Monday 8 April 2013

Christians Persecuted Muslims in Spain


 By the middle of the 13th century Muslim control in Spain was greatly reduced, and Christian fervour, kindled also by the temporary successes of the crusades in the holy land, led to persecutions, emigrations and expulsion of Muslims from newly regained Christian territories. Those Muslims who remained were forbidden from giving the call to prayer from minarets, from going on pilgrimage and from publicly practising their faith. High taxes led to an increasingly low standard of living for Muslims.

[p 320-321, The Oxford History of Islam – Edited by John L. Esposito – Oxford University Press - 1996]
 

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Charles Jacobs and Robert Spencer Discuss Muslim Persecution of Christians

Anonymous said...

"Those Muslims who remained were forbidden from giving the call to prayer from minarets, from going on pilgrimage and from publicly practising their faith. High taxes led to an increasingly low standard of living for Muslims."

Do you condemn the Muslims in Spain for doing these same things to the Christians? I wouldn't want to think that a Muslim would apply double standards, holding one set of rules for Muslim behavior and another set for everyone else....no...history and current events definitely do not show that to be a common way for Muslims to think.

Yahya Snow said...

@anon 2

I think you are missing the point here. We have a bunch of Islamophobes highlighting past incidents of Muslims preventing other faiths from openly practicing yet we realise it's a two way streak and Muslims hae and still are experiencing full-blown persecution and/or privations when it comes to being able to practice Islam freely.

I live in Europe and mainland Europe is a tough place for women who want to wear a veil (niqab).

In other places around the world Muslims are being killed and tortured simply for being Muslim.

So really, this post flies in the face of those Islamophobes who are putting out one side of the story.

Thanks

YS

Anonymous said...


Site where the Mongol ruler Hulegu Khan destroyed a Baghdad mosque during the sack of Baghdad.Following the brutal Mongol invasion of Central Asia under Genghis Khan, and after the sack of Baghdad, the Mongol Empire's rule extended across most Muslim lands in Asia. The Abbasid caliphate was destroyed and the Islamic civilization, especially Mesopotamia, suffered much devastation and was replaced by Tengriism and Buddhism as the official religion of the empire.[14] However, the Mongols attacked people for goods and riches and not because of their religion. Many later Mongol khans and rulers became Muslims themselves like Oljeitu and other Ilkhanid and Golden Horde rulers and inhabitants. There was no real effort to replace Islam with any other religion, but to plunder goods from anyone that didn't submit, which was characteristic to Mongol warfare. During the Yuan Dynasty that the Mongols founded, Muslim scientists were highly regarded and Muslim beliefs were respected in the Yuan Dynasty. On the Mongol attacks, the Muslim historian, ibn al-Athir lamented:

“ I shrank from giving a recital of these events on the account of their magnitude and abhorrence. Even now I come reluctant to the task, for who would deem it a light thing to sing the death song of Islam and the Muslims or find it easy to tell this tale? O that my mother had not given me birth![15] ”

Among the detailed atrocities include:

The Grand Library of Baghdad, containing countless precious historical documents and books on subjects ranging from medicine to astronomy, was destroyed. Survivors said that the waters of the Tigris ran black with ink from the enormous quantities of books flung into the river.
Citizens attempted to flee, but were intercepted by Mongol soldiers who killed with abandon. Martin Sicker writes that close to 90,000 people may have died (Sicker 2000, p. 111). Other estimates go much higher. Wassaf claims the loss of life was several hundred thousand. Ian Frazier of The New Yorker says estimates of the death toll have ranged from 200,000 to a million.[16]
The Mongols looted and then destroyed mosques, palaces, libraries, and hospitals. Grand buildings that had been the work of generations were burned to the ground.
The caliph was captured and forced to watch as his citizens were murdered and his treasury plundered. According to most accounts, the caliph was killed by trampling. The Mongols rolled the caliph up in a rug, and rode their horses over him, as they believed that the earth was offended if touched by royal blood. All but one of his sons were killed, and the sole surviving son was sent to Mongolia.
Hulagu had to move his camp upwind of the city, due to the stench of decay from the ruined city.
At the intervention of the Mongol Hulagu's Nestorian Christian wife, Dokuz Khatun, the Christian inhabitants were spared.[17][18] Hulagu offered the royal palace to the Nestorian Catholicos Mar Makikha, and ordered a cathedral to be built for him.[19] Ultimately, the seventh ruler of the Ilkhanate dynasty, Mahmud Ghazan, converted to Islam from Tengrism, and thus began the gradual trend of the decline of Tengrism and Buddhism in the region and renaissance of Islam. Later, three of the four principal Mongol khanates embraced Islam.[20]

