Were the Crusades like jihad?

While the crusades were a finite phenomenon, jihad lives on as a part of Islam. Literalism and fanaticism have served the faith poorly, despite valiant efforts by a handful of Muslim scholars in recent years to emphasise the peaceful sense of jihad. read more

The Crusades were military expeditions that were undertaken by European Christians in the eleventh through thirteenth centuries to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims. 2. This definition of jihad is disputed by some Muslims and it is true that the term can also refer to a nonphysical struggle against evil, but the use of jihad to mean literal warfare is firmly established in both historic and contemporary Islam. read more

Jihad is an aggressive war of conquest by Muslims against anyone who doesn’t believe in Islam. The Crusades were a war of defense (and partly of vengeance) by Christians who were finally sick and tired of suffering 400 years of unprovoked jihad waged against them by Muslims. read more

They termed these conquests "jihad," which we often translate as "holy war," though "struggle" would be a more accurate rendering. Most of these conquests occurred at the expense of two great empires: the Perisan Empire to the east of the Arabian deserts, and the Byzantine (or Eastern Roman) Empire to the west. read more