Ini adalah posting terakhir saya mengenai perang salib. Kalau Anda puas,
baiklah. Kalau Anda tidak puas silahkan selidiki sendiri. Saya tidak akan
melayani lagi posting Johnny Indon. Saya tahu ia bisa berbahasa Inggris,
tetapi baru tingkatan elementer atau maximum intermediate. Ia belum patut
ngajari saya. Bahasa Indonesianya saja bahasa preman Senen. Mana ada dalam
bahasa Indonesia kata elu-gua. Itu bukan bahasa Indonesia yang baik.
Sampai jumpa pula di-thread lain.
Salam. Stanley.
From: Stanley Sethiadi [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2011 7:25 PM
To: '[email protected]'
Subject: Sebelum perang salib.
Saya forward seluruh tulisan deh. Lebih dari 3000 orang dibunuh a.l. banyak
orang Kristen.
Salam. Stanley.
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THE CRUSADES AND JIHAD
Back in 1999 while our mission was being bombed by the National Islamic
Front government in Sudan, fellow missionaries were organising
"Reconciliation Walks" to the Middle East to apologise for "The Crusades".
At the time, as our church services were under aerial and artillery
bombardment by Jihadists, it seemed rather bizarre. Therefore I undertook a
study of the crusades and Jihad.
Anin Maalouf in "The Crusades through Arab eyes" claims that the Crusaders
conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 was "The starting point of a millennial
hostility between Islam and the West." Islamic scholar John Esposito blames
the Crusades for disrupting "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." ("Islam: The
Straight Path" OUP).
What Preceeded The Crusades?
However the Crusades only started after five centuries of Islamic Jihad had
conquered and annihilated, or forcibly converted, over two thirds of what
had formerly been the Christian world. Shortly after the Islamic conquest of
Jerusalem, in 638, Christian pilgrims were harassed, massacred, and early in
the 8th Century, 60 Christian pilgrims from Amoriem were crucified.
The Muslim governor of Caesarea seized a group of pilgrims from Iconium and
had them all executed. Muslims extorted ransom money from Pilgrims, and
threatened to ransack the most holy churches in Christendom such as the
Church of the Resurrection - if they didn't pay exorbitant taxes. In the 8th
Century a Muslim ruler banned all displays of the Cross in Jerusalem. He
also increased the penalty tax (Jizya) and forbad Christians to engage in
any religious instruction, even of their own children! In 772, the Calipha
al Mansur ordered the hands of all Christians and Jews in Jerusalem to be
branded.
In 789, Muslims beheaded a monk in Bethlehem, plundering the monastery and
slaughtering many more Christians. In 923, a new wave of destruction of
churches was launched by the Muslim rulers. In 937, Muslims went on a
rampage in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday plundering and destroying the Church of
Calvary and the Church of the Resurrection.
In 1004 the Fatimid Calipha Abu Ali al-Mansur al-Hakim unleashed a violent
wave of church burning and destruction, confiscation of Christian property,
and ferocious slaughter of both Christians and Jews. Over the next ten
years, thirty thousand churches were destroyed and vast numbers of Believers
were forcibly converted or killed.
In 1009, Al-Hakim ordered that the most holy churches in Christendom - the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem
- be destroyed. He heaped humiliating and burdensome decrees upon Christians
and Jews forcing Christians to wear heavy crosses around their necks, and
Jews to have blocks of wood in the shape of a calf around their necks.
Ultimately, he ordered Christians and Jews to either accept Islam or flee
his areas of control.
Christians remained in a precarious position and under threat throughout the
Middle East. When the Seljuk Turks swept into Jerusalem in 1077 they
murdered over three thousand people, including many Christians. It was at
this point that the Christian Emperor of Byzantium, Alexius I, appealed for
help to the Western churches.
Pope Urban II challenged the knights of Europe at the Council of Clermont in
1095: "The Turks and Arabs have attacked our brethren in the East and have
conquered the territory of Romania (the Greek Empire) as far as the shore of
the Mediterranean and the Hellespont.have occupied more and more of the
lands of those Christians and have overcome them in seven battles. They have
killed and captured many and have destroyed the churches and devastated the
Empire. If you continue to permit them to continue thus for a while with
impunity, the faithful of God will be much more widely attacked by them. On
this account I.persuade all people of whatever rank, foot soldiers and
knights, poor and rich, to carry aid promptly to those Christians."
Nowhere was the call for the launch of the Crusades talking about either
conquest or conversion, they were merely to remove the Islamic invaders from
the lands that had previously been Christian, to restore religious freedom
to the Holy Lands.
