Islam and the Crusades

The Crusades and Islam

Joseph Cook

For centuries, historians have been intrigued by the Crusades. This paper, like many others before it, seeks to explain the contemporary impact of the Crusades upon the Muslim world. Why have these events so captured the attention of the modern West? Certainly the idea of a religious war, the idea of the Crusade in particular, has a great deal of relevance in the world today, looking of course at America's war in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is not however, a recent attraction. The Crusades have always been paid particular attention by Western Scholars. In part this is likely due to the romance the Middle Ages hold for the West. The Crusades provide a splendid image of mailed soldiers marching alongside honorable knights resplendent in shining plate armor, off to fight the so-called heathens in the East.

The Crusades can be equally romantic for Muslim scholars. The defense of the homeland against the brutish barbarian invaders of the West is a satisfying topic of study. Islamic scholars can be proud to note the victory of their ancestral nations. Today, the Crusades arouse a surprising amount of emotion and frequently anger among the inhabitants of what is today termed, the Middle East. Saladin today is an iconic hero for many, and the namesake of many institutions such as the Salahddin University in Abril, Syria.

Of course the Crusades were neither romantic nor satisfying. Like all wars there were far more victims than victors. The many who met their demise seldom did it in a heroic last stand, surrounded by the bodies of their honorably defeated opponents. As in all medieval warfare, those who died often died horribly, most weakened by starvation; as is particularly seen in the case of siege warfare.