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Since the second Abbasid period, which
commenced after the mid of the third Hijri century, the Islamic
Caliphate State was progressively in weakening till it was broken
down into three Caliphates instead of one. The Abbasid Caliphate was
established in the East; the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt, parts of
North Africa and Syria, and the Umayyad Caliphate in Andalus. The
Crusades took place under these circumstances.
Forty years before the Crusades, the
Turkish Saljuks had succeeded in dominating Baghdad and took over
the rule under the nominal Abbasid Caliphate. The Saljuks had
managed to dominate over larger parts of Persia, northern Iraq,
Armenia and Asia Minor around 1040 CE. The Saljuk ruler, Toghrol Bic,
dominated over Bain 1055 CE.
The Saljuks spread their rule over the
Byzantines in Asia Minor. On 19 August 1071 CE, the Malathkard
battle, under the command of the Saljuk ruler Alb Arsalan, took
place, and a catastrophe befell the Byzantines till the end of the
eleventh century CE.
In 1071 CE, the Saljuks seized most of
Palestine except for Arsout, and dismissed the Fatimid dominion from
it. The Saljuks expanded their dominion to include most of Syria.
In 1092 CE (485 H [Hijra]), the Saljuk
Sultan Malikshah passed away, thereby breaking down the Saljuks'
dominion and launching many long and severe battles among them over
the dominion and power. In 1096 CE, their rule was divided into five
kingdoms: Sultanate of Persia (under the ruler Birkiyarouq), Kingdom
of Khurasan and beyond the River (under the ruler Singer), Kingdom
of Aleppo (under the ruler Radwan), Kingdom of Damascus (under the
ruler Daqaq) and the Roman Saljuks Sultanate (under the ruler Qalj
Arsalan). Most of the regions in Palestine were subjected to the
Damascus regime, and during the weakness of the two rulers of Syria
(Radwan and Daqaq), a lot of private rulers emerged, none of which
dominated more than one city.
The Crusaders commenced their military
campaign of 1098 CE (491 H) while Muslim regions in Syria, Iraq and
others were torn apart because of their differences and bloody
conflicts. The two brothers, Radwan and Daqaq, sons of Titish,
launched a war against each other in 490 H. Many battles broke out
between Mohammed Ibn Malikshah Birkiyarouq because of their conflict
over the power in which they exchanged victories and sermons in the
Caliphate court during the period 492-497 H.
During Pope Urban the Second's time
(1088-1988 CE), the Europeans focused on the Holy Land. The Pope
called on the Claremont Council on 26 November 1095 CE to restore
the Holy Land by taking it back from the Muslims.
Many councils were held in Limoux, Angariz,
Man, Tours, Bouwatieeh, Bordeaux, Toulouse and Neim, in which he
called for launching the Crusades during the period 1095-1096 CE. He
promised that any volunteer who would participate in the Crusades
would be forgiven his sins. He also promised that any crusader's
property would be kept under the auspices of the Church during their
absence. He required that each warrior should wear a cloth cross on
his tunic.
The Crusades were launched as public
campaigns or callers' campaigns. They were poor in arms and in
order. One of these campaigns was the campaign of Peter the Hermit,
who was an eloquent person known for riding on a lame donkey
barefoot and with tattered clothes. He gathered about 15,000
volunteers in France. En route to their destination, they committed
the massacre of 4,000 individuals because of a dispute over rations.
The bands of Walter the Penniless assembled with them in
Constantinople, and they all entered the Asian seashore. A battle
with the Saljuks took place and the Saljuks defeated them and killed
22,000 Crusaders. Only 3,000 Crusaders survived. As to the Volkmar
and Ameikh campaigns, they began by massacring the Jews along their
route. Thereafter, the two campaigns perished in Hungary!
The first Crusade campaign took place in
which professional European barons and knights participated. The
campaign started to overcome the Muslim regions beginning in the
summer of the year 1097 CE. In March 1098 CE, the Crusades formed
Al-Raha State under the leadership of the Pole Baldwin. The
Crusaders besieged Antioch for nine months. The ruler of Antioch,
Baggissian, had shown courage, good opinion and took precautions
more than anyone else. Thus, the Crusades perished. However, if
their crowds had survived, they would have dominated over the Muslim
countries. One of the Armenians who was guarding the walls of the
city contacted the Crusaders. They gave him money and property for
opening the door of the tower he was guarding. Because of this, the
Crusaders occupied the city and formed their second State on 3 June
1098 CE (491 H) under Bohemond of Normandy.
While the Saljuks were defending themselves
against the Crusaders along the north of Syria, the Fatimids took
the opportunity to invade and occupy Tyre in 1097 CE. They dominated
over Jerusalem in February 1098 CE, while the Crusaders were
besieging Antioch. In Tripoli, the Judge Ibn Ammar, one of the
followers of the Fatimids, declared his independence. The Fatimids
sent to the Crusaders, during their besieging of Antioch, a mission
so as to join in alliance. They proposed to fight against the
Saljuks provided that they should capture Palestine while the
northern region (Syria) would be under the dominion of the
Crusaders. The Crusaders sent a delegation to Egypt to manifest
their "good intention".
While the Saljuks were engaged with the
Crusades, the Fatimids were engaged in expanding their dominion in
Palestine over the Saljuk's State till their borders reached Al-Kalb
River north of the Jordan River in the east!
