Examples Of Excluding Usamah

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Pope Urban II proposed the First Crusade as a war where Frankish peoples would “liberate the church of God at Jerusalem” (Lambert 62), while Robert the Monk justified it as a chance to “avenge” alleged misdeeds done by people from Jerusalem (64). Guibert of Nogent framed the Crusade as a chance to “restore some parts of the East to the faith” (67). Whereas Solomon Ben Simson, a victim of an attack on the Jews at Mainz, claims that the Crusa On the contrary, Usamah ibn Munqidh, who lived near Palestine almost a century after the First Crusade, does not claim the Muslims are chosen by God, nor does he advocate for violence against the former Crusaders who settled in his homeland. Excluding Usamah, each of these authors believe that their people are “people chosen and loved by God, distinguished from all other nations.” …show more content…

From his perspective, the attack was not done by the Franks for their own benefit, rather, it was an opportunity for the Jews to undergo “the judgment of heaven” as penance for their sins (81). Furthermore, he believed God would take mercy on them and bring them to heaven if they willingly gave up their life for him, in the form of mass suicide. While the Jews believed God chose them to earn their place in heaven through their deaths, the Franks thought they would earn heaven by killing non-Christians or dying in the process. Pope Urban II’s offering of the First Crusade as a way to “liberate” Jerusalem as a “substitute for all penance” (Lambert 62) means that the Frankish warriors cannot truly commit any sins on this journey, because all will be forgiven once the fighting is over. This promise of salvation affirms that God will nullify any sins the warriors commit on the way to Jerusalem, because through their actions, “the Catholic name might spread against the wickedness of Antichrist and his Anti-Christians” (Guibert