The Crusaders’ Animosity
"The Crusaders’ Animosity
One of the French learned writers Count Henri Decastri wrote in his book entitled ‘Islam’ in 1896,
"I cannot imagine what the Muslims would say if they heard the tales of the mediaeval ages and understood what the Christian orators used to say in their hymns; all our hymns even those which emerged before the 12th century emanated from one concept which was the cause of the crusades, these hymns were filled with hatred towards the Muslims due to the total ignorance of their religion. As a result of those hymns and songs, hatred against that religion became fixed in people’s minds, and the erroneous ideas deeply rooted, some of which are still carried nowadays. Everyone used to regard the Muslims as polytheists, disbelievers, idol worshippers and apostates."
This is how the Christian clergy in Europe described the Muslims and their deen. The allegations in the mediaeval ages were horrible and these were used to incite the feelings of hatred and animosity against the Muslims. The Christian world became affected and the crusader wars took place. After lasting two centuries resulting in the defeat and the humiliation of the Christians, the Muslims began to reconquer the West in the 15th century when the Islamic State entered Constantinople. Then in the 16th century the Muslims swept across southern and eastern Europe and carried Islam to its peoples. Millions of the inhabitants of Albania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and other countries embraced Islam in the process. Once again the crusader animosity was revived and the Orientalist concept emerged, which was concerned at the time with resisting the Muslim armies, halting the Islamic conquest and lessening the threat of the Muslims. This deeply rooted animosity in the minds and hearts of the Europeans prompted all Christians in Europe to send their missionaries to Muslim land in the name of science and culture. The missions took the shape of schools, clinics, associations and clubs. The Europeans devoted almost unlimited resources and huge efforts to the missionary work. They combined their efforts and methodology despite their differences in policy and interests. Peoples and states were united behind the missionary effort since it was conducted by their consuls, ambassadors, delegates and missionaries.
The crusader hatred harboured by the Westerners, especially in Europe and more so by Britain, and their deeply rooted animosity and wicked malice were the cause of our eventual humiliation in our homeland. General Allenby said in 1917 when he entered al-Quds,
"Only today the crusades have ended."
This was simply a genuine expression of what he really felt. It reflected the hatred and malice he harboured and the same could be said about every European that fought in the battles - cultural and military - against the Muslims, and Allah (swt) says:
Rank hatred has already appeared from their mouths; what their hearts conceal
is far worse.[TMQ 3:118]
What Allenby said was indeed most loathsome, and what his country, Britain, harboured was even greater without a doubt; this goes without saying for every European.
This malice and hatred has existed ever since the days of the crusades and it is still perpetuated today. What we face in terms of oppression, humiliation, colonisation and exploitation - in addition to the political aspect - is in fact an act of brutal revenge on the Muslims. Indeed it is particular to the Muslims.Professor Leopold Weiss (Muhammad Asad) wrote in his book Islam at the Crossroads,
"Verily the renaissance, or the revival of science and European arts which owed a great deal to Islamic and Arabic sources, used to be attributed to the material contact between East and West. Europe has indeed benefited a great deal from the Islamic world, but she never acknowledged or recognised this favour, nor did she show any gratitude by easing her hatred to Islam, in fact this hatred grew stronger and deeper over the years and at times reached uncontrollable proportions. This hatred engulfed the popular feeling and was triggered each time the word Muslim was mentioned. The hatred became a part of their popular heritage until it took root in the heart and mind of every European man and woman, and more astonishing though was that it remained alive even after all the stages of cultural change that took place. Then came the era of religious reform, when Europe became divided into sects, and each sect stood in the face of other sects, armed to the teeth, ready for battle; however, animosity towards Islam remained the same within every sect. Soon after, a time came when religious fervour diminished but the hatred of Islam remained as strong as ever, a clear example of this was delivered by the French philosopher and poet Voltaire, although he was an arch enemy of Christianity and the Church in the 18th century, he also was at the same time expressing his feelings of hatred and arrogance towards Islam and the Messenger of Islam; after a few decades, there came a time when the Western intellectuals began exploring foreign cultures and looked upon them with some kind of sympathy and open-mindedness, however when it came to Islam, the traditional disdain began infiltrating their scientific researches in an extraordinary factional way; and the wide gap which history dug up between Europe and the Islamic world remained unbridged, then the contempt for Islam became an integral part of the European mentality."
