); this remains today the most wanton destruction of a key Christian holy site in history." (Jones 11) This marked the beginning of a series of conflicts occurring throughout the Muslim world as Christians started to be perceived as enemies and as individuals who needed to be reprimanded for being present in the Islamic society
The crusades were a more formal conflict while the jihad is informal (it is often fought by individuals who lack organization). While Islamic law promotes the belief that jihad is an essential concept in the lives of Muslim people, there were numerous Muslims who rejected this idea and refused to take part in conflicts that they had nothing to do with (Laiou & Mottahedeh 26)
"The crusade was the perfect example of the just war, justissimum bellum, and the idea of a just war was inevitably developed and refined in the course of the crusading period." (Setton, Hazard, & Zacour 3) c
"Unlike the crusade, under Islamic law derived from the Koran, jihad, struggle, is enjoined on all members of the Muslim community." (Tyerman 100) While it would be wrong to generalize when considering the Crusades and the Jihad, it is only safe to say that many crusaders and jihadists fought because they were passionate about their goals
In 1071, the Muslim Turkish armies thoroughly defeated the Christine Byzantine military forces at the Battle of Manzikert. (Madden, 2002) The Christians were defending their territories in Asia Minor
The Christians became too greedy in their quest for land acquisition. (McKay et al
Significantly, these alliances engendered situations in which Muslims living in occupied territories actually engaged in warfare with other Muslims -- for the express purpose of defending the Franks and the territory which these Europeans had effectively stolen in the middle east. The author of the Race for Paradise denotes that this sort of "alliance-making" (Cobb 32) was not uncommon for Muslim communities in the Mediterranean Basin who found themselves under Christian rule