“The advertising for the new film” The Sultan and the Saint “suggests it presents revisionist history in line with the modernist ecumenical agenda,” wrote in 2016 Dr. Benjamin J. Vail (OFS), an American Secular Franciscan. The finished film, shown to this author and others last April, thoroughly vindicated Vail, and is now offering hackneyed Crusade myths to the public via PBS, which broadcast the film December 26 and now offers it for online viewing.
Focusing on the 1219 encounter between St. Francis of Assisi and Sultan Al-Malik al-Kamil during the Fifth Crusade, the film reflects popular falsehoods about the Crusades accepted even by President Barack Obama. Ignoring reality, the PBS film website declares that the “film sheds light on the crusades origins of dehumanizing rhetoric towards non-Europeans and non-Christians” that “resulted in four generations of escalating conflict.” Falsely suggesting that current global hostilities involving Muslims result from insufficient dialogue, the website declares that the film “inspires solutions for the negative atmosphere we find ourselves in today.”
PBS’ online portrayal of Fifth Crusade historical figures is equally fallacious, such as in the statement that St. Francis wanted “to oppose the bloodshed of the Fifth Crusade.” Meanwhile, crusader commander John of Brienne has base motives in PBS’ description: “Like many who were motivated to join the Crusades, John might have thought he could improve his lot and gain land, nobility and fame in the Holy Land.” At the website of the film’s pro-Islam producer, Unity Productions Foundation (UPF), Cardiff University professor and film expert Helen Nicholson cynically states that “for these people, the Crusade is a gift from God.”
Nicholson appears in the film alongside journalist Paul Moses, author of The Saint and the Sultan: The Crusades, Islam, and Francis of Assisi’s Mission of Peace, and his prior statements clearly show his influence upon the film. In various 2013 book presentations, he presented Francis as a pacifist, as someone who “quietly opposed the Crusade,” and as someone who “never spoke in a disparaging way about Islam or Muslims.” By contrast, Francis’ era was a “time when the church had become corrupt and violent” and knew how to “cherry pick through scripture” in order to find “supposed Biblical grounds” for the Crusades.
While Francis appears in Moses’ book presentations as out of character for a crusading Christendom, supposedly al-Kamil’s “actions show him to be a good Muslim.” The sultan “reflected Islamic traditions, including respect for Christian holiness, and also his constant pursuit of alternatives to war.” Referencing Saladin, the famed Muslim leader during the Third Crusade, Moses argued in a December 20 interview that the sultan’s benign behavior “came straight out of Islamic teachings, which the sultan, a nephew of Saladin, knew well.”
The film confirms the 2016 suspicions of Vail, who noted that the “film’s advertising implies that the crusades were evil both in intent and in practice,” a “common misconception used as a slur against the Church.” Leading Crusades historian Thomas F. Madden, for example, has contradicted Nicholson. The “crusading knights were generally wealthy men with plenty of their own land in Europe,” and the “Crusades were notoriously bad for plunder.”
As Madden elaborates, the Crusades
were not the brainchild of an ambitious pope or rapacious knights but a response to more than four centuries of conquests in which Muslims had already captured two-thirds of the old Christian world. At some point, Christianity as a faith and a culture had to defend itself or be subsumed by Islam.
The Crusades were a Christian reaction to centuries of Islamic jihadist aggression that directly targeted the Catholic Church and Francis’ followers. Frank M. Rega, a Secular Franciscan and author of Francis of Assisi and the Conversion of the Muslims, has noted that an army of 11,000 Muslims sacked Rome itself in 846 and desecrated the tombs of saints Peter and Paul. Rega’s fellow Secular Franciscan Vail noted that Muslims later in 1240 attacked the Franciscan Poor Clare monastery in Assisi, which the order’s founder herself, St. Clare, successfully defended.
Contrary to Moses’ claims, Rega has observed that “unreserved support of the crusade had become normative in the Order” of St. Francis. Rega’s book noted Francis’ praise for “holy martyrs died fighting for the Faith of Christ.” Vail also observed that “one leader of later crusades was St. Louis IX, the king of France, a Franciscan tertiary who is now patron saint of the Secular Franciscan Order.”
