PART 5: JIHAD OR THE CRUSADES? TWO DIFFERENT HOLY WARS

 SESSION 5

 Main Focus Summary 

PART 5: JIHAD OR THE CRUSADES? TWO DIFFERENT HOLY WARS 

Chapters 17-19 

"Along with [Presidentl Clinton's admission, it seemed that others were coming to agree with this perspective. Most Americans I knew looked at the Crusades with shame. A scholar at Georgetown University, John Esposito, described the Crusades as the beginning of hostilities between Muslims and Christians: "Five centuries of peaceful coexistence elapsed before political events and an imperial-papal power play led to a centuries-long series of so-called holy wars that pitted Christendom against Islam and left an enduring legacy of misunderstanding and distrust." Sharing a similar understanding, Ridley Scott released a movie in 2005 called The Kingdom of Heaven, which depicted Christians as the aggressors against civil Muslims who simply desired peaceful coexistence. At that time, it seemed to me that jihad had been vindicated even in the eyes of the West and that no one could point a finger at Islam, given the atrocities of the Crusades" (127-128). 

The Crusades were aggressive, unprovoked violence against Muslims. 

"Considering the historical realities, the common Muslim perspective of the Crusades-the perspective l inherited-is a modern invention. The narrative of an offensive Crusade against peaceful Muslims, along with the overtones of Ridley Scott's The Kingdom of Heaven and John Esposito's "five centuries of peaceful coexistence," turn out to be fanciful slants based on motivations other than history. The reality is that the Crusades were launched in defense of the Byzantine Empire after two-thirds of the Christian world had been conquered by centuries of Muslim attacks. Muslims understood this and held no grudge against crusaders until modern times, when postcolonial narratives came into vogue" (133). 

The Crusades were a defensive measure by Christians that barely attracted Muslim attention at the time.