The Conflict Between Christendom And Islam Essay, Research Paper

Since Islam came into being, it has clashed numerously with the alreadyestablished Christianity. Their rivalry has never ceased until today. ModernExamples would be Bosnia and Lebanon. There were not only military clashesbut political as well as economical. Although, the rivalry was incredibly intense,ironically, Arab or Islamic culture managed to severely influence the Christiankingdoms. However, Christianity used all the advantages provided by Islam totheir advantage and through that they managed to keep the Arabs at bay.Islamic civilization and its rise were thanks to one man and that is the lastprophet, Prophet Muhammad. Islam came into being in 622AD and it was the lastof the great civilizations. Islam managed to push the Arabs into a new kind ofcommunity, which at the same time spread far beyond Arabia, Persians, Indians,North African countries and parts of Europe came under its domination.The Arabs managed to capture most of the most powerful economicareas. In the Mediterranean their navy conquered Cyprus and crippled Byzantinesea power. They first clashed with the Christians when they tried to besiegeConstantinople. In 711 they started their raids into Spain and in 716 theyconquered it. They tried to conquer France but the Franks under the leaderCharles Martel handed the Arabs their first defeat. From the end of the 7thcentury till the middle of the 11th, the Mediterranean remained something of aMuslim lake and western trade with East Asia wasn?t cut off during thesecenturies, it was significantly diminished and carried on in awareness of Muslimdominance. ( Craig, Graham, Kagan, Turner, The heritage of western civ.Pp323)In the early Middle Ages the main power in Europe was always the Popeand later in the 700?s it was shared with Charlemagne. The combination of thesetwo managed to keep the Arab invasions at bay. But the Christians did benefitwith their contact with Islamic culture. The aggressiveness of the Arabs forcedwestern Europeans to rely on their own resources and to develop their ownheritage and culture. By diverting the focus and energy?s of the Byzantine Empire, the Arabsprevented it from expanding into Western Europe allowing the Franks and theLombargs to gain power. And by controlling their Mediterranean Western accessto eastern trade and cultural influence was diminished. There was also a lot ofcreative interchange between these two cultures. The Arab civilization taughtwestern farmers irrigation, the tanning of leather, refinition of silk and educatedtheir scholars. Down to the 16th century the basic gynecological and childcaremanuals were compilations of the famous Iranian Islamic scholars physician andphilosophers like Razi, Kharazmi and Ibm-Sina were still utilized. These scholarsmade some of the greatest discoveries. For example Kharazmi discovered thesignificance of alcohol in medications. ( Cargill, Menzont, Interaction of civ. Pp561)Relations between the two during those times were not alwaysantagonistic. In 802 Charlemagne received, from the caliph, Harun-al-Rashid, awhite elephant. In truth the Christians made not only a great amount of wealth oftheir contacts with the Arabs with a whole deal of knowledge which led to theirascendancy of power during the Renaissance years. Civilization in WesternEurope gained much more than it could have ever before.Another fact about the Islamic civilization was that they were quite atolerant and practical race. Their tolerance of certain religions like the Jewsprovided more distaste between the Christians and themselves. This was anantagonism between the two until recently when the Arabs revolted against thenew state of Israel. ( Jacobs, Fisher, Einzholdt, Islamic Heritage, Pp 192)There were times when Islamic culture actually managed to influence notonly the culture but the religion of the Christians as well. For instance, during thesiege of Constantinople in 730 when Leo III managed to repulse the invaders healso got ideas to change certain parts of the Christian religion. He forebade theuse of images in Eastern churches and tried to enforce the ban in the West, eventhough his efforts insulted the Western churches. ( www. UCLA/index/essays/Islam/index.com )In 1071, the Byzantine Empire was handed a major defeat by the MuslimSeljuq Turks who soon, rapidly, overran the eastern provinces of the Empire.After twenty years of steady Turkish advances, the Eastern Emperor asked forWestern Aid in 1092. The reply in three years was the launch of the firstCrusades. A century later ( 1204 ) the Crusaders would inflict more damage onConstantinople and Eastern Christendom than all previous non-Christianinvaders had done.The first crusade was a risky venture. But the Pope and the nobility, it wasto their advantage to send large amounts of nobles to fight, mainly because ofthe small feuds back home between idle and restless noble youths. The nobilityalso recognized the vast amounts of fortunes they could make in these wars.However, in the first crusade, religion was almost the only motive encouragingthe crusaders apart from economics. The Christians thought the first crusadewas an immense success. The second crusade was a disaster. ( Craig, Graham,Ozment, Turner, Heritage of world civ. Pp 347-350 )In 1187, Saladin reconquered Jerusalem . The third crusade, in the 12th century,enlisted the most powerful Western rulers like King Richard the lion heart ofEngland. But all it lead to was a lot of the people?s tax money being wastedOverall, the crusades were both a political and religious failure. However,it did stimulate Western trade and interaction with the East.The Arabs would not have been able to spread their beliefs in theMesopotamian areas if it wasn?t for the already existing conflicts between thedifferent types of Christian sects. Even though they were all Semitic as a result,many Egyptians and Syrian Christians, hoping for deliverance from Byzantineoppression, may have welcomed the Islamic conquerors. Even though theMuslims were quite tolerant of other religions, they were quite sensitive and triedto maintain the purity of their religion and culture, the Arabs forbade mixedmarriages. Special taxes on conquered people encouraged them to convert toIslam. ( Jacobs, Fisher, Einzholdt, Islamic Heritage, Pp 235-241) The conclusion, which I have come by, is that Islam and Christianityhad nothing against each other except for economics and power. Although at onepoint they fought with each other, mercilessly, their conflict has managed not toonly destroy but to create as well. Trade between the Eastern and Western sideof the world was one of the greatest interactions between the two. The Westerncivilizations have managed to not only increase their material wealth but also atthe same time, gained immense knowledge, which helped them to develop at anincredible pace. Knowledge which has increased their culture and development. Ithink that throughout the centuries and millennia?s conflict has usually been thesource of not only devastation but also incredible creation.