Karen Round Two! (14-18)

So we’re back with another round of history with Karen! (EDIT: you’ll have to excuse me, I’m a bit slap-happy right now and extremely caffeinated, no regrets.)

Okay, so what struck me as interesting with the initial chapters was how different Jerusalem was under Islamic leadership after the Crusades. The whole “King of Jerusalem” name was kind of funny, and I really wish that idea had stuck around (though perhaps not since it seemed to have descended into madness and become vaguely Game of Thrones-y with all of Saladin’s heirs.) It was also really interesting to hear about how the city basically became a town after the walls were torn down because the people were afraid for their safety. I mean, you can see why he did it but also you have to wonder how al-Mu’azzam thought he was going to protect the city if an invading army did come to attack. He put so much effort with the schools and other buildings, it was kind of an investment.

I remember from class that Dr. Horowitz had said that under the Ottomans Jerusalem was at its most peaceful, especially since (I think that) during that time period the Ottoman Empire was at its most powerful. The Ottomans were surprisingly liberal with regards to religions outside of Islam; they were welcoming towards Judaism and the Orthodox Churches and after the Crusades and the previous rulers it’s a nice change. I think I might have read somewhere that the church that benefited the most was the Greek Orthodox Church – I mean, don’t quote me on it or anything, but I think I read that some minority Orthodox Churches were given to the Greek Orthodox Church and placed under their jurisdiction. I don’t really know how they felt towards Syrian or Armenian Orthodoxy!

The dhimmi status though was what I found the most interesting out of anything in the entire reading. We talked about it a bit in class, and I’d never heard that word/concept before. I looked it up online a bit and apparently it sounds the same in Arabic as it does in English, so it’s really just an entirely new concept to me. Anyway what I read online was that in modern society there’s no legal distinction between a non-Muslim dhimmi and a Muslim citizen, but they are allowed to eat pork and drink alcohol. What I found the most interesting is that apparently the Hanafi scholars extended it to the land outside Mecca, but I don’t know what they’re talking about because Saudi still doesn’t allow pork or alcohol even to non-Muslims (not that you can’t find it, it’s just still illegal.) That being said, technically Saudi also just assumes that all the people living there are Muslims and probably just disregards the expats, so there’s that. (I lived there for three years; so I’m still just a little bitter about the lack of bacon, don’t mind me.) Anyway, I could make a whole separate post about Saudi and a whole separate post about the dhimmi status, but that’s another story.