Except this doesn’t fit in with what we know of the Muslim empire of the day. The Arab empires of the Middle Ages were famed for their tolerance, and under Arab dominion, Jerusalem was a city open to all faiths. Most likely tales of Christian harassment were papal propaganda- that, or individual Christians were getting harassed by individual Muslims, but probably no systematic, state-sponsored persecution of Christians existed.
Have you read the part where St Francis pays a visit to the Muslim camp and is treated with the utmost respect by the Sultan?
This is perfectly schizophrenic.
Are you serious? You know one of the reasons Byzantium fell was because the Syriac Christians of the Empire were treated like filth, right? The Byzantines persecuted Syriac Christians to the point where these Christians preferred siding with the Muslims than with the Orthodox Byzantines.
I did not cite the Sultan as an example of anything, I was merely responding to Jim about something irrelevant to what we’re talking about.
…was fuelled by breathtaking plunder and massive slavery on a scale not seen since ancient Rome. To be sure, the interest of Muslim scholars in Greco-Roman art, philosophy and science and their cultivation of it to a certain degree was a very good thing; and the establishment of widespread trade routes did facilitate much prosperity and interconnection between peoples and nations. Still, to overlook all the plundering, destruction and enslavement that followed in the wake of the Islamic conquests is quite unacceptable. One of the great internal problems of the Islamic nations was that even when their leaders began to settle down and cultivate the things of peace and civilization, typically a bunch of fresh, eager and zealous “converts” (recently conquered peoples) would accuse them of apostasy from Islam exactly because they were not going out and plundering and conquering 24/7, so they would agitate for and frequently achieve a coup d’etat, then immediately restart hostilities with their neighbours, including and perhaps even especially Christian lands and dominions. Rinse and repeat: this is the story of how Islam established itself across much of the world and produced and maintained its “golden age.” Indeed, to a certain extent, this same cycle and internal tension and instability is still a problem in the Islamic world today and, by extension, often a problem for others - ISIS being an all too frightening manifestation of it.
Of course. It’s only acceptable when Europeans do it. Enslavement? Europe was built on the backs of slaves.
And as I replied to Serafic, can you please provide an example of a golden age or empire not preceded by war and conflict- which, in the Middle Ages, necessarily included slaves?
Actually not that true, since, like I said, Syriac Christians preferred living under Islam than under the Byzantines, precisely because they weren’t persecuted as brutally as under the Byzantines for not being Orthodox. They were only required to pay jizya.
Sultan Al Hakim, right? Aptly termed the Mad Caliph- abhored by all under his reign. He was assassinated by his sister and son. He was responsible for trying to burn the Church of the Resurrection, according to my books, and forced Christians to wear bells. The tales of Christians being mistreated were from during his reign, and he also persecuted Jews and Sunnis. Not a good man by any standards.