Monday 19 November 2012

Battle in Gaza, 634

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Less than five years after the (Byzantine) Roman Empire had won back Palestine from the Iranianson 4 February 634, Muslim Arabs defeated the Byzantine army, commanded by the candidatus, Sergius, at the Battle of Dathin, a village near Gaza. Sergius himself was killed. The Muslim victory was celebrated by the local Jews. 

This is the moment when Islam enters history. 

The fascinating Doctrina Jacobi nuper baptizati, a Christian polemic against the Jews and one of the very few historical sources, records voices from an otherwise eerily silent period of Middle Eastern history:

When the candidatus was killed by the Saracens, I was at Caesarea and I set off by boat to Sykamina. People were saying "the candidatus has been killed," and we Jews were overjoyed. And they were saying that the prophet had appeared, coming with the Saracens, and that he was proclaiming the advent of the anointed one, the Christ who was to come. I, having arrived at Sykamina, stopped by a certain old man well-versed in scriptures, and I said to him: "What can you tell me about the prophet who has appeared with the Saracens?" He replied, groaning deeply: "He is false, for the prophets do not come armed with a sword. Truly they are works of anarchy being committed today and I fear that the first Christ to come, whom the Christians worship, was the one sent by God and we instead are preparing to receive the Antichrist. Indeed, Isaiah said that the Jews would retain a perverted and hardened heart until all the earth should be devastated. But you go, master Abraham, and find out about the prophet who has appeared." So I, Abraham, inquired and heard from those who had met him that there was no truth to be found in the so-called prophet, only the shedding of men's blood. He says also that he has the keys of paradise, which is incredible.
This seems to be the first of the very few near-contemporary references to Mohammed, leaving aside the four references to him in the Koran, though he is not named and it has been unconvincingly suggested that the reference is to some other prophet. In fact, we know very little about Mohammed. Almost everything that is thought to be known about him is myth.

Two years later, the Battle of Yarmouk marked the final defeat in Syria of the Roman Empire, which was in fact, by this time, Greek. The Middle East has remained mostly in Muslim hands ever since. 

The Christian Middle East still exists and still feels Greek, though Christians, who made up 20% of the population of the Middle East in 1900, now make up 2% and are now leaving in large numbers. The traditional Jewish Middle East existed up until 1948, when the Jews were expelled from many Arab countries. Little remains of it now.

14 comments:

  1. And the region has been at war ever since.

    I like this piece:

    "He replied, groaning deeply: "He is false, for the prophets do not come armed with a sword. Truly they are works of anarchy being committed today and I fear that the first Christ to come, whom the Christians worship, was the one sent by God and we instead are preparing to receive the Antichrist."

    I see a lot of truth in this.

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    1. Sounds like a typical bit of christian and Jewish PR from an apocryphal source. Oddly enough it was the christians who continuously slaughtered and maltreated the jews (and in return the jews now slaughter and maltreat muslims). The height of jewish civilisation was under the saracens in Spain, something they would rather forget now since they bomb and burn Gaza.

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  2. Not sure the region was at war ever since though - it was pretty sleepy for a long time before we invaded during World War I - I wish we had left the Ottoman Empire alone.

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  3. Yarmouk, what a great battle

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  4. "The Christian Middle East still exists and still feels Greek, though for years now Christians have been leaving in numbers."

    Except in Lebanon, where it feels French.

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  5. An incredible account. How much history has been written and forgotten in this ancient lands. The earth may indeed be scourged before peace is established. Interesting account of Mohammed. I wish there were more third account and independent sources about him. I think we would learn much from his philosophy that has unfortunately distorted at present.
    Heber Hammon

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  6. I know Caesarea - Jewish people there understand Islam better now.

    The Jews who still do not understand Islam are mostly crazy leftists living in Europe and North America, and (some good news) there are fewer and fewer of the crazy leftists every year.

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    1. crazy leftists indeed...those with a humane approach to others especially who are victims of brutal and cruel and tyrannical regimes, whether Islamic or Jewish, are not crazy but a shining example to those who would live their lives by the sword and will probably perish by it.
      As for islam, George Bush began his crusade against it and managed to drive nearly all its followers whether secular or otherwise into a antipathetic stance to the West and its military adventures.

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  7. 'quid rides de te fabula narratur'

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  8. i think anyone should be entitled to whatever religion suits them, without insults or harissment from people with a different veiw point. i dont worry if anybody is muslim, christian, janne, or any other. i have met people from all many religions.

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  9. Interesting. In fact Paul we know very little about Jesus Christ too and almost everything about him is now myth. I like Lucian Boia's 'History of the Imaginarium' where he talks about the mechanism of creating historical myths.
    I did a little research on facts we know about Christ, as strange as it may sound, and in fact we don't know where he spend his life between 10 and 30 when he started preaching.
    Leaving the theological discussion aside, to know latin and other languages in those times it was a sign of a very high education. Qumran fits the profile very well, close also to Jordan river, where the Dead Sea scrolls were found, remnants of the esenians whose values and beliefs resemble very much what Jesus was preaching later on.

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  10. Warfare is a fascinating subject. Despite the dubious morality of using violence to achieve personal or political aims. It remains that conflict has been used to do just that throughout recorded history.

    Your article is very well done, a good read.

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