Infidels

Infidels

By Andrew Wheatcroft

This book of non-fiction written by Andrew Wheatcroft, interprets the history of conflict between Christendom and Islam. Wheatcroft demonstrates deep sense of morality from both Christian and Islamic perspective and writes about how it is created and how it is sustained. He goes further into the relationship between the two religions, in order to find the answer to the ultimate 'reason' of their constant misunderstandings. Religion is known as a set of beliefs, values, and practices that are lead to bring 'positive' attitude and understanding towards life. However, when various groups own a distinct form of belief, they tend to have strong opinions against each other that lead to corruption. In many cases, religion is among one of the principle sources of major conflict over centuries. Even today, the society is facing issues that involve religious matters, despite the fact that it has been repeated over and over again. This especially points out to the current war against Iraq, where suicidal attacks are caused under religious beliefs and organizations. In this book, the author determines the human rejection towards other religious society and argues on how the dark past repeats itself in the present and will continue to encircle the past if unless they are confronted.

The book begins with the Battle of Lepanto (a.k.a. Corinth) in 1571, which mark a defining moment of struggle between the Christian-Muslim relations. Organized by the pope, 600 of the Knights of St. John and 8000 of some men were commanded to protect the island of Malta from the Moslems. This battle was set in the Mediterranean Sea, where both Leagues owned a well-trained army with incredible tactics, carrying numerous amounts of weapons on vessels. The distinction of the two leagues was determined by the type of weapons they used, which also represented the level of secularization. The galleass, (a large, fast, heavily armed three-masted Mediterranean galley) was "remarkable not for its technology, but for the ease with which it was created, adopted, and immediately used in battle."(p.14) Such weapon like crossbow however, was unaccepted by the pope, which demonstrates a fast paced secularism, shown by ignoring the Holy rules of Christianity. In contrast, the Muslim army took innovation as a serious matter for argument that could even lead to resistance. Thus, they used traditional weapons known to the Qur'an (sacred text of Islam), which were swords, spears, lances, bows, and arrows. In Islam, "good Muslim soldier was the man who leaped into the breach or on to the deck of an enemy vessel without armour and only the strength of his arms to protect him."(p.14) Hence, weapons like guns and artillery were considered cowardly, although those were necessary components. As a first priority their aim was to fight in the right way with pure honour, despite the fact of winning or losing. The result to this Holy war was victory towards the Knights of St. John, with the death toll of approximately 7,500 as opposed to 20,000 Ottoman losses. After the secular triumph over the Muslims, the story turns to earlier history on the Islamic conquer of Al-Andalus in eighth century, where a division of the Berbers, (natives of the mounted region of North Africa who recently conversed to Islam), and the Arabs invaded Spain, where a large Catholic Christian population were already established. These integral communities of Al-Andalus were set into separate boundaries for Arab, Berber Christian and Jewish under the Islamic rules, and each zones remained isolated in one region, and integrated in the other. This was the most peaceful period for all Christians, Muslims and Jews, where they lived together with no major dispute against each other. This however, began to corrupt over the centuries, when a constant shift occurred between the minority and majority populations of Christians and Muslims. This lead to a conversion of Christians, resisting Islam during the ninth century in Muslim Cordoba, and in Christian Spain throughout the sixteenth century, from old Kingdom of Granada. As a result to this 'power shifting,' the Christians eventually overthrew the Islamic society by expelling the descendants of the 'Moors' in the end. During this process, the Moors experienced limited freedom, and terrible treatment of forced conversion towards Christianity. The aftermath of the Christian conversion was followed by the war between the Crusaders and the Turks. In 1099, the Crusaders headed East to Jerusalem, to recover the Holy Land undertaken by the Muslims. Both sides were well prepared, and had gathered large number of armies. The quantity however, clearly exceeded the amount of Muslim armies, which was an obvious disadvantage for the East. As the two leagues approach, the difference in the style of combat was noticed. The Western style was "based on a close combat, on the impact of an armoured knight riding at full speed at his enemy, often with his retinue around him."(p.178) The Crusaders usually fought from horseback, using spears and long straight sword as opposed to the Turks, which "usually stood off from a distance, before darting in at speed to deliver the coup de grвce."(p.178) They were highly skilled on using bow and arrows, which were specially made (layers of horn and sinew) to be able to even pierce through iron helmets. This tremendous Holy battle, ended with the Crusaders' triumphant capture of Jerusalem. Finally, the novel turns to the 'Balkans', where issues of money, taxes, land, jealousy, and greed created a constant violent dispute, clashes, and invasions between empires, which continues throughout the twentieth century.

Throughout, Wheatcroft 'deeply' described the endless struggle between the Islam and the West in an extremely vivid manner. His effort of researching all over Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and the United States that took more than ten years of his life is very impressive, considering the amount of expert knowledge put into this single book. The intense imagery of narration on the battle of Lepanto especially brought excitement and impact to the reader's mind. When Wheatcroft explains the situation of every battle, his detailed information absorbs the readers into the world of Christian/Islamic history. One of the weak points that were