Since the advent of Islam, the kuffaar had been conspiring to extinguish the light of Islam but they miserably failed. Another attempt to wipe out Islam was made when the savage Mongols swept across the Muslim lands. The Church leaders found an ideal opportunity here to avenge their previous defeats in the Crusades and soon they struck an alliance with these blood-thirsty, barbarian horde and instigated them to kill many Muslims. They tried to win them to Christianity and pinned high hopes on them for the ultimate eradication of Islam but they were disillusioned because these Mongols later voluntarily embraced Islam. T.W Arnold says in his PREACHING OF ISLAM" that during the reign of Amir Tuqluq Khan, 160,000 Mongols embraced Islam voluntarily in one day. There is no coercion uncivilized, underhand or deceptive methods employed for this mass conversion as was employed by crafty, spiteful, intriguing and parochial missionaries down the centuries.
The advent of Crusade forms a watershed in history. It marks the beginning of the war between lmaan and kufr. The fire of religious hostilities kindled by Church leaders smouldered for nearly two centuries. It is manifestly clear that the role of popes, priests and padres gained momentum with the onset of the First Crusade in 1063. It was Pope Urban's II tirade that sparked off the first Crusade. In his famous speech at Clermont in November 1095 he urged the Christians to wage war against the "wicked race" (the Muslims) According to G B Glubb "Christian Priests holding crosses aloft accompanied Crusaders when they occupied Jerusalem in 1099 and put all the population to the sword, regardless of sex or age"(The Course of Empire). The backbone of this fanatical movement was the begotted ecclesiastical orders of the Christian hierarchy.
Pope Alexander II three decades ere the First Crusade sent a Papal army to attack the Muslim of Saragossa. Barbastro, a rich Muslim city of Spain surrendered. Six thousand civilians were killed in cold blood and the women and children were divided between the Christian soldiers "as concubines and slaves" In 1325 Pope John XXII is reported to have written a letter to the King of Bosnia asking him to exterminate the heretics (Muslims) in his dominion. Further, in 1703 Daniel Petrovich the then reigning bishop of Mortenegro instigated the Christian tribes to eliminate the Muslims among them. Accordingly, "on Christmas Eve, all the converted Monte Negroes who would not foreswear Islam and embrace Christianity were massacred in cold blood". By the order of Charles II of Anjou between 14 and 15 August 1300(CE), the Arab colony of Lucera was destroyed and the Muslims of Lucera were forcibly converted to Christianity and thus Islamic presence in Sicily was brought to an end by force.
Even in the 19th century the missionaries were playing an active role in religious propagation using underhand methods. A Ezzati writes: "The influx into the Ottoman Caliphate of Catholic and Protestant missionaries, during the I 9th century' did much harm. These missionaries, began to indoctrinate the Ottoman Christians by not only teaching them their own history', language and literature but also by inculcating in them so-called liberal and revolutionary' deas. The Protestant missionaries were clandestinely trying to convert the Muslims as well as the other sects. In order to protect themselves and their proteges, these missionaries, who posed as the champions of the Christian minorities in the Ottoman Caliphate began to appeal to the Great Powers for their intervention, and thus caused many diplomatic incidents." (An Introduction To The Spread Of The History Of Islam)
Most of the 150 million Africans exported during the slave trade from West Africa to the Caribbean and the Americas were said to be Muslims. A Ezzati referring to the pitiable plight of these unfortunate victims writes: "No slave was allowed to write or speak Arabic, or any African language for that matter. Performance of Salaat was punishable by flogging. Hajj was impossible. Pork was the main diet (apart from vegetables). The only form of assembly permitted was participating in Christian prayers with Christian preachers. The result of this was that Islam died with the first African slaves. The second generation grew up as Christians.
Let us now turn to Muslim Spain. Tariq ibn Ziyad with a contingent of 12,000 Arab and Berber soldiers set foot on the Spanish soil in 712 CE. That was the beginning of the resplendent Moorish rule in Spain which lasted for over 800 years. During this period of splendor and glory, the Jews and the Christians received benign treatment from their Muslim rulers. They were allowed religious freedom and permitted to live unmolested. On the converse, let us see the inhuman and barbaric treatment meted out to Spanish Muslims when they were subjugated by Christian monarchs aided and abetted by the Church Leaders. These hoary facts are summarized from Ahmad Thomson's "BLOOD ON THE CROSS" in order to expose the dastardly role the Christian missionaries played in the extermination of Islam and Muslims from the Spanish soil.
ln 1248, Pope Innocent IV ordered the king of Aragon to permit no Moors save as slaves. In 1250 it was decreed that no-one could buy or sell anything from a Muslim unless he had first obtained a license to do so. In 1337, the Bishop of Tarragona requested Pope Benedict in a letter to empower the nobles to seize and sell the person and property of the Muslims as they were public enemies and infidels. This measure was approved of and subsequently enforced by the Church until the eighteenth century, that is, until there were no more Muslims or Jews left to be persecuted. In 1388 it was decreed that all Muslims should kneel down when Church's sacraments were carried through streets. In 1482 the Spanish Inquisition came into being. The Inquisitors set about baptizing as many Muslims and Jews in as short a time as possible. This was achieved by giving them the choice of baptism or death.