Treacheries and betrayals of the States of
the cities, which were so eager to gain the Crusaders' friendship
during their expansion, were manifested. This happened when the
ruler of the Sheezar region contacted the Crusaders and agreed not
to encounter them and to provide them with what they needed, such as
food and rations. He even sent two guides with them to help them
find the right routes. The city of Homos also gave them gifts. The
city of Mosyaf concluded a treaty with them. Tripoli paid to them
taxes and provided them with guides. Beirut paid them money and
proposed to be subjugated to them in case they managed to seize
Jerusalem.
Raymond of Toulouse (Prince of Province and
Toulouse in France) continued to lead the rest of the Crusaders'
march to Jerusalem. Their number was only 1,000 knights and 5,000
infantry. In the springtime of the year 1099 CE, they entered
Palestine. They passed by Acre, whose ruler provided the Crusaders
with supplies, then by Qeisarya and Arsouf. After that, they
captured Al-Ramleh, Lod and Bethlehem. On 7 June 1099 CE, the
besiege of Jerusalem started. Iftikhar Al-Dawalah, who was appointed
by the Fatimids, ruled it. The city was captured on 15 July 1099 (23
Sha'aban 492 H). The Crusaders continued killing the Muslims for one
week. They killed more than 70,000 inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, including
many groups of Muslim chiefs, scholars and worshippers. Both the
Fatimid and the Abbasid States did not do anything to help but
rather kept silent regarding these events. Jerusalem was ruled by
the leader of the Crusades, Godfry of Bouillon, who was called
humbly the "Jerusalem defender". Nablus and Hebron
surrendered to the Crusaders.
It is narrated that only 300 knights and
2,000 infantry of the Crusaders remained for this reason--they could
not expand their dominion over more territories because most of them
returned home after Jerusalem was conquered. Therefore, the kingdoms
of the Crusaders became like islands surrounded by enemies.
Nevertheless, these kingdoms continued to survive for 200 years
whereafter the last one perished because of lack of supplies and
expeditions. The Muslims were weak because they split into groups,
making their numbers very small. They did not take advantage of the
opportunity to overcome the Crusaders during their periods of
spreading out over large areas in limited numbers. The Muslims
lagged till ot was too late. The Crusaders became strong during the
Muslim period of weakness and it was no longer an easy task to drive
the Crusaders out.
The Crusaders continued to capture more
cities in Palestine. Jaffa was captured during the besieging of
Jerusalem by Genoan ships (in the Mediterranean Sea) on 15 June 1099
CE. They also captured the eastern area of Lake Tiberias (Al-Sawad
area) in May of 1100 CE. The Crusaders also captured Haifa by force
during the month of Shawwal 94 H (August 1100 CE) with the help of a
great fleet from Venice. They dominated over Arsouq peacefully and
drove its inhabitants out. They captured Qeisarya by force on 17 May
1109 CE. They killed its inhabitants and robbed their property on 17
May 1101 CE. Thus, the Crusaderimposed their dominion over Palestine
except Ashkelon owing to the Egyptians (the Fatimid) supplying it
with ammunition, men and funds every year. Although the Crusaders
used to besiege Ashkelon every year, they failed to capture it until
the year 1153 CE (548 H). In that year, Ashkelon's inhabitants
managed to drive the Crusaders back. But, when they got desperate
and were about to retreat, they received tidings that Ashkelon's
people were in dispute. So, the Crusaders waited with patience. The
reason for the dispute between the parties of Ashkelon was because
of a power struggle; each party alleged that they alone achieved the
victory. However, the dispute increased in size till one person from
one of the two parties was killed. This led to a much worse
situation and, consequently, war broke out between them and many of
them were killed. The Crusaders were hoping for this window of
opportunity and shortly thereafter, they advanced to Ashkelon and
easily occupied it.
Although the Crusaders were small in
number, they managed to maintain great control by building fortified
castles that were built like islands in many areas in Sham. And as
the struggle continued between the Muslims themselves, some of them
resorted to getting help from the Crusaders to overpower their foes.
The Muslims at large were weaker, and the Crusaders became more
powerful and dominant, to such a degree that they played the role of
a guardian policing the region.
The struggle between Baktash and Tagatken
over Damascus continued, and Baktash sought help from the king of
the Crusaders in 498 H and from all those "who wanted
corruption." However, the king's only help was to push Baktash
for further corruption, which ultimately led to his downfall and the
triumph of Tagatken. At the battle between the Fatimids and the
Crusaders in 498 H, in an area between Ashkelon and Jaffa, the
Fatimids were supported by a force of more than 300 knights from
Damascus, and the Crusaders were helped by a group of Muslims led by
Baktash Bin Tatash. When the Sultan's army, under the leadership of
Barsaq Bin Barsaq, came from Iraq in 509 H to Damascus for the sake
of fighting the Crusaders, the rulers of Halab and Damascus feared
for their own interests and power. They collaborated, under the
leadership of Tagatken, with the Antakya Crusader troops to oppose
the Sultan's army. Tagatken fought the Crusaders of Bayt Al-Maqdis
and won back the city of Rafnya after the Crusaders captured it.
Generally, however, the Muslim struggle
(Jihad) against the Crusaders continued, though it actually lacked a
strategic plan or organization. Some of the other reasons for the
continuation of the struggle include the fact that there were many
Muslim leaders, who appeared and disappeared frequently, which led
to a lack of stable leadership. Also, the conflict with the
Crusaders was distributed on many fronts simultaneously in Belad
El-Sham. Furthermore, Muslims did not have a powerful centre that
could be used as a launching base for their assaults on the
Crusaders. More often than not, the battles were mainly in the form
of a single Muslim city or castle trying to defend itself, or
expand, against the Crusaders.
