Muhammad and Charlemagne

Muhammad and Charlemagne

being some remarks on the view of Prof. Henri Pirenne

Muhammad Natsir

Ex–Premier of Indonesia

Amidst various kinds of disgracing criticisms and accusations hurled against Islam and its prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) by those who cherished a fanatical and narrow-minded view on Islam and the prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), we heard a different voice from an un-expected quarter. Not only was the voice different but it was totally in opposition to what the Muslims usually heard of late from historians and those who advocated the so-called neutral religion. The voice that we mentioned above did not spring from a heart infected by jealousy and hatred, nor influenced by religious fanaticism; but from the results of a long, careful and just investigation, accompanied by the courage to oppose or to uproot any opinion which is held by the majority as being scientifically founded and of which no comparison is needed. This voice came from a person who was entitled to call himself an expert, and furthermore, was recognized as such. This person was Professor Henri Pirenne, formerly professor at the university of Gent, and member of the Royal Academy of Belgium. He expressed his opinion in his book “Mohamet et Charlemagne”. With adequate historical proofs and a courage to present the truth, Professor Pirenne compared the lives of two heroes whose existence had engraved a lasting imprint on the history of the world. These two heroes were Muhammad and Charlemagne.

The Beginning of the Middle Age. The beginning of the Middle Age is a matter of controversy. As we all know, it is the general opinion that the Middle Age started when the Roman Empire fell into the the hands of the Germans in the 5th centruy A.D. The consensus of all historians, together with what we learned in school, all established the same above view.

Henri Pirenne uprooted this very view that the Middle Age started with the fall of the Roman Empire. He began his attack by asking the following questions: What exactly is the criterion by which we can decide the beginning of the Middle Age and the end of antiquity? He outlined clearly that the fall of the Roman Empire in the West into the hands of the Germans, did not cause any important changes. It was true that the Germans replaced the rulers of Rome, but there was nothing more than this change of persons sitting on the throne. Trade and economic life, art, culture, religion, all these were not affected. They remained the same as before.

Professor Pirenne aptly compared the rise of the Germans with that of the Arabs. After the Germans had seated themselves on the throne of Rome, and following the end of conflict and warfare, the German conquerors exchanged their culture and characteristics for those of the vanquished Romans. They gradually lost their traits as a people as though they were engulfed by Roman society. It resulted in their continuing and furthering the culture of Rome.

“The Germans,“ wortc Professor Pirenne, “became Romans from the moment they entered Rome. In contradiction to this, the Romans became Arabs from the moment they were conquered by Islam”. (Le Germani se romanise des qu’il entre dans La Romania. Le Romain au contraire ‘sarabise des qu’il est conquis per l’Islam).

Thus was the brief but to the point comparison made by a scholar of history concerning the nature of the two conquests.

Professor Pirenne further wrote that with the coming of Islam, a new world was created around the Mediterranean sea, a world which formerly looked upon the city of Rome as its source of civilization and culture. Up to the present, the break which was caused by the coming of Islam into southern Europe, still existed. It was from that moment that the Mediterranean sea became the meeting ground of two different and opposing civilizations, like the confrontation of two conflicting garrisons on the battle–field. Such was the view of Professor Pirenne.

Religion and Faith as a Fortress. There is yet another aspect concerning this that deserves a more thorough investigation from us. The Germans who invaded Rome, despite their superiority in manpower and other material sources as compared to those of the Muslims who conquered Rome later, did not succeed in subjugating the spirit of Rome. But on the contrary, as we have mentioned just now, it was the German conquerors that were culturally subdued by the vanquished Romans.

ln the case of the Arabs who came with the Islamic religion and were confronted by the might of Rome, why did they not suffer the same fate as that of the Germans? There is, however, only one answer to this question, that is, that the Gemans conquered Rome merely with the point of the sword and the power of material forces, whereas the followers of Islam conquered Rome with the strength of the spirit as well as physical power. For the followers of Islam, the holy struggle for the dissemination of the faith begins when the conflicts for material power end. The war of the spirit (Jihad ruhani) has its own special weapon, its own method and its own tactics and strategy.

A people who does not possess this weapon of the spirit shall not be victorious even if they are already seated on the thrones of their enemies. Professor Pirenne wrote that the Germans had not a single weapon to counteract the blow inflicted upon them by the Christianity of Rome, but the Arabs had a burning spirit inflamed by a new faith. For the people of the East it is this spiritual weapon that prevented them from being culturally destroyed by the domination of the West powerful though it may be.

But the people of the West at present, possessed also both the physical as well as the spiritual weapon, the latter in the form of religion. A nation without already physical power shall suffer a greater annihilation if it loses also the strength of spiritual resistance, as was the case with the absorption of the Germans by the Romans.

With a bit of humour we could express ourselves in the same way as Professor Snouck Hurgronje did towards us in his book “The Netherlands and Islam”. We shall say to them; Christianity has the slogan “Preach the faith to all the nations”. But that only is not enough for them. What they really hoped for was that after the teaching had been spread comes the real domination. It is not necessary for us to look at Rome. Look at what happened at central Sulawesi. Amongst the missionaries (Protestant) the name of Mrs. Holman-Stolk is well known. She is regarded as a very active worker, together with her husband, in spreading the Christian faith and not less for “pacification of these areas”. This is a reflection of history which is real and immediate.

Charlemagne. Wherein lies the greatness of Charlemagne? The greatness of Charlemagne lies in the fact that this great monarch understood that a spiritual weapon cannot be conquered by the sword which is drawn out of its scabbard, but ought to be fought also with a spiritual one. With his troops he defended Europe against Islam. But this defense against Islam was not only in the battle fields but also in his own domain. He established Christian missionary organizations and educational institutions. He commanded his subjects to embrace Christianity immediately and if necessary even with compulsion.

Ever since that moment we could say that there existed in the European world a great change, and it is from that instant that Pirenne believed the Middle Age to have begun. He concluded his views by stating the following: “Thus it is absolutely right to say that without Mahomet Charlemagne is inconceivable).

A view which is based on honest research and sufficient courage, such as the one advocated by

a historian like Henri Pirenne, is quite different from those we heard until now from other historians.