The Religious Dimension in International Relations During the Medieval Period: The Crusades and Islamic Conquests

The major world religions emerged between approximately 600 BCE and 611 CE, with Judaism being the first, followed by Christianity and concluding with Islam, the last and most dominant religion. Among the pagan religions, the most notable are Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Shinto.

Religion has had, and continues to have, a significant impact on the lives of nations and peoples. Islam, Judaism, and to a greater extent, Christianity, have greatly influenced the formation of Western culture, while these three religions, particularly Islam, played a fundamental role in the growth of Middle Eastern cultures. In contrast, the cultural development of Asia was significantly shaped by Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Shinto, and Taoism.

1. Christianity and International Relations from Emergence to the Crusades

A. Christianity: Concept and Spread
Christianity is a heavenly religion that was revealed to Jesus Christ (peace be upon him), completing the message of Moses (peace be upon him) and the teachings contained in the Torah, primarily directed towards the children of Israel. However, the doctrine underwent distortions, similar to Judaism, as noted by the Qur’an and confirmed by modern critical studies of Christian sources and beliefs. The beliefs of Christians are based on the following elements:

• The Trinity: The essence of Christian belief in divinity is represented by the Trinity, which they express as three equal persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. While Christians agree on this doctrine, they differ on its interpretation. The Orthodox believe in incarnation, while Catholics advocate for multiplicity. According to the Orthodox, God is one but has gone through three stages; elevated above this, before descending to Earth, He is called the Father, after emerging from the womb of Mary, He is referred to as the Son, and after His crucifixion and ascension, He is called the Holy Spirit. For them, Jesus is God.

The Qur’an refers to this belief and clarifies the error of its proponents, stating: “They have certainly disbelieved who say, ‘Allah is the Messiah, the son of Mary.’ And the Messiah said, ‘O Children of Israel, worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. Indeed, he who associates others with Allah – Allah has forbidden him Paradise, and his refuge is the Fire…” (Surah Al-Ma’idah: 72). As for Catholics, they claim that God is distinct from the Son, and the Son is different from the Holy Spirit; the Qur’an also mentions the invalidity of this belief: “They have certainly disbelieved who say, ‘Allah is the third of three.’ And there is no deity except one God…” (Surah Al-Ma’idah: 73).

• Judgment: Christians believe that Jesus (peace be upon him) is the Son of God who holds people accountable for their sins.
• Crucifixion: Christians believe that Jesus was crucified as an atonement for humanity’s sins, which originated from Adam and were inherited by his descendants. Christians differ on the manner of this crucifixion, while the Qur’an refutes this claim entirely, stating: “And [for] their saying, ‘Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah.’ And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them…” (Surah An-Nisa: 157).
• Baptism: This ritual involves immersion in water or sprinkling the person in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to express the cleansing of the soul from sins.
• Confession: Disclosing sins to a clergyman, which they claim absolves one from punishment and purifies one’s sins.
• The Eucharist: Christians claim that during the Last Supper, Jesus gathered the apostles and shared bread and wine, symbolizing his body and blood.
• Transubstantiation: Christians believe that the bread and wine consumed during Easter become the actual body and blood of Jesus, integrating them into his teachings.

During the first three centuries, there was a struggle between the apostles of Jesus and groups that extended from them, known as unified Jewish Christianity, and another Christian stream led by Paul, who was initially a zealous Jew against Christians but suddenly became a defender of Christianity, claiming to have received a revelation incorporated into the letters attributed to him. This struggle continued until Paul’s stream overcame the unitary beliefs, leading to a Christianity based on teachings derived from ancient philosophies and pagan religions, introducing the deification of Christ, the doctrine of the Trinity, and ideas of crucifixion and atonement into the faith.

Paul asserted that Christianity was not a sect of Judaism restricted to the children of Israel but a new religion meant to be open to non-Jews, thus easing some regulations and rituals to attract pagans from Rome and elsewhere. His influence helped convert Emperor Constantine to Christianity, and by 392 CE, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman state, spreading across Western Europe and intertwining with European history.

