Mamluk Jerusalem
Word Count: 1,622
Ayyubid and Mamluk Jerusalem
The core idea of God/sacred argued by Armstrong in Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths is the idea of a sort of transcendence into something greater than just who we are as people. The exact meanings of sacred and holiness can vary throughout a culture over a period of time with the main idea remaining the same. During the period of Mamluk reign in Jerusalem, the city’s holiness had become more spiritual to the Muslims than ever before. As Christians and Jews attempted to in the past, Muslims’ desire to make physical contact with the Haram exemplifies their devotion to Jerusalem. Furthermore, while Jews believed that studying the Torah was a way to escape to God, a new idea presented itself to Muslims to study with the Dome of the Rock in sight. Mamluk Jerusalem is noted as the era that attempts to recreate the coexistence once shared between themselves, Christians and Jews. However, the growing hostilities between the groups result in a failed attempt as the Ayyubid empire shifts to the Mamluk era. When Jerusalem reconquered by the Muslims in 1187, the city gained importance as a political and geographical trophy that people were willing to die and get killed for. During this capture, no Christians were killed in the process, contrasting the Crusaders, the Muslim officials simply took the inhabitants of Jerusalem as slaves. Many of the richer men and women were able to ransom themselves and leave. Muslims were horrified to see that they didn’t help one another (Armstrong 294). The significance this held almost a hundred years after the Crusades was to show that the brotherhood that had come from the Crusades and promoted by Pope Urban II did not last any more significantly than the religious fanaticism had. The damaging effect of the Crusader period shattered the system of coexistence and tolerance between Islam and the Christian West at the roots. Conquering and suffering for the Holy City was an event that
Ayyubid and Mamluk Jerusalem
The core idea of God/sacred argued by Armstrong in Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths is the idea of a sort of transcendence into something greater than just who we are as people. The exact meanings of sacred and holiness can vary throughout a culture over a period of time with the main idea remaining the same. During the period of Mamluk reign in Jerusalem, the city’s holiness had become more spiritual to the Muslims than ever before. As Christians and Jews attempted to in the past, Muslims’ desire to make physical contact with the Haram exemplifies their devotion to Jerusalem. Furthermore, while Jews believed that studying the Torah was a way to escape to God, a new idea presented itself to Muslims to study with the Dome of the Rock in sight. Mamluk Jerusalem is noted as the era that attempts to recreate the coexistence once shared between themselves, Christians and Jews. However, the growing hostilities between the groups result in a failed attempt as the Ayyubid empire shifts to the Mamluk era. When Jerusalem reconquered by the Muslims in 1187, the city gained importance as a political and geographical trophy that people were willing to die and get killed for. During this capture, no Christians were killed in the process, contrasting the Crusaders, the Muslim officials simply took the inhabitants of Jerusalem as slaves. Many of the richer men and women were able to ransom themselves and leave. Muslims were horrified to see that they didn’t help one another (Armstrong 294). The significance this held almost a hundred years after the Crusades was to show that the brotherhood that had come from the Crusades and promoted by Pope Urban II did not last any more significantly than the religious fanaticism had. The damaging effect of the Crusader period shattered the system of coexistence and tolerance between Islam and the Christian West at the roots. Conquering and suffering for the Holy City was an event that
Cited: Armstrong, Karen. Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths. New York: Random House, 2005. Print. Bahat, Dan. The Carta Jerusalem Atlas. Third ed. Jerusalem: Carta, 2011. Print. Broadhurst, R.J.C. trans. The Travels of Ibn Jubayr. London: Jonathan Cape, 1952. http://faculty.colostate-pueblo.edu/beatrice.spade/seminar97/jubayr.htm Stewart, M.A. The Book of Wanderings of Brother Felix Fabri. London, 1896. http://faculty.colostate-pueblo.edu/beatrice.spade/seminar97/fabri/fabri1.htm