Myths And Misconceptions
The politically correct dogma that the Crusades were unprovoked, imperialist
actions against the peaceful, indigenous Muslim population is simply not
accurate. Such propaganda reflects a hostility for Western civilization, and
often against Christianity itself, rather than any actual historical
research.
Similarly, the characterization of the Crusaders as greedy for loot, only
out for personal gain, is simply out of touch with reality. Those who
participated in the Crusades saw it as an act of sacrifice rather than of
profit. The Crusades were in fact prohibitivly expensive. Many Crusaders had
to sell their property to raise money for the long journey to the Holy Land
and knew that their chances of returning alive were slight. Most who did
manage to survive and return came back with nothing material to show for
their efforts.
Similarly the modern PC myth that the Crusaders attempted to forcibly
convert Muslims to Christianity is a politically motivated fantasy. Search
as one might through the writings and records of the Crusaders, one will not
find any mention of Crusaders seeking to convert the Sarracens or the Turks.
The Crusaders saw themselves as Pilgrims seeking to recapture and liberate
Christian lands from vicious invaders.
Even Maalouf in The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, reports the observations of
Spanish Muslim Ibn Jubayr who traversed the Mediterranean on his way to
Mecca in the early 1180's and found that the Muslims were far better off in
those lands controlled by the Crusaders than they were in Muslim ruled
lands. And that Muslims preferred to live in the Crusader realms as those
lands were more orderly and better managed.
Ibn Jubayr wrote: "Whose lands were efficiently cultivated. The inhabitants
were all Muslims. They live in comfort with the Franks - may God preserve
them from temptation! Their dwellings belong to them and all their property
is unmolested. All their regions, patrolled by the Crusaders in Syria are
subject to the same system: The land that remains, the villages and farms,
have remained in the hands of the Muslims. Now, doubt invests the hearts of
a great number of these men when they compare their lot to that of their
brothers living in Muslim territories. Indeed, the latter suffer from the
injustices of their co-religionists, whereas the Franks act with equity."
The Crusades have often been portrayed as European Colonialism, but the
Crusader states were not ruled from Western Europe. The governments they
established did not answer to any Western power. Nor did the Crusader rulers
siphon off the wealth of their lands and send it back to Europe. No streams
of settlers came from Europe to settle in these states, which were
established only in order to provide permanent protection for Christians in
the Holy Land.
The Merciful Saladin
The presentation of Muslim commanders such as Saladin as merciful and
magnanimous is a myth. When Saladin captured the Crusaders at Hattim on 4
July 1187, he ordered the mass execution of all the Christians: "They should
be beheaded in accordance with Quran 47:4 'When you meet the unbelievers on
the battlefield, strike their necks'" Saladin's secretary Imad reported,
"With him were a whole band of scholars and Sufis and a certain number of
devout men and aesthetics; each begged to be allowed to kill one of them and
drew their swords and rolled back their sleeves. Saladin, his face joyful,
was sitting on his dais; the unbelievers showed black despair."
In 1148, the Muslim Commander Nur ed-Din ordered the slaughter of every
Christian in Aleppo.
In 1268, when Mamluk Sultan Baybars seized Antioch, he ensured that all the
men were slaughtered, the women sold into slavery, the crosses in every
church smashed, the Bibles torn and burned, the graves of Christians
desecrated, every monk, priest and deacon was dragged to the altar and had
their throats slit where a mass had previously been celebrated, the Church
of Saint Paul and the Cathedral of Saint Peter were destroyed and the bodies
of the Christians burned.
When on 29 May 1453, the greatest city in the world of that time,
Constantinople, was conquered by the Jihadists, the Muslims "slew everyone
that they met in the streets, men, women and children without
discrimination. The blood ran in rivers down the steep streets from the
heights of Petra toward the golden horn". The Muslim soldiers even entered
the Hagia Sophia, and slaughtered thousands of Christians worshipping in
what was then the largest church in the world at that time.
What Did The Crusades Achieve?
The Crusades bought Europe time. From the first century of Islam Muslim
armies were invading Europe. Spain suffered under Islamic occupation for 8
centuries. In the 14th Century, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania
and Croatia fell to Muslim invasions.
