The Black Death: How Different Were Christian and Muslim Responses? During the era of the Black Plague, the Christian community held a blood-thirsty lead hand in the fact of the matter, while the Islam society didn’t blame the epidemic on others and or try to solve the rampant disease with violence.
Originating approximately in 1346, The Black Plague originated in China and followed the trade routes during that day and age spreading the illness. The Black Death of the Middle East” blatantly shows the distribution of the plague and how it began in the east and took paths going as far west as London, as far north as Poland, and as far south as Mecca. Charts on the mortality rate show the startling fact that about a third of the population in Europe, Egypt, Syria, and England, was diminished as a result. Wherever the Black Death hit, there was a gruesome scene of nasty buboes, vomit, sweat, and dead bodies.Angolo de Tura and al-Magrizi both reflected on the astounding death toll and reoccurring horrifying symptoms witnessed in infected people of their homelands even though they resided in two different countries. With the horrid & ghastly series of events, people began to gossip and create rumors of the origins and practices of hindrance.
Varied sources have conjured a list of non-religious causes and preventions in Europe and the Near East.Some common areas of thought are that it was caused by impure air along with the organization of the cosmos, and methods of prevention include building fires to clean the air, staying indoors, and drinking a solution of Armenian clay. Both the Christian and Muslims believe the plague is a gift from God and those suffering need to embrace their penance for being sinners. Christianity believes the plague was sent from god as a punishment and they blame the Jews, while the Muslims consider it a gift from god because it is a blessing that their rival religion was being depleted.Christianity reacted to the Black Plague by being irrational and placing the blame on others. William Dene, an English Christian in 1350, reported that the plague was making everybody zany with no discrimination of caste since laborers, clergy-men, and royalty were affected.
Michael Kleinlawl’s 1348 poem declares the Christian’s view of the epidemic; that it was caused by the Jews poisoning the wells and that they deserved to be exterminated for their actions.But not everybody in Christian Europe truly believed the cause of the Black Death was the Jews. On July 5, 1348, Pope Clement VI sternly addressed the situation and defended that the Jews had no affiliation with the Black Death, that it was a decree of god. While Christians practically took a blaming stance on the rampant illness, the Muslims didn’t accuse any minority of initiating the outbreak and felt pretty neutral about the situation; just trying to lend a helping hand.On one of Ibn Battuta’s travels in Asia, he encountered the ailment and witnessed the Muslims, Christians, and Jews fast for three days and then go to the Great Mosque to spiritually cleanse themselves with a night full of prayer and gospel.
As Michael Dols explained in his book “The Black Death in the Middle East”, the Muslim community didn’t blame other religious communities, and also didn’t agree with the annihilation of the minorities that occurred in Christian Europe.While the sources provided adequately portrayed Christian and Muslim actions during the Black Plague, I’d like to see additional documents from a Jew since they were the ones blamed for the epidemic. Also a document from a lower class person would be appreciated since only the voices of historians and the Pope were heard. The voice of a woman would be helpful since only men’s accounts were provided. Islam and Christianity, although sharing many similarities, also had their fair share of disagreements, one being their responses to the Black Death.
