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The Christian Crusades
The Tenth Crusade?
There is no doubt that if you have been following the media coverage of the "war on terror", you have heard
the word crusade in some form. Terrorist leaders regularly refer to the west as crusaders. What are the
origins of this reference to crusades and what effect does it have on the Muslim people...past, present and future.
Over the course of the next few months I will look at the history of the Christian Crusades and how it is relevant to current
world events...It is important to begin in the time of Muhammad where key historic events in the quest for
religious dominance that escalated over 500 years, resulted in a climactic "holocaust" that ravenged the
world for another 200 years...it is a period that is known as the Christian Crusades. It is interesting in that much
of the terminology and "justification" that is traditionally associated with Islamic extremist views, has European
"Christian" roots beginning during this period.
Fundamental extremists today believe that they are engaged with an enemy that has declared war on Islam
and they use the history of these "crusades" as propoganda to validate this position to muslims...it is most effective on those
who live in a world of isolation...cut off from the modern world. It is from this group of people, whom are easily manipulated,
which they form the core of their support...as the support structure grows, a culture emerges that teaches its children a
doctrine that says , "all who are not muslims are the enemies of Islam", that...martyrdom in the face of the enemy is rewarded
by Allah as the highest of all honors, and that it is the "duty of all muslims to kill the crusaders from the west".
Many of these children eventually become the Mujahadeen, holy warriors..regarded by extremist groups as true muslims, who
fight a war for Islam on behalf of the "apostates"...muslims (moderates) who are "tainted"..."influenced" and not willing
to wage violent Jihad. These apostates are not considered infidels but the idea is that "the friend of my
enemy is also my enemy"...You see muslim "apostates" being beheaded in Iraq regularly and westerners wonder why? No need to
wonder any longer.
There are cultures in this world that live in such isolation, that they have no idea about the civilized
world around them. Many are aware to some extent , yet choose the isolation, or choose to remain devoted and limited to their
own cultural surroundings. Fundamentalist expect no less and their objective is to establish pure Islamic states as in Afghanistan
during the rule of the Taliban...and to derail reforms and moderate views in existing Islamic States...This is the agenda...total
submission...the very meaning of Islam. The lack of awareness and understanding of the outside world by
common people in this enviroment, combined with the historic record which is exploited by extremists leaders, creates
a one sided paranoid view of the world from the eyes of people who are living, figuratively speaking, in the eleventh
century. As a result, many muslims, even some moderates, actually see a relevance and wonder if the events of today might
just be the Tenth Crusade... which leaves many Christians to wonder if this might be Armageddon...On a more positive note,
there are promising new developments unfolding in the middle east, which have the potential to unravel known terrorist networks
and bring peace to an otherwise unpeaceful region of the world. Just today, Hamas publicly announced that it would accept
Palestinian Statehood in the West Bank and Gaza.
In either case...it has been, and will continue to be, a long and difficult war and whether destiny
defies history or history is an indication of our destiny, then this could literally be...the last
great jihad.
Tenth Crusade on the BLOG... Click here!
Interesting references to the Crusades...
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