Chapters 14-18

The very title of chapter 14 informed me that I was about to learn something from reading the end of this book.  As it is with many young people who grew up in this part of the world, the term “jihad” has become embedded in my mind as a signal of something frightening.  Since fourth grade, the context in which I heard the term was almost entirely from the news on television, and thus, when reading the boldfaced title at the top of the page, my subconscious instantly flashed to images of those who, for whatever reason, would like to see me dead.  This happened despite the fact that, since I came to college, I have made Muslim friends who use this term in a very different way.  It is safe to say that I have struggled (hah) with trying to defeat these old assumptions over the past couple years.  Armstrong, yet again, helped to give a succinct and understandable explanation of the word’s meaning in Islam in a peaceful context.

The next series of conquers seemed to be portrayed as something like home-improvement projects for the new inhabitants.  When the Muslims under Saladin defeated the crusaders, they felt that they were coming home, but that this home needed to be renovated.  And so the furniture was taken out of the Mosque and rugs laid out.  Whenever a new group came in, it seemed that the new inhabitants would make use of whatever the previous inhabitants had left them- making it work for themselves.

This holds for holy sites only when it comes to the establishment of Israel.  It is, as Armstrong points out, extremely surprising how quickly and successfully the British were able to accomplish their aims.  Whether heralded as a miracle or a disaster, this spark of the “modern conflict” has changed the lives of both Israelis and Palestinians to this day, and likely for years to come (unfortunate as it is).  I wonder how Zionists could have gone about their aims differently.  Perhaps if organizing a peaceful mass- migration to Palestine was feasible, Jews could have naturally integrated themselves into the majority in that area.  I am not sure how this would sound, however, to a Diaspora who had been escaping oppression for centuries.