In 1426 the Egyptian Mukluks conquered Cyprus. In 1395 the Muslims conquered
Nicopolis on the Danube River. In 1444 the Muslim armies seized Varna in
Hungary. In 1456 the Turks besieged Belgrade, and even tried to conquer
Rome, but were thrown back. The Muslims first attempted to seize Vienna in
1529. As late as 11 September 1683 Muslim armies besieged Vienna, but were
routed by 30 000 Polish Hussars (cavalrymen) led by Poland's King Jan III
Sobieski.
Were The Crusades A Failure?
The constant depiction of the Crusades as a failure is not justified by the
historical record. The Crusades succeeded in seizing the initiative,
throwing the Muslim invaders onto the defensive, for the first time after
five centuries of attack. The Crusaders bought Europe time - centuries in
fact.
At a critical time, the Crusades united a divided Europe, and threw the
Muslim invaders back, bringing a peace and security to Europe that had not
been known for centuries. As a result of the tremendous sacrifices of the
Crusaders, Christian Europe experienced Spiritual Revival and Biblical
Reformation which inspired a great resurgence of learning, scientific
experimentation, technological advancement, and movements that led to
greater prosperity and freedoms than had ever been known in all of history.
For a picture of what Europe might be like today had Islam succeeded in
conquering it, one can look at the previously Christian civilisations of
Egypt and what is today called Turkey. The Copts in Egypt now make up just
10% of the total Egyptian population, and are severely oppressed. What is
today called Turkey was once the vibrant Christian Byzantine Empire, the
economic and military superpower of its day. Today the Christian
civilization which had flourished there for a thousand years has all but
been extinguished. The last Christian city in Asia, Smyrna, was massacred by
the Turkish Army in 1922.
The classic Hollywood version of the Crusades as depicted in the $150
million Kingdom of Heaven epic was produced in consultation with groups such
as the Council on American - Islamic Relations.
Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith, author of A Short History of The Crusades
described the film as "Rubbish!.it's not historically accurate at all.it
depicts the Muslims as sophisticated and civilized and the Crusaders are all
brutes and barbarians. It has nothing to do with reality."
Without the Crusades it is questionable whether Europe or American would
even exist.
The Crusades ended over 700 years ago. Islamic Jihad continues to this day.
The popular misconceptions about the crusades are that these were aggressive
wars of expansion fought by religious fanatics in order to evict Muslims
from their homeland, and force conversions to Christianity. However the
historical record does not support those assertions.
A Reaction To Jihad
The crusaders were reacting to over four centuries of relentless Islamic
Jihad, which had wiped out over 50% of all the Christians in the world and
conquered over 60% of all the Christian lands on earth - before the crusades
even began . Many of the towns liberated by the crusaders were still over
90% Christian when the crusaders arrived. The Middle East was the birthplace
of the Christian Church. It was the Christians who had been conquered and
oppressed by the Seljuk Turks. So many of the towns in the Middle East
welcomed the crusaders as liberators.
Far from the crusaders being the aggressors, it was the Muslim armies which
had spread Islam from Saudi Arabia across the whole of Christian North
Africa into Spain and even France within the first century after the death
of Muhammad. Muslim armies sacked and slaughtered their way across some of
the greatest Christian cities in the world, including Alexandria, Carthage,
Antioch and Constantinople. These Muslim invaders destroyed over 3,200
Christian churches just in the first 100 years of Islam.
Defensive Wars
As Professor Thomas Madden in The Real History of the Crusades points out:
"The crusades to the East were in every way defensive wars. They were a
direct response to Muslim aggression - an attempt to turn back, or defend
against, Muslim conquests of Christian lands. Christians in the 11th Century
were not paranoid fanatics. Muslims really were gunning for them.Islam was
born in war and grew the same way. From the time of Muhammad, the means of
Muslim expansion was always by the sword.Christianity was the dominant
religion of power and wealth.The Christian world therefore was a prime
target for the earliest Caliphas and it would remain so for Muslim leaders
for the next thousand years.The crusades.were but a response to more than
four centuries of conquests in which Muslims had already captured over two
thirds of the Christian world." Without the Crusades it is questionable
whether Europe or America would even exist.
Thinking The Unthinkable
As the London Telegraph pointed out: "A more realistic view of history
requires less retrospective fantasy and more brain work. It means forcing
your head around to see what motivated men and women centuries ago. Try to
think the unthinkable - that the Crusaders were right, and that we should be
grateful to them."
Christian Love And Self Sacrifice
Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith explains that crusading was "an act of love"
for one's neighbour. An act of mercy to right a terrible wrong. As one
church leader wrote to the Knights Templar: "You carry out in deeds the
words of the Gospel, 'greater love than this hath no man, than that he lay
down his life for his friends'."
