of the crusading knights were generally wealthy men with more than enough land and money to last a lifetime. Nevertheless, they willingly gave up everything to undertake what they thought was a holy mission. Since crusading was not cheap, many of the Crusaders financed the campaign with their own money and assets, many impoverished themselves in the effort. The Crusaders believed in the cause and did believe it was a holy cause. Each of the Crusading Knights were well aware of their sins, the sinful nature of man. Some volunteered for the Crusades as a sort of penance to cleanse themselves of sin. Europe is littered with thousands of medieval charters attesting to these sentiments, charters in which these men still speak to us today, if we will only listen! Yes, some Crusaders became rich from the campaign, but the vast majority of them returned with nothing!
Pope Urban gave them two goals, both would be central the effort. First, rescue the Christians of the East. The second goal, to liberate Jerusalem and other holy places made holy during the life of Christ.
Consider the writings of Pope Urban II's successor, Pope Innocent III who wrote:
How does man love according to divine precept his neighbor as himself when knowing that his Christian brothers in faith and in name are held by the perfidious muslims in strict confinement and weighed down by the yoke of heaviest servitude, he does not devote himself to the task of freeing them? Is it by chance that you do not know that many thousands of Christians are bound in slavery and imprisoned by the muslims, tortured with innumberable torments?
Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith, an expert on the era says "Crusading" was understood as an "act of love," in this case, the love on one's neighbor. The Crusades were seen as an errand of mercy to right a terrible wrong. As Pope Innocent III wrote to the Knights Templar, "You carry out in deeds the words of the Gospel, "Greater love than this hath no man, that he lay down his life for his friends."
Pope Innocent also speaks to us from the past, through his writings:
Consider most dear sons, consider carefully that if any temporal king was thrown out of his domain and perhaps captured, would he not, when he was restored to his pristine liberty and the time had come for dispensing justice look on his vassals as unfaithful and traitors...unless they had committed not only their property but also their persons to the task of freeing him? And similarly will not Jesus Christ, the king of kings and lord of lords, whose servant you cannot deny being, who joined your soul to your body, who redeemed you with precious blood condemn you for the vice of ingratitude and the crime of infidelity if you neglected to help him?
Indeed, the Crusading Knights believed their mission a holy one.
The fact of the matter remains, and it is a fact; the reconquest of Jerusalem, was not imperialism, or colonialism, but an act of restoration and an open declaration of one's love of God. Medieval men knew, that God had the power to restore Jerusalem himself. But they interpreted his refusal to do so, a test, a blessing on them.
So, we can see that the motivation of the Crusading Knights, saw their mission as holy.
It is also often assumed the the goal of the Crusades was the forced conversion of the muslim world. But nothing could be further from the truth. From the perspective of medieval Christians, muslims were the enemies of Christ and his church. It was the Crusader's task to defeat and defend against them. That was all. Muslims who lived in Christian lands were allowed to retain their property, and livelihood, and always their religion. Throughout history it has been the muslims who demanded that others convert to Islam.
I don't need to drive the issue into the ground. But it is obvious to me, and I hope to you also and if not, I hope that you will reflect upon the history of the Crusades with all of the intellectual honesty you can muster.
A total of five Crusades were launched to free the holy land, but the first Crusade was the only one that realized the goal of freeing Jerusalem and Christians who lived there. It is also interesting to note, that upon taking Jerusalem, no campaign to convert muslims to Christianity was undertaken. Christianity is about forgiveness, Islam is about submission.
Looking back over time, it is too easy to look in disgust at the Crusades. Religion is a poor excuse for war after all. But we should at least be honest with ourselves as to why the Crusades occurred. We should also be ever mindful, that our ancestors would have been just as disgusted at us for fighting wars over political ideologies. But, both the medieval knight, and the modern Soldier fight for their own world and everything in it, for things important to them. Both are willing to suffer in service to something they hold dear, something greater than themselves. Whether or not you choose to admire the Crusaders or not, it is an undeniable fact that the world as we know it today would not exist without their sacrifices. The ancient faith of Christianity, with forgiveness as its core value, with it's respect for women, disdain for slavery not only survived the muslim onslaught, but flourished. Without the Crusades, Christianity might well have followed Zoroastrianism, another of Islam's rivals, into extinction.
In the year 2006, we find ourselves once again at odds with Islam. And as it was in medieval times, it is today. The west is defending itself from a religion predisposed to violent behavior, with world domination at it's goal. It would do us well to recall the Crusades and remember throughout history, just who has been attacking whom?
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