The Medieval Crusades on Middle Eastern and Western Societies - Essay Example

17 September 2009 The medieval crusades on Middle Eastern and Western societies in the early 21st- century The beginning of the 21st century was marked by terror attacks and increase hostility between global nations. This paper is supposed to contemplate and dispute the issue of crusades which are considered to be holy wars against infidel. Were the crusades which took place in the period between 1095 and 1272 similar to holy war at the beginning of the 21st century? Before we start considering the crusades and particularly their goals, it is necessary to define what the holy war is. Thus we will be able to make a conclusion as for the essence of crusades. At the beginning of the 21st century, the two main forms of crusades are Islamic fundamentalism and holy war. George Dennis defines holy war according to three criteria. “A holy war has to be declared by a competent religious authority, the obvious examples being a Christian pope or a Muslim caliph. The objective must be religious; again, two obvious examples are the protection or recovery of sacred shrines or the forced conversion or subjection of others to your religion. Finally, those who participate in the holy war are to be promised a spiritual reward, such as remission of their sins or assurance of a place in paradise” (45). Consequently, from these three perspectives, crusades could be viewed as holy wars for they were initiated by the Pope Urban II, its initial and hypothetic objective was really the recovery of sacred lands, and indeed the participants of the crusades were promised pardon of all their sins. But when the real goals and motives are to be contemplated, they definitely lie in more than in simple recovery of Jerusalem (Child et al 87). George Dennis believes that it is very strange of the people (both nobility and the commons) to leave their homes and travel thousands of miles in order to protect some abstract land. There is not seen any other motivation than their religious devotion. But this can be true for a small number of common crusade participants. The reason for this doubt consists in the certain amount of facts. Many of the noblemen (and even peasants) longed for some kind of a gain whether it be land or power for themselves (Child et al 60). The reason for this is evident: the younger sons of European nobility who were not supposed to obtain rule of their family lands had to search for their own lands. As for the commons, they were poor, and that is the reason (Essortment n.d.). Other reasons for the crusades seem far from religious, too. But they can rather be defined as the lust for power over the lands which became stronger and more influential in many aspects, religions among them. The Christian religion developed in the East and its center was Constantinople but not Rome with its Papacy. The Popes could not allow that for they wanted the entire Christian world to be under their control. What is more, Muslim religion started its expansion in the East: Asia Minor and North Africa. The Christian Popes could not allow the spread of Islam and the process of Muslims settling in Europe (South Italy) which could threaten the power and rule of Rome. For that reason the fight against Muslims became sacred and the lack of remorse of these “religious” people made Islam followers believe that Christian religion is not an acceptable religion. Consequently, the conflict of these two religions started, which continues to the present day. The Muslim perspective of war is to inculcate Islam while the Christian vision of war is protection and extolment of Christianity which justifies and excuses cruelty and murders (Child et al 71). Since all historical periods, political repressions and Islamic fundamentalism have been an integral part of social life. For a long time, relations between East and West have been marked by violence and cultural conflict. Political terrorism is a concept which vividly portrays current state of international affairs and cultural conflict between the East and the West. This is a multidimensional notion which includes different spheres: economic, political, religious and social. The topic of psycho-political terrorism is important because helps politicians and leaders to understand and perceive role of political messages and campaigns introduced by the state, political organizations and independent terrorist groups. For centuries, western and eastern traditions have differed greatly which led to the conflict arising from authentic nature and cultural uniqueness of both hemispheres. In modern world, this process of confrontation leads to clash of civilizations which compete on the international arena. In order to investigate and analyze the literature of the topic, critical thinking method will be used. Previous researchers on the topic pay no attention to the problems of cultural differences and political power of terror messages. The paper will address the problem of modern terrorism and intercultural relations, then, it will discuss the importance of psycho-political terrorism and its main principles. It should be mentioned that influence