69 million page views

Most of the conquered fervently Chrisian

Reader comment on item: Florida Museum Celebrates the Loss of Hagia Sophia
in response to reader comment: The Sacrilege of the Hagia Sophia

Submitted by Historian (United States), Jun 5, 2017 at 18:51

"Constantinople was lost for one very real reason - it was a place that no longer observed the deep truths of what Jesus taught"

This is destructive and self-destructive nonsense. Most Byzantine Christians were devout believers in "what Jesus taught" .Constantinople was conquered ultimately for several real reasons having nothing to do with how observant Eastern Christians were of what Jesus taught, among the most important:
1. Muslims had been aiming to conquer Constantinople and destroy the Eastern Roman Empire since the 650s, if not earlier, after their seizure of the Roman Levant and N. Africa and conquest of Persia was so successful. Read Sebeos' chronicle on the first (failed) Muslim attempt to take Constantinople at that time. Several more Muslim attempts would follow. In this early period, Muslims even invented hadith portraying "Muhammad" as commanding Muslims to destroy the Roman Empire and conquer Constantinople or predicting that they will . Muslims had therefore great motivation not to make "Muhammad" predict something false or command the unfulfilled and made many attempts to conquer Byzantium. (The West needs to take note: since these hadith often refer to the Eastern Roman Empire as "Rome" and many Muslims equate the West with Rome (see Osama bin Laden etc.) the West will continue to be a target of pious jihadis aiming to fulfill these commands of "Muhammad" in the hadith).
2. The invention of gunpowder-using large cannon by the 14th century made Constantinople's massive walls vulnerable to destruction, and the conquest was in fact made possible by the large cannon that a Hungarian (some Western people have always put personal gain above solidarity with other Western peoples) helped the Ottomans launch against the city.

Would you, by analogy, make the outrageous argument that the Spanish successfully conquered the Aztecs and Incas and other more peaceable Amerindians because they observed the deep truths of "what Jesus taught" ? Military technology, geography, epidemic disease and ideology all can play a role in successful conquest. But to claim that being conquered reveals a lack of religious observance is not supported by evidence; indeed it is contradicted by the knowable evidence.

Dislike
Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Submit a comment on this item

Reader comments (21) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Some extensive syncretistic empires are commendable [22 words]Wallace LiechtyJan 4, 2018 19:52241763
No Christians in America [75 words]spaJun 21, 2017 23:46239681
An Islamist Advising an Art Museum... [9 words]DaveJun 12, 2017 05:12239561
The Sacrilege of the Hagia Sophia [164 words]M ToveyJun 1, 2017 15:00239414
The Sacrilege of the Hagia Sophia [164 words]M ToveyJun 1, 2017 14:59239413
Most of the conquered fervently Chrisian [353 words]HistorianJun 5, 2017 18:51239413
Constantinople was Never Meant to be the Center of the Church - neither is Babylon nor Rome [419 words]M. ToveyJun 9, 2017 11:40239413
An Islamist Advising an Art Museum... [9 words]DaveMay 30, 2017 18:29239394
Islamists Running a Museum Problematic [90 words]DaveMay 30, 2017 15:39239393
MANY THANKS [70 words]BASIL BAKLISMay 30, 2017 08:59239391
Name of Museum [51 words]Richard Sadove MDMay 30, 2017 08:27239390
1Lessons of history: Do not listen to pacififists, self-haters, Islamophiles or the chronically naive [157 words]DeanMay 30, 2017 06:11239389
Psalm 79:1-2 [48 words]Malcolm SmithMay 30, 2017 02:56239387
3no shame [86 words]NuritGMay 29, 2017 22:29239383
1European and Islamic colonists [110 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
PrashantMay 30, 2017 22:29239383
5Islamic invaders learned from each other --Constantinople 1453 and Delhi 1398-- [457 words]PrashantMay 29, 2017 19:09239381
2Florida Museum Celebrates the Loss of Hagia Sophia [87 words]Judith DaviesMay 29, 2017 17:47239379
3The least we can do is expose Islamic hypocrisy. [80 words]PrashantMay 30, 2017 22:36239379
1Istanbus is Constantinople [97 words]steven bowmanMay 29, 2017 16:49239375
Hagia Sophia [33 words]SteveMay 29, 2017 16:19239374
6Turning the cultural tables [155 words]Ryan EwaldMay 29, 2017 12:54239372

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes

Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes

(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.

For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)