Francis personally reflected such sentiments when he crossed the front between the Christians and Muslims fighting around Damietta, Egypt, on a personal evangelization mission to the sultan. Rega noted Francis’ words to the sultan: “It is just that Christians invade the land you inhabit, for you blaspheme the name of Christ and alienate everyone you can from His worship.” Francis’ frank words reflect that he “was fully prepared for martyrdom” and initially experienced rough treatment in Muslim hands, as the film portrays. As Rega’s book has noted, al-Kamil had vowed that “anyone who brought him the head of a Christian should be awarded with a Byzantine gold piece.”
Contrary to Moses’ assertions, Francis’ behavior exemplified the common practice of his order in which friars often sought martyrdom by direct rhetorical challenges to Islam. Reflecting the negative judgment of Catholic saints upon Islam throughout history, Francis in Rega’s book tells the sultan that “if you die while holding to your law [sharia], you will be lost; God will not accept your soul.” As Notre Dame University Professor Lawrence Cunningham has observed, Francis “saw himself and his friars as Knights of the Round Table fighting a spiritual crusade.”
Meanwhile the film juxtaposes Crusader atrocities like the 1099 sack of Jerusalem with al-Kamil’s often tolerant behavior in yet another cinematic distortion of the past. Following Moses’ lead, the film presents such tolerance as the logical result of Islamic doctrine, but the biography of Moses’ hero Saladin tells a different story. As Crusades historian Andrew Holt has noted, “[o]ften Saladin could be just as brutal as the less noble minded military rulers of his era, but those actions are typically not highlighted in modern accounts.”
Saladin’s atrocities include the 1169 slaughter of 50,000 disarmed Sudanese soldiers in Cairo, Egypt, in breach of a surrender agreement after he had suppressed their rebellion. Following his 1187 decisive defeat of Crusaders in the Holy Land at the Battle of Hattin, Saladin had executed with religious ritual some 230 captured Knights Templar and Knights of St. John Hospitallers. After Hattin, Saladin considered sacking Jerusalem like the Crusaders before him, but its desperate defenders warned him that without a pardon guarantee they would fight to the bitter end and destroy the city’s Muslim holy sites. He therefore relented and ransomed the city’s population, but an estimated 8,000 could not pay and became slaves, among whom the women suffered mass rape, a practice common among armies of the era.
The film simply offers no context for its portrayal of a brutal era in which warfare rules held that besieged cities that did not surrender like Jerusalem in 1099 were subject to massacre and pillage. Muslims later repaid the Crusaders in kind during the 1291 sack of Acre, and the era’s Muslim armies often committed atrocities against surrendered city populations in violation of pledged mercy. By contrast, some evidence suggests to Holt that crusaders during the First Crusade that captured Jerusalem refrained from the common medieval practice of raping captive women.
In the midst of such violence, al-Kamil presents an appealing figure in the film, yet he might not have been an ordinary Muslim. Concurring with Moses, Cunningham has noted that when Francis went to al-Kamil, ultimately the “caliph did receive him kindly; he may have been a Sufi — a Muslim mystic — who want to identify mystically with the love of Allah.” Al-Kamil “may have had an instinctual sympathy for Francis, whom he probably saw as a holy man.” Al-Kamil also had a history of tolerance toward his Coptic Christian subjects in Egypt, although even this leniency had its limits under repressive Islamic dhimmi norms for non-Muslims.
The attention given by Catholics like Moses to Sufis like al-Kamil has a tradition, the Catholic writer and former academic William Kilpatrick has observed: “To the extent that they are interested in Islam, Catholic thinkers tend to be focused on its mystical, Sufi manifestations rather than on its mainstream, legalistic, and supremacist side.” Many Catholics like Francis’ namesake, the current Pope Francis, want “to put a Christian face on Islam.”
Yet Catholic writer John Zmirak has analyzed respectively the doctrines of Islam and Christianity’s founders to demonstrate that “ISIS Are to Muhammad What Franciscans Are to Jesus.” No celluloid interfaith, multicultural agitprop from PBS can change these facts by repackaging shopworn canards about Christianity for the Christmas season. The question remains for a forthcoming article, what is the nature of the people at UPF and its associates who helped produce the delusion of The Sultan and the Saint?
mike9a says
Just look at the names that founded the project. More lies more half truths and more two opposing statments that are true and false at the same time.
