In today’s post-secular society, the struggle to find a common language by which peoples of Islamic faith and secular citizens of the West can enter into a discourse remains frustrated. The post-metaphysical language through which democratic deliberation realizes itself fails to penetrate the theologically satu-rated language of Islam. The de-legitimization of religious language, especially its appeal to, and rootedness in, divine revelation, bars language that is cement-ed in autonomous reason from interacting on an equal footing. However, if we look in the distant past, in an age where religious violence was much greater than it is today, when the antagonisms between Christendom and the dar al-Islam were at their zenith, we find not only potential for inter-religious discourse, but an unlikely and therefore powerful example of what inter-religious discourse can entail. Yet, we cannot be satisfied to triumphantly cite the example of the interactions of the Catholic St. Francis of Assisi and the Muslim Sultan Malik al-Kamil as if the example itself mysteriously provides a way for discourse between civilizations and cultures. We must ask, what are the conditions under which such a fruitful discourse is made possible. What did St. Francis of Assisi and the Sultan Malik al-Kamil share that served as the basis for their inter-faith discourse?
13th Century Witnessing: Saint Francis of Assisi and Sultan Malik al-Kamil
In light of the present condition, where western powers remain deaf to the Muslim world’s concerns, and where fear of the “other” is a stronger impulse than the willingness to engage in a friendly discussion, we can look to the past in a future orientated remembrance of a historical event that occurred in the 13th century between a living Catholic saint and an enlightened Islamic ruler:
the Italian St. Francis of Assisi and the Ayyubid Sultan and nephew of the fa-mous Muslim Amir Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb (Saladin), Malik al-Kamil.
The example that this encounter has provided is one that has been thoroughly neglected, systematically written out of history (by the church), and/or con-veniently forgotten by those whose interest it was to forget the ecumenical nature of Christianity and Islam.1 However, in our age, where the religious
1 Paul Moses, The Saint and the Sultan: The Crusades, Islam, and Francis of Assisi’s Mission of Peace (New York: Doubleday, 2009), 197–217. Out of the numerous biographies of St. Francis
passion of one of the discourse partners (the West) has abated, and the other is still open for discussions but is leery about the sincerity of their partner, we need clear precedents of individuals of courage, individuals of moral clarity, and individuals of deep faith to engage in an intense and respectful discourse.
Although most of the history of the West and the Muslim world has been antagonistic, every now and then a small breakthrough occurs. In the year 1219 ce, in the midst of the Fifth Crusade, which was taking place in the northern Egyptian city of Damietta, Francis of Assisi arrived in the Crusader camp to preach the love and peace of God. However, he was resoundingly rejected by his co-religionists, who saw no use for Francis. They were motivated out of greed and lust for war, not the weakness of peace and prayer.2 After pleading with the Crusader Cardinal for permission, Francis and his companion Illumi-nato eventually crossed the battle lines that separated the Crusaders from the Muslims and with the prayerfulness of a living saint, walked into the camp of the adversary.3 One would assume that he’d be met with complete hostility considering that his fellow Christians had invaded Muslim lands and where slaughtering the inhabitants mercilessly; a practice that had been going one for over two hundred years when Saint Francis arrived in Egypt. Indeed, Fran-cis himself witnessed some of the most appalling acts that harkened back to the trauma of his days as a young soldier: the Crusaders mutilated captured Muslim soldiers. According to his biographer, the Crusaders ‘cut off the hapless Muslim’s noses, lips and ears and then gouged out one of each man’s eyes. Thus hideously mutilated, the victims were sent back to their own side.’4 In light of such brutality, the behavior of the Muslim army was surprising to Francis and his companion. After a brief moment of suspicion, the soldiers of Islam (mujahideen) were most welcoming, hospitable, and eager to hear from what they surmised to be a holy man from Christendom.5 Without shrinking away from his Christian faith, Francis explained to the Muslim soldiers that he was a “follower of Jesus” and requested that he be taken to the Sultan.6 This was an act of tremendous courage and faith, as the Sultan had been thoroughly demonized by the Christians authorities for years. In Europe, his image was one of systematic violence, a devilish Saracen, a living anti-Christ, who would
available, this one is the most comprehensive when discussing St. Francis’ experience with the Sultan.
