Course: History Of The Crusades And Salahuddin

HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES AND SALAHUDDIN

Date: Saturday 21st February 2009
Time: 9.00 am – 5.00 pm
Venue: Ebrahim College, 80 Greenfield Road, Whitechapel, London, E1 1EJ

Umamah Al-Bahili (ra) reports that the Prophet (saw) said,

“A group of my Ummah will remain on the truth, they will vanquish their enemy and those who disagree with them will not be able to harm them until Allah  commands.” “Where are these people?” the companions (ra) asked. The Prophet (saw) said, “In and around Al-Quds (Jerusalem).” [Ahmad]

After uniting the Muslims, Sultan Salahuddin Al-Ayyubi reconquered Jerusalem in 1187 CE from the Crusaders. Unlike the occupiers he granted freedom to those who wanted to leave and did not allow massacres to take place. The current mess in Palestine can be summed up by Salahuddin’s own statement, which is more relevant today than ever …

“We hope in Allah  Most High, to whom be Praise who leads the hearts of Muslims to calm what torments them and ruins their prosperity. Where is the sense of honour of the Muslims? The pride of the Believers? The zeal of the Faithful? We shall never cease to be amazed at how the disbelievers for their part have shown trusts, and it is the Muslims who have been lacking in zeal. Not one of them has responded to the call. Not one intervenes to straighten what is distorted; but observe how the Franks (The Crusaders) have gone. What unity they have achieved. What aims they pursue. What help they have given. What sums of money they have borrowed and spent. What wealth they have collected and distributed and divided amongst them. There is not a king left in their lands or Islands, not a lord or a rich man who has not competed with his neighbour to produce more support and rival his peer in strenuous military efforts. In defense of their religion they consider it a small thing to spend life and soul and they have kept their infidel brothers supplied with arms and champions of war ..

The Muslims on the other hand are weakened and demoralised; they have become negligent and lazy, victims of unproductive stupefaction and completely lacking in enthusiasm. If, Allah forbid, Islam should draw reign, obscure her splendour, blunt her sword there would be no one, east or west, far or near who would blaze the zeal for Allah ’s religion, or choose to come to the aid of truth against error. This is the moment to cast off laziness, to summon from far and near all those men who have blood in their veins. But we are confident (referring to himself and the small party of believers who began with him and then became a large party) – thanks to Allah – in the help that will come from him and entrust ourselves to him in sincerity of purpose and deepest devotion. Insha’Allah , the disbelievers shall perish and the faithful have a sure deliverance.” [Taken from Abû Shâma, Kitâb Al-Rawdatayn]

Using established sources such as Ibn Shaddad, Baha’ Al-Dîn, and Al-Nawâdir al-Sultaniyyah wal-Mahâsin al-Yusufîyyah, an excellent and rare history of Salahuddin, this introductory course looks at the following: The Muslim World and Europe in the 5th Century Hijri (11th Century CE); The Crusades and the Crusaders; Origins of the Crusades; The First Crusade and the Fall of Jerusalem; The Feeble Reaction of Muslims – Causes and Effects; The Revival Movement and Return to Jihad; The Jihad of Imad Al-Din Zangi; liberation of Edessa; The Second Crusade and its Failure; Nur Al-Din Zangi in the Footsteps of His Father; Salahuddin’s Long March towards Jerusalem; Battle of Hittin and its Consequences; Liberation of Jerusalem; Western Attempts to Revenge; The Third Crusade; Crusaders in Constantinople; Crusades on Egypt and Elsewhere; Rukn al-Din Baibars and the End of the Crusaders; and lessons that may be learned.