The wars continued between the Muslims and
the Crusaders. Sometimes the Muslims triumphed, and in other times
the Crusaders achieved the victory. It was not difficult for Muslims
to get into the middle of Palestine and fight the Crusaders at
Ramleh or Jaffa, for instance, but the Crusaders continued to have
great control over the areas they occupied.
As a result, many new Muslim leaders
appeared, but they were not strong enough to unite the Muslim forces
for the fight against the Crusaders. Nonetheless, these leaders kept
the spirit of resisting the Crusaders alive, and they inflicted them
with many casualties and damages. They deprived the Crusaders from
the security they were after, and managed to kill and capture many
of their prominent leaders. For example, when Mu'een Al-Dawlah
Saqman was fighting a war with Shams Al-Dawlah Jakramesh, and Harran
was surrounded by the Crusader forces in 497 H, they started to
contact each other and pledged a solemn oath for sacrificing
themselves for the sake of God and His retribution. They gathered
near Al-Khabour area in an army composed of more than 10,000 men
from various nationalities, among who were Turks, Arabs and Kurds.
They met with the Crusaders at Al-Bleekh River and defeated them.
The Muslims captured the Crusader leader Burdawel and traded him for
35 dinars. They were also able to reclaim 160 Muslim prisoners of
war that had previously been captured by the Crusaders. In this
battle, however, more than 12,000 Crusader soldiers were killed.
The long era of Al-Jihad against the
Crusaders entered a new phase with the appearance of Imad El-Deen
Zanki Bin Aqsnaqr, who founded the Zanki State at Mousel and Halab.
Zanki was appointed as a ruler of Mousel in 521 H after he had shown
great skill and efficiency in ruling the States of Basra and Waset
in Iraq. During the holy month of Muharram in the year 522 H, he
managed to gain control over Halab. Zanki started to fight the
Crusaders, and he defeated them in many battles.
Zanki's efforts for uniting the Moslems
against the Crusaders were relentless. He recaptured the cities of
Hama, Hams, Ba'albek, Sarji, Dara, Ma'rra, Kafr Taleb, Al-Akrad,
Shahrazour, Al-Hadeetha and many other cities, as well as Al-Soor
castle in the Abu Bakr area, Al-Hameediya castle, Ba'reen's castle
and Al-Ashhab's castle from the Hakarian Kurds.
In the year 534 H, Zanki tried to capture
Damascus twice, but his effort was in vain. Damascus was really the
key to getting Palestine back. Unfortunately, Mu'een El-Deen Anz,
the ruler at the time, contacted the Crusaders and made an alliance
with them against Zanki and promised them the city of Banias and
they agreed. But Zanki went after them before they came to Damascus
and they decided to back off. Nonetheless, Mu'een El-Deen kept his
promise of giving up Banias, not to the Crusaders, but to the
Muslims!
The most famous triumph ever made by Zanki,
however, is his conquering the city of Al-Raha, and his destroying
the kingdom of the Crusaders that was established there. He besieged
the city for four weeks, and opened it perforce on the sixth of
Jamadi Al Akhera in the year 539 H. He also captured all the cities
that were under the province of the previous kingdom in the
Peninsula. He also liberated the city of Surooj, and all the cities
that were captured by the Crusaders adjacent to the east side of the
Euphrates, except the city of Beerah.
After a life of Jihad that lasted for 20
years, Imad El-Deen Zanki was martyred in the middle of September in
the year 1146 CE (5 Rabee' El-Awal 541 H). This was accomplished by
an act of treason by some of his followers while he was besieging
Ja'beer's castle at the age of 60 or so. According to Ibn El-Katheer,
Zanki was an able politician and was highly respected and esteemed
by his military and civil subordinates. Before he came to power, the
country was a wasteland full of corruption and alliances with the
Crusaders by the previous rulers. When he came into power, all of
that was changed, and he set the country right and brought its
prosperity back to it. "Zanki was the best of kings in form and
manners. He was courageous and powerful and managed to take control
over all the other kings at the time. He was very kind with women,
and very generous with all his subordinates." After his
untimely death, Zanki was later known as the Martyr.
Zanki worked in the most difficult
circumstances of conflict between the rulers and princes of the
Salajiqa dynasty on the one hand, and between them and the Abbasid
dynasty on the other. In addition to that, he suffered from the
atmosphere imposed by the inheritance ruling traditions and the
greed of princes and rulers to obtain any city or a castle that they
could reach. Moreover, the Crusaders were very powerful and strong
during his time. Despite that, he managed to substantiate a firm
base of Jihad against the Crusaders to the north of Irand Syria. He
also defeated the Crusaders and humiliated them more than once.
Zanki made it possible to fight for regaining the lost land, and he
was a model leader under the banner of Islam who brought back the
hope of liberating the occupied holy grounds of the Muslims all over
the world.
After he passed away, his State was divided
between his two sons according to the inheritance tradition; Nour
El-Deen Mahmoud took the State of Halab and its subordinates, and
Sayf El-Deen Ghazi took the State of Mousel and its subordinates.
Nour El-Deen Mahmoud was born 20 years
after the fall of Jerusalem at the hands of the Crusaders on 17
Shawwal in 511 H (February 1118 CE). He was tall, good-looking with
dark complexion and a light beard. He married the daughter of Mu'een
El-Deen Anz in the year 541 H and had a girl and two sons.
Under his rule, a new great phase for Jihad
started in Belad El-Sham. During his reign, which lasted for 28
years, Nour El-Deen Mahmoud had one goal--uniting Muslims and
liberating their occupied lands.