Kay says
Don’t underestimate the power of ignorance, especially now fueled by a pbs special.
I appreciate the analysis of the film and hope that few watched it as most of those will simply believe it historical and informative.
roberta says
Don’t underestimate the power of ignorance, especially now fueled by a pbs special.
Oh so true. They will feel educated. Nothing worse.
Jenny H says
I believe viewers often think that a program shown on PBS has been more carefully researched and crafted and therefore the information it gives is more trustworthy, than those appearing elsewhere. This program has the potential to do a lot of damage by spending misinformation. Once these falsehoods have been implanted in some people’s minds, it will be hard to change their minds.
J D S says
APOLOGIST Will continue to “inform” the public be it Islamic apologist or whatever….The uninformed will always be swallowed up by the apologist while The informed will spew the apologist out of their mouths.
Carolyne says
I do believe that some of us are “Getting on our high horse.” Remember, Hussein Obama, that learned Kenyan Islamic scholar, warned us about that very thing. Istanbul is dotted with huge structures the locals refer to as “Crusader castles.” I believe I’ve read that the Crusaders sacked Constantinople. when they reached it. In that case they were looking for booty. However, Constantinople was the center of the Eastern Orthodox Church at the time so they were sacking their co-religionists. I think it is still the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Church.
But I do not know the relationship between Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox at that time so maybe they were enemies. Depending on who is telling the story, Saladin was a monster or a great leader and the Crusaders were monsters or just honest folks looking to take back the Holy Land. I suspect the truth to lie somewhere between.
However, the fact remains that Jerusalem is a genuine holy place for Christians, it was captured by Mohammedans on the basis that Mohammed flew to heaven on a winged donkey from there, (In his dreams) so that is what Muslims base their claim upon.
I think atrocities were committed by both sides, but that was centuries ago and no one living today had a part in it. The Muslims are still barbarians, but the Catholics have cleaned up their act for the most part and their Pope has gone over to the other side.
I saw that this program was on, but knowing PBS and their propensity to support Islam, I wasn’t interested in watching it.
CRUSADER says
There is some real serious propaganda going on promoting Islam to the West!
“1001 Islamic Inventions” for instance has production, teachers packages, kids materials….
One more attempt to drive nails into the Coffin of the Kaffir….
We reside in Dar al-Harb, after all….
We are deemed to become conquered, on way and another way, and another, and another….
bonnie louise loranger says
I totally agree with you
Cheryl says
Hi, thank you Jihadwatch for providing such helpful information.
Would you consider providing another format within your articles that would be more “socially acceptable” for people (me) to use as I interact with friends who hold deceived views of subjects such as the crusades & true nature of Islam.
I am not fearful to offend, I just want conversations to be helping people reason, not defend and get into attack mode.
I guess what I am asking for is you reports such as this one to have a few thoughts to ponder that would sum up and get these discussions going. Maybe a question to ask or a short survey to help people test their understanding of history.
I am thinking of something to the effect of…
Do you think that the Crusades were
a. a result of Christians hatred towards peaceful Arab neighbors?
b. a response to years, hundreds of years, of Islamic invasions?
How many Crusader battles were fought and at what time period?
a. 15
b. 100
c more than 500
A. during the time of Muhammad, or shortly after his life.
B. over a long period of time
C. over a short period of time.
How many Islamic conquest battles were fought?
a. 15
b. 100
c. more than 500
A. during the time of Muhammad, or shortly after his life.
B. over a long period of time
C. over a short period of time.
I know that I can come up with these, but honestly, I am busy! Yet I want to engage in these conversations. Thanks.
Hugo Hackenbush says
See the video on the crusades by Stefan Molyneux on YouTube. Succinct, well researched and well presented. See also the article in “The Objective Standard” regarding the Barbary Wars and the discussion about the nature of Islam as described by the antagonists themselves.
gravenimage says
Cheryl, check out Robert Spencer’s book, “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)”.