In early Christianity, the term “Church” referred to the community of all Christians, but in 1054 CE, a split occurred between the Western European Church and the Eastern European and Asian Church, leading to the establishment of Eastern Orthodox and Western Catholic churches.

B. The Crusades
The medieval period witnessed attempts by Christians to seize the Holy Lands in Palestine, known as the Crusades, from the 10th to the 13th centuries CE. The Crusades were military campaigns organized primarily to take Palestine between the 5th and 8th centuries AH (11th to 14th centuries CE), due to its strategic geographical position as a link between East and West and the desire to control sacred places, as well as a reaction to Muslim conquests and victories that embodied religious tolerance among various heavenly religions. The crusaders from Western Europe organized eight main campaigns between 490 and 669 AH (1096 to 1270 CE), marking a period of economic expansion in Western Europe and an increase in its military forces as the Crusaders were part of broader Christian expansionist movements.

In 489 AH (1095 CE), Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus requested help from Pope Urban II in his fight against the Seljuks. The pope agreed as he sought to regain control over the holy sites, fueled by religious zeal, and enhance the church’s power and prestige. In the autumn of 1095 CE, Urban convened a council for church leaders at Clermont, urging Europeans to cease fighting among themselves and to take the holy lands, promising spiritual and material rewards for their endeavors, igniting a desire for battle in Western Europe, resulting in thousands joining the cause.

Many joined the Crusades for various reasons, including the pursuit of land, the expansion of trade, and the desire to escape hardship and poverty.

• First Crusade (1096 – 1099 CE)
  Europeans reached Jerusalem in the summer of 1099 and captured the holy city after six weeks of fighting; most returned home afterward. The leaders divided the occupied lands into four states known as the Latin Crusader States, including the County of Edessa (Urfa), the Principality of Antioch, the County of Tripoli, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
• Second Crusade (1147 – 1149 CE)
  Initiated by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux after the Zengid leader Imad al-Din Zengi recaptured Edessa, it began a series of battles against the Crusaders that led to their expulsion from Islamic lands. French King Louis VII and German Conrad III led the Crusade, while Muslim forces were led by Nur al-Din Mahmud, who reclaimed some territories occupied by the Crusaders.
• Third Crusade (1189 – 1192 CE)
  Muslims continued their attacks on the invaders, and Sultan Saladin succeeded in unifying Egypt and Syria by 1183 CE, defeating the Crusaders in the Battle of Hattin in 1187 CE. Coastal cities like Tyre, Tripoli, and Antioch remained in the invaders’ hands. Notable European leaders in this campaign included German Emperor Frederick I (known as Barbarossa), British King Richard I (the Lionheart), and French King Philip II (Augustus). When this campaign failed to capture Jerusalem, Richard negotiated a three-year truce with Saladin, allowing Christians to visit the holy city.
• Fourth Crusade (1202 – 1204 CE)
  Pope Innocent III persuaded Europeans to engage in the Fourth Crusade, which was supposed to target the Holy Lands. However, its leaders decided to attack Egypt to weaken Islamic strength, contracting with Venetian traders to transport them, but only a third of the expected participants reached Venice, unable to afford the ships.
• Children’s Crusade (1212 CE)
  This was led by Stephen of Cloyes, a French peasant boy, and followed by thousands of naive children aged between 10 and 18 from France and Germany, yet none reached Palestine; slave traders captured these children and sold them, outraging their families, prompting the pope to exploit them for stirring up animosities against Muslims.
• Subsequent Crusades
  Crusades continued into the 13th century; the Fifth Crusade (1217 – 1221 CE) saw Crusaders initially capture the city of Damietta in Egypt but end in failure. The Sixth Crusade (1228 – 1229 CE) was led by Emperor Frederick II, who angered the pope by signing an agreement with Muslim Sultan Al-Kamil, allowing Christians to retain Bethlehem and Jerusalem until Muslims reclaimed them in 1244 CE. French King Louis IX led the Seventh Crusade (1248 – 1254 CE), beginning in Egypt with the assumption that controlling it would facilitate domination over the Holy Lands, but both he and his army were captured by Muslims, later freed for a hefty ransom. He returned to lead the Eighth Crusade in 1270 CE, landing in Tunisia, where he died from a plague that struck his troops. The Ninth Crusade led by Prince Edward I ended in failure from 1271-1272 CE, and Muslims recaptured Acre, the last stronghold of the Crusaders in Palestine, in 1291 CE.

