Thoughts on Chapters 14-15

In almost every chapter in Armstrong's account of the history of Jerusalem, an empire or a group of people rise to power and then decline. In chapter 14, the Malmuk empire comes to an end and in chapter 15 the Ottoman empire rises and falls. After feeling disillusioned after the Crusades, I tried to read these chapters with more sympathy and understanding for the circumstances of the time. Instead of feeling angry towards the religions, I started considering how politics take on these religious endeavors. Even though Saladin conquered Jerusalem peacefully and bloodlessly, intolerance continued to grow. Even though Christians were allowed to maintain control of their holy places, Muslims began building to obscure the Christian characteristics of Jerusalem. Armstrong describes this building as an "ideological weapon"(297), fueled by Muslim animosity towards Christianity. As tensions between Muslims and Christians intensified, the relationship between Muslims and Jews improved; "Saladin also invited the Jews to come back to Jerusalem, from which they had been entirely excluded by the Crusaders"(298). Despite this welcoming of the Jewish people, religious intolerance continued to grow. Intolerance is contagious. The Jews were intolerant to the Christians, the Christian were intolerant to the Jews, the Muslims were intolerant to the Christians, and this intolerance cycles until all groups are intolerant of one another. Instead of feeling frustrated with this religious intolerance, I tried to understand from where these feelings of prejudice arise. I understand why Muslims discriminated against the Christians after the death of so many people in the Crusades. Armstrong writes that this bloodletting let to defensiveness; "A new defensiveness had entered the Muslim feeling for Jerusalem, which could be destructive to the city"(302). Acts of intolerance arise from a person's worst self. All of the monotheistic religions, however, urge human beings to live as their better selves. It is ironic that in such a holy city integral to the three monotheistic faiths people refused to live by the values set forth by their religions. Discrimination and persecution were not just present in the East but also in the West. Jews in Europe suffered through pogroms and exile. Despite its seeming pervasiveness, not everyone was intolerant of other religions. Sufis still taught religious tolerance and understanding. An order of Sufis called the Bistamiyya "promoted a program called sulh-e kull ("universal conciliation") to enable the different religious traditions to understand one another. After centuries of hatred and warfare, it was an attempt to find reconciliation that could have been very valuable in the tense city of al-Quds"(313). In these past chapters, Sufism has provided me with hope for the good of humanity amidst so much religious persecution and hatred.