For something shorted, here is an excellent article by Raymond Ibrahim:
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/02/raymond-ibrahim-the-true-history-of-christendom-and-islam
Cheryl says
Yes, my local library has “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)” and it was Mr. Spencer’s first book that I read. I am seeking help to simplify the discussions. Have someone like Mr. Spencer who has delved deeply into these topics give the strongest points in a simple way that can open conversations. Basically, do some of that work for me… 🙂
mummymovie says
Yep, it’s more of the same type of pandering we discuss here on J-Dub through our commentary.
I saw this program listed a few days ago scrolling through the TV directory, and -admittedly knowing very little about the crusades- immediately recognized it as the same type of dhimmi malarkey we discuss here every day.
They just keep churning this crap out, and from all directions. It’s truly amazing!
Keys says
Cheryl –
You may want to give this link to your friends for a dynamic map visual by Dr. Bill Warner comparing the expansion of Islam to the Crusades.
This fact-based video offers a compelling visual explanation about who the aggressors were and are. Title: “Jihad vs Crusades”.
There are two dynamic battle maps presented: 1. The expansion of Islam in to Christian lands compared with, 2. The Crusade battles.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I_To-cV94Bo
Keys
Cheryl says
Yes, I love that video! It is very helpful.
Carol says
Cheryl…Perhaps an evening together watching Dr. Warner’s “WHY WE ARE AFRAID, A 1400 YEAR SECRET” would pretty well slam shut the fairy tale book on the Crusades. Discussions with beginners who are pretty far behind the eight ball doesn’t seem too productive but possibly it would loosen up inhibitions regarding real-life conversation. We talk a lot online but there’s a deafening pause and silence out there.
Sandra Solomon has been planning a more step to step learning experience regarding Islam and you might want to check out her site.
Cheryl says
Yes, I agree, these things should be more obvious. I haven’t seen the PBS show. My main point was that many people need to have “one nugget” to ponder before they are directed to a lengthy article. Before they feel like they are being attacked with the “other side” of an argument. Especially when feelings are leading the way more than facts.
That’s where Bill Warner’s video is great that shows the explansion of Islam and where the Crusades fit in.
CRUSADER says
Best to be Blunt.
Truth can become a forthright cleansing bath, after all!!!!
DEUS VULT
+++++++++
Gbox says
Here is an excellent “nutshell” account of the Muslim conquests, which brought on the Crusades, possibly the most misrepresented event in history:
http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Stenhouse/crusades.01.htm
CRUSADER says
All of these tips and resources should be helpful in Cheryl’s quest for offering alternative thinking in her outreach to folks…..
….ultimately the stark truth cannot be sugar coated or be milquetoast for long…
….it has to be presented as it is.
Bill Warner does that very well in a pithy manner.
Stefan Molyneux is more dramatic in his approach, but emotional content helps evolution.
Robert Spencer is detailed as a scholar.
These should be the steps…1, 2, 3…knockout !
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X XX X X X
UNCLE VLADDI says
Try this:
http://unclevladdi.blogspot.ca/2016/10/the-muslim-pr-game-called-crusades.html
Njoi!
😉
Carol says
Very good piece. Combined with the visuals of Dr. Warner’s “Why We are Afraid”, it would be very effective.
Mara says
What do you expect from the PROPAGANDA B. S. network which is systematically destroying our young childrens minds!
CRUSADER says
Good idea of Cheryl’s to put together a roundtable discussion group of local folks in one’s area, for wider dialog on topics about Islam and the West….nonetheless….
Truth will let out!
Truth is the Daughter of Time…..
rbla says
I wonder if some of those conservative Christian filmmakers who have produced those uplifting movies on biblical themes would consider making an epic on the fall and rape of Constantinople. Mainstream Hollywood would never go anywhere near a topic like that. BTW if Muslims or the Hollywood left ever figure out that Darth Vader is a close copy of the prophet Muhammad we will never see another Star Wars movie made and the old ones will disappear from circulation.
Sam says
Protection of Evil Islam continues. Liberals love the competition of who can defend Islam better. I think Islam is a drug to them. The more they distort the truth about Islam they get a better “high” it seems.
NUTS!!!!
CRUSADER says
I was wondering when JihadWatch was going to get around this show….
