Chapter: "THE TEMPLARS MOVE TO THE WEST"
By 1186, the Templars' last days in Jerusalem were approaching.
A Muslim army under Saladin had inflicted a heavy defeat on the Crusaders.
Moving through Palestine, Saladin eventually captured Jerusalem.
The Crusader armies had gravely oppressed the Muslims during their 100 years in the region.
The people of Jerusalem were alarmed. They were terrified the Muslims would seek their revenge. Yet they were in for a great surprise.
Saladin did not harm the civilian population.
Moreover, he pardoned the majority of the Christians he captured.
Only the Templars were executed for the slaughter they had carried out.
King Richard I, the so-called hero known by the name of 'Lionheart' in British history, was in fact a ruthless murderer.
In 1191, he had ruthlessly beheaded 3,000 Muslims, including large numbers of women and children, in Acre Castle.
At the same time, Richard was the Templars' closest friend.
Following the loss of the Holy Land, the Templars needed a temporary headquarters.
King Richard did what was expected of him: he sold the island of Cyprus to the Templars at a very reasonable price.
According to historical sources, the Templars were very good sailors.
During their time in the Holy Land they had learned the sciences of geometry and mathematics from Jewish and Arab sources and also acquired a number of maps.
In this way, they sailed the coasts of Europe and Africa, and were even able to voyage to far-off waters.
Such famous explorers as Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus were both actually Templars.
The main aim of their overseas travels was, according to one interpretation, to seek new sources of income and new trade routes to bring the Templars further material power.
The red crosses on the sails of their ships were the same as the cross figure employed by the Templars.
After the loss of Jerusalem, the Templars set sail for Europe.
Emerging as the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ, the Knights Templars gradually became the wealthiest people in Europe, as well as prominent bankers and statesmen.
They turned into a major economic force, offering banking services, transferring funds, opening lines of credit and receiving interest.
Although usury was forbidden, they had no compunctions about charging interest on the money they lent.
The fact is, however, that interest is clearly unlawful in all the revealed religions. God reveals this in the Qur'an:
Those who devour usury will not rise from the grave except as someone driven mad by Satan's touch. That is because they say, "Trade is the same as usury." But God has permitted trade and He has forbidden usury. Whoever is given a warning by his Lord and then desists, can keep what he received in the past and his affair is God's concern. But all who return to it will be the Companions of the Fire, remaining in it timelessly, for ever. (Qur'an, 2: 275)
The researchers Alan Butler and Stephen Dafoe describe the money-lending aspect of the organisation in these terms:
The Templars were expert financiers, using trading techniques quite unknown in the Europe of their day. They had clearly learned many of these skills from Jewish sources, but would have much more freedom to extend their financial empire, in a way that any Jewish financier of the period would have envied greatly. (Alan Butler, Stephen Dafoe, The Templar Continuum, Templar Books, Belleville-Ontario, 1999, p. 70.)
They owned hundreds of castles in Europe.
Furthermore, most kings of the time were in debt to them.
One source describes the material power of the Templars in the following terms.
The throne of England was seriously indebted to the order. King John had emptied the coffers of the treasury between 1260 and 1266 in order to finance his military operations; and Henry III, likewise, borrowed heavily from the Knights Templar. (Eleanor Ferris, The Financial Relations of the Knights Templars to the English Crown, p. 10.)
This power made the Templars very influential in a great many areas. For instance, when Innocent II was elected Pope with their support, the first privilege he gave the Templars was the right to build and run their own churches.
At the same time, this meant an architecture with which they could freely reflect their own world view.
With that aim in mind, they developed their own individual style of building: Gothic architecture.
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The Knights Templars and Freemasonry (4 of 5)by youknight1117,784 views
@MrAataghi salahedin was a kurd by ethnicity. where did you get persian from?
AfghanResistance 3 months ago
Salahedin was a persian kurd and ourastarian converted to Islam to Kick ass and he did
MrAataghi 7 months ago
part 4 please:)
TheDixieluv 8 months ago
plz lod part 4.5 in urdu . you cannot just leave it like this
shaair1 1 year ago
part 4?????
fahhasan 1 year ago