He left no stone unturned for the sake of
uniting Muslims and elevating them in all the aspects of life within
an integrated Islamic pattern to regain the Islamic glory and expel
the unjust occupation of the Crusaders.
To accomplish this purpose, Nour El-Deen
Mahmoud initiated an Islamic renaissance that stressed the need for
the Islamic solution. Ibn El-Katheer describes him, saying, "Of
all the kings I read about in pre-Islamic periods, and in the
Islamic period as well, I never saw a king more just and kind to his
subordinates among the Rashideen caliphs and Umar Bin Abdul Aziz
than Nour El-Deen Mahmoud. He was very clever and witty, and was
well aware of his time." He never valued men for their social
status and wealth. He only esteemed those who were honest and hard
working.
He was also known for his piety and love of
God. He was very keen to perform all the prayers and celebrate the
ceremonies of Islam. He performed the Isha' prayer (the evening
prayer), and then after midnight would awake to start praying till
it was time for the dawn prayer. He also fasted a lot.
He was known for his sound erudite
knowledge. He was well versed with the Hanafiah tenet and was given
license to relate the Prophet's talks and speeches. He wrote a book
on the concept of Jihad. He was a sedate person and was bestowed
with a great deal of charisma. "He was fearful though lenient
and merciful. And in his court there was only science and religion
and consulting on Jihad. In all his life he never uttered a bad word
in anger or pleasure. He was a grave, silent man."
He was disinterested and modest "to
such a degree that his expenses were not different from the poorest
and neediest of his subordinates." When his wife complained
from the hardships of the difficult life he put her in, he gave her
three shops he owned in Hams city and told her, "That is all
that I have. And do not expect me to lay a finger on the money of
the Muslims I am entrusted with because I fear the wrath of
God."
The grave Sheik Al-Naysabouri told him
once: "I beg you, do not jeopardize yourself and Islam. If you
were killed in a battle, the Muslims will all be killed."
The Crusaders whose cities and castles were
conquered gathered in the city of Sour. Salah El-Deen Al-Ayoubi was
very lenient with them and allowed them to go to that city freely.
So they started to send calls for help and received back up and
support till they were strong again. Furthermore, Salah El-Deen Al-Ayoubi
set free the king Jae in the year 584 H on the condition that he
should go to France. Rather, Jae headed to Sour and took the
leadership of the Crusaders with the help of the fleet of Biza the
Italian. On that occasion, Ibn El-Katheer says, "It was all
done because of the mistake by Salah El-Deen to let all those he
captured go free. Thereafter, he was full of remorse for what he had
done."
The Crusaders attacked the city of Akka
from Sour in the year 585 H (1189 CE), and they waited there till
they got the support they needed from the third campaign of the
Crusaders, which was called upon by Pope Urban the Second to regain
Jerusalem. Three European kings led the campaign--the Emperor of
Germany Fredrik Barbarosa, whose most men died on the trip, Richard
"the Lionhearted" king of England, who came by sea, and
Philip Augustas, the king of France. King Richard was a remarkable
man. He "had the evil of the Crusaders and their hatred for
Muslims. He was courageous, smart and patient. He was a great source
of trouble for Muslims." These three forces besieged the city
of Akka (on Rabee' El-Thani-Jamadi El-Aoula 587 H [June 1191 CE]),
and it fell into their hands on 17 Jamadi El-Aoula 587 (12 July 1191
CE). With this occupation, the Crusaders managed to create a base
for themselves in Palestine again. The Muslims hit back, and there
were many battles between both sides. However, the Crusaders
continued their march and expanded their territories on the south
coast by occupying the cities of Haifa and Jaffa.
It is important to note that the struggle
was a bitter and bloody one between the two sides. Ibn El-Katheer
noted that Salah El-Deen defended Akka very bravely, and he and his
forces fought for it for 37 months and killed more than 50,000
soldiers from the Crusaders. The third campaign of the Crusaders
ended when Salah El-Deen made the Ramleh treaty with Richard the
Lionhearted on 21 Sha'aban 588 H (1 September 1192 CE). The treaty
was held for three years and three months, during which time the
Crusaders took control of the coast from Jaffa to Akka and were
allowed to visit Jerusalem and to carry out their commercial
activities with either of the two sides. It is of extreme importance
to elaborate here on some of the clauses of the treaty, which,
unfortunately, some of those defeatists who live among us now take
against Salah El-Deen as a man who wasted the rights of Islam and
Muslims and turned to making up with the Jews:
1. Salah El-Deen was not in favour of the
treaty. When he gathered the consulting princes to discuss the
issue, his opinion was to refuse the treaty. According to Al-Imad
Al-Asfahani, Salah El-Deen said, "Thanks to God we are great in
force, and our victory is approaching. We are used to Jihad, so it
is difficult for us to live without it, and we have nothing to do
more than fighting the Crusaders. I see that I should leave
everything regarding the treaty behind. We should opt for Jihad
instead, and God is with us, and upon His Grace and Care we
depend." However, his counselors agreed to the treaty on the
pretext that the country was about to be totally destroyed; the
soldiers were very tired and fatigued, and food supplies were
scarce. If there were no treaty, the Crusaders would insist on
fighting, which would be very bad for the Muslims. If there was a
treaty, the country would take a rest and restore its prosperity,
and the soldiers would rest as well and be able to prepare for
retaliation. They all agreed that the Crusaders were not of the kind
that abide by their word of promise, so they advised Salah El-Deen
to make the treaty so that the forces of the Crusaders would
dismantle and divert. They kept pushing and pressuring him till he
finally agreed to the treaty.
