Date of Award

Spring 2011

Project Type

Thesis

Program or Major

Liberal Studies

Degree Name

Master of Arts

First Advisor

Gregory McMahon

Abstract

It is important that scholars use a variety of researching methods when analyzing the effect of the Crusades, how they affected Islamic perspectives of the West during the period 1095--1291, and their imprint on today's world. Western scholars with a Euro-centric point of view have accomplished the overwhelming amount of research on the Crusades. It is not until the last decade that Islamic scholars have taken an interest in the Crusades, and their affect on the Muslim world.

This study came to the following conclusions: 1) Scholarship on the Crusades has mainly represented a Euro-centric viewpoint, 2) Contemporary Muslim scholarship is Arab centered, and marginalizes Turks, Persians, and Kurds, 3) There is not enough research on Islamic sources and perspectives, 4) Many Islamic scholars have an anti-western bias due to anti-colonialism, and occupation. Credibility is founded only when historians research all the sources and perspectives on a topic, and realize their limitations.

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