Anonymous said...

Massacres against Turks and Muslims during the Balkan Wars in the hands of Bulgarians, Greeks and Armenians are described in detail in the 1912 Carnegie Endowment report.[45] Hupchick estimates that nearly 1,5 million Muslims died and 400,000 became refugees as a result of the Balkan Wars.[46] The Bulgarian violence during the Balkan War included burning of villages, transforming mosques into churches, rape of women and mutilation of bodies. It is estimated that 220,000 Pomaks were forcefully Christianized and forbidden to bear Islamic religious clothing.[47]

Anonymous said...

There were 1.5 million Muslims living on the territory of modern-day Bulgaria at the start of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). After the Ottoman defeat, the Russian army along with irregular troops including Cossacks entered the land and carried out massacres and deportations against Muslims with the aid of the Bulgarians. Half a million Muslims succeeded in reaching Ottoman controlled lands and 672,215 were reported to have remained after the war. Approximately a quarter of a million perished from massacres, cold, disease and other harsh conditions.[48] "I can come to no other conclusion but that the Russians are carrying out a fixed policy exterminating the Moslem race".[49] According to Aubaret, the French Consul in Ruse in 1876 in the Danube Vilayet alone there were 1,120,000 Muslims and 1,233,500 non-Muslims of whom 1,150,000 were Bulgarian. Between 1876 and 1878, through massacres, epidemics, hunger and war a large portion of the Turkish population vanished. Turkish flow to Anatolia continued in a steady pattern depending on the policies of the ruling regimes until 1925 after which immigration was regulated. During the 20th century Bulgaria also practiced forced deportations and expulsions, which also targeted the Muslim Pomak population.[50]

Anonymous said...

During the centuries of Reconquista (711–1492), the Christian North of the Iberian Peninsula and the Southern Muslim-ruled Al Andalus battled internally and against each other. It ended with the Christian domination of the Peninsula.

Depending on the local capitulations, local Muslims were allowed to remain (Mudéjars) with some restrictions and some assimilated into the Christian population. After the conquest of Granada, all the Spanish Muslims were under Christian rule. The new acquired population spoke Arabic and the campaigns to convert them were unsuccessful. Legislation was gradually introduced to remove Islam, culminating with the Muslims being forced to convert to Catholicism by the Spanish Inquisition. They were known as Moriscos and considered New Christians. Further laws were introduced, as on 25 May 1566, stipulating that they 'had to abandon the use of Arabic, change their costumes, that their doors must remain open every Friday, and other feast days, and that their baths, public and private, to be torn down.'.[76] The reason doors were to be left open so as to determine whether they secretly observed any Islamic festivals.[77] King Philip II of Spain ordered the destruction of all public baths on the grounds of them being relics of infidelity, notorious for their use by Muslims performing their purification rites.[78][79] The possession of books or papers in Arabic was near concrete proof of disobedience with severe repercussions.[80] On 1 January 1568, Christian priests were ordered to take all Morisco children, between the ages of three and fifteen, and place them in schools, where they should learn Castillian and Christian doctrine.[81] All these laws and measures required forced to be implemented, and from much earlier.

Between 1609 and 1614 the Moriscos were expelled from Spain.[82] They were to depart 'under the pain of death and confiscation, without trial or sentence... to take with them no money, bullion, jewels or bills of exchange... just what they could carry.'[83]

Anonymous said...