Next up….”KnightFall” everybody….
livingengine says
“the film’s pro-Islam producer, Unity Productions Foundation ”
Unity Productions Foundation should be well known to the active counter jihad activist.
UPF was one of 4 groups that turned down hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal money if it meant fighting against Islamic extremism. https://pamelageller.com/2017/02/muslim-groups-refuse-funds-to-fight-jihad.html/
They have produced Islamic dreck movies like: “Allah Made Me Funny”, “Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think”, “Muhammad:Legacy of a Prophet”, and “Prince Among Slaves” which Daniel Greenfield eviscerates here. https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/98787/prince-lies-daniel-greenfield
Kay says
Good grief! Good to know.
gravenimage says
Thank you, livingengine.
Gbox says
Thanks for that informative post. The more I learn about PBS, the more I’m convinced they are not merely careless journalists, they have a clear agenda, which is to support Islamism.
Carolyne says
I think I can tell you what a “Billion Muslims really think” and it won’t cost you a dime. While most of them are peaceful, underneath and secretly they rejoice when one of their cohorts causes death to infidels. It’s in their DNA.
Wellington says
In brief, Islamic society good, Western society bad. Just as Islam “merely” spread but the West brutally conquered. And other mendacites along these lines. Same old same old in this fake and stupid time we live in.
mortimer says
Need we say more than this: “interfaith, multicultural agitprop from PBS”??
I challenge PBS to do a series on the Islamic doctrine of AL WALAA WAL BARAA.
CRUSADER says
Islamic doctrine of AL WALAA WAL BARAA :
meaning ” loyalty and disavowal”. It signifies loving and hating for the sake of Allah. Al-wala’ wa-l-bara’
is referred to as holding fast to all that is pleasing to Allah, and withdrawing from and opposing all that is displeasing to Allah; namely the Kuffar ….
JawsV says
I watched it. So heavily funded by various Muslims/Muslim groups PBS said “For a complete list visit PBS.”
Moslem BS, the entire thing. Yes, it’s: Moslems good/Christians bad. In a nutshell.
gravenimage says
PBS Broadcasts Crusade Myths for the Holiday Season
………………………
What a disgusting whitewash of the savagery of Islam.
From PBS, though, this does not surprise.
DFD says
“…and now offers it for online viewing” That means by itself that this is a propaganda reel.
11,000 Muslims have ransacked Rome… I wonder how many there are by now – in Rome and other places!
JawsV says
Also, notice how Sultan comes first? The book’s title is: “The Saint and the Sultan.” The Moslems did a switcheroo!
gravenimage says
I think it was the dhimmis who did the switcheroo, Jaws.
JawsV says
How do you know? Mohammedans funded it. They’re more likely to change the title.
JawsV says
Sorry Jay Boo but the Moslems changed the title deliberately. Just like the Georgetown Center for “Muslim-Christian understanding.” The Muslims come first and so does the Sultan. The Moslems who funded the PBS program made the switch.
CRUSADER says
Yes…those darned bumperstickers are very crafty.
gravenimage says
True, Jay Boo.
Ray Jarman says
I am sorry but everyone seems to be missing the primary point which is why the Crusades in the first place. It seems that no one wishes to discuss the brutal scourge of Islamic hordes that slaughtered the inhabitants of Aleppo and Antioch. The First Crusade had only one objective, the right of passage to the Holy Lands which was denied to them. This crusade liberated the afore mentioned cities on its way to Jerusalem. In absolute no nation on earth was this cult accepted but by force whereas Christianity was derived from the preaching of Jesus Christ’s goodness by ministers like Paul and Peter. Neither carried even a weapon for self defense.
CogitoErgoSum says
I watched this program. It was about two individual men, Francis and Sultan al-Kamil. They were both good men of different religions. The two men came to an understanding of one another. The two different religions did not.
Of the two men, I believe the one who realized the greater change was al-Kamil. I think his talks with Francis gave him greater empathy for ALL men …. and not just his fellow Muslims. Did the idea to feed his starving enemies come from the Quran ……. or from what Francis had told him of Christ?
