CRUSADE SERIES – 3

The christendom was waiting for a perfect time to recapture the holy city – Jerusalem, which they lost to muslims in 6th century.

Muslim Ummah:

Soon after the death of prophet(saw)- muslims were divided into two parties while considering who to be the spiritual and political successor leader for the whole muslim ummah after prophet(saw). Despite the chaos Abu bakr(Ra) was elected as the first Caliph. But a group of muslims wanted Ali(Ra) to be the Caliph. This issue rooted as an important cause for many splits among Muslims in future.

After the assassination of Ali(RA), the Rahidun caliphate comes to an end. This caliphate lasted for about 30 years i.e. from 632 AD – 661 AD. From this arose the Umayyad caliphate which ruled the muslim ummah from 661 AD – 750 AD. And then came the Abbasid caliphate which existed from 750 AD – 1517 AD. In the mean time there arose many small dynasties like Idrisids, Aghlabids, Samanids, Buyids due to the decline of power of Abbasid Caliphate. The arrival of Fatimid Caliphate, a shia caliphate, was a major threat for Abbasids. These Fatimids ruled from 909 AD – 1171 AD. And then came the powerful militant named ‘Seljuk Turks’ and they existed from 1037 AD – 1194 AD. Thus muslims were strongly divided abd were too busy in fighting within themselves and were too weak to face any external threats.

Anyway Islam doesn’t have any connections with these divisions – as mentioned in Quran 6:159. Further islam orders muslims to maintain unity – as mentioned in Quran 3:103, 23:53, 30:32, 42:13. So these divisions doesn’t have any connections with Islam.

Christendom:

The Roman Empire was too big to rule. Hence in 285 AD, the Roman emperor Diocletian divided the Roman Empire into two great divisions based on their habitual language and locations. One is Western Roman Empire and their official language was Latin and the other is Eastern Roman Empire and their official language was Greek. Rome was the capital for Western Roman Empire and Constantinople was the new capital for the Eastern Roman Empire.

At that time there were four important churches of christians under Roman’s rule. They were located in Rome, Constantinople, Antioch and Alexandria. In 6th century Antioch and Alexandria were captured by Muslim forces. So there were only two churches remaining in the hands of Roman Empire – one of the Rome and other of the Constantinople.

The Church of Rome was leaded by ‘The Pope’ and the church of Constantinople was leaded by ‘The Patriarch’. The christians belonging to the church of Rome were called as “Western Roman Catholics” and the christians belonging the church of Constantinople were called as “Eastern Roman Orthodox”.

A cold war began between these two churches. The Pope wanted to rule the whole christendom while the orthodox rejected this. They considered catholics as Barbarians and were unfit to rule the christendom. Hence orthodox wanted Patriarch to rule the whole christendom. This led to the emergence of animosity and permanent separation between these two parties and each of them was waiting for a perfect time to dominate the other.

Success knocked the doors of The Pope. After the battle of Manzikert, the Seljukh Turks were moving forward and were capturing most of the territories of Eastern Roman Empire. The orthodox christians found it is impossible to stop the invading muslim forces without the help of western catholic christians. Hence the situation forced orthodox christians to seek help from catholics to overcome this crisis. Hence in the Counsil Of Piacenza held in march 1095 AD, the Eastern Roman Emperor (Byzantine Emperor) – Alexios, requested the Pope Urban 2 to help him in overcoming the deadly crisis.

Pope Urban 2 made a master plan. He converted this political issue into religious issue and accepted to help Alexios. He found that muslims were lacking in unity and were too weak to face any external threats and so he used this wonderful opportunity to demolish the whole Muslim ummah and to bring the whole christendom under his rule.

He provoked the emotions of christians by spreading rumours among Romans that christians who go to the holy place – Jerusalem – were being tortured by muslims. In addition to this Pope Urban 2 preached among all Romans in his Council Of Clermont in Nov 1095 AD that It is The will of God(Deus Vult) to extort the holy city – Jerusalem from unbelievers and bring it under the rule of christians and declared a Holy War on muslims. All christians – kings, princes, proleterians, orthodox – accepted the invitation and gathered under the rule of Pope to fight against muslims.

Kings and princes anticipated that by accepting this invitation they will be accepted by their christian citizens of their territory and would be able to rule their territory in a peaceful manner. Orthodox wanted to get rid of the muslim invaders – so they accepted the invitation. Normal Christians – proleterians – were suffering out of severe poverty, they were often looted by their christian leaders and they were living a tragic life. They always wanted a relief from the crisis. So when they heard about the Holy War – they thought this would relive them from their tragedy and so they accepted the invitation and joined the army of Pope. Pope aranged this war because this will bring the whole christendom under his rule. None of the christians accepted this holy war because of piety – each of them just wanted to fullfil their own worldly benefits by accepting the invitation,thats it.

Pope made muslims as a common enemy for all christians and became a common leader for all christians. And thus by this way he became the head of christendom and began a war on innocent muslims which lasted for about 400 years.