2 Augustine Thompson, Francis of Assisi: A New Biography (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2012), 67.
3 Moses, The Saint and the Sultan, 79–196; Thompson, Francis of Assisi, 68.
4 Spoto, Reluctant Saint, 158.
5 Ibid., 160.
6 Moses, The Saint and the Sultan, 128.
have to be defeated on the battlefield, not talked to in a tent. Up to that point, Francis had no reason to believe that the accusations weren’t true, as he had already witnessed firsthand the devastating cost of war between the Christians and Muslims. However, he soon found this description of the Sultan to not only be misguided, but to be devoid of any truth, for the Sultan not only failed to exact revenge on this poor pilgrim, but had showered him with praise and brotherliness and showered him with quintessential Arab/Islamic hospitality.
In doing so, the Sultan also ignored the advice of his advisors who encouraged the Sultan to decapitate Francis and Illuminato for attempted to convert them to Christianity.7 But the Sultan recognized the sincerity of Francis and afford-ed him prophetic mercy and compassion, saying ‘I will never condemn you to death – for that would indeed be an evil reward to bestow on you, who con-scientiously risked death in order to save my life before God, as you believe.’8 Additionally, what Francis may have not been aware of, and what the Sultan’s advisors may have forgotten in their passion for war, is that: it is forbidden by the Qur’an for Muslims to attack clerics, monks, and other holy religious figures. Rather, Muslims are enjoined to respect them for their dedication to learning and faith. It says in the Qur’an, sūrah 5:82,
Worst among men in hatred for the believers you will find Jews and Pagan; and those with the most love for the believers you will find those who say ‘we are Christians’: Because among them there are those dedi-cated to learning (priests and monks) and they are not arrogant.9
Indeed, it was Waraqa ibn Nawfal, the Christian monk and cousin of Khadīja, Muhammad’s first wife, who embraced Muhammad as the long awaited Prophet who would descend from Abraham’s oldest son Ishmael (Ism’ail).
Muhammad’s respect for holy men of the Abrahamic faiths would never leave him and he passed this on to his nascent followers. This stance would later be codified in Islamic law (sharīʿah).
Not only was the Sultan familiar with the Christians living in the Muslim world and their theology, their devotion to Jesus’ message of “loving your en-emies” and the holiness of their saints, he was also a dedicated follower of Islam, which privileges the “learned” amongst the Christians, especially monks, with special admiration. Although the Muslims believe monks and priests (es-pecially in their celibacy) have gone too far in what God has called his faithful
7 Spoto, Reluctant Saint, 161.
8 Ibid., 161.
9 My translation.
to do, they nevertheless appreciate the extensive devotion these monks main-tain in their lives. On the day St. Francis arrived in Damietta to speak with the Sultan, the Muslims recognized Francis as being one of the “learned” among the Christians and no harm was done to him.10 On the other hand, according to St. Francis’ biographer, Paul Moses, Francis himself was especially moved by the dedication that the average Muslims had towards their faith and their God and wished to see the same kind of commitment in the Christian lands.11
Similar to the Islamic greeting of As Salaam ‘alaikum (peace be upon you), Francis would have greeted the Sultan in the way he greeted everyone: ‘May the Lord give you peace.’12 Francis did not reserve this greeting only for Christians, nor only for those he believed were holy, but rather he sincerely wished that all would be given the peace of his lord, especially those Muslims whom he now wished to speak to. Again, according to Paul Moses, Francis’ words and de-meanor with the Sultan demonstrated his disagreement with the Pope’s Cru-sade against the Muslims. Francis wished a friendly-being-with type of relation-ship with the followers of Muhammad, one that would be anchored in peaceful recognition and not Crusades and jihāds.13 Although he first left Italy expect-ing and hopexpect-ing for martyrdom, Francis later saw himself as “God’s ambassa-dor” of peace and not the ambassador of the very earthly Popes (Innocent iii and Honorius iii) who initiated and advanced the hostilities against the Mus-lims in Egypt and other parts of the Muslim world.14 The Sultan was impressed by Francis’ sincerity, even when Francis was explaining to the Sultan that if he were to die as a Muslim he would be lost to eternal damnation; the Sultan right-fully understood this not to be a threat, nor even a vengeful warning, but as an invitation to salvation by one who was genuinely concerned about the fate of the Sultan’s soul. Despite his commitment to the Qur’anic injunction banning violence against innocents, there was nothing in the political-military context that surrounded the Sultan that would have stopped him from murdering the one that just questioned the veracity of his faith, a faith that is very clear on the role (as prophet) and status (only a human) of Jesus. Nevertheless, the Sultan found the little ragged monk to be engaging, friendly, and committed to the
10 Certainly we can think of Francis as being “learned” in spiritual matters; indeed he was a master in this field. However, he was not a learned man in matters outside of the spiritual realm and was suspicious about his followers acquiring too much earthly knowledge.