It was on this basis that the missionary associations mentioned above were established. Their aim was to preach the Christian religion and to arouse suspicions in the Muslims about their deen, thereby leading them to hold it in disdain within their hearts and to blame their own failures on it. On the other hand, the aim of the associations was also political and the consequences were in fact horrendous on both accounts until they reached unexpected proportions. The missionary movements were founded on the basis of wiping out Islam by libelling it, by creating problems and misgivings about it and about its rules, in order to come between the people and the way of Allah (swt), and to alienate Muslims from their deen. Behind these missionary movements came the Orientalist movements who had the same target and the very same objective.
Efforts and resources were unified throughout the whole of Europe and a crusade was waged against Islam for the second time; this time it was a cultural war which poisoned the mind by what they had distorted from the Islamic laws and Islam’s high values, the poisoning of the young Muslim minds by what they alleged about Islam and the history of the Muslims in the name of scientific research and scientific fairness. It was in reality the cultural venom which was far more dangerous than the crusader wars. The missionaries carried out the spreading of their poisonous filth in the name of science and humanity. They used to do it in the name of Orientalism. Professor Leopold Weiss wrote,
"The reality is that the first Orientalist of modern times were Christian missionaries working in the Muslim countries, the distorted picture they fabricated allegedly from Islamic teachings and history was expertly designed to guarantee a negative reaction and influence the European opinion towards the idol worshippers, i.e. the Muslims; however this twisted concept continued
despite the fact that Orientalist studies had been liberated from the missionary influence, stripping the Orientalism from any religious and ignorant fervour that would misguide it. As for the Orientalist’ hostility to Islam, this was an inherited instinct and a natural characteristic derived from the effects of the crusader wars."
This inherited animosity is the one that sparks the hatred in the hearts of Westerners against the Muslims. It is the one that portrays Islam, even in Muslim countries, to Muslims and non-Muslims as being the bogey of humanity, or this demon which would destroy the progress of humanity. This is in fact to conceal their real fear of Islam, for they know that if Islam were deeply implanted in the hearts and minds of the people it would signal the end of the hegemony of the disbelieving colonial powers over the Islamic world and the return of the Islamic State to once again resume the carrying of the Message of Islam to the world - and indeed it will return insha’Allah - for the sake of humanity and the West itself. The work of the missionaries would eventually turn into grief and sorrow for them; Allah (swt) says:
The disbelievers spend their wealth in blocking the way of Allah, and will go on spending still more of it. But in the end, these very efforts of theirs will become a cause of their regret; and they will be overcome.[TMQ 8:36]
The inherited animosity is the one that supports any anti-Islamic movement. You will find the Westerner exploring Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, or Communism without any hatred or prejudice at all. Whereas, if he were to explore Islam malice, hatred and contempt would soon appear despite the fact that Muslims were defeated by the colonial disbelievers. The Western clergy - backed by the colonialists - still actively conspire against Islam and they will never abate from libelling Islam and the Muslims and from degrading Muhammad (saw) and his Companions, or from injecting slander into the history of Islam and of the Muslims. All this is to get their revenge and to strengthen the hold of the colonialists."
I fully understand that you are not disagreeing with me.
In fact, you are complementing rathar than contradicting.
My view is not give any credence to the so called fanatical leaders. No publicity. No Airtime..etc.
But at the same time, understand where their followers they grow. Get the root of the problem.
Many of these fanatical followers (NOT LEADERS!) choose these idealogy because of the socio economic cause. If you see them very closely, the majority followers come from Economically deprived base. They feel that they have nothing to loose.
They have no hope about the future.
If only we rekindle their hope and if only we make them valued, things will defenetly improve.
The fight against fanatics is not going to be easy.
It never was.
It never will be.
But it should go on.
If you see the history of the world, the fight against good and bad was always there.