In 1837 Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu was entrusted by Maharaja Ranjit Singh to suppress the revolt of Yousafzai tribe which forms the biggest proportion of Pashtun tribes. He offered 1 rupee for the head of every Yousafzai men brought to his feet. He made Katuha is headquarters, hunted Muslim Pashtun tribes like wild beasts, although he had some of the women spared. The most beautiful of these women were kept for Raja Gulab Singh's harem and rest were sold as slaves in Lahore and Jammu. It was reported that this expedition resulted in loss of tens of thousands of Pashtun rebels and thousands of women were sold into slavery.[93]

[edit] Hindu Dogra RuleAfter acquiring Jammu and Kashmir through the Treaty of Kashmir, Dogra rulers continued the anti-Muslim policies of their Sikh allies. The worst atrocities perpetrated against Muslims in the state came in 1863 when the Dogra ruler Maharaja Ranbir Singh ordered a major invasion of the frontier areas of Yasin and Hunza to punish Muslim rebels. 3,000 troops were commanded by General Hooshiara Singh who invaded the frontier. The Dogras took all men as prisoner, and many Dogra soldiers entered the back portion of the Mandoori Hill which was full of Yasini and Hunza women and their children. Dogra soldiers drew their swords and cut the women and children into pieces. Those women who were injured but not dead were burnt alive and approximately 2000 Yasin villagers were killed overall. About 5,000 Yasinis were taken back to Srinagar for forced labor and all their women were included into the harems of Dogra Soldiers.[94]

Anonymous said...

Partition ViolenceThere were widespread riots during the Partition of British India in 1947. In order to facilitate the creation of new states along religious lines population exchanges between India and Pakistan were implemented, at the expense of significant human suffering in the process. A large number of people on both sides (more than a million by some estimates) died in the accompanying violence. After the annexation of the Muslim-ruled state of Hyderabad by India in 1948, about 7,000 Muslims were due to emigrate to Pakistan at their own will from India.[95] Most Muslims, however chose to stay in India. There was widespread violence against the Muslims as an aftermath of the 'Police Action' (officially Operation Polo) and Nehru had a committee investigate the pogrom against Muslims, but the resulting Sundarlal Report was never made public (an estimated 50–200,000 Muslims are believed to have been killed).[96]

[edit] Gujarat ViolenceThe 2002 Gujarat violence was a series of incidents starting with the Godhra train burning and the subsequent communal violence between Hindus and Muslims in the Indian state of Gujarat. On 27 February 2002, the Sabarmati Express train was attacked at Godhra by a Muslim mob.[97][98][99] Attacks against Muslims and general communal riots on a large scale across the state, in which 790 Muslims were ultimately killed and 223 more people were reported missing.[100][101] 536 places of worship were damaged: 273 dargahs, 241 mosques.[102] Muslim-owned businesses suffered the bulk of the damage. 61,000 Muslims fled their homes. Preventive arrests of 17,947 Hindus and 3,616 Muslims were made. In total 27,901 Hindus.[103][104][105]

Anonymous said...

On 7 May 1099 the crusaders reached Jerusalem, which had been recaptured from the Seljuks by the Fatimids of Egypt only a year before. On 15 July, the crusaders were able to end the siege by breaking down sections of the walls and entering the city. Over the course of that afternoon, evening and next morning, the crusaders murdered almost every inhabitant of Jerusalem. Muslims, Jews, and even eastern Christians were all massacred. Although many Muslims sought shelter atop the Temple Mount inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the crusaders spared few lives. According to the anonymous Gesta Francorum, in what some believe to be one of the most valuable contemporary sources of the First Crusade, "...the slaughter was so great that our men waded in blood up to their ankles..."[108] Tancred claimed the Temple quarter for himself and offered protection to some of the Muslims there, but he was unable to prevent their deaths at the hands of his fellow crusaders. According to Fulcher of Chartres: "Indeed, if you had been there you would have seen our feet coloured to our ankles with the blood of the slain. But what more shall I relate? None of them were left alive; neither women nor children were spared."[109]

During the First Crusade and the massacre at Jerusalem, it has been reported that the Crusaders "[circled] the screaming, flame-tortured humanity singing 'Christ We Adore Thee!' with their Crusader crosses held high".[110] Muslims were indiscriminately killed, and Jews who had taken refuge in their Synagogue were murdered when it was burnt down by the Crusaders.

