back
8 comments
A really interesting read. You'd think, more than taking out an external enemy, a king, during the middle ages, would be more afraid of losing legitimacy among his subjects.

Maybe this could be considered another historical event/marker of the start of the European Renaissance alongside 1492 and 1453.

It might've helped that Barbarossa was previously a Christian pirate before becoming a Muslim admiral in the Ottoman navy. A sign he's not as motivated by religious dogma than by power. It's much easier to trust someone when interests align.

I think you must be confusing Hayreddin Pasha (Admiral Barbarossa) with some other historical figure? He and his brothers were all born Muslim.

BTW, there's a new Turkish TV series based on him (the same lead actor that played Ertugrul in that smash hit series)

You mean brought up to be Muslims. No one is born with religious beliefs or faith.

You are right the was always Muslim.

> You mean brought up to be Muslims. No one is born with religious beliefs or faith.

In Islam, it is common belief that all people are born Muslim, then their parents may choose to lead them away into another religion.

That's why for people who convert to Islam later in life (muallaf) it is sometimes said that they reverted.

> Every child is born with the fitrah, but his parents make him a Jew, Christian or a Zoroastrian. ~Al-Bukhari

Barbarossa was a son of a Turkish Muslim man and a Greek Orthodox woman.

I guess that makes him a bit of a Christian too but nowhere as close as being a Christian pirate who switched sides.

Religion is not a genetically determined characteristic, and I do see how he could ave been "a bit of a Christian".
You're right, it's culturally determined. You'll be surprised to learn that the culture of a mother affect the offspring even in a patriarchal society.

That said, it was a figure of speech. He was definitely not a Cristian converted to Islam and whoever thinks otherwise perhaps got confused because of the notion that his mother was a Cristian perhaps?

HN hug of death?