Professor Riley-Smith points out that the goals of the crusades were firstly
to rescue the Christians of the East: "Many thousands of Christians are
bound in slavery and imprisoned by the Muslims and tortured with innumerable
torments." And secondly the liberation of Jerusalem and other places made
holy by the life of Christ.
The Medieval crusaders saw themselves as pilgrims, restoring to the Lord
Jesus Christ His property. "The Crusaders conquest of Jerusalem, therefore,
was not colonialism, but an act of restoration and an open declaration of
one's love of God.It is often assumed that the central goal of the crusades
was forced conversion of the Muslim world. Nothing could be further from the
truth. From the perspective of Medieval Christians, Muslims were the enemies
of Christ and His Church. It was the Crusaders' task to defeat and defend
against them. That was all. Muslims who lived in crusader won territories
were generally allowed to retain their property and livelihood and always
their religion."
Against All Odds
When we think about the Middle Ages, we inevitably view Europe in the light
of what it became rather than what it was. The fact is that the superpower
of the Medieval world was Islam, not Christendom. The crusades were a battle
against all odds with impossibly long lines of supply and cripplingly
inadequate logistics. It was a David against Goliath enterprise from the
beginning. The chances of success for the first crusade were highly
improbable. They had no leader, no chain of command, no supply lines and no
detailed strategy. The first crusade consisted simply of thousands of
dedicated warriors marching deep into enemy territory, thousands of
kilometres from home. Many of them died of starvation, disease and wounds.
It was a rough campaign that always was on the brink of disaster .
"Yet it was miraculously successful. By 1098, the Crusaders had liberated
Nicea and Antioch to Christian rule. And in July 1099 they re-conquered
Jerusalem and began to rebuild a Christian state in Palestine."
A Judgement Of God
When Jerusalem fell to Saladin in 1187, Christians across Europe perceived
that God was punishing them for their sins. Numerous lay movements sprang up
throughout Europe dedicated to purifying Christian society so that it may
become worthy of victory in the East.
Professor Madden, of St. Lewis University and the author of A Concise
History of the Crusades, has observed: "From the safe distance of many
centuries, it is easy enough to scowl in disgust at the crusades. Religion,
after all, is nothing to fight wars over. But we should be mindful that our
Medieval ancestors would have been equally disgusted by our infinitely more
destructive wars fought in the names of political ideologies.Whether we
admire the Crusaders or not, it is a fact that the world we know today would
not exist without their efforts. The ancient faith of Christianity, with its
respect for women and antipathy toward slavery, not only survived but
flourished. Without the crusades, it might have followed Zoroastrianism,
another of Islam's rivals, into extinction." But for the crusades Europe
would have probably fallen to Islam and the USA would never have come into
existence.
Learn To Discern
Dr. Ted Baehr of Movieguide warns viewers to be "media wise enough to reject
revisionist history" such as the Kingdom of Heaven. " The problem is that
the future generations could accept this politically correct, anti-Christian
propaganda."
Hollywood's Crusade Against History
Ridley Scott's blockbuster epic "Kingdom of Heaven" presents one of the
worst distortions of history seen on any screen in recent years. Focusing on
the fall of Jerusalem, in AD1187, to Saladin's Muslim armies, this
anti-Christian, politically correct revisionism gets everything wrong.
Who Cares About Geography?
First of all, Scott's Kingdom of Heaven has its geography very wrong. We
know that the film was shot in Spain and Morocco, and it shows. Most people
should know that Jerusalem is not in the middle of the Sahara Desert! Yet,
in his film Jerusalem's high walls are surrounded by sand dunes, without a
tree, a bush or a blade of grass. The Mount of Olives, the Kidron Valley and
the Valley of Hinnon are nowhere to be seen. Unlike the Crusaders who
liberated Jerusalem in 1099, Saladin's Army has no problem moving his siege
engines and assault towers right up to the walls of Jerusalem, because
Scott's Jerusalem in Kingdom of Heaven is not surrounded by valleys or
ditches.
This film also boldly asserts that Messina was the seaport to the Holy Land.
As Messina is on the Island of Sicily, one wonders why French crusaders
would, or how they could, depart from there. In fact Genoa, Venice and
Naples were the ports which crusaders set sail from.
This is a True Story - Only the Facts Have Been Changed
Kingdom of Heaven also distorts history beyond all recognition. The
"hundred-year truce" between the Christian and Muslim armies is a figment of
their imagination. The warfare throughout the 12th Century was incessant.
