Why Did They Become Muslims

forward to. Dreaming that they would obtain valuable goods in the
places they would go to, they joined the first crusading expedition
mounted by Pierre L’Ermite. Their commanders were the lunatic
priest L’Ermite and the poor knight Gauntier. Consisting of mere
looters, the first crusaders had not left their countries yet when they
began looting. They pillaged some cities in Germany. When they
entered Istanbul, they pillaged the affluent Byzantine city with
complete unaffectedness despite the cries of the owners of the goods
they were stealing. Completely on the loose, the crusaders were
making their way through towns and villages, attacking people and
places at random, when they were stopped and annihilated by the
Seljuki Turks before reaching Jerusalem. Then other crusaders
appeared. Gradually, crusading became a matter of honour, and
eminent kings joined the expeditions, which meant tremendous
armies. According to a report, a one-million-strong, [or at least
600,000,] set forth to attack. The crusading expeditions continued for
a hundred and seventy-four years, from 489 [1096 C.E.] to 669 [1270
C.E.], in eight waves. Later, crusaders were organized against the
Turks. The Ottoman Turks made holy wars against the crusading
armies and routed them in Nighbolu and Varna. Some fanatical
Christians include even the Balkan War, which took place in 1330
[1912/13 C.E.], in those expeditions, and consider that war, which they
fought against the Turks, as a crusading expedition.
The German emperor Friedrich Barbarossa, Friedrich II, Conrad
III, Heinrich VII, the British king Richard the Lion-hearted (Couer de
Lion), the French kings Philip Auguste and Saint Louis, the
Hungarian king Andreas II were among the many kings and princes
who joined the crusades. Perpetrating all sorts of savagery on the way
and, as we have already stated, burning, destroying and plundering
Istanbul, which belonged to their co-religionists, the Byzantines, they
arrived in Jerusalem. The following is a passage paraphrased from a
five-volumed book about the crusading expeditions, by Michaud:
“In 492 [1099 C.E.], the crusaders were able to force their way into
Jerusalem. When they entered the city they slaughtered seventythousand
of its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants. The streets were
flooded in blood. Heaps of corpses blocked the roads. The crusaders
were so barbarous that they slaughtered ten thousand Jews that they
met on the banks of the Rhine in Germany.” The Muslim Turks, on
the other hand, did not slay a single woman or child in Vienna. The
lithograph on the mount is imaginary. The crusaders’ savageries in
Jerusalem, however, are blatant facts.
Ahmed Cevdet Pasha, ‘rahima-hullâhu ta’âlâ’ states as follows in
his book Qisâs-i-Enbiyâ:
“The crusading army invaded Jerusalem in 492 [1099 C.E.]. They
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