Some time it is done across the table and some time it is across a battle field. Same struggle goes on with in ourselves everyday.
But let us not be negative. The fun of the life is to fight to be a better person.
Every little helpes. Each drop helps to make an ocean.
Every individual helps to make a good community. Every community helps to make a nation. So the list goes on.
Mak1,
:-) I am not disagreeing with you - I was trying widen your discussion on the other evil implications!
Some thing to add to your point Mak1 "I agree that hindu religion is not short of fanatics. Atleast, they are confined to their own country" - Just because it is confined to their own country does not make them any less guilty.
Dont get me wrong - I was not attacking any religion and dont intend to - just adding more elements into the discussion. The fanatic trend is there in all communities and sects and religions - no point in blaming one or two of them. We need to shun this very trend! And as you rightly put
So yes - you are right - we should not get stuck in this vicious cycle. At the same time look at things from an objective angle and try to reason out things.
My principle in this matter is not to alienate these fanatics as it does not do much help. Instead - have dialouges with them and try to turn them around - it at times work - at times does not work. But its worth the try.
What do you think?
AR.
" Life is not a party we hoped for, but while we are here, we might as well dance! "
I agree that hindu religion is not short of fanatics. Atleast, they are confined to their own country.
army001 says:
"But the unfortunate part is that - these fanatics of each religion with their actions - are in one way or the other pushing these balanced people towards taking a more radical approach"
This is what I was calling to be avoided.
This is a trap which puts the people in the negative cycle
with the never ending misery.
To break it, every individual has to contribute by avoiding
such traps. Never directly or indirectly support such theories.
As M.K. Gandhi used to say:
"Eye for an eye makes the whole world blind"
How true?
If you notice you would see that there are radicals in every community and every religion. Mak1 - many of the things you said are true. But I think it applies to all communities - meaning there are fanatics in every community and religion. Since you spoke from an Indian context - You did touch about Christians and Muslims - I would like to add that there are Hindu fanatics also and they too are quite active in their agenda of imposing their values and symbols in the country amongst other believers. Going to a global level - you have Fanatics in the Jewish community and the list goes on.. I guess its even there based on the color of your skin, the language you speak and every other possible diversity man can think of. All the fanatics of all the religions and other causes are still active and each trying hard to implement their agenda. Some come out in the open - some others dont!
But all these fanatics from each of these religious beliefs are a minority. As you rightly pointed out - people have begun to look beyond them.
In each community there are a lot of people who are not radicals but take a more balanced approach. But the unfortunate part is that - these fanatics of each religion with their actions - are in one way or the other pushing these balanced people towards taking a more radical approach. Let me explain what I mean - lets say for example a Muslim radical - starts giving all these radical fatwas and statements which most of the time dont conform to the actual beliefs or the values of the religion and infact many at times HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE RELIGION - what this person infact does is - he/she is convincing these balanced people from other faiths and religion to take a more harder/ negative approach towards Islam/ muslims and give more credibility to the fanatics and radicals of the other faiths by proving them right. So infact they inflict more pain and agony for their community rather than others! More examples of this can be seen all around us on a daily basis. So I wonder - when some of them claim to be saviours and true beleivers - what do they actually mean ?? Sad but true.
I wonder if there is any conspiracy theory linking all these fanatics from different religions!?
AR.
" Life is short - make the best of it while you are ALIVE!"
Well said Mak1
That was a quick response :)
Cheers!
"The inherited animosity is the one that supports any anti-Islamic movement. You will find the Westerner exploring Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, or Communism without any hatred or prejudice at all".
You are clearly wrong my friend.
Christian Missionaries’ approach in those dark times was all the same against every religion, whether it is Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism or Mulismism.
You are talking about 12th century and 16th century. Let me give an example in the recent history. Just in 1960s...
This is my personal experience about Christian Missionaries back in my school days.
When I was a small boy, back in the village where I come from, local Christian preachers used to start a religious call in the main road with a megaphone saying "Oh sinners!..Get redeemed. You will go to heaven only through bible...Never through any other way". According to them the non-Christians were all sinners.