The depiction of the Knight's Templar as a band of religious fanatics trying
to shatter the truce and provoke war with the Muslims by attacking caravans,
is a total fabrication. No Knight's Templar ever attacked any caravans.
Attacking caravans is what the founder of Islam, Muhammad, engaged in
regularly. As did his handpicked apostles, the Caliphas. The Knights Templar
were formed primarily to protect travellers from the attacks of the Muslim
army. In fact it was the slaughter of Christian pilgrims, by Muslim armies,
in violation of earlier agreements of safe passage, that precipitated the
crusades in the first place.
The central figure of this film, Sir Balian, is a historical figure, who did
in fact play a critical role in the defence of Jerusalem in 1187, but the
film script distorts his character and role beyond all recognition. First of
all, Balian was not a blacksmith, nor did his wife commit suicide, nor was
he illegitimate, nor raised as a commoner. His father, Balian the Old (not
Godfrey as in the movie), had three sons, all legitimate: Hugh, Baldwin and
Balian. Balian never had to travel to the Holy Land, because he grew up as
part of the nobility there. Balian was married to royalty long before the
events portrayed in the film, and he was not at all romantically involved
with the Princess Sybilla. (Although his brother, Baldwin, had some love
interest in Sybilla).
In Kingdom of Heaven, Balian is portrayed as questioning whether God exists,
although according to the historical records it is clear that Balian was a
dedicated Christian who took his faith very seriously. Nor did Balian desert
the defence of the Holy Land following the fall of Jerusalem. Far from
returning to France, Balian proceeded to Beirut in Lebanon which he helped
fortify against Muslim invasion. He was present with Richard the Lionhearted
at the signing of the peace with Saladin, which secured safe passage for
Christian pilgrims and recognised crusader control over the 90 mile stretch
of coastline from Tyre to Jaffa.
According to Kingdom of Heaven, the real hero in the story is the famous
Muslim general, Saladin (1138 - 1193). Although an exceptionally gifted
military strategist and unusually chivalrous, the film has uncritically
accepted, and embellished, the legends about Saladin beyond what the
historical record would support. A Muslim Kurd, from Northern Iraq, Saladin
was raised in a privileged family, and was very ambitious. At age 14 he
joined his uncle's military staff, and at 31 followed him to Egypt where his
uncle was Grand Vizier. When his uncle died two months later, Saladin seized
power, defeated competing Muslim leaders and started a dynasty which
established Egypt as the major Muslim power in the Middle East.
Far from having war forced upon him, Saladin initiated the conflict by
declaring a Jihad against the Christians. He swept throughout Palestine
capturing more than 50 crusader castles in two years. At the battle of
Hattin on 4 July 1187 Saladin's army defeated the Christians on the shores
of Lake Tiberius (the Sea of Galilee) - although in the film this battle is
depicted as in waterless desert! Far from being the magnanimous victor
depicted in modern legends and this film, Saladin was a ruthless general who
had thousands of Christian prisoners beheaded in cold blood - including
after the battle of Hattin.
In the film, Saladin is portrayed as being most gracious in allowing the
defenders of Jerusalem safe passage. In fact after the negotiated surrender
of Jerusalem, which the Patriarch of Jerusalem initiated, Saladin demanded
that every man, women and child in Jerusalem pay a ransom for his or her
freedom or face the grim prospect of Islamic slavery. In order to save the
lives and liberty of the poor people who could not afford the heavy ransom
demanded by Saladin, Balian paid out of his own resources the ransom
required for those who could not afford it.
Twisted Theology
The theology in Kingdom of Heaven is also all wrong. The film depicts some
monk standing by the roadside repeating: "To kill an infidel is not murder
it is the path to heaven!" As any student of the Bible would be able to tell
you, neither the concept nor those words appear anywhere in the Christian
Bible. However, as any student of the Quran should be able to inform you,
that is exactly what the Islamic doctrine of Jihad teaches.
At one point early in the film as Muslims bow in prayer towards Mecca,
Balian comments: "You allow them to pray?" A knight sneers and answers : "As
long as they pay their taxes!" In fact the crusaders never required any
extra taxes of Muslims in order to allow them to pray. That is the Islamic
doctrine and practice of Jizya. To this day Muslim governments require Jizya
- tribute taxes - of dhimmi's (Jews and Christians under their Islamic
rule).
Before the crusaders march out to the disastrous battle of Hattin, the film
has one knight declaring: "The army of Jesus Christ cannot be beaten."