of both civilization is a highly complex subject which has an impact on cultures and societies in different ways: through norms and traditions, religious concepts and social institutions and globalization processes (Child et al 99). Islam, as well as Christianity, accepts Jesus with the difference which lies in denial of crucifixion. If we view these two religions from the theoretical perspective, they seem similar. The difference between them may consist in the belief that Muslims hold and which lies in the fact that the entire world will sooner or later be Islamic and all Muslims have to strive for that and fight for that. Christianity is not that categorical, it allows for other religions to exist. On the other hand, it is possible that Muslim people have shaped the negative attitude towards Christians since the crusades when Christians did not spare civilians in their desire to obtain wealth and power and to protect what did not have to be protected (Fung and Derk 33). As well, in the same context we can consider the relationship between Confucianism and Buddhism and define how the relation between these two religions or philosophies differs from Islam and Christianity. Buddhism is a religious belief which invokes spiritual self-improvement supposed to lead to enlightenment. This is a belief that all in our life is perishable. What is important is our life after death. On the other hand, Confucianism is rather a philosophy, not a religion which stresses on the social context of people’s existence. It teaches certain behaviors as virtues which make people social beings first of all, and only after that, individuals (Fung and Bodde 87). Confucianism and Buddhism do not oppose each other, but exist in harmony in eastern societies. It is evident that crusades cannot be considered holy wars because they have caused a lot of murderous events and their reasons were political, economic, connected with power and wealth, and religious only the last thing. This historical occurrence caused centuries of conflict between Islamic and Christian worlds which continues today. New crusades create a conflict between the East and the West, and have tremendous and unpleasant consequences for both civilizations. In Asia and Middle East the impact of religion on life of common citizens is stronger in comparison with Europe and America. Fundamentalism becomes a remarkable feature of Islam threatening millions of Western believers around the globe. Western culture embodies a certain cultural and social values followed by Europeans for several centuries. Western style of life has emerged as a template of change in an over-changing world and yet a repository of carefully conserved verities as old as the promise of freedom. Modern western culture has kept the message of liberation and freedom alive, social change agents brining novelty and new vision of cultural norms. The policy of aggressiveness is important and it reflects broad cultural traits. Modernization and new social relations inside the community embrace all spheres of life changing gender roles and status of women in the society. In contrast to Muslim culture, Western culture embodies recent technological developments and innovations, and it is opened to new ideas and innovative tends. Islamic culture and Islamic fundamentalism differs greatly from western norms and traditions (Fung and Bodde 88). In sum, the concept of crusades against Middle Eastern and Western societies is still relevant. The main problem which leads to the clash of civilizations is that Muslim fundamentalism will not be able to compete with liberal democracies lies in its confusion regarding the domains which belong respectively to God. The matter is not that priests or mullahs are not always the best politicians or administrators. This is a relatively minor problem. In general, clash of civilizations marked all spheres of life including ideological, political, social and economic and religious issues. There are different pints of view on the threat of Islamic fundamentalism, but all critics come to conclusion that Islam and clash of civilization will influence political and economic system of the world. On the margin of credibility, some of these projects have carried rejection of existing institutions to extreme lengths - living in elected poverty, in communes rejecting conventional family forms. Islamic fundamentalism will have a growing impact on the global community and politics, economic and religion eventually spread­ing outwards into the West with both the pluses and minuses of this religious and political force. Works Cited: Child, John, Whittock, Martyn John and Kelly, Nigel. The Crusades. Heinemann Educational Publishers, 2002. Essortment, History of the Crusades a Holy War, Essortment, http://www.essortment.com/all/crusadesholywa_rhvy.htm Fung, Yu-lan and Bodde, Derk. A Short History of Chinese Philosophy. Free Press, 2003 George T. Dennis. “Defenders of the Christian People: Holy war in Byzantine”. In \ The Crusades from the Perspective of Byzantium and the Muslim World, ed. Angeliki E Laiou and Roy Parvitz Mottahedeh, 31. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2004. Read More