Pope Boniface VIII exempted from punishment for heresy all those whose acceptance of Christianity was by force. Torture was used on anyone who still maintained their belief in secret. Men and women of all ages and children were tortured. They were always stripped before being tortured. In 1499, Cardinal Ximenez, the Archbishop of Toledo began a campaign to coerce the Muslims of Southern Andalusia into the official religion. This resulted in baptizing 3000 Moors. It is estimated that between 50,000 and 70,000 Muslin's were forcibly baptized in the mass baptism of Granada by Ximenez. He is said to have burnt 1,005,000 volumes in the public square of Vivarrambla in 1500. The principal mosque at Andarax in which men and women took refuge was blown up with gun powder. In Belfique men were put to the sword and children under 11 were separated from parents and handed over to the Church to be brought up as Catholics. In 1507, Cardinal Ximenez was appointed Inquisitor General of Spain. With the tragic fall of Granada, , in 1502 Cardinal Yimenez de Csisneros, who rode rough shod over the rights of Muslims, sold at an auction 2000 respectable matrons and maidens.
Isabella, on 12th February 1502, issued a royal order giving all remaking Moors in the realms of Castile the choice between baptism and expulsion. Under her decree, all males under the age of 14 and all females under the age of 12 were separated from their families and handed over to The Church to be brought up as Christians. In 1504, Pope Clement granted permission to Charles V to eliminate the remaining Muslims of Andalusia by whatever means were necessary. The Edicts of Faith which replaced the notorious Edicts of Grace stipulated any Muslim found worshipping God according to the injunctions of Islam was to be put to death. It is recorded that in 1568 Juan de Ribera, Archbishop of Valencia, offered the priests more money to make work among the Moriscos more congenial. Further, he established a seminary for Morisco children who by this time had no idea of how their forefathers had lived Islamically. Muslims were compelled to denounce their friends and relations as secret heretics. Torture was used to persuade children to accuse their parents, and parents to accuse their children. It is recorded that one person alone gave evidence against 4000 secret Muslims. They were all killed.
Abstinence from pork and wine was amply sufficient to justify prosecution. In 1526, the Inquisition of Jaen passed an edict forbidding the Muslims of Granada to use the Arabic language and even to use their Muslim names. No Morisco woman was allowed to act as a midwife. A Christian midwife was posted in every Morisco village. She supervised all the pregnant women and as soon as a baby was born the priest was called and the baby was baptized. It was also impossible to wash and bury the dead in accordance with the Islamic rites. Anyone who wrapped a dead person in a clean cloth before burial was immediately regarded as a relapsed heretic and punished as such. The parents could not even afford to say Allah in the presence of their young children for fear that the child through indiscretion might jeopardize the whole family. Any Morisco found not attending mass was fined by the Catholic Church. The above facts were culled from Ahmad Thomson's book, "BLOOD ON THE CROSS" which vividly depicts the brutality and barbarity with which the Church Leaders ganged up with the monarchs of the time, exiled, tortured and exterminated the Muslims of Spain. "It is recorded that after the forcible conversion of the Muslims in one town, the image of the holy sepulcher in the Christian Church wept for twenty-four hours and the images of the Virgin Mary and associated angels wept for thirty-six hours. The tears were so profuse that they were collected and preserved in a sealed vase. In 1590 King Philip asked for, and was given, a portion of these tears.
When the last of the Muslims were finally expelled from Spain in the early seventeenth century, the tears in the vase and the tears in the king's possession disappeared from their containers". (ibid) It is the view of Arnold Toynbee that Christians have been worse than pagans and atheists regarding the use of force and violence for religious purposes. With the ascendancy of Spain and Portugal as colonial powers religious bigotry got a shot in the arm. They came to the East for the Cross and Commerce. They crusaded for their faith and exploited ruthlessly the economic resources of the colonies The first exploiters were ardent missionaries. Vasco da Gama's discovery of India in 1498 enabled the colonialists to set foot on India, Malacca and Phillippines. Missionary work in these countries in the East was carried out by the religious orders such as Augustinians, Franciscans, Jesuits and Dominicans; for an account of their fierce fanaticism one has to look up the pages of history. In the present times, numerous Christian missionary organizations and agencies have sprung up globally preaching their faith by the lure of money, relief aid, health and education in a clandestine and arbitrary manner.
The Muslims world over have to unite and prepare themselves to meet these challenges which are fraught with danger to Islam and Muslims. Otherwise the responsibility of guiding the deflected folk will not be lifted from their shoulders and the danger of falling under the wrath of Allah Ta'ala cannot be ruled out. The Ulama particularly cannot afford to ignore this problem and as guardians of Islam they have to map out strategies to counter Christian missionary propaganda and awaken the community from its deep slumber and guide it to the straight path.
Published by:
Mujilsul Ulama of South Africa
P.O. Box 3393
Port Elizabeth, 6056 South Africa
Zil-HajI 1417-April 1997
