Conflicting Religions And Cultures

A Brief History of the spread of Islam Islam began in Arabia in the 7th century (600s CE). In less than 150 years it had spread through out the Middle East, North Africa and into Spain mostly by conquest. As most the areas had been formerly Christian, and Islam claimed Christianity was false enmity between the religions began. Islam persecuted idol worshipers but tolerated Christians and Jews as “people of the book.” Though they (C&J) were second class citizens with restricted religious rights and often higher taxes

The Crusades Much of the expansion was at the expense of the Christian Byzantine Empire. Around 1000 CE in the Byzantine Empire asked for help. Christian Armies from Europe invaded to free Christians from their Muslim overlords and “free” Jerusalem. Repeated invasions and war continued over 250 years This increased the enmity between the faiths Muslims still feel strongly about these invasions and the horrors that resulted.

Colonial Period From the 16th to 20th centuries the Europeans made colonies of various Islamic states. Before the 20th century North Africa, Persia, Pakistan were colonised After WWI the Islamic Ottoman Empire, which controlled much of the rest of the Islamic World was divided by the French and English into colonies. After WW2 all these became independent relatively peacefully.

Cultural Invasion More recently “modern western” culture in the form of Movies, TV, magazines and the Internet Most Islamic people have very conservative social moral values They feel invaded by the looser social morals of the west. Some believe this is a deliberate attempt to ruin their culture… And they are willing to fight back. This is one motivation for terrorists It was the original one for Osama bin Laden