Re: "We cannot afford to maintain these ancient prejudices against Islam" by Karen Armstrong
Mike
> I am not sure Islamophobia in the Europoeans began at the time of the
> Crusades. It may date further back.
It probably dates back to around the time that the Muslim nation
started attacking, conquering, and subjugating the Christian nations
that surrounded it, which by my reckoning precedes the first crusade by
about 350 years.
Whether such attitudes were justifiable considering the position of the
people who were under threat of invasion is, I suppose, a matter of
opinion.
Mike.
Knud Larsen
"Anjum" <anj...@msn.com> wrote in message
news:1158585303.2...@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>
> I am not sure Islamophobia in the Europoeans began at the time of the
> Crusades. It may date further back.
Maybe the Europeans didn't appreciate being overrun by the Muslim armies and
their cities being sacked and - according to Arab historians - the streets
made into rivers of blood?
As we all know, the Muslim army almost reached Paris in the year 732, and
hundreds of cities had been attacked and all their treasures stolen. But for
some unknown reason it doesn't seem to bother Muslims that they were the
attackers of Europe, but it certainly bothers them that Europeans fought
back in a small area in the conqured areas (Jerusalem). Also it doesn't
bother Muslims that Cristians and Jews, and their religion are attacked
every day in Muslim countries, but if "they" see just one incidence of
something that they interpret as an attack on Islam, the whole Umma is up in
arms, - at least verbally.
Robert
You must know that Karen Armstrong is a renegade Catholic nun, now
earning her living as an apologist for Islam. She is also consumed by
liberal, as well as 'religious', guilt. Everything she says must be
checked.
The Crusades were a belated response to 400 years of jihad, which had
seen the Muslim conquest of the Christian Middle East. The Byzantine
Emperor had appealed to the Pope in the face of Turkish encoroachments,
which would eventually overwhelm the Eastern Christian Empire.
It is true that the Crusading rabble massacred Jews on the way to the
Holy Land, but this has no bearing on the issue of irrational hatred of
Islam. The massacres that took place in the Holy Land took place in the
context of sieges; according to medieval Law of War the commander was
not responsible for deaths that took place when a city fell in the heat
of battle, so there was pillage, rape, and massacre. Muslims followed
this convention too, accepting the consequent atrocities.
Armstrong writes in her article that the conquest of Persia was
"inspired by political rather than religious aspirations." She ignores
the fact that Persian cities were repeatedly put to the sword in order
to force them to submit to Islam and Persian culture was utterly
suppressed. This is recorded by Arab historians.