Francis was an extreme fundamentalist Christian. He took Christ’s teachings to the limit and gave away everything he had including the clothes he wore and left his parents behind and relied only on the mercy of God and the return of kindness for kindness towards others. He gave up his worries about tomorrow and he placed all his trust in the words of Christ. This was not emphasized in the program …. but it should have been.
Now about the Sultan; was he an extreme fundamentalist Muslim? Did he take the words of the Quran to the limit? Did he show harshness towards the unbelievers as the Quran says to do? Did he slay the unbelievers wherever he found them? Did he fight them until they found themselves subdued and then accept the Jizya from them as they rendered it with willing submission. NO!!!! He was not a fundamentalist Muslim who took the words of the Quran to the extreme.
One man is remembered as a saint in his religion. The other is remembered as a man who did some good things …. but is al-Kamil remembered as a saint in his religion? I think the effect of the Saint upon the Sultan was to guide the Sultan AWAY from the fundamentals of Islam and turn him towards the teachings of Christ (if not into a Christian). But you would only know that if you had taken the time to delve more deeply into the two religions and what they really teach …….. which this program did not.
JawsV says
Islam doesn’t have Saints.
CogitoErgoSum says
Would you say the nearest thing to an Islamic saint would be a shahid or “martyr” for Islam?
JawsV says
No, I wouldn’t say that. Christians were martyred for following Jesus. They never harmed anyone. Conversely, Muslims achieve martyrdom when they kill Infidels (Jews and Christians) for Allah.
The two couldn’t be more opposite. Christian saints are revered for self-sacrifice. Muslim martyrs are revered for sacrificing others (for Allah).
If you’re interested in how Christianity and Islam are total opposites you should get “Wholly Different” by Nonie Darwish (2017). Barnes & Noble has it.
CogitoErgoSum says
Actually, I agree with you and was hoping you would point out the difference. That is why I placed the the word “martyr” in quotes. Thanks. So, in no way would Al-Malik al-Kamil be considered a saint, or even a shahid or “martyr” nor could we say that he was obeying the words of Allah in the Quran about how to treat unbelievers. My thoughts are that al-Malik was acting more like a Christian than a Muslim after his encounter with Francis and he ignored many of instructions of Allah in the Quran ….. verse 9:29 being one of the them. The program failed to make that connection.
Ray Jarman says
Excellent reply for as I have noted before a missionary in Afghanistan before 9/11 stated that the difference between Islam and Christianity is that Muslims are demanded to die for Allah while Jesus Christ died for all mankind on the cross. This was my answer to a few Muslims that worked for me in Abuja, Nigeria and never did one disagree with my statement.
JawsV says
Hi Ray. Nonie Darwish makes that point in her book “Wholly Different” (2017) that Jesus died for us while Muslims die for Allah. Christianity and Islam are total opposites.
CRUSADER says
Great points.
Taken to the fullest fundamental extent:
Christianity endpoint is vastly different than endpoint of Islam.
One is at the point of a nail…..the other is at the point of a blade.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
JawsV says
I’m not going to see this. I watched a clip in which Queen Victoria (Judi Dench) asks Abdul to teach her about the Quran. You know, like it’s a good thing. Ick. Also, was there really an Abdul? Or is this made-up PC nonsense?
Lydia Church says
More propaganda obviously.
More Ham Ed says
Public BS
CRUSADER says
Propaganda Benefits Socialism
JAK says
Watch me give more to PBS. Weeelllll.
Hope they defund PBS. Mouth piece of the invader!
StellaSaidSo says
As if ‘1001 Islamic Inventions’ wasn’t dishonest enough…
CRUSADER says
How ….
…. benighted !
Carol says
It’s like the lure of an Arabian Nights fantasy. “See! see! how good and noble this exotic person you assumed was an enemy and a savage truly is at heart!!” Life is good after all so now run off together into the sunset and play!”
It’s an obvious project to blur the understanding and sensibilities of the upcoming generation. Meanwhile the real world predictably reveals Mr. Hyde and his bloody tracks.
Marietta, OFS says
God bless the Secular Franciscans for standing up against PBS. But where are the friars? Hmm? Where are the OFMs, the OFM Caps, the OFM Convs, the TORs? Hmm?