Question

Compare and contrast the Sermon of Pope Urban II at Clermont with Ibn al-Zaki’s account of A Khutba on the Recovery of Jerusalem.

Answer 1

The Sermon of Pope Urban II at Clermont and the Ibn al-Zaki’s account of A Khutba on the Recovery of Jerusalem are very much alike. The first one, pronounced in 1095, was a call for all the great lords and knights of Christianity, especially those in the Council of Clermont, French and German, to recover the sacred land of Jerusalem from the hands of the heathens, the Muslims. The Pope encouraged them to leave everything behind to engage in this sacred war, a war ordered by God, and promised the fighters forgiveness of all their sins. This became the first Crusade.

On the other hand, the account on the recovery of Jerusalem was given on 1187, after the Muslims recovered Jerusalem from the hands of the Christians. It's a congratulation to those who fought in that holy war, ordered by God, and a call to keep fighting to erase all trace of the heresy brought by the Christians. So, all in all, both speeches were given by a high authority in both religions, they both claimed to be the real one and viewed the other as a fake, saw the fight for Jerusalem as a holy one.