2. This treaty was a short, temporary
truce. It was not intended to last as a permanent solution. The
Islamic shariah (the Muslim code of religious law) authorizes the
making of temporary truces with the enemy for the general good of
the Muslims. The history of Islam is full of such treaties. However,
the battles continued immediately after the treaty.
3. This treaty did not contain any
admittance on the part of the Muslims for the Crusaders to have any
legal right in Palestine. The treaty simply stated that there should
be no fighting over the lands they had occupied for a certain period
of time.
What a great difference there is between
this treaty, of which Muslims had made many over their history, and
the peace agreement made now with the Zionist entity in our
contemporary time.
Salah El-Deen died shortly afterward,
mayGod rest his soul, on 27 Safar 589 H (4 March 1193 CE), i.e.,
only six months after the treaty.
After his death, Salah El-Deen's successors
were fiercely fighting each other--a thing that weakened the Muslims
and strengthened the kingdom of the Crusaders in Akka, which was
expanding at the expense of the Muslims. The love of power and
pleasure, even at the expense of principles and values, was the
basic characteristic of some of the Sultans of the Ayoubi State.
They made alliances more than once with the Crusaders to help them
against their rivals. Sometimes they even offered Jerusalem city to
the Crusaders in exchange for help against the Sultan of Sham or
Egypt and vice versa!
The Crusaders were very happy with the role
they played, but their greed was centred on everyone and everything.
But their spring did not last very long.
The fourth campaign sent by the Crusaders
to the west in 601 H (1204 CE) ended in Constantinople and did not
reach as far as Sham or Egypt. As to the fifth campaign, it was
launched from Akka under the leadership of its own king, Johanna
Bareen, to the city of Demiat in Egypt between 615-618 H (1218-1221
CE). When the Ayoubian Sultan Al-Kamel Mohammed Bin Mohammed Bin
Ayoub realized the gravity of the situation, he offered peace to the
Crusaders in exchange for the surrender of Jerusalem and most of
Salah El-Deen's liberated cities. They refused and asked for the
southeast of Jordan, too, i.e. the cities of Karak and Shoubak. As a
result, the great king Issa Bin Ahmed Bin Ayoub, the ruler of
Damascus, ruined and sabotaged the walls of Jerusalem in 616 H (1219
CE) so that they could be of no use to the Crusaders should they
invade the Holy City. But the Ayoubis finally gathered their forces
and managed to defeat the Crusaders, who returned, humiliated, to
Akka after they had missed a great opportunity.
The discord between Al-Kamel Mohammed and
the great Issa led to the former going to seek help from Fredrik the
Second, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, who became regent on
the throne of the kingdom of the Crusaders in Akka. Al-Kamel
promised the emperor the city of Jerusalem if he helped him against
his brother the great Issa. Fredrik the Second led the sixth
campaign of the Crusaders and reached Akka in the year 625 H (1228
CE). Even though the great Issa died and his brothers Al-Kamel and
Al-Ashraf took his State and gave his son Al-Nassir Dawoud the
cities of Karak, Balqa, Agwar, Salt and Shoubak, and Al-Kamel was
not in need for Fredrik the Second any more, he gave him Jerusalem
just to fulfill the promise he made to him! Fredrik, at the time,
did not have the power to force Muslims to surrender Jerusalem. He
even begged, at certain stages of his negotiation with Al-Kamel, for
it. Fredrik was quoted as saying to Al-Kamel, "I am your
subordinate and faithful slave. If your Highness granted me the
honour to take the country, it would be a great gift that would make
me proud of myself amongst all the kings of the sea." Al-Kamel
responded, and made the Jaffa treaty with Fredrik in 626 H (18
February 1229 CE). The treaty was meant to last for 10 years. It
stated that the Crusaders would take the Holy City of Jerusalem,
Bayt Laham, Tabneen, Honeen, Sayda and a strip of Jerusalem land
that went through Al-Lad and ended at Jaffa, in addition to the
cities of Nassira and the west of Al-Jaleel. The treaty also stated
that the holy shrine of Al-Sakhra dome and its mosque should be left
to the Muslims.
Thereafter, Jerusalem was returned to the
control of the Crusaders. "The Muslim people were very saddened
by the loss of Jerusalem; they were crying and performing obsequies
everywhere. The scholars and preachers repeatedly said that this
incident was a shame on the Muslim kings, and the people of Damascus
started to hate Al-Kamel and resent him for what he did." And
Ibn Katheer is quoted as saying, "It was a great shock for
Muslims, and the whole nation was weakened and self disappointed
(131)."
The struggle between the successors of
Salah El-Deen continued. Al Nassir Dawoud, the monarch of Jordan,
seized the opportunity of the termination of the Jaffa treaty and
the fortification of Jerusalem by the Crusaders. In violation of the
stipulations of the treaty, he took back Jerusalem and expelled the
Crusaders from it on 6 Jamadi El Aoula 637 H (7 December 1239 CE).
However, Al-Salah Isma'il, the monarch of Damascus, gave it back to
the Crusaders in the year 638 H (1240 CE)! He did it in exchange for
their help to him against the ruler of Egypt, Al Salah Najm El-Deen
Ayoub. Not only that, but he also gave them the cities of Ashkelon,
Sayda, Tabarriyya and the rest of the coastal cities, as well as
Alshaqeef castle, Al-Mojeb river, Safad castle and Amel mountain.
This behaviour increased the resentment and malcontent of the
Muslims, "who were very angry at Al-Saleh Isma'il." Once
again, Jerusalem was in the hands of the Crusaders.