11 Moses, The Saint and the Sultan, 130–155.
12 Ibid., 129.
13 Ibid., 130.
14 Ibid., 130.
one thing that was completely lacking among the Crusaders: a commitment to peace through discourse, understanding, and respect.
Amidst bloody battles, where thousands of Muslims and Christians were engaged in the most barbaric forms of butchery, the Sultan and the Saint broke bread and talked to each other about theology, morality, and Adamic fraternity.15 Instead of inflaming the situation by verbally defacing the most cherished be-liefs of the other, the two attempted to search for truth as brothers, as kindred spirits, as friends. The enmity that was displayed by the Pope against the Mus-lims, and the hatred for the barbaric Christians from Europe that spirited the tongues of many Muslim poets, ceased to drive the conversation between the two; theirs was a mission of peace and reconciliation. From the example of Francis the Sultan came to understand a substantive meaning of the imitatio Christi (imitation of Christ), as Francis would later be frequently called an alter Christus (other Christ). From the Sultan Francis learned that Islam wasn’t a religion of violence, depravity, and hatred, but was a religion of spiritual reflec-tion, intellectual curiosity, and sincere devotion to the creator. Via their open and honest discourse, by setting aside the preconceptions and totalizing con-ceptions that hindered the rest of their communities from looking upon the other without judgmental eyes, and from their courage to be with the “threat-ening” other, they came to understand each other and their religions, thus gift-ing later generations an example of the potential for peace that resides in an open, honest, and equal discourse.
But the real danger may not have been with the “other.” Both Saint Francis and the Sultan risked offending their own peoples by talking to the enemy.
Their contravening actions exposed themselves to the accusation of being a traitor to their communities and to their religions. Treason against one’s re-ligion, for both the Muslims and the Christians, at this time was viewed as a capital offense, yet both defied the possibility of death in the name of inter-religious peace. The Muslims could have easily seen the Sultan’s welcoming of the “Crusader monk” as an insult towards all the mujahideen who had been killed defending the dar al-Islam from Christian aggression, while those on the Christian side could have accused Francis of being a Judas to the holy cause and of consorting with the devil’s Saracen. The threat of retaliatory violence against Francis, and therefore his achieving martyrdom at the hands of his
15 Both the Judeo-Christian and the Islamic traditions believe in a mono-Genesis, that all humans have descended from Adam and Eve, and thus all humans are connected as an-cestors of the first humans created by the divine.
own fellow Catholics, was a risk he willfully undertook.16 Francis understood the danger; he knew the Muslims could have killed him immediately or the less-enlightened Christians could have upon his return to the Crusader camp.