Muslims were able to reclaim all cities from the Crusaders, and numerous attempts in the 8th and 9th centuries AH (14th and 15th centuries CE) failed, leading Europeans to look beyond the Atlantic Ocean.

2. Islamic Conquests and Their Significance in the History of International Relations

• Islamic Conquests
  Islamic conquests represent a movement to spread Islam through invitation and exemplary behavior, or through combat against those who resisted and harbored enmity. It also refers to the opening of lands at war and defeating their warriors. The nature of Islam necessitates its peaceful entrance into these lands through invitation and good conduct; if the inhabitants of those regions reject Islam and coexistence with the Islamic system, the caliph would command Muslims to conquer them. These conquests intensified during the early Islamic period.

One objective of these conquests was to protect the call to Islam from the aggression of its enemies, whether from the Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula itself or from outsiders like the Persians and Romans. Thus, Islamic conquests initially acted as defensive wars. Additionally, they aimed to liberate peoples from their tyrants and from their poor religious and social conditions, dismantling the false claims made by rulers that their will was God’s will and that obeying them was akin to obeying God. When Rustam, the Persian commander at the Battle of Qadisiyyah, inquired of Rabi’ah bin ‘Amir, the envoy of Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas, about why the Muslims had come to Persia, he replied: “God sent us; He has sent us to free whomever He wills from the worship of servants to the worship of the Lord of servants, from the constriction of this world to its vastness, and from the oppression of religions to the justice of Islam. He sent His messenger with His religion to His creation; whoever accepts it, we accept, and we part from it and its land. Whoever rejects it, we fight until we reach Paradise or triumph.” When Rustam asked if he was the leader of the Muslims, he replied: “No, but Muslims are like one body; some are advocates for others.”

The Islamic nation wanted to transfer its liberating ideals to oppressed peoples, ideals reflected in a common saying attributed to the people towards Umar ibn al-Khattab: “By God, if we saw any injustice in you, we would rectify it with our swords.” Umar’s demand for justice was illustrated when he ordered the son of a Coptic Egyptian, the governor of Egypt—and his son had dared to commit injustice—be punished publicly, stating: “When did you enslave people, when their mothers bore them free?”

Islamic conquests were moral wars restrained by principles of truth, justice, and mercy towards the conquered. This was exemplified by Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz when he was given the caliphate, and a delegation from Samarkand brought forth that Qutaybah ibn Muslim had entered their city and settled Muslims there unjustly. Umar wrote to his governor to appoint a judge to investigate the matter, and if he ruled to expel the Muslims, they should be expelled. He appointed Jumai’ al-Haatib as the judge, who ruled for their expulsion; however, the people of Samarkand disliked war and allowed Muslims to remain among them.

Conquerors did not exploit their power to subjugate the nations they defeated, and when the dhimmis (non-Muslim citizens) saw the Muslims’ commitment to their promises and their good conduct, they became informants against their enemies, acknowledging the difference between Islamic and Roman civilizations. For example, Abu Ubaidah ordered the return of the tribute taken from the people of Homs once he realized he could not protect them from the Romans. As Orientalist Robinson noted: “Only the followers of Muhammad combined the noble treatment of foreigners with a love for spreading their religion, leading to the rapid spread of Islam and elevating the status of its conquerors among the subjugated peoples, ultimately causing Christianity to recede from North Africa.”

The movement of Islamic conquest extended Islam from the Arabian Peninsula to neighboring lands of the Fertile Crescent, eventually leading to the defeat of both the Persian and Byzantine empires, capturing Syria, Iraq, Palestine, and Egypt. This movement continued during the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates, reaching as far as Spain in the West and China in the East.