Anonymous said...

MyanmarMain articles: Persecution of Muslims in Myanmar and Rohingya people
Myanmar has a Buddhist majority. The Muslim minority in Myanmar mostly consists of the Rohingya people and the descendants of Muslim immigrants from India (including what is now Bangladesh) and China (the ancestors of Chinese Muslims in Myanmar came from the Yunnan province), as well as descendants of earlier Arab and Persian settlers. Indian Muslims were brought to Burma by the British to aid them in clerical work and business. After independence, many Muslims retained their previous positions and achieved prominence in business and politics.

Buddhist persecution of Muslims arose from religious reasons, and occurred during the reign of King Bayinnaung, 1550–1589 AD. After conquering Bago in 1559, the Buddhist King prohibited the practice of halal, specifically, killing food animals in the name of Allah. He was religiously intolerant, forcing some of his subjects to listen to Buddhist sermons possibly converting by force. He also disallowed the Eid al-Adha, religious sacrifice of cattle. Halal food was also forbidden by King Alaungpaya in the 18th century.

When General Ne Win swept to power on a wave of nationalism in 1962, the status of Muslims changed for the worse. Muslims were expelled from the army and were rapidly marginalized.[114] Many Rohingya Muslims fled Burma and many refugees inundated neighbouring Bangladesh including 200,000 in 1978 as a result of the King Dragon operation in Arakan[115] and 250,000 in 1991.[116]

A widely publicised Burmese conflict was the 2012 Rakhine State riots, a series of conflicts that primarily involved the ethnic Rakhine Buddhist people and the Rohingya Muslim people in the northern Rakhine State—an estimated 90,000 people were displaced as a result of the riots.[117][118] The Burmese government previously identified the Rohingya as a group of illegal migrants; however, the ethnic group has lived in Burma for numerous centuries.[119]

[edit] Sri LankaSri Lanka has a Buddhist majority and significant Hindu Tamil minority. The terrorist Tamil LTTE attacked Muslims during the Sri Lankan Civil War. The militant Buddhist Bodu Bala Sena campaigned against Halal meat and attacked Mosques and Muslims.[120][121]

Anonymous said...

The Philippines is predominantly a Christian society with a complicated history of relations between Islam and Christianity. Despite historic evidence of Islamization spreading throughout the islands in the 13th-16th centuries, the archipelago came under Spanish rule in the 16th century. The Spanish proselytized many natives, and labelled those who remained Muslims as Moro, a derogatory term recalling the Moors, an Islamic people of North Africa who occupied Spain for 800 years. Today, this term Moro is used to refer to the indigenous Muslim tribes and ethnic groups of the country.

The clashes between Spanish colonial authorities and the indigenous Sultanates of the Moro peoples, (the Sultanate of Sulu, Maranao and Maguindanao) further escalated tensions between the Christian and Muslim groups of the country.

Anonymous said...

Lombard pogroms against Muslims started in the 1160s. Muslim and Christian communities in Sicily became increasingly geographically separated. The island’s Muslim communities were mainly isolated beyond an internal frontier which divided the south-western half of the island from the Christian north-east. Sicilian Muslims, a subject population, were dependent on royal protection. When King William the Good died in 1189, this royal protection was lifted, and the door was opened for widespread attacks against the island’s Muslims. Islam was no longer a major presence in the Island by the 14th century. Toleration of Muslims ended with Increasing Hohenstaufen control. Many repressive measures, passed by Frederick II, were introduced in order to please the Popes who could not tolerate Islam being practiced in the heart of Christendom,[129] which resulted in a rebellion of Sicily's Muslims.[130] This in turn triggered organized resistance and systematic reprisals[131] and marked the final chapter of Islam in Sicily. The rebellion abated, but direct papal pressure induced Frederick to mass transfer all his Muslim subjects deep into the Italian hinterland, to Lucera.[130]

Anonymous said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Muslims