Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society
3. WITH REFERENCE TO TREATMENT OF DISSENTERS WITHIN THE FOLD
In the age of Islam’s glory, religious fanaticism in respect of differences within the fold did exhibit itself there occasionally,[1] as was natural in the case of a community for whom religion was the be-all and end-all of life. But it exhibited itself basically in the issuance of academic condemnatory-verdicts by the jurists, and went on a few occasions to the height of public burning of what was regarded as unorthodox religious literature. But the dimensions of mass barbarism and indescribable tortures which culminated in burning the dissenters at the stake forms the ‘pride’ of Christianity alone!
Starting from the beginning of Christian political power, and then proceeding straight to Inquisition, we may project here very brief references just to give an idea of the brutality practised in respect of violation of the values of mercy and toleration in Christian history of the ages of Faith and Orthodoxy.
With all his determined endeavour to minimise or explain away the evils that emerged in Christendom under the impact of the Church, Will Durant has been forced to say as follows (The Age of Faith, pp. 8, 46, 610, 735-784):
“… Once triumphant, the Church ceased to preach toleration…
“Constantius took theology more seriously than his father … ecclesiastics loyal to the Nicene Creed were removed from their churches, sometimes by the violence of mobs; for half a century it seemed that Christianity would be Unitarian, and abandon the divinity of Christ [2]… when Constantius ordered the replacement of the orthodox patriot Paul by the Arian Macedonius, a crowd of Paul’s supporters resisted the soldiery, and three thousand persons lost their lives. Probably more Christians were slaughtered by Christians in these two years (342-343) than by all the persecutions of Christians by pagans in the history of Rome.
“… We hear of many heretics, but most of these admitted the basic tenets of the Christian creed…
“The Old Testament laid down a simple code for dealing with heretics: they were to be carefully examined; and if three reputable witnesses testified to their having ‘gone and served other gods’, the heretics were to be led out from the city and ‘stoned with stones till they die’ (Deut. 17:25) … According to the Gospel of St. John (15:6), Jesus accepted this tradition: ‘If anyone abide not in me he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither; and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth.’…
“… The Templars … aroused the envy, fear, and wrath of King Philip IV the Fair … A tribunal of prelates and monks loyal to the King examined the prisoners; they denied the royal charges, and were put to the torture to induce them to confess. Some, suspended by the wrists, were repeatedly drawn up and suddenly let down; some had their bare feet held over flames; some had sharp splinters driven under their fingernails; some had a tooth wrenched out day after day; some had heavy weights hung from their genitals; some were slowly starved. In many cases all these devices were used, so that most of the prisoners, when examined again, were weak to the point of death. One showed the bones that had fallen from his roasted feet … Several of them died in Jail; some killed themselves; fifty-nine were burned at the stake (1310), protesting their innocence to the end…
“The most powerful of the heretical sects was variously named Cathari … Bulgari … and Albigenses, from the French town of Albi, where they were especially numerous … Innocent … gave him (Arnaud, head of Cistercian monks) extraordinary powers to make Inquisition throughout France, and commissioned him to offer a plenary indulgence to the king and nobles of France for aid … Philip Augustus allowed many barons of his realm to enlist … the same plenary indulgence was promised as to those who took the cross for Palestine … When the crusaders approached Beziers (in their heresy-hunt) … scaled the walls, captured the town, and slew 20,000 men, women and children in indiscriminate massacre; even those who had sought asylum in the church … when Arnaud, the papal legate, was asked should Catholics be spared, he answered, ‘Kill them all, for God knows His Own’ … Simon de Montfort … For four years Simon continued his campaigns, devastating nearly all the territory…
“… Compared with the persecution of heresy in Europe from 1227 to 1492, the persecution of Christians by Romans in the first three centuries after Christ was mild and humane procedure. Making every allowance required of an historian and permitted to a Christian, we must rank the Inquisition, along with the wars and persecutions of our time, as among the darkest blots on the record of mankind, revealing a ferocity unknown in any beast.”[3]
[1] This phenomenon should actually be traced to Jewish-Christian influence, which came through the very large number of converts from Judaism and Christianity, including the priests of those faiths, entering the fold in the very early days of Islamic history and forming a part of the Muslim community larger than that of the descendants of the original Muslims. As for Islam, it is committed to positive struggle for the triumph of Truth on the basis of sublime spiritual and moral principles and does not countenance the negative attitude of persecution.
[2] Mark the confession, in support of what the Qur’an has proclaimed, that the original monotheistic religion preached by Jesus was replaced with its paganised version by the Christian Church—and that through the force of arms ! In respect of paganisation, readers may also refer to pages 216, 217 in the foregoing.
[3] To quote Will Durant: Besides “burning at the stake”, which was the mode of killing the condemned persons (op. cit., p. 783), “the worst tragedies of the Inquisition were concealed in the dungeons rather than brought to light at the stake” (op. cit., p. 783). In crushing one dissident movement alone, i.e., the Albigensian ‘heresy’ one million men, women and children were massacred. (vide Newsweek, “Massacre of the Pure”).
to be continued . . . . .
Quranic Foundation & Structure Of Muslim Society In The End Times
