The Crusades as Trendsetter
The Crusades were one of the longest wars in history, beginning from 1095 and continuing intermittently for two hundred years and ending only in 1291.
In these wars, on the one side, all the Muslim rulers were involved. On the other side were the Christian nations of Europe; almost all the Christian rulers of that time participated in them. After bloody battles spanning two hundred years, the result was a glorious victory for the Muslims and a humiliating defeat for the Christians.
In the fourteenth century AD, the state of affairs that prevailed was that, on the one hand, the Muslim nations of Asia and Africa had a great victory to celebrate, while, on the other hand, the Christian nations of Europe were left with nothing but a sense of defeat. Today, the situation is totally different. The Muslims of the present times are suffering from a defeatist mentality. On the contrary, the Christian nations of Europe, including America, have established their supremacy over Muslim nations.
Why is there this strange difference between the two? The reason is that the Crusades became a trendsetter for the two nations, although in two different ways. The Muslims came to believe that war was the greatest means of achieving success, whereas the Christian nations—as a matter of compulsion—developed a different way of thinking, which was that since they could not achieve success on the battlefield, they should begin to devote their energies to peaceful fields. The Christians for their part called these efforts ‘Spiritual Crusades’. I would say rather that a better term would be ‘Peaceful Crusades’. Subsequently, a silent process was gradually set in motion among the Christian nations based on constructive activities such as study and research. All the books available in those times were acquired and translated into European languages. Research was undertaken in many different fields of knowledge, including, most importantly, that of nature.
This process of peaceful research and study, which continued for a long period of time, ushered in the age of the Renaissance in Christian Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Developments in the sciences and other fields of knowledge continued uninterruptedly until a new world came into existence in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—a world which was different in every respect from that of ancient times. It was a high point in the development of western civilization, and its most prominent aspect was that it totally revolutionized the criterion of power for the first time in human history. In ancient times, war was the criterion that determined power. Now, in this new age, rightly called the ‘scientific age’, peace had become the source of power. During the Crusades, the Muslim nations achieved victory by winning wars. Now in present times, Christian nations have found a far greater victory by employing a peaceful strategy.
In present times, many Muslims are prone to thinking along the lines of violence. In many places, they are directly or indirectly promoting the culture of guns and bombs. But over a long period, despite the extraordinary sacrifices made by Muslims, they have not been able to achieve any success, whereas the ascendancy of western nations has remained unaffected.
What is the reason for the total failure of the Muslims’ violent activities in the present times? There is just one cause and that is their opting for ancient ways and practices in modern times. In other words, opting for the culture of war in an age of peace. Muslims for their part attribute their failure to the conspiracies of western nations. However, in the present day, the reason for the Muslims’ failure is to be found within themselves, and that is their total unawareness of the changes brought about in this modern age. This is why they have adopted anachronistic policies.
In the twenty-first century the final hour has come for Muslims to completely abandon the gun culture. They are left with no other option.
In earlier times, military strength was considered the source of power, while today peace itself has become the source of power.
In national life, the greatest importance is given to events which act as trendsetters. The main reason for the Muslims’ failure in modern times is that the battle of the Crusades became a trendsetter for them. They came to believe that war was greater than anything else. Since then they have been thinking along these same lines.
On the other hand, for Christian nations, too, the events of the Crusades became a trendsetter, but in a different way. Under the pressure of circumstances, they opted for the path of peace and continued to tread it for a long period of time.
Ultimately, through a long and hard struggle, they changed the very criterion for determining power. In earlier times, military strength was considered the source of power, while today peace itself has become the source of power.
The start of a new era for the Muslims will be possible only when they understand this reality and mould themselves accordingly.
