The Crusades

On the eve of the Crusades, two of the three dominant powers in the Mediterranean were Muslim. By the seventh and eighth centuries, the Muslims had conquered the Arabian peninsula, the Fertile  Crescent, much of Central Asia, the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean, Spain, Sicily and more.

The conquest of these territories spread rather quickly. It was a heterogeneous configuration with a small population of Arabs ruling a majority of non Arabs. This expansion was mainly a political expansion and not a religious one. There were not forced conversions to Islam as we believe. There were "Persons of the Book" who were called dhimmi, or persons of protected status. As long as they paid the jizya, a tax or tribute to the caliph, they would be protected. There were also other restrictions such as not wearing arms and showing visible signs of their faith. Thus, although there
was no forced conversion, there was some social pressure to convert and they would easily accept converts.

The Abbasids 750-1258 CE

 

The capital was moved from Damascus to a new city Baghdad in 762. This move had economic and political ramifications. With the Umayyad capital at Damascus there had been a Mediterranean orientation. With Baghdad the orientation was East and the Indian Ocean.

The Abbasids ruled over the entire, vast Islamic empire. Soon, however, outlying provinces--beginning with Spain--began to achieve independence from the Abbasid rulers in their capital of Baghdad. By the end of the ninth century, the caliphs controlled little more than southern Iraq, though at times they managed to reconquer other provinces.
But even as other, independent dynasties came to power, the Abbasid caliphs remained. People throughout the Islamic world still looked to them with admiration and respect.

The Fatimids

As the caliphate in Baghdad weakened, other powers emerged. In North Africa a branch of Shi'a Muslims called Isma'ilis was formed. Differing from the dominant Sunni Branch, they conquered most of North Africa and established another caliphate in 909. They conquered Cairo and Fustat in Egypt in 969. By the time of the Crusades they are in power in North Africa. The Fatimids attempt to rescue Jerusalem after the defeat to the Franks in 1099 but fail. During the 12th century before the Third Crusade we will see a Kurdish/Turkish leader Salah al-Din defeat the Fatimids and create a more united control in the area of the Middle East.

 

The Seljuk Turks

The Turks began in the 6th century as a nomadic peoples from the area in Central Area of what is Tukestan. Some of these Turks were converted during the Arab expansion across the Oxus River. From the 9th century onwards, many Turks moved into the Arab empire as slaves and soldiers.
Although historians do not know how, there were many peaceful  conversions around the year 1000.

With these conversions the eastern frontier collapses, and new political groupings of Turks form. One family, the Seljuks, create a dynasty. They enter the Islamic world a century before the Crusades. They take control of Iran, Iraq (with Baghdad), and parts of Syria. They leave the Abbasid caliph in place but hold the real political control.

They happen to bring a new political unity for the Islamic world. The Seljuks expand north and meet with the Byzantine armies at Manzikert in 1071, where they take the army and the Byzantine emperor. They like Anatolia and begin to establish more permanent leadership with the area called "Rum" for Rome. During this period the leaders spoke Turkish while the peoples spoke Arabic.

The Military

During the Arab conquests the army was made up from volunteers. After a quick expansion, the system began to decline, and under the Umayyads professionalism begins. Slave soldiers were brought into the Islamic world from the mid-9th century onward, and (strangely) often formed the  elite units within the various armies. From the tenth century onward,  Turks from the Central Asian steppes, with their magnificent skills in the use of horses and weapons, tended to dominate in much of the Middle East.

The Economy

During the era preceding the Crusades the economy of the Islamic world was dominant from the Western Mediterranean to India. Baghdad, the capital, was its largest city, and the economic basis of the town was artisan with highly skilled craftsmen. There was a high level of skill and  specialization involved. Textiles with fabrics of wool, cotton, linen, and silk were produced by artisans in almost all the Muslim territories. Carpet weavers in Persia, Azerbaijan, and Bukhara were renowned far and wide. Egypt also became a leading center for linens and cotton textiles. The art of metalworking achieved a high standard, as well as glassware and ceramics. In comparison to the cities, the rural areas were relatively backward and remained agricultural.

This specialization would not be possible without a high level of trade. At the beginning Arab merchants were granted the trading privileges, but soon other groups such as Jews enjoyed equal trading rights. Trade involved shipping as well as caravan routes. The Arabic language and culture facilitated the trade along the Mediterranean and the Middle East to India and China.

Contributions

With the large towns and trading economy, a large middle-class emerged, consisting of scholars, doctors, artists, and highly specialized artisans. Many of these intellectuals provided very important of translations of Greek and Roman texts into Arabic. This was also a golden age of science and medicine. Some examples:

• Al-Khawarizmi (780-850) introduced the Indian system of numerals, wrote several works on algebra and calculated the movements of the stars.

• The physician and philosopher Ibn Sina (Lat. Avicenna 980-1037) wrote down thewhole of medical knowledge in a "Canon of Medicine".

• Ibn al-Haytam (d. 1059) composed scientific treatises about optics and the human eye.

• Al-Biruni (973-1050) from Central Asia acquired knowledge on an encyclopedic scale

• Al-Razi of Persia was a physician, chemist and philosopher who wrote renowned treastises on infectious diseases.

 

Other schools of thought were also developed:

• Al-Zarawi, one of the leading physicians in the Spanish Caliphate wrote a series of medical and pharmacological textbooks.

• Ibn al-Baytar of Malaga wrote treatises on medicinal herbs and medicaments in which 1400 drugs were listed.

• The geographer Al-Idrisi, who was born in Ceuta wrote a geographical description ofthe then known world.

• The illustrious physician and philosopher Ibn Rushd (Lat. Averroes, 1126-1198), born in Cordoba, who developed an original philosophical system and later had great influence on European philosophy.

 

Cities became great centers of learning with new universities and libraries such as Alexandria, Cairo, and Cordoba.

The Crusades

As stated before Christians and Jews as "People of the Book" were granted some toleration and privileges. There were, however, some breaks of the peace for brief periods. For example, Caliph Hakim had ordered Church property to be destroyed and plundered and the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre to be destroyed in 1009.

When the Crusaders arrived in 1095, they were seen as a minor irritant. Just another invasion similar to what they faced in other areas of the empire. The Muslims did not see it as a holy war until Nur al-Din escalated it in the Second Crusade and the Third Crusade with Salah al-Din.