International Relations in Islam
Islam established numerous foundational principles for its international and human relations, with the most significant principles being:

1. Justice in Treatment: Treating and judging people fairly, regardless of their religions, races, or colors, with ample texts that encourage and command justice, even towards enemies.
2. Respect for Human Dignity: Based on the belief that all people originate from one source and one soul; they are made into people and tribes for the purpose of mutual recognition, not conflict and animosity.
3. Humanity as One Nation: In the noble hadith: “All of you are from Adam, and Adam is from dust,” stressing the common origin of all humanity and that foreigners are not absolute enemies.
4. Encouragement of Human Cooperation: Supporting the oppressed, aiding the distressed, lifting injustice, and deterring oppressive criminals, which makes cooperation a core tenet of faith.
5. Building Human Relations on Benevolent Tolerance: This tolerance was exemplified by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) with his fiercest enemies during wars and treaties, as shown by his actions during the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah with the Quraysh who prevented him from performing the pilgrimage.
6. Respect for Personal Liberty: This frees souls from the domination of desires; thus, Islam did not wish to compel anyone to accept its beliefs.
7. Adherence to Virtue: Treating people morally and protecting that in all situations, considering it the foundation for international relations in both war and peace, exemplified by the Prophet’s instruction to his armies: “Go forth in the name of Allah, and fight in the cause of Allah, against those who disbelieve in Allah. Do not betray, do not be treacherous, do not mutilate the dead, and do not kill children or monks.”
8. Fulfilling Commitments: Essential for maintaining trust in relations among individuals, groups, and governments, making it a requisite of faith, as stated: “But only those who fulfill their pledges and do not break their agreements” (Surah Ar-Ra’d: 19-20).
9. Assuring Security for Envoys: Ensuring safety for messengers and diplomats until they return safely to their respective senders, thus Islamic law recognizes personal immunity for ambassadors and diplomats, prohibiting harm to their persons, wealth, families, or followers.

Islamic scholars differentiated the regions, classifying them into Dar al-Islam (the abode of Islam) and Dar al-Kufr (the abode of disbelief), with some further delineating them into Dar al-Islam, Dar al-Kufr, and Dar al-Ahd.

There are several definitions of Dar al-Islam, including:

1. Any area where the laws of Islam are publicly practiced.
2. Any region where a Muslim is secure in his person, honor, and property, allowing him to practice his religious rites, according to the opinion of Abu Hanifa and the Zaidis.
3. Any territory where Islamic laws are apparent and inhabited by Muslims; this is the view of the Shafi’is.
4. A region where Islamic laws are implemented; if the laws of disbelief are found, it is Dar al-Kufr, according to the Hanbalis and supported by some of the Hanafis.

Conversely, Dar al-Kufr refers to territories where laws of disbelief are evident, places inhabited by non-Muslims that have never seen Islamic rule. Scholars examined the laws of migration and residence in Dar al-Kufr, along with contracts and offenses therein.

Dar al-Ahd is the region with an existing treaty with Muslims that governs relations between both parties, and it can be said that virtually all countries in the world fall under this classification concerning Muslims.

This overview shows that Islam is a comprehensive system governing all affairs of individuals, both spiritual and worldly, addressing all aspects of life in society, including religious, political, economic, military, social, and educational dimensions. Therefore, a deep understanding of it as a divine message can provide a framework for comprehending international relations and their proper manner.

References

• The Crusades, Christianity, and Islam, Author: Jonathan Riley-Smith.
• Papacy, Crusade, and Christian-Muslim Relations, Editor: Jessalynn Bird.
• The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives, Author: Carole Hillenbrand.
• Crusade and Mission: European Approaches Toward the Muslims, Author: Benjamin Z. Kedar.
• The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, Author: Amin Maalouf.
• The Race for Paradise: An Islamic History of the Crusades, Author: Paul M. Cobb.
• The Crusades: A History, Author: Jonathan Riley-Smith.
• The First Crusade: A New History, Author: Thomas Asbridge.
• The Crusades and the Christian World of the East: Rough Tolerance, Author: Christopher MacEvitt.