Ibn Munqidh's View Of Muslims During The Holy War

The holy Quran asks all the Muslims to respect people from other religions specifying the people of the books, who are Christians and Jews. Christians lived peacefully with Muslims during the time of the prophet. However, over many generations this peace started fading away. Muslims perceived Christians as pagans, who worshiped the cross, and as enemies. In Muslims on Christians, Usama Ibn Munqidh described his opinion about the Franks based on anecdotes that he heard and situations that he faced. Ibn Munqidh's opinion presented the most popular Christian stereotype among the Muslim community. During the holy wars, Muslims perceived Christians as animals. They believed that the only thing that Christians can do is fight. Muslims considered visiting the Frankish lands as a much worse punishment that captivity. Muslims believed that Christians lacked all forms of knowledge including the basic medical techniques. They claimed that Christians’ way of thinking was not logical and that Christianity is
However, the first sentence that William of Tyre wrote claimed that Muslims are descendants of the devil. William’s view of Muslims presented the Christians’ perspective of Muslims during the holy wars. The Christians claimed that prophet Mohamed spread Islam with the sword. They described prophet Mohamed as the one who destroyed the peace among the nations. Christians viewed Muslims as uncivilized tribes who cannot make logical decisions. They used the conflict between Sunni and Shia to prove that Muslims are the destroyers of peace. Notice that Muslims and Christians condemned the religions of each other forgetting that they both believe in the same God. Muslims and Christians criticized each other criticized each other based on the opinions of their scholars and leaders without even questioning the reliability of these