We must understand our Enemy #2

This week we will be covering the truth about the Christian Crusades.  It’s time that people understand the truth of how they came to be and why the Christians invaded the Arab countries.

Muslims enjoy talking about the invading forces of the Crusades and Christians seem to feel the need to apologize for them.  To hear both parties tell the story, one is led to believe the Muslims just peacefully minded their own business in lands that were legitimately Muslim when the invading Christian armies decided to wage righteous, Holy War and kill millions of innocent Muslims.

However, this version of history is a lie.  According to the rules Muslims claim for themselves, the Crusades were justified, and the excesses pale in comparison with the historical treatment of conquered populations at the hands of conquering Muslims.

Here are some quick facts...

Europe was harassed by Muslims the first few years following Muhammad’s death.  As early as 652, Muhammad’s followers launched raids on the Island of Sicily, then finally waging a full-scale occupation 200 years later, lasting nearly a century.  This constant invading of Christian lands was punctuated by massacres, such as the one at the town of Castrogiovanni, in which 8,000 Christians were put to death.  In 1084, ten years before the first Crusade, Muslims staged another devastating Sicilian raid, burning churches in Reggio, enslaving monks and raping an abbey of nuns before carrying them off into captivity.

In 1095, the Byzantine Emperor, Alexius I Comnenus had begged the Pope in Rome for help in turning back the Muslim armies, overrunning what is now Turkey.  They had grabbed property and turned churches into mosques.  Several hundred thousand Christians were killed in Anatolia in the decades following 1050 by Seljuk invaders interested in the forced conversion of the survivors to Islam.

Not only were Christians losing their lives in their own lands, but pilgrims to the Holy Land from other parts of Europe were often kidnapped, molested, forcibly converted to Islam, and occasionally murdered.

Even though there are those who often compare the Crusades to Muslim jihad, it was actually just a delayed and limited response to the Muslim jihad perpetrated on the Christians.  Forgiveness of sins was granted to those jihadists who fought in defense of the Holy Church of God and the Christian religion, and eternal life was promised for those fighting the infidel.  This clearly reflects the Muslim notion of jihad.

Unlike the jihad, the Crusade was concerned with the defense or reconquest of threatened or lost Christian territories.  The Muslim jihad, in contrast, is perceived a religious obligation that will continue until all the world had either adopted the Muslim faith or submitted to Muslim rule.  The object of jihad is to bring the whole world under Islamic law: Sharia Law.

The Crusaders only invaded Christian lands.  They didn’t attack Saudi Arabia or pillage Mecca, as the Muslims did and continued doing to Italy and Constantinople.  The Crusaders goal was to recapture Jerusalem, and their security goal was the safe passage for pilgrims.  The toppling of the Muslim empire was in no way on their agenda.

The period of Crusader occupation of its own former lands lasted only about 170 years, which is far less than the Muslim occupation of Sicily and southern Italy alone.  To say nothing of Spain and other lands that had never been Islamic before falling victim to Jihad.  In fact, the Arab occupation of North Africa and Middle Eastern lands outside of Arabia is nearly 1400 years old.

Despite popular portrayal, the Crusades were never a battle between Christianity and Islam.  Although initially dispatched by Papal decree, the occupiers quickly became part of the political and economic fabric of the Middle East without much regard for religious differences.

Another misconception is the Crusader era was a time of constant war.  In fact, very little of this overall period included any significant hostilities.  In response to the Muslim expansion, there were only about 20 years of actual military campaigning.  By comparison, the Muslim Jihad against the Island of Sicily lasted 75 years.

Ironically, the Crusades can actually be justified from the teachings of the Quran itself, which encourages Holy War to drive invaders out of the places from whence they drove you out.  (2:191).  The objective wasn't to expel Muslims from the Middle East but to stop the attacks on Christian pilgrims in the region.  Holy War is not justified by the teachings of the New Testament; however, was a response to centuries of relentless Jihad against Christianity that began long before and continued well after the Crusades.

The greatest offense of the Crusaders was their attack on the city of Jerusalem, in which it is said at least 3,000 people were massacred.  However, this number pales in comparison to the number of Jihad victims, from India to Constantinople, Africa, and Narbonne.  While Christians have apologized for their actions, Muslims have never apologized for theirs and never will.

What is called sin and excess by the other religions of the world are what Islam considers a duty willed by Allah.

So, the next time someone tells you the reason Muslims are attacking Christians today is because of the Crusades, you can now set the record straight.

Next Saturday, we’ll be covering what the word Islam truly means.

Source material – The Religion of Peace-What makes Islam so different