However, there is no such doctrine in the Bible, or in Christian theology.
It is, in fact, Islamic dogma that no Muslim army can never be defeated by
an infidel army. This Muhammad asserted on the authority of Allah himself.
(Something which the recent defeats, of the Taliban, in Afghanistan, and
Saddam Hussein's Muslim military superpower of the Middle East, Iraq, by the
Americans has precipitated a serious theological problem for Islamic
scholars).
Insults to Intelligence
Quite aside from the factual errors in geography, the attributing of Islamic
doctrine to the Christians, and the blatant distortion of history, the
Kingdom of Heaven is an insult to the intelligence of its viewers in terms
of its preposterous script.
Here we are expected to believe that: Balian is grieving his wife's death,
yet he does not even attend to her burial; that Balian raised a commoner,
trained only as a blacksmith, from France, could within days of arriving in
Palestine be teaching the local people how to practice agriculture and dig
wells in the desert; and that this blacksmith with no military training
could know more about siege weapons and military strategy that all the
knights and military professionals concentrated in the Holy Land put
together! Just where would a blacksmith have learnt all about siege engines,
trebuchets, cavalry tactics and defensive strategy?
The fictional, adulterous relationship depicted between Balian and Princess
Sybilla strains all credibility. As does Balian's presumed ethical
objections against executing the venomous and bloodthirsty husband of his
presumed adulterous interest! Apparently justice and the avoiding of a
disastrous war were not as important as his adulterous affections.
Aside from the terrain around Jerusalem being so conveniently flat for the
invading armies, the depicted firepower and range capabilities of the
catapults and trebuchets are ridiculous. Steel cranes with three-inch
titanium cables would have trouble sustaining the weight and strain with
which these 12th Century wooden and rope trebuchets were meant to have
pulverised the thick walls of Jerusalem! The film makers of Kingdom of
Heaven try to make up for a lack of script and character development by
overdosing on computer generated explosions and fictional firepower
capabilities. (Actually maximum range for a 12th Century catapult would have
been 150 yards with a 300 pound rock).
And how can any viewer with a grasp of history or military tactics swallow
the kind of tactics and strategy dished up in films like Kingdom of Heaven?
What soldiers throw their shields away just before engaging a massive
assault by the enemy?! Apparently, Orlando Bloom wanted his long flowing
locks to flow in the breeze, but seriously, what knight would throw his
helmet away just before engaging in hand to hand combat?!
Also, as any student of history and anthropology should be able to tell you,
the crusaders did not burn the bodies of their dead. That was the practice
of the Vikings, the ancient Greeks and the Hindus, but not of the Christians
who buried their dead.
The ridiculous speech with its feel good "why can't we all just get along"
drivel dished up by Orlando Bloom's Balian on the walls of Jerusalem (while
Saladin's armies politely delay their attack until he has finished) may
sound believable to some 21st Century Humanist, but these were not the
convictions or sentiments of any 12th Century crusader. As for the pathetic
egalitarian gesture of knighting everybody - without any training, testing
or code of conduct - is so unhistorical, and so out of touch with reality,
as to make one wonder what drugs the scriptwriter was on at the time.
Then there's that shipwreck. To expect us to believe that the hero of the
film could go down with the ship in high seas, and awake the next morning
alive and well, on the shore - with the entire crew and every passenger, and
every horse dead, and neatly deposited on the shore - is ludicrous.
Especially that the only survivors of the shipwreck were the hero, and his
horse! And of course, very conveniently, his father's sword was not the kind
of heavy sword that would sink to the bottom of the ocean, but was also
neatly deposited next to this sole survivor!
Crusade Against Christianity
The ridiculous and inane comments attributed to the bishop in the film are
also not only highly unlikely, but jarringly anachronistic. Producer Ridley
Scott, and scriptwriter William Monahan, obviously hate Christianity. But,
just in case any viewers lack the discernment to detect the unveiled
anti-Christian hostility and prejudice, which permeates the entire movie,
Ridley Scott, has gone on record as stating: "Balian is an agnostic, just
like me." Of course there was no such thing as agnosticism in the 12th
Century, especially not amongst crusaders. The word "agnostic" was a 19th
Century invention.
Just in case anyone misunderstood the motivations behind his movie, Ridley
Scott has been quoted as saying: "If we could just take God out of the
equation, there would be no f. problem!"
Entertainment or Exploitation?