When Al-Salah Isma'il mobilized his forces
to join the Crusaders against Al-Salah Ayoub in Gaza, most of his
soldiers refused to join the Crusaders against their fellow Muslims.
Instead, they took the side of the Egyptian soldiers and defeated
the Crusaders bitterly. But Al-Salah Ayoub made another treaty with
the Crusaders in 638 H (1240 CE), and they regained their control
over Jerusalem and the other territories under their rule.
Again, the Ayoubis started to fight amongst
themselves for power, and Jerusalem was the prize, manipulated to
achieve their greed for power and control. Al-Salah Isma'il once
again offered the Crusaders an alliance in Akka in exchange for
permanent control over Jerusalem and the holy places, including the
Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque. Al-Nassir Dawoud joined him
with this proposal. Meanwhile, Al Salah Najm El-Deen Ayoub, the
monarch of Egypt, offered the Crusaders the same thing.
The Crusaders chose Al-Salah Isma'il for
the alliance. He invaded Egypt with the assistance of Al-Nassir
Dawoud, and Al-Mansour Ibrahim, the king of Hams. On the other hand,
Najm El-Deen sought help from the Khawarezmia, who came to him with
an army comprised of more than 10,000 soldiers, and occupied
Tabbarriya and Nablus. These forces entered Jerusalem on 17 July 642
H (1244 CE) and restored the city entirely to the Muslims. With
that, Jerusalem was finally under control by the Muslims. They kept
its Islamic identity until 10 December 1917 CE, when the English
occupied it.
Then the Khawarezmia helped Al-Salah Ayoub
against Al-Salah Isma'il and his allies, and the second Gaza battle
took place (near the city of Gaza in a place called Herbia) in 642 H
(1244 CE). Al-Salah Isma'il and the Crusaders were severely
defeated, and the casualties of the Crusaders were estimated to be
more than 30,000 soldiers and more than 800 prisoners were taken to
Egypt. This battle was the strongest blow to the Crusaders after the
battle of Hitteen and is considered one of the most crucial battles
in the history of Palestine because the Crusaders never were able to
regain their strength even though they tried to keep what they
already had.
Then Al-Salah Ayoub took control over the
cities Jerusalem, Hebron, Bayt Jabreen, Al-Agwar and Damascus in the
year 642 H (1245 CE). He punished the Crusaders and occupied
Tabbarriya castle and Ashkelon. Because of this, the kingdom of the
Crusaders was limited to the gates of Jaffa in the year 644 H (1247
CE). Egypt was later attacked by the seventh campaign by the
Crusaders, headed by Louise the Ninth, the king of France, in the
year 646 H (1249 CE). The campaign failed, and the king was taken
prisoner and later was set free to go to Akka. One year later the
Ayoubi dynasty was terminated in Egypt, and the Mamaleek dynasty
took over in the year 647 H (1250 CE). Thereafter, a new phase of
Jihad against the Mongolians and the Crusaders began.
In the seventh expatriation century, the
thirteenth century, the Mongolian (Tartarian) threat to the Islamic
State started to emerge. The Mongolian tribes were all united under
the leadershiof Jenkis Khan and started a huge campaign of
expansion. They controlled Manchuria, China and Korea, and they
destroyed the army of the Khawarezmia Muslim State in 1221 CE. The
Khawarezmia army was the strongest hurdle against the Mongolian
expansion to the Islamic world, which had previously triumphed over
the Mongolians more than once.
Jenkis Khan died in the year 624 H (1227
CE), but the Mongolians continued their march and entered Middle
Asia and Russia and controlled Moscow and the Ukraine. They attacked
Poland and defeated the German and Scandinavian armies and went
deeply into Europe. They also headed to the Islamic world and took
Turkestan, Afghanistan, India and Persia.
The Mongolians were very ruthless and
merciless with the countries they occupied. The whole world was
afraid of their savagery and barbarism. They were winning the
battles not only by their force and efficiency, but also by the
psychological fear they inflicted in the minds of their opponents.
The Mongolians invested the thunderbolt tactics in their wars, which
were dependent upon swift movement. They also depended on the
psychological war tactics by letting their opponents know about
their horrible austerities before they even met them.
The Muslim State at the time was suffering
from disjunction and weakness, so it was easy for the Mongolians to
sweep entire Islamic armies and take over their kingdoms. The Muslim
leaders were so weak then that one of them sent a pair of slippers
on which his face was drawn so that the feet of Holako could honour
him if he wore the slippers!
Thereafter, the Mongolians took Iraq. They
besieged Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid dynasty, which was
suffering from great weakness, the cause of which was the conspiracy
of the minister Ibn Al-Alqami with the Mongolians to topple the
Caliph. In addition, he demobilized the majority of the official
army, which was once composed of more than 100,000 soldiers; it was
reduced to only 10,000. Baghdad fell at the hands of the Mongolians
in the year of 656 H (1258 CE). For 40 days, the Mongolians
massacred the people of Baghdad. Ibn Katheer states that there were
more than 800,000 dead and some say as many as 2,000,000. It is said
that the Caliph Al-Mu'tassem Bi'llah was put in a bag and killed by
kicking.
The Mongolians invaded the rest of the
cities and took over Harran, Al Raha and Deyar Bakr, then they
crossed the Euphrates and took Halab in the year 658 H (1260 CE).
