“Crusades Through Arab Eyes” by Amin Maalouf
The great Crusade started in the second half of the 11th Century after Pope Urban II appealed to followers to reconquer the Holy Land from Muslims. Most Turks had converted to Islam, which was a concern for Alexios who was the Byzantine emperor of the Middle East region. The first war was to retake the Holy Land from Muslims, but it was realized that the Crusaders (or the Franj as referred by Muslims) had other intentions of conquering the territory of the Muslims. The book “Crusades Through Arab Eyes” tries to portray a different vantage point from an Arab-Muslim perspective. The author indicates how dissimilar the commonly written books about the Crusade war by most Western writers are in regards to that war. The book summarizes almost 200 years of the Crusade war into 293 pages by noting and quoting different sources from the Arab authors and eyewitnesses. It is not only detailed but also mentions different perspectives, hence a significant revelation for the general audience. The aim of this paper is to discuss and remark on these diverse viewpoints as explained by Amin Maalouf, including reviewing the book and showing how it influences the readers.
At the beginning of the Crusade, Arabs were caught unawares by the religious zealotry by the Christians. Even though the initial aim of the war …show more content…
Maalouf gives the example of Saladin, who conquered the Crusaders and took the Holy City. Unlike the Franj leadership, Saladin never killed soldiers he captured. Instead, he asked for ransom for him to release them, an act that shows how merciful the Arab leadership was. This is also an evidence that Crusader leadership did not care about peace. Saladin acted in kind in order to avoid further bloodshed. In fact, he respected the churches and even offered Christians the opportunity to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land whenever they
The great Crusade started in the second half of the 11th Century after Pope Urban II appealed to followers to reconquer the Holy Land from Muslims. Most Turks had converted to Islam, which was a concern for Alexios who was the Byzantine emperor of the Middle East region. The first war was to retake the Holy Land from Muslims, but it was realized that the Crusaders (or the Franj as referred by Muslims) had other intentions of conquering the territory of the Muslims. The book “Crusades Through Arab Eyes” tries to portray a different vantage point from an Arab-Muslim perspective. The author indicates how dissimilar the commonly written books about the Crusade war by most Western writers are in regards to that war. The book summarizes almost 200 years of the Crusade war into 293 pages by noting and quoting different sources from the Arab authors and eyewitnesses. It is not only detailed but also mentions different perspectives, hence a significant revelation for the general audience. The aim of this paper is to discuss and remark on these diverse viewpoints as explained by Amin Maalouf, including reviewing the book and showing how it influences the readers.
At the beginning of the Crusade, Arabs were caught unawares by the religious zealotry by the Christians. Even though the initial aim of the war …show more content…
Maalouf gives the example of Saladin, who conquered the Crusaders and took the Holy City. Unlike the Franj leadership, Saladin never killed soldiers he captured. Instead, he asked for ransom for him to release them, an act that shows how merciful the Arab leadership was. This is also an evidence that Crusader leadership did not care about peace. Saladin acted in kind in order to avoid further bloodshed. In fact, he respected the churches and even offered Christians the opportunity to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land whenever they