Considering how few people today read history books, and how most depend
entirely on these kind of "based on a true story - the names and the places
are true - only the facts have been changed to protect the guilty" films,
for their understanding of the past, this kind of blind prejudice and
obsessive hatred against Christianity on the part of producers and directors
should be frightening. As Karl Marx declared: "The first battlefield is the
rewriting of history." I'm sure that all the enemies of Christianity are
delighted with propaganda pics like Kingdom of Heaven.
The Facts of History
The fact is that the crusades of the Middle Ages were a reaction to
centuries of Islamic Jihad. In the first century of Islam alone Muslim
invaders conquered the whole of the previously Christian North Africa
destroying over 3200 churches - in just 100 years. In the first five
centuries of Islam, Muslim forces killed Christians, kidnapped their
children to raise them as Muslims, or compelled people at the point of the
sword to convert to Islam . Up to 50% of all the Christians in the world
were wiped out during the first three centuries of Islam. The Saracens (as
the Muslim invaders were called) desecrated Christian places of worship and
were severely persecuting Christians. Pilgrims were then prevented from
visiting those places where our Lord was born, was crucified and raised from
the dead. It was only after four centuries of Islamic Jihad that the
crusades were launched as a belated reaction to the blatant Islamic Jihad.
Logistics and Economics
As the Christian History Institute has pointed out, the characterising of
crusaders as only in it for the plunder and the loot betrays an ignorance of
both geography and history. The vast majority of the crusaders were
impoverished and financially ruined by the crusades. Crusaders, through
great sacrifice and personal expense, left their homes and families to
travel 3000km across treacherous and inhospitable terrain - and the shortest
crusade lasted 4 years. Considering that only 10% of the crusaders had
horses, and 90% were foot soldiers, the sheer fact of logistics is that the
crusaders could not possibly have carried back enough loot to have made up
for the loss of earnings and high expenses involved with these long
crusades. Many crusaders lost their homes and farms to finance their
involvement in the crusades.
There's More to Life than Money
Perhaps self-seeking materialistic agnostics in the 21st Century cannot
understand that some people could be motivated by something other than
personal financial enrichment, but the fact is that many people make
sacrifices for their religious convictions, and in order to help others. In
the case of the crusaders, the historical record makes clear that amongst
the motivations that led tens of thousands of volunteers to reclaim the Holy
Land was a sense of Christian duty to help their fellow Christians in the
East whose lands have been invaded and churches desecrated by Muslim armies,
and a desire to secure access to the Holy Lands for pilgrims. There was also
a desire to fight for the honour of their Lord Jesus Christ, Whose churches
had been destroyed and Whose Deity had been denied by the Mohammadan
aggressors. In other words, to the crusaders this was a defensive war to
reclaim Christian lands from Muslim invaders.
We may not share their convictions, or agree with their methods, but we
ought to evaluate them in the light of the realities of the 11th and 12th
centuries, and not anachronistically project our standards and politics back
upon them.
The Missing Jihad
Scriptwriter William Monahan, and Director Ridley Scott, obviously don't
understand the motivations behind the crusaders, and apparently they do not
understand the Islamic doctrine of Jihad either - which the film makes no
reference to. Considering that Jihad was the central threat that had lead to
the reaction of the crusades, this omission is inexplicable. Kingdom of
Heaven preoccupies itself with fictionalising crusader atrocities, but it
ignores the pattern of the preceeding five centuries of genocide and
aggression by Islamic armies. For those wanting the politically incorrect
rest of the story which Kingdom of Heaven does not even hint of, you would
want to read Slavery, Terrorism
<http://www.frontline.org.za/books_videos/sti.htm> & Islam - The Historical
Roots & Contemporary Threat.
Scott's Kingdom of Heaven is politically correct, anti-Christian, pro-Muslim
propaganda. It makes poor entertainment and is a worthless distortion of
reality.
MOHAMMED VS CHRIST
In his article "Self Hate, Revisionist History and Christophobia in the
movie Kingdom of Heaven" Dr. Ted Baehr notes some of the differences between
Mohammed and Christ:
"Mohammed was the prophet of war; Christ is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah
9:6-7).
Mohammed's disciples killed for the faith; Christ's disciples were killed
for their faith (Acts 12:2; 2 Tim. 4:7).
Mohammed promoted persecution against the "infidels"; Christ forgave and
converted the chief persecutor (1 Tim. 1:13-15).
Mohammed was the taker of life; Christ is the giver of life (John 10:27-28).
Mohammed and his fellow warriors murdered thousands; Christ murdered none
but saved many (John 12:48).
Mohammed 's method was COMPULSION; Christ's aim was CONVERSION (Acts 3:19).
