Why did the Muslims and Christians fight for the holy land?

Answer 1

Well the common belief was that fi they killed the "inferior" people who were known as the Saracens (Muslims). They if they took up the crusades, they would be forgiven o their sins and go to heaven. We now know that wasn't the case at all now. The real reason why they wanted to fight for Jerusalem was because it was land. The church wanted it, the Saracens and Saladin (Sa-Lah-Ha-Deen), the sultan of the Saracens. The real soldiers didn't really know about this. Most lived out their crusade-like lives believing that they were in charge of protecting the Holy Land (Jerusalem). They were scammed into thinking that killing people they thought were inferior(sub-human) would give them access to Heaven.

Answer 2

Essentially the Christians wanted the Holy Land because that was where Jesus had walked and lived. His great miracles occurred there. Christianities roots stemmed from the Holy Land: Christianity branched off from Judaism.

Answer 3

AnswerJerusalem is a Holy City for both Christianity and Islam (also, of course, for Judaism).

In 1009, the Fatimid caliph of Cairo had the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem destroyed. His successor permitted the Byzantine Empire to rebuild it under stringent circumstances, and pilgrimage was again permitted, but many stories began to be circulated in the West about the cruelty of Muslims toward Christian pilgrims. These rumours played an important role in the development of the crusades later in the century.

Nevertheless, the crusades were not entirely about rivalry over control of Christianity. Pope Urban II believed a crusade would serve to reunite Christendom, bolster the papacy, and perhaps bring the East under his control. When Emperor Alexius I appealled to Pope Urban II for mercenaries to help him resist Muslim advances into territory of the Byzantine Empire, the Pope called for a large invasion force to not merely defend the Byzantine Empire but also retake Jerusalem. In 1099, they took Jerusalem and massacred the population.

Answer 4

From the time of the Second Jewish War until the fourth century, Jerusalem was a largely pagan city. However, the intervention of Helena to 'discover' many sacred artefacts and holy sites hidden under important pagan temples, resulted in the destruction of the temples, as well as renewed Christian interest in the Holy Land. Throughout the fourth cnetury, successive Christian emperors continued the persecution of the pagan temples and encouraged conversion of pagans to Christianity. By the end of the century, it was no longer acceptable to be a pagan in Jerusalem, and Christianity was almost universal throughout Jerusalem.

Answer 5

There is a common misconception as to the crusades which consider them an expedition of conquest comparable to 19th century colonialism. Before the rise of Islam, Jerusalem was a Christian city, part of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Muslims later conquered it. The first Crusade began when the Eastern emperor asked pope blessed Urban II for help against the onslaught of the Seljuk Turks. It was, then a defensive war, and the conquest of Jerusalem was, in truth a reconquest of Jerusalem for christendom.

Answer 6

When Christians go to Jerusalem, they go to see the river that Jesus Himself baptized people in. It is a spiritual place to go to for Christians. Whomever goes there gets to learn more about Jesus.

Answer 7

From the Christian Side

The Crusade to Jerusalem was not the primary objective of the War. If it had been, the Crusades would have begun centuries earlier when Caliph Omar conquered Jerusalem and removed it from Christendom. The reason that the Crusades began was that the Byzantine Empire was being threatened and Constantinople (its capital) was being threatened by Turkish (Muslim) armies. As the Patriarchs and Leadership in Constantinople needed additional soldiers to defend their eastern borders, they requested assistance from the Pope. The Pope, in order to sell such an operation to Franks, Germans, Italians, and others who could care less about Byzantine problems was to stir up religious fervor and declare a Holy War. The primary objective was the stability of the Byzantine Empire, but the rallying cry was to free Jerusalem.

This resulted in turning the Crusades into a multinational Christian endeavor. Franks, Germans, Italians, and Slavs all fought in the Crusades at the urging of the Popes and the Orthodox Patriarchs. While the goal for the leadership was to protect Constantinople, for the populace, the goal became the religious one of evicting Muslims from the Holy Land. As a result, Christians slaughtered Muslims and Jews when they took over cities and refused to give quarter to any who opposed them. The eventual establishment of Christian Kingdoms was merely a by-product of the success (from a European perspective) of the First Crusade and these states were integrally linked to Europe and European dictates.

From the Muslim Side

The territories that had formerly been under Islamic control were being taken by foreigners who were slaughtering the local population in the name of Christianity. As a result, the Muslim leadership organized a defensive position to protect their subjects.

Answer 8

We dont think we should have jerusulum!We just dont want it to go into the wrong hands.Jerusulum is Gods land not ours.