Death And The Black Death

During the time when the Black Plague struck there were two main religions in the world, Christianity and Islam. Christianity follows the teachings of Jesus Christ, God’s son. The book of the Christian is the Bible. The religion of Islam deals with submission to God, and following the teachings of Mohammed, which are spelled out in the Koran (The DBQ Project, Background Essay). An interesting topic that one might discover of this time is, how did these two religions react to the plague. Could it be possible that they acted as everyone else did at that time, or did they hold strong to their beliefs? When they Black Plague struck, the Christians and the Muslims had similar ways of dealing and responding to it.

Both religions believed that God sent down that disease. Christians thought they were being punished and lost hope in God. Although some did stay truthful to God, others didn’t and rebelled. In document six, a passage from a chronicle, written by an eyewitness account, William Dene, indicated that European Christians become more malicious and rebelled; they didn’t care about their salvation, since death was nipping at their heels. The point of view of this document showcased a negative perception of Christianity. On the other hand, Muslims become more religious; they believed this epidemic was a divine act from God and that they should act upon it. In document nine, a passage from a travel diary, written by the world traveler, Ibn Battuta, expressed that Muslims fasted, went to the mosque and prayed endlessly. This behavior shows that the Muslims turned to God in this time, unlike their Christian counterparts. The point of view of this document stressed a greater emphasis on how focused and religious the Muslims were. The Jews and Christians were also mentioned, however, they were not expressed in great detail than the Muslims. Possibly, Ibn Battuta witnessed more righteous behavior from the Muslims or he preferred them to the other Abrahamic faiths. Both religions inexperienced the horrors of the Black Plague, but their responses were quite

In 1346 European traders began to hear reports about earthquakes, floods, locusts, famine, and plague in faraway China. They knew very little then that the plague they were hearing about would follow the same trade routes to the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe that they themselves used. (doc. 1) In five short years, the plague killed between 25 and 45% of the populations it encountered. (doc 2) So how different were the Christian and Muslim responses? In 1348 Christianity and Islam came face to face with the Black Death. (doc. 3A) In truth, Muslims and Christians responded in many different ways. Their ideas for what caused the Black Death were somewhat different from each other also. Even the way they thought they could cure the

Religion has always been a major theme in history, and even now does not fail to play an important role. The desire to gain more believers and convert people makes up the base of the reason for the differences in Muslim and Christian responses the Black Plague. As Gabriele de Mussis, a Christian chronicler during the Black Death, states, “I am overwhelmed, I can’t go on!...The hand of the Almighty strikes repeatedly to greater and greater effect.” On the contrary, Muhammad al Manbiji, an Islamic scholar, said that “…the plague is a blessing from God; at the least, a Muslim should devoutly accept the divine act.” (doc. 4) These two viewpoints of the plague are complete opposites; Christians are overwhelmed that their population is dying out while Muslims are accepting it as a blessing that their rival religion is suffering. These documents were combined to emphasize the contrast between

Europeans used other religions as a reason for the start of the Black Death whereas Islamic empires did not blame other religions, but had explanations that caused the disease. Christians blamed Jews for the appearance of the Black Death. Michael Kleinlawl, a Christian poet, wrote that it was clear the Jews were to blame for the Black Death, resulting in the burning of Jews (Document 7). Christians believed terminating the source of the Black Death,

Life was very busy for me in 1300’s, I travelled through many countries and continents following the trail of dead bodies. I am death. I have lived forever. I will live until no human lives no more. I will continue collecting the souls of the deceased on earth and taking them to rest in the light blue place beyond. I lived through the Black Death watching on as the world experienced the disastrous effects.

In the year 1348 the world changed forever. The Black Death, which is another name for the Bubonic Plague, laid havoc on the entire world. “The plague chases the screaming without pity and does not accept a treasure for a ransom. Its engine is far-reaching. The plague enters into the house and swears it will not leave except with all of its inhabitants…” (Al-Wardi, #29, 113). The plague did not care if the people were rich, poor, white, black, Muslim or Catholic, it would kill whomever it could. The plague brought out the worst in people because people acted selfishly, people were completely inhumane, and there was no peace.