His brave attempts to live the Gospel command to “love your enemies” and to be a “peacemaker” meant he must risk his life for his ideals. Although the pos-sibility of violence against the Sultan from his own men was less than the risk Francis was subject to, it was nevertheless a real possibility for him as well. Any sense of weakness among the Sultan could have been cause for his removal;
although the Qur’an instructs Muslims to obey they authority put over them, there is no “divine right” in the Islamic tradition and so the removal of a Sultan is not necessarily a direct act against God, but maybe one of historical neces-sity or ethical demand.17
The Saint and the Sultan engaged each other by witnessing to and profess-ing their faith in a friendly discourse with the practical goal of endprofess-ing the war (which would have been against the wishes of the Pope), and in doing so cre-ated a precedent for Christian-Muslim dialogue that has only recently been reinvigorated in light of the wars of the 20th and 21st century.18 After days of penetrating discourse concerning the nature of religion, belief, reconciliation, and peace, both men returned to their respected camps, moved by the depth of faith of the other and with a new-found understanding of our common hu-manity and spiritual brotherliness.
As often happens when the fate of individuals of great spiritual and reli-gious importance collide, the impact of this encounter with the Sultan wore on the mind of Francis for the rest of his life. According to Paul Moses, Francis was especially ‘taken by the adhan,’ the Islamic call to prayer, which is heard five times a day throughout the Muslim world.19 After hearing it, devout Mus-lims pause their daily activities and direct their attention to their rab (Lord).
Integrated within the everydayness of the lifeworld (lebenswelt) is religious
16 Although some have argued that Francis went to Egypt seeking martyrdom, Paul Mo-ses’ biography discounts that tradition based on literary evidence and Saint Francis’ own words against intentionally seeking martyrdom. See Moses, The Saint and the Sultan, 162–163.
17 The Qur’an states in Sūrat Al-Nisa, (4:59): ‘O believers, obey Allah and his messenger (Muhammad) and those who are in authority.’ My translation.
18 Moses, The Saint and the Sultan, 218–242. It’s interesting to ponder whether Francis un-derstood clearly that he was engaged in an activity that contradicted the will of the Pope, especially considering that the Pope’s will was understood to be identical with the will of the divine, being that the Pope was, and still is, believed to be the “Vicar of Christ” on earth. Was Francis the saint in opposition to Jesus’ Vicar?
19 Ibid., 160.
devotion and the remembrance the divine, and for the purpose of beseeching the divine for peace, blessings, and mercy. According to many biographers of Francis, he may have even attempted to incorporate such a “herald” (muez-zin) into his own community, which would call the faithful to prayer, as public and routine prayers would have been a great blessing for a society that had already drifted far away from their Christian ideals.20 Later, in 1224, as the call for yet another Crusade emanated from Rome, in despair St. Francis retired to his mountain heritage in La Verna for forty days of fasting. During those days of spiritual and physical isolation, St. Francis received his first stigmata: the wounds of Christ. Was it out of grief and despair for the coming bloodbath that the wounds of his savior inflicted Francis? According to Roman Catholic Priest Michael Cusato, Professor of Franciscan Studies as St. Bonaventure University,
Given the news [of Crusade preparations], I am convinced that Francis went with a few of his closest companions to the hermitage of La Verna profoundly discouraged, perhaps even depressed, over the events about to unfold. Once again, unable or unwilling to resolve human problems peacefully and fraternally through dialogue and mutual respect, the lead-ers of the Christian world were mobilizing their military might to engage in actions which would inexorably lead to yet more bloodshed and death.
More personally still, Francis stood in danger of seeing the death of a man he had come to view as an amicus [friend] and, even more impor-tantly, as his frater [brother]: someone he had come to know and appar-ently respect during that famous encounter with him under the tent of Damietta.21
After Francis received the stigmata, seemingly through divina inspiratio (divine inspiration) he penned a prayer that resembles the traditional Islamic medita-tion on the Ninety-Nine Names of God. Commonly known as the “parchment given to Brother Leo,” He wrote,
You are holy, Lord, the only God, You do wonders.
You are strong, You are great, You are the most high, You are the almighty King.
You, Holy Father, the King of heaven and earth.
You are Three and One, Lord God of gods;
You are good, all good, the highest good,
20 Spoto, Reluctant Saint, 156.
21 Michael Cusato, as quoted in Moses, The Saint and the Sultan, 180–181.
Lord, God, living and true.
Lord, God, living and true.