Fide Orthodoxa. The Quran also rejects monasti-
cism, which had become a major expression of
Christian piety and asceticism in the Middle East
by that time.
Other than the adherents of Arabian polythe-
ism, who were fought until they converted to
Islam, non-Muslims within lands controlled by
Muslim governments have historically been dealt
with as dhimmis, protected by the government and
allowed freedom of religion so long as they paid a
poll tax (
jizya
) and did not publicly offend Muslim
sensibilities. Where Christianity had been deeply
rooted before the coming of Islam, it generally
has retained a presence. Thus, in the countries of
the Fertile Crescent, such as i
raq
, s
yria
(includ-
ing J
ordan
, p
alestine
, and Lebanon), but also in
e
gypt
, there are strong Christian communities
with historical ties to the Christian churches and
communities that were present in the Middle East
before the rise of Islam. This is also true of India,
which has a Christian community tracing itself
back to the first century and which has had an
uninterrupted presence there. North Africa west
of Egypt, on the other hand, witnessed a relatively
quick, complete
conversion
to Islam within a
few centuries of its appearance, although Jewish
communities continued to thrive there until the
mid-20th century. In a
ndalUsia
(Spain), Chris-
tians continued to thrive and partake of public
life during the period of Muslim rule (711 to the
final conquest of Granada in 1492). The Christian
Arabs of Andalusia as well as Jews provided an
important conduit for transferring the scientific
and philosophical knowledge of Islamdom—far
more sophisticated than that of Europe at the
time—to the north.
In most Muslim-majority countries today,
there are numerous Catholic, Orthodox, and
Protestant churches. Even leaving aside the Prot-
estant churches, there are as many as 20 Apostolic
churches, depending on how they are counted.
This is largely because, as a result of missionary
efforts and splits along the way, a single, formerly
“national” church may split numerous times.
Thus, for instance, the Assyrian Church of the
East (found mainly in northern Iraq, southern
t
Urkey
, Syria, i
ran
, southwest i
ndia
, and now the
United States), which has its own rite and inde-
pendent hierarchy, has a Catholic counterpart,
named the Chaldean Catholic Church. The Coptic
Orthodox church of Egypt similarly has several
counterparts, including the Melkites (in union
with Constantinople), Coptic Catholics (Rome)
and Protestant Coptic (Presbyterian). When, as in
the last example, Protestant churches are included,
the number of churches becomes extraordinarily
difficult to count. In general, however, one can say
that the churches divide as follows: 1) those that
come out of the Assyrian Church of the East; 2)
those that can be called the Orthodox churches of
the East, who recognize the patriarch of Constan-
tinople as primus inter pares (first among equals);
3) the Oriental Orthodox churches, such as the
Coptic and Armenian, which share theological
orientation and mutual recognition; 4) the vari-
ous Catholic churches and Catholic counterparts
of other churches (mainly quite recent in origin);
and 5) Protestants of various denominations.
Depending on how one defines the “Islamic
world,” there are as many as 47 million Christians
today living in lands that are Muslim majority
or have been historically vital centers of Islamic
government and civilization, including India. The
largest populations are in i
ndonesia
(19 million),
followed by s
Udan
(9.5 million) and Egypt (at
least 4.5 million).
Thus, Christians have survived and sometimes
thrived under Muslim rule, and in many cases,
Christians were able to attain positions of great
power and wealth in Muslim-majority lands. Two
periods since the rise of Islam have seen Chris-
tians conquer Muslims within their heartlands.
The first period is that of the c
rUsades
and Recon-
quista. The Crusades were a series of expeditions
(1095–1291) by European Christians to retake
Jerusalem for Christianity and to fight Muslims
in the Holy Land as part of a holy war blessed by
the Catholic pope. The Crusades met with limited
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