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Did Arab Christians take an active role in the crusades in the Holy Land or at any point on their trip to the Holy Land. Or were they victims of the crusaders? Did the crusaders typically differentiate between Christian Arab or Jew upon reaching Jerusalem?

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Good question. It's easy to forget sometimes that there were many Christians (and to a lesser extent Jews) in Arabia/the Middle East before even the dawn of Islam. – Noldorin Nov 2 '11 at 14:01
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Just another note - a majority of the Middle East's Christians would have been non-Arab, although in the main areas of fighting (the Levant), the Christian Arabs would have outnumbered the non-Arab Christians. – SigueSigueBen May 4 '12 at 15:40

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Most of the information I have found indicates that the Arab Christians were caught in the crossfire between the Muslims and the Christian Crusaders. In fact, they were often slaughtered along with the Muslims. Most likely this was because the Crusaders did not want to risk being infiltrated by Muslims posing as Christians.

Ironically, the Crusades indirectly contributed to the decline of Christianity in the Middle East. At the time they took place, Arab Christians actually constituted a majority of the population in many areas. This was not only due to the deaths attributed directly to the Crusades, but also to the introduction of diseases brought into the area by the Crusaders. Also, the eventual and gradual diverting of internationl trade led to many of the Arab Christians leaving the area to follow the trade routes that they depended on for survival.

Ultimately, it does not appear that the Arab Christians at any time were ever significant contributors to the Christian war efforts during the Crusades.

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If christians were slaughtered along with muslims then i would say that the crusades also directly contributed to the the decline of Christianity in the middle east. – Chad Nov 4 '11 at 16:39
I have also read (I'll try to dig up where) that entire besieged cities were slaughtered regardless of the actual religon of individual inhabitants. I suspect the concept of an Arab Christian would have seemed an oxymoron to your typical Crusader (as it probably does to a lot of "low-information" Christians today). – T.E.D.♦ Jan 11 at 19:29
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The Crusaders Never really Cared about the religion. they only wanted to expand there sovereignty using the religion by incite the people to go to war to free the holy land from the Muslims. it was never because the Crusaders did not want to risk being infiltrated by Muslims posing as Christians. it was the Nature of the Crusaders who came from Europe with little experience on what is called coexistence. Europe as a continent did not accumulate such experience in it's historical inheritance if i may say that. because it was a one religion society with some Jews persecuted from time to time. the same problem showed again with the native Americans few centuries later. the crusaders didn't merge together neither, each group of people stick together based on nationality. Christians were slaughtered with anybody and everybody else at the hands of their brothers in faith, a fact that led many of the Christian villages to forsake Christianity and join Islam. Christian Commander led the army of Saladin, a Palestinian from Ako called ISA ALWAM. Christians in the middle East were ignored by the Christians of the west, maybe because they are loyal to their Arab nation. I am wondering what else is there?

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First of all a warm welcome to history@se. Although your answer does contain sound arguments, that can be found e.g. in A. Maalouf, you should source them thoroughly paying attention in particular to mark a clear separation between facts from historical interpretations, and to avoid generalizations (e.g. "The Crusader Never really Cared about the religion" is - in general - false, especially for the first phase and for the common laymen) – astabada Jan 11 at 17:34
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Agreeing with astbada here. I actually rather like a lot of the content in this answer. If nothing else, its a cool perspective. But this isn't supposed to be a forum for general pure-opinion pieces. – T.E.D.♦ Jan 11 at 19:35
+1 for trying. I am nice to noob :) Try again. Put sources. – Jim Thio Mar 18 at 2:00
can't find isa alwam. – Jim Thio May 6 at 23:20

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