The Black Death was one of the worst pandemics in history. The disease ravaged Europe, Western Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa between 1346 and 1353 (Horrox 1994). It is difficult to understand the reality of such a devastating event, especially given the fact that science during the middle ages was severely underdeveloped. No one knew about bacteria, viruses, or other microbial agents of disease (Benedictow 2004). They had no way of protecting themselves during that time and no one was safe from the effects of the plague. Those who wrote chronicles claimed that only a tenth of the population had survived, while others claimed that half to a third of the population was left alive (Horrox 1994). In 1351, agents for Pope Clement VI predicted the number of deaths in Europe to be 23,840,000 (Gottfried 1983). Obviously, not all regions experienced the same mortality rates, but modern estimates of the death rate in England give the first outbreak a mortality rate of about forty-eight percent (Horrox 1994). That is, England lost half of its population in about a year and a half. Clearly the chroniclers ' who claimed that ninety percent of the population had died were overstating the magnitude of the plague, but this overemphasis demonstrates how terrifying the pandemic was to those who experienced it (Horrox 1994). The Black Death had huge consequences on the lives of those who were impacted directly, as well as major religious and cultural effects that came afterward.

As a result of the Black Death, Christians and Muslims were the major religions to respond to this event. One would still say, people do not know much about the Bubonic plague. To repeat, Christians were the ones to take this event to the next level, when they started burning the Jews. Muslims just thought of it has a blessing. Muslims was the ones to bring all ethnic groups together in worship and prayer after the plague. Readers would think of it has help to one another or more like allies. For this it proves that religions respond to things different than

As was we all know that The Black Death is one of the tragic events in world history and it has effected many civilizations in early 1300s. This has made many devastating trends within Europe’s borders and raged with many diseases, and other infections. Not only this pandemic event has effected many people, but it has transform Europe’ political, religious, and cultural practices. The Black Death became an outbreak and painful change to western civilization in which it marked history

During the time of the second pandemic in Europe, most commonly known as the Black Death, religion has played a big part in people’s lives. Different views, opinions, and approaches where practiced not only by the predominant Christian culture at that time, but also by other religious sectors, such as Islam. In the books Plagues in World History and The Black Death, by John Aberth, the diverse reception, both hopeful and adverse, to the pandemic was explored and discussed for better understanding of the religious structure of the time. The aim of this paper is to examine and discuss those different religious responses and changes during the Black Death of the 14th century. This will be done by doing explaining detailed actions of different

The responses to the Black Death by Christians and Muslims were vastly different. The Black Death was a very deadly disease that killed approximately one-third of the population of both Europe and the Middle East based on the Student Guide Sheet. It was spread by black rats to fleas then to humans. It was spread across the world from China to Europe based on Document One. When the disease spreaded, it questioned followers of both Christianity and Islam. Each religion looked at the disease differently. Keep reading to see about the different responses.

In the fourteenth century, a destructive plague would appear and kill between 25% to 45% of the populations it encountered. It would later be known as the Black Death. During these times, there were multiple responses coming from all types of people such as Muslims and Christians. However, Christian and Muslim people responses toward the Black Death were immensely different because of how they treated the bodies of the Black Death victims, the violent behavior Christian people responded with compared to the nonviolent one of Muslims, and Christian people blaming the Black Death as a divine act compared to Muslim people not blaming anyone. To begin, Muslim and Christian people responded to the Black Death differently because they treated the

The pandemic known to history as the Black Death was one of the world’s worst natural disasters in history. It was a critical time for many as the plague hit Europe and “devastated the Western world from 1347 to 1351, killing 25%-50% of Europe’s population and causing or accelerating marked political, economic, social, and cultural changes.” The plague made an unforgettable impact on the history of the West. It is believed to have originated somewhere in the steppes of central Asia in the 1330s and then spread westwards along the caravan routes. It spread over Europe like a wildfire and left a devastating mark wherever it passed. In its first few weeks in Europe, it killed between 100 and 200 people per day. Furthermore, as the weather became colder, the plague worsened, escalating the mortality rate to as high as 750 deaths per day. By the spring of 1348, the death toll may have reached 1000 a day. One of the main reasons the plague spread so quickly and had such a devastating effect on Europe was ultimately due to the lack of medical knowledge during the medieval time period.

The Black Death happened in the 1330’s. The Christians were accusing the Jews of killing and starting the disease. The Muslims thought that this was an honor of the death of the civilization. The Black Death killed Thirty-three percent of every civilization, but killed more than half of the full population. Here is how both the Christians and Muslims dealt with the plague.