The impact of the First Crusade proclaimed by Pope Urban II in 1095 during his sermon at Clermont, France goes beyond the historic fall of Jerusalem from Muslim hand to the Western Christians. It was the beginning of a systematic and thoughtful description of Islam and Muslim as the great enemy of Western Christendom. Islam was portrayed as a heretic belief and anti-Christ movement. The Muslims were compared with the barbaric people, merciless and coldblooded. The demonization of Islam and Muslims had successfully instigated Western Christians to take part in the expedition of the First Crusade and marched towards the Islamic World in the Near East. Muslims had lost their second Holy Land, the Quds or Jerusalem, to the First Crusaders and part of their lands were colonised. The establishment of the Kingdom of Jerusalem by the First Crusaders was a historic moment not only for the victory of wars and the possession of Muslim cities, lands and territories but more importantly the personal victory of the Papal to expand Western Christendom to the Islamic World. Through the description of the First Crusade, mostly from the Western sources, this paper is intended to show that it was the Pope who systematically sown the seeds of Islamophobia among Western Christians so that they will realise his vision of expanding his Imperial Christendom to the Islamic World.
Source: World Journal of Islamic History and Civilization
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