Mohammed practiced FORCE; Christ preached FAITH (John 6:29, 35).
Mohammed was a WARRIOR; Christ is a DELIVERER (Col. 1:13; 1 Thess. 1:10).
Mohammed said to the masses, "Convert or die!"; Christ said, "Believe and
live!" (John 6:47; 11:25-26).
Mohammed was swift to shed blood (Rom. 3:15-17); Christ shed His own blood
for the salvation of many (Eph. 1:7).
Mohammed preached "Death to the infidels!"; Christ prayed "Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).
Mohammed declared a holy war (Jihad) against infidels; Christ achieved a
holy victory on Calvary's cross (Col. 2:14-15) and His followers share in
that victory (John 16:33).
Mohammed constrained people by conquest; Christ constrained people by love
(2 Cor. 5:14).
Modern terrorists derive their inspiration from Mohammed and carry out their
despicable atrocities in the name of his god; Christians derive their
inspiration from the One who said, "Blessed are the peacemakers" (Matthew
5:9).
Modern day disciples of Mohammed respond to the terrorist attacks by
cheering in the streets; modern day disciples of Christ are deeply grieved
at past atrocities carried out by those who were "Christians" in name only
(the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, etc.).
Many Muslims are peaceful and peace-loving because they do not strictly
follow the teachings of their founder; many Christians are peaceful and
peace-loving because they do strictly follow the teachings of their Founder
(Rom. 12:17-21).
Mohammed called upon his servants to fight; Jesus said, "My kingdom is not
of this world; if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants
fight . . . but now is My kingdom not from here" (John 18:36)
Mohammed ordered death to the Jews (see A.Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad,
Oxford University Press [1975], p. 369); Christ ordered that the Gospel be
preached "to the Jew first" (Rom. 1:16).
The Koran says, "Fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them" (Qu'ran
9.5); Christ said, "Preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15).
Mohammed's mission was to conquer the world for Allah; Christ's mission was
to conquer sin's penalty and power by substitutionary atonement (2 Cor.
5:21; 1 Pet. 3:18).
Mohammed claimed that there was but one God, Allah; Christ claimed that He
was God (John 10:30-31; John 8:58-59; John 5:18; John 14:9).
Mohammed's Tomb: OCCUPIED! Christ's tomb: EMPTY! "
JIHAD VS THE GOSPEL
The word "crusade" does not appear in the Bible, nor is it commanded in
Christianity. However, Jihad is the sixth pillar of Islam and the second
greatest command of Muhammad. It is not only commended, but commanded in the
Quran.
The crusades ended many centuries ago. However Islamic Jihad is carried out
to this day. Millions of Christians have been slaughtered throughout the
centuries by Islamic militants - such as the 1.5 million Armenians murdered
in Turkey in 1915. Christians have continued to be slaughtered by Islamic
militants in Indonesia, the Philippines, Sudan and Nigeria to the present
day.
Therefore, before Christians fall over themselves to apologise for the
crusades, which ended over 700 years ago, it would be wise to first learn
from reliable sources what the crusades were all about, and study the
Islamic teachings and track record of Jihad over the last 14 centuries .
<http://www.frontline.org.za/books_videos/sti.htm> "Slavery, Terrorism and
Islam - The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat" would provide a good
introduction. Those who do not know their past have no future.
Dr. Peter Hammond
http://www.frontline.org.za/images/CDs/Crusades%20&%20Jihad.gif
Frontline Fellowship
P.O. Box 74
Newlands
7725
Cape Town
South Africa
E-Mail: [email protected]
Website: www.frontline.org.za <http://www.frontline.org.za/>
The above text is most of what was presented by Peter Hammond at the
Universities in Minnasota. The CD's on his presentation and the open
discussion times with the students is available from:
Frontline Fellowship USA
P.O. Box 728
Manitou Springs
CO 80829
Tel: 719-685-2899
Fax: 719-685-9330
email: [email protected]
Web: www.frontlinefellowship.net
See also related articles:
<http://www.frontline.org.za/news/Muslim_Evangelism_in_Minnesota.htm>
Muslim Evangelism in Minnesota
The End <http://www.frontline.org.za/news/end_of_islam.htm> of Islam
Slavery
<http://www.frontline.org.za/news/slaverytoday_battleoverhistory.htm> Today
and the Battle over History
Slavery
<http://www.christianaction.org.za/articles_ca/2004-4-TheScourgeofSlavery.ht
m> - The Rest of the Story
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