Christianity and Islam

First qualification between the relationship of christianity and islam, very unhelpful to refer to them in monolithic terms - ONE Christianity and ONE Islam. As we know Christianity was divided, East and West, various sects etc. There were also division within Islam. NOT religiously monolithic, very diverse religion. We even see muslim and christian alliances to fight off christians.
Both religions are also ethically diverse, sure initially muslims tend to be arab, but even the arabs are divided amongst themselves. Then we can add that the turks assume leadership of islam. Christianity is also ethnically divided - francs, goths etc.
Origins of Islam
By the 6th century, one of the things being traded is christianity, we’ve already looked at how the empire was surrounded by the client communities, like the goths, likewise on the eastern boarders, almost acting as a buffer between roman and persian empires, we see arab speaking communities, one of these empires was a christian arab kingdom, but even beyond this christianity was being taken by merchants but also by the heretics - the nestorians and the monophysists - some of this was deliberately missionary, down into places like modern day Iraq.
Arabia had many divinities, along side idols of Jesus and Mary.
Mohammed was born in Mecca in 570, into a tribe that already regarded itself as descended from Arab from Ismale and Hagar. HE was orphaned and raised by his uncle, at the age of 25 he married a business woman, who was already trading in her own right, Mohammed became a merchant. HE was known to retreat outside mecca for reflection, in 609, had a vision of angel gabriel being told to recite. HE had several over the years, he recited them to his community, communicated in oral form and were only gradually written down, after Mohammed’s lifetime, in the koran. Part of Mohammed’s revelation involved a rejection of what he consider the idolatry of his tribe and the people of mecca, because of these views he was driven from mecca in 622, this fleeing marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar, there version of 0AD.
The koran calls Jesus the word of God, talks of God confirming Jesus with the Holy Spirit, refers to Jesus raising the sick and the dead - miracles, very cryptic message of Jesus sending a table of food down for his disciples - from a christian perspective this could be the eucharist. Jesus is portrayed as having gone to heaven from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. Jesus has a very prominent role. BUT differences:
Jesus not divine.
Koran rigorously attacks the idea of the trinity
Mohammed did not believe Jesus had been crucified, a kind of a likeness of Jesus was crucified, he himself was not because it would be to shameful for one of God’s prophets.
`Miriam (Moses’ sister) and Mary (Mother) were converged.
The important point is that Islam at least pays Christianity the recognition as regarding it a monotheistic religion. Mohammed urges his followers to leave believers of whatever religion, unmolested.
Islam expanded.
632 Mohammed died
634 Followers take over Damascus - becomes capital
642 Alexandria had fallen
669 Constantinople almost fell, army was repulsed.
698 Carthage fell
711 Small army invaded Iberian peninsular, but were driven back in France.
Muslim territories religiously and politically divided.
Some of the important division:
661-750, Damascus was home to the Omayyad Caliphate, Caliph means successor. Even today some fringe muslims refers to a golden age when islam was united under a caliph. It was this period to which they were referring. However Islam became just as divided about leadership as Christianity would.
633 war between the Caliph and Mohammed’s son in law, Ali who briefly came the 4th caliph, beginning of a gradual division between those who regard the previous caliphs as the true successors and Ali’s supports - who start a faction. This the beginning of the schism between shia’ and sunni islam. Both groups in turn experience division.
762, capital moves to Bagdad following fight of some kind, remains there until 1068 until it was swept away by Gengus Khan.
A third caliph springs up around Egypt, most Shia’
The three caliphates break down into three minor religious kingdoms in the south of spain, divided amongst themselves often willing to form alliances with christian kingdoms in the north to have more power.
So from the 8th century the arab hold on the north of spain is gradually weakening, christian kingdoms establishing themselves on the north driving muslim kingdoms southward.
1212, the various muslim territories are effectively limited to the deep south around grenada. By 1492 he had shrunk to the far south east corner. Completely elimiated in the 16th century.
Two more groups....
The Seljuo sultanate which sprung up inside one of the caliphates, (the abbesisate?!) the seljuo’s were like the goths, settling around the caliphate and were invited in as soldiers. The caliphate was sick of the arabs who were often more loyal to there tribes. The turks, were dependent on the caliph for there money, hoped to have a loyal army. Enough turks came in that they were able to establish themselves as a separate political entity. There leaders was called the Sultan, who eventually became the political leader while the caliph became a puppet.
The ottoman were also turks, who gained enough power to take on pretty much everyone else, took over the seljuo and the eastern celiphate and began to take on the christians. They capturer the balkans in 1389, and Constantinople in 1453 and pushed up into Austria and Hungary, came close to taking the whole of western europe.
Christians living under muslim rule
A lot of those living in the now occupied territories regarded muslim occupancy as the punishment of God, the monophysits saw it was punishment for heresy, the calcedonian saw it in apocalyptic terms. Mohammed began to gain status as one of the apocalyptic figures - the anti-christ, the beast, an anti-christ. If you believe that muslim occupancy is the end of the world, it may be worth waiting things out, waiting for christ to come back and kick arse. Some Christians welcomed muslim occupation - the heretical groups like the monopysites in Egypt and Syria. Even Nestorian christians believed they were better treated. They actually would’ve seen very little change, they were still the religious majority, all they had to do was pay a poll tax to the minority rulers, usually less than the penalties that the monophysits had to pay to the calcedonians. Eventually though this increased. Churches were no longer allowed to look like churches, crosses were banned, any public displays were band. Christians and Jews were now expected to wear distinctive clothing, and any Christians showing contempt could be put to death. Muslim men were allowed to take Christian wives, in fact more than one wife, so Islam spread a lot this way. Peter Brown emphasizes this point, cultural they had a lot in common. There was syncrotism.
But also there were Christians who wanted to take Islam on, sometimes whacked out but sometimes seriously, with an attempt to convert.
As we’ve seen the boundaries between Christianity and Islam were not as clear as we may have expected, this is also expressed in the polemics against islam, many do not see it as a separate religion but rather a heretical christian sect - and why shouldn’t they? - it made claims about scripture. The idea emerged that Mohammed got things wrong because he hung out with the heretics to much!
John of Damascus - one of the first to attack Islam - forerunner of the anit-christ,
‘There is also the people - deceiving cult of the Ishmalites, the forerunner of the Antichrist, which prevails until now. It derives from Ishmael, who was born to Abraham from Hagar, wherefore they are called Hagarenes and Ishmaelites.’
But John isn’t really that threatened by them, he had drawn up a long list of heresies and Islam was 101, he wasn’t going to waste more energy than a few sentences on them.