Thank you Mark for being our Christian voice. I feel saddened and inadequate in the face of such wanton destructive behaviour against what we hold important and sacred. Sometimes is seems, you are a voice crying in the wilderness as far as the church is concerned.
Also relevant is that the people involved referred to the deceased as "dogs", it being well known that most muslims believe Muhammed viewed dogs as a dirty animal and so they do so to this day.
Examples of breaking crosses can also be found in the writings of the arab historians of the Crusades.
Ibn Al-Athir gives and example of a poem written after the fall of the fort Banyas to Saladin’s troops in 1179: "The destruction of the Franks came speedily Now is the time to SMASH THEIR CROSSES Had the time of their death not been near They would not have built their House of Lamentations" D.S. Richards (tr.), The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athir for the Crusading Period from al_kamil fi’l-ta’rikh, Part II, (England, Ashgate, 2007), p.266
Another historian Sibt Ibn Al-Jauzi writes that before Muslim army entered Damascus, a priest had gasered the Franks and he had before him "the Testaments and the crosses and the Holy Scriptures". When the Muslims entered the city they: "...killed 10,000, SMOTE THER CROSSES and their cavalry with Greek fire..." F. Gabrielli Arab Historians of the Crusades, (tr.) E.J. Costello (Oxon, Routledge, 2010), pp.37, 38
Ibn 'Abd Az-Zahir gives a text of a letter from Baibars to Bohemond VI after the capture of Antioch. In this letter Baibars describes what Bohemond would have seen if he was there: "You would have seen your knights prostrate beneath the horses’ hooves, your houses stormed by pillagers and ransacked by looters, your wealth weighed by the quintal, your women sold four at a time and bought for a dinar of your own money! You would have seen the CROSSES IN YOUR CHURCHES SMASHED, the pages of the false Testaments scattered, THE PATRIARCHS' TOMBS OVERTURNED. You would have seen your Muslim enemy trampling on the place where you celebrate the mass, cutting the throats of monks, priests and deacons upon the altars, bringing sudden death to the Patriarchs and slavery to the royal princes." F. Gabrielli Arab Historians of the Crusades, (tr.) E.J. Costello, (Oxon, Routledge, 2010), p.185
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Thank you, Mark, for putting this in context for us. Jesus said 'you shall know them by their fruits.' (Mt 7:16)
ReplyDeleteThank you Mark for being our Christian voice. I feel saddened and inadequate in the face of such wanton destructive behaviour against what we hold important and sacred. Sometimes is seems, you are a voice crying in the wilderness as far as the church is concerned.
ReplyDeleteMost helpful research. Hopefully read by political leaders to grasp Islamic doctrine more clearly so as to make appropriate responses.
ReplyDeleteAlso relevant is that the people involved referred to the deceased as "dogs", it being well known that most muslims believe Muhammed viewed dogs as a dirty animal and so they do so to this day.
ReplyDeleteExamples of breaking crosses can also be found in the writings of the arab historians of the Crusades.
ReplyDeleteIbn Al-Athir gives and example of a poem written after the fall of the fort Banyas to Saladin’s troops in 1179:
"The destruction of the Franks came speedily
Now is the time to SMASH THEIR CROSSES
Had the time of their death not been near
They would not have built their House of Lamentations"
D.S. Richards (tr.), The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athir for the Crusading Period from al_kamil fi’l-ta’rikh, Part II, (England, Ashgate, 2007), p.266
Another historian Sibt Ibn Al-Jauzi writes that before Muslim army entered Damascus, a priest had gasered the Franks and he had before him "the Testaments and the crosses and the Holy Scriptures". When the Muslims entered the city they:
"...killed 10,000, SMOTE THER CROSSES and their cavalry with Greek fire..."
F. Gabrielli Arab Historians of the Crusades, (tr.) E.J. Costello (Oxon, Routledge, 2010), pp.37, 38
Ibn 'Abd Az-Zahir gives a text of a letter from Baibars to Bohemond VI after the capture of Antioch. In this letter Baibars describes what Bohemond would have seen if he was there:
"You would have seen your knights prostrate beneath the horses’ hooves, your houses stormed by pillagers and ransacked by looters, your wealth weighed by the quintal, your women sold four at a time and bought for a dinar of your own money! You would have seen the CROSSES IN YOUR CHURCHES SMASHED, the pages of the false Testaments scattered, THE PATRIARCHS' TOMBS OVERTURNED. You would have seen your Muslim enemy trampling on the place where you celebrate the mass, cutting the throats of monks, priests and deacons upon the altars, bringing sudden death to the Patriarchs and slavery to the royal princes."
F. Gabrielli Arab Historians of the Crusades, (tr.) E.J. Costello, (Oxon, Routledge, 2010), p.185
this is absolutely fantastic..thanks for this good post..
ReplyDelete