A Macat Analysis of Carole Hillenbrand's The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives

The story of the Crusades (1095–1291) is of two centuries of repeated invasion and occupation of Muslim kingdoms by Western European Catholics. This was in response to Muslim conquests of Christian lands from the seventh century on. The story has been told and retold in Western histories—but only from the Western perspective. Hillenbrand’s collection of authentic Islamic sources, many previously untranslated or inaccessible, tells the Crusades from an entirely Muslim point of view. For the first time, the era’s Muslim voices can be heard fully, and their accounts challenge narratives of the Crusades that have been subsequently accepted in the West and the East. Their different understandings of jihad, the often-friendly relations between Muslims and Crusaders, the widespread inter-Arab warfare and near indifference to the invaders’ religious beliefs may well surprise readers. Given today’s worldwide political and religious conflicts, interest in the Crusades is greater than ever. And again, misinformation and propaganda is everywhere. Hillenbrand’s book remains crucial in telling the real Muslim side of this story.