The Ayoubi rulers in Sham were very coward and defeatists; Al-Nassir
Yousef Al-Ayoubi, the ruler of Halab, announced his submission to
the Mongolians who, despite that, entered Halab and massacred the
citizens to the degree that there were streams of Muslim blood
throughout the city. Al-Mansour Bin Al-Modhaffar, the ruler of Hama,
took his sons and women and escaped to Egypt, leaving Hama and its
people behind him to meet there doomed fate. Al-Nassir Yousef went
from Damascus to Gaza so that he could go to Egypt. He deserted
Damascus and its people. Thus the Ayoubi dynasty was terminated in
Belad El-Sham very quickly.
The Mongolians reached Damascus and took it
without force in the year 1260 CE, and then betrayed its people.
During the spring, they occupied Nablus and Karak and headed to Gaza
without facing any resistance whatsoever. Thus, Palestine was
divided between the kingdom of Akka ruled by the Crusaders and the
Tartarian Mongolians. Palestine was once more under the onus of the
blasphemers.
Europe was very happy with the Mongolian
invasion of the Islamic State and tried to coordinate with them
against their common enemy. They also tried to spread Christianity
amongst the Tartarians themselves. They partially succeeded at
first, for it was known that the Mongolian leader Holako had an
inclination towards the Nastorian Christians, and his court was full
of many of them. His wife was a Christian, too. She played a major
role, of which the Church was very proud, in diverting the Mongolian
march from Europe. Instead, the march was directed at the Islamic
State. Moreover, the Mongolian leader of the Ayn Jalout battle,
Katbaga, was a Christian. The Christian influence was so great on
the Mongolians that one priest described the Tartarian invasion as
"a Crusader campaign in the full sense of the word--a full
Nastorian Christianity." The West even hoped that Holako and
his leader Katbaga would eliminate the Muslims entirely. Hatoon the
First, the king of Armenia, and Bohemond the Sixth, the prince of
Tripoli, along with the Crusader princes in Sour, Akka and Cyprus,
made an alliance with the Mongolians that stressed the elimination
of Muslims in Asia and the return of Jerusalem to the Crusaders.
At that time, Egypt, under the Mamaleek
dynasty, was ruled by the Sultan Al-Modhaffar Qutz in 657 H (1259
CE). He was a leader known for his piety and love of God and Islam.
He was the student of the greatest scholar at the time, Al-Aziz Bin
Abdul Salaam. Ibn Katheer said that Qutz was "a courageous hero
who loved doing the good and following Islam; people loved him very
much and kept making invocations for him."
After a few months of his ascension to
power, he faced the problem of the Tartarian invasion and received a
threatening letter from Holako, before he left Syria, telling him to
surrender Egypt. The letter read, "Look what we have done with
the others and take a lesson from them; surrender, because we show
no mercy to begging or crying. Where do you think you could escape
from us? Who can protect you from our swords? Neither your forts nor
men nor invocation can save you from us."
But Qutz, the Muslim leader who only feared
God, knew that victory comes from God, and if he prepared well for
the battle and made everything connected to God, victory would be
achieved. He decided to announce the holy Jihad and to confront the
Crusader invasion. After reading the letter, he gave orders to kill
the messengers and divide them into two halves, and their heads were
to be hung over one of the gates of Cairo (The Gate of Zuweela), as
a sign of an unflinching determination to fight and challenge the
Tartarian invasion.
Furthermore, Qutz decided to seize the
initiative and attack the Tartarian forces to boost the morale of
the Muslims and to emphasize the spirit of Jihad that fosters the
concept of martyrdom for the sake of God. Further, he would be
defending the Muslim land of Egypt and would liberate the occupied
Muslim land in Belad El-Sham, including Palestine and the holy Al
Aqsa Mosque. This would send the Tartarians a message that he was a
new kind of man they had never encountered before, because the best
way to defend is to attack.
In the holy month of Ramadhan in the year
658 H (1260 CE), the Muslim army, under the leadership of Qutz,
crossed the borders and liberated Gaza, where he stayed for one day.
Then they headed north to meet the Tartarian forces. The two armies
met at the Ayn Jalout area to the northeast of Palestine.
Ayn Jalout witnessed one of the most
crucial battles in history on Friday, 25 Ramadhan 658 H (6 September
1260 CE). The Tartars had the logistic and scientific potential to
win the fight against the Muslim army. Their advantages included:
· Efficiency and experience gained from
the great number of wars they witnessed.
· High morale because they were never defeated.
· They had a large number of fighters and more weaponry.
· The efficiency of their cavalry who knew many advanced fighting
techniques such as the thunderbolt method, which was a distinctive
feature of the Tartarians.
· They were able to manage well because they were close to the
bases of their supplies and support.
· The strategic locations of their army were better than those of
the Muslim army.
Despite the overwhelming superiority of the
Tartarian army, the Muslim army scored a momentous, exceptional
victory. The Qutz army was characterized by the fact that it was an
"Islamic" army aimed at consolidating Islam and protecting
its Holy Land. The great scholars and religious men of Egypt joined
this army making it was a sacred army constructed and built for the
sof prioritizing the word of God and supporting its religion, Islam,
in the land. Moreover, the army was further characterized by having
a faithful leadership who cherished a true "will to
fight", the crucial factor in winning any battle.
Qutz told his army to wait until they
finished the Friday prayers: "Do not fight them till it is
sunset and the shadows appear and the winds stir, and the preachers
and people start to implore God for us in their prayers", and
thereafter the fighting began.
Jullanar, the wife of Qutz, was killed
during the battle. He rushed towards her saying, "Oh my beloved
one". She told him while uttering her last breath, "Do not
say that, and care more for Islam." Her soul ascended to God
after telling her husband that the Jihad for the sake of God and
Islam is more important than love and personal relations. Qutz stood
up saying "Islamah…Islamah". The whole army repeated
that word after him until they achieved their victory.