The whole village/town was thickly populated with Hindus. Still the Christian missionaries will go on doing this.
It used to be a very irritating way of preaching. It is playing on the ignorance of the people.
These preaching clubs were very well funded by American and British Christian societies who want to enlarge their bases. These kind of preaching still goes on. . These type of religious fanatics will always be there any time.
But nowadays no body care
Every religious fanatic will always try to convert the other person in to his religion by any available methods. In those times, it was sword and nowadays it is more with other means like money and other material things. This includes Islam.
In India every effort is being done to convert as many as possible in to Islam. This Islamic conversions do happen with the full financial backing of KSA, which is very well known.
So there is no point in talking about the past. Today, if Afghanistan has to improve means it has to move away from the clutches of mullahs and have faith in the people of Afghanistan.
See India and China is forging ahead not because of their religious faith, but because of their faith in themselves. In fact, India and china were more affected by the western imperialism in the recent history than most of the countries. India was actually ruled by the British for 150 years directly and before that ruled indirectly.
But both the countries did not dwell on those painful past. They did not hide behind the patronising talk. They did not dwell on the revenge things etc. For an example India was expected to fail as a country in 1947, by the British parliamentarians.
Instead of shouting back at them for their pessimistic wish, Indians determined to prove them wrong and that would be the apt reply. So they believed in themselves.
Of course, it took them 60 years and still a long way to go. But you should understand, they did not have a huge oil wealth to kick start their economy.
So it is purely their leaders vision and the people’s will power which is propelling their economy to the present vibrant state.
As I said already there is still a very long way to go. But I am sure that the people of India and china will reach their goal.
It all happened not by hatred, but by believing in them selves. Not by blaming the past but dreaming about the future. Not by fighting, but working hard in the present.
I know that I have written a very long note. But I do hope that you can understand what I mean.
FORGET THE PAST – PLAN FOR THE FUTURE – WORK HARD IN THE PRESENT.
God bless you!
He thinks like a crusader who just drown in the sea, because of the storm his ship was sunk and wreck. The crusader horse was the only animal that survive and know belongs to the beduin who witness his drowning.
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds..
Dunnpeel -
I am not going to comment on your post. Simply because its too long dont have the time or patience to read it all :-(
Now - a suggestion - what is ur objective - to discuss or to impose? Without any prejudice - may be some of your points do have value and truth in it - may be some dont. Each person would have his/her own view on it. The point here is the way the points are presented as many of the posters are finding it quite strange. I dont think ur approach is working.
In one of your posts - you did mention about some thing on the lines of a true believer. I suggest you learn more about Islam and learn about the ways Islam was presented and introduced by the Prophet. I am sure you would see that you are not in line with his examples ( sunnahs). So it would be good - to be a role model and practice what you preach. Instead of convincing or making peace with people - I see many posters are being repulsed by your comments - is that what you want these posters to think about a " good muslim" ? No offence meant - just a suggestion. Some food for thought.
AR
" Life is short - make the best of it while you are ALIVE!"
I;m sorry, perhaps I'm just being thick, but I don't see what you're point is DunnPeel? Did Westerners hate and fear Muslims in the middle ages?? Yes. They also thought that a woman with a mole on her face was a witch and wine did really turn into Christs blood after being blessed, not to mention a zillion other hates, fears and prejudices. Hence why these times are aptly called the Dark Ages. My knowledge of the Arab world at the time is that it wasn't that much better off.
After all in the 1600's Morroccan pirates were going on Christian killing and enslaving escapades all the way to Britain and Newfoundland.
My point being is that you can't really blame us for prejudices and hatreds created hundreds of years ago. People are more knowledgeable nowdays, and well there is still anomosity between Christians and Muslims (or Muslims and Jews) we can't keep digging up the past and saying, while your 30 or 40 x great grandfather left his mud hut and followed some Monk who swore he could talk to God on a crusade to kill those strangers who look different and act different down in what the Monk says is God's birth place, or we're really never going to get past the current issues. .
"I fight with love and I laugh with rage, you have to live light enough to see the humor and long enough to see some change." Ani Difranco