• Some modern-day Islamist radicals (and a smattering of Western pundits) describe the Crusades as a great clash of civilizations foreshadowing the troubles of today. They trace the roots of modern Muslim rage to that era and those events. But reports from the Arab side don’t show Muslims of the time thinking this way, at least at the start. No one seemed to cast the wars as an epic struggle between Islam and Christendom — that was the story line the Crusaders saw. Instead of a clash between two civilizations, Muslims saw simply a calamity falling upon…civilization. For one thing, when they looked at the Franj (Franks, French), they saw no evidence of civilization. An Arab prince named Usamah ibn Munqidh described the Franks as being like ‘beasts, superior in courage and in fighting ardor, but in nothing else, just as animals are superior in strength and aggression.’ The Crusaders so disgusted the Muslims that they came to appreciate the Byzantines by contrast. Once they understood the political and religious motives of the Crusaders, they made a distinction between ‘al Rum’ (Rome — i.e., the Byzantines) and ‘al-Ifranj.’ Instead of ‘the Crusades,’ Muslims called this period of violence the Franj Wars.

  — Ansary, Mir Tamim. Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes. New York: PublicAffairs, 2009. pg. 148