During the battle, the horse of Qutz was
also killed, and he stepped down and started to fight on the ground
till they brought him another horse. He refused taking the horse of
the other princes who volunteered their horses to him saying that he
did not want to impede them from their holy duty, rescuing himself
instead. He was asked why he did not ride on a horse and why he
jeopardized himself and Islam. He answered, "If I was killed, I
would have gone to Heaven, and as to Islam, Almighty God is well
capable of protecting it." After the battle was over and the
victory was achieved for the Muslims, Qutz stepped down from his
horse and smeared his face with the dust of the battleground and
kneeled to God in thankfulness and gratitude.
The Muslims immediately started to chase
the Mongolians, and Qutz entered Damascus five days after Ayn Jalout
battle. The chase continued to Halab, and when the Mongolians felt
the approach of the Muslims, they left behind the Muslim prisoners,
and suffered a great deal. In one month's time, the Muslims were
able to restore Belad El-Sham entirely from the hands of the Tartars
and the Mongolians.
This battle is considered to be one of the
greatest battles in history in which the Mongolian invasion was put
to an end. It was the beginning of the end of the Mongolians, who
were forced to retreat. This liberated Belad El-Sham from their
occupation. As for the Mongolians who stayed in the Muslim State,
they embraced Islam in great numbers and that was another victory
for the religion of God.
Although the Tartarian Mongolians were
expelled from Palestine and the Muslims crushed them at Ayn Jalout,
the kingdom of the Crusaders in Akka kept its control over the
coastal area that stretched from Jaffa to Akka. The Sultans of the
Mamaleek dynasty took the responsibility of liberating the rest of
Palestine till they managed to expel the last Crusader from the Holy
Land 30 years after the Ayn Jalout battle.
Al-Dhaher Bebars succeeded the Sultan Qutz,
whose reign lasted for about one year. Bebars played a major role in
fighting the Crusaders in Belad El-Sham, for he was constantly
assaulting their bases there. Sometimes he resorted to making
treaties with them if he felt there was a need. The custom was that
the treaty should last for 10 years and 10 months and 10 days and 10
hours. After finishing with the internal problems in his State, he
turned to fight the Crusaders. In the year 662 H (1263 CE), he went
to Palestine. When he arrived at Akka, the Crusaders came to ask him
for renewing the treaty saying that they would release the Muslim
prisoners and keep the promises they made. But Bebars did not
consider their demands and went on to attack their various bases,
especially Akka, so that he would know their level of strength and
exhaust their resources and strike them at the right time and place.
He once again headed to Palestine in the
year 664 H (1265 CE) and took control over Qaysarryat El-Mahsana and
destroyed its walls. A part of his army attacked Akka and Haifa. He
conquered Arsouf in the same year.
The next year, he went to Palestine again
and besieged the city of Safad and conquered it. He then came back
to Palestine in the year 666 H (1267 CE), and the Crusaders asked
him for a treaty. He used to follow the policy of divide-and-rule
with the Crusaders so that their forces would not be united against
him all at once. This policy helped him conquer the city of Antakya
in the year 667 H (1268 CE). This is considered the greatest victory
the Muslims ever achieved over the Crusaders since Salah El-Deen
liberated Jerusalem in the year 583 H (1187 CE). Bebars agreed,
after conquering Antakya, to make a treaty with Akka that lasted for
10 years on the condition that he should rule half of Akka, and he
should control the heights surrounding Sayda.
The Sultan Al-Mansour Sayf El-Deen Qalawoun
continued liberating Belad El-Sham from the Crusaders after Al-Dhaher
Bebars died. At his time an alliance against the Muslims was formed
among the Crusaders, the Tartarians and Sanqur Al-Ashqar, the deputy
of Damascus, who turned on the Moslems. But their alliance failed
and Qalawoun started to tighten his grip on the Crusaders and
occupied Al-Marqab Fort in the year 684 H (1285 CE). He conquered
Al-Ladeqyya in the year 686 H (1287 CE) and Tripoli in the year 688
H (1289 CE). Qalawoun took advantage of the unstable state of the
Crusaders in Akka in particular and in Belad El-Sham in general
because of the ongoing struggle over power. He was very strong and
powerful and could eliminate the presence of the Crusaders in the
eastern Arabic region. On the Shami coast, the Crusaders were in
control of only Akka, Sour, Sayda and Etleet.
Qalawoun found that it was time for the
total elimination of the Crusaders in Palestine. He used the
incidence of the Crusaders attacking and killing some Muslim
pilgrims as an excuse to announce Jihad against the Crusaders. He
summoned his forces from Egypt and Sham. He stayed out of Cairo
waiting for the arrival of the assistance forces, but he suddenly
fell ill and died in the year 689 H (1290 CE). His son Ashraf Salah
El-Deen Khaleel succeeded him. The Crusaders wanted to take
advantage of the situation and offered Ashraf another treaty, but he
refused and took his forces and besieged Akka and liberated it in
the year 1291 CE. The king of Akka, Henry the Second, escaped to
Cyprus. After conquering Akka, Ashraf took Sayda , Sour, Haifa and
Etleet. He gave orders to destroy all the fortifications in those
cities. Thus, the last base of the Crusaders was destroyed at the
hands of Al-Mamaleek dynasty, and the existence of the Crusaders in
Palestine and Sham was finally terminated after two centuries (492 -
690 H [1099-1291 ]). With this accomplishment, Palestine was back
under Islamic rule again till the British forces occupied it.
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