SALAHDIN is the most remembered and celebrated Muslim ruler in the time of the Crusades.
He was a black man, indistinguishable from the Egyptians of that time.
In the beginning of his reign as the ruler of Egypt, Edessa, Aleppo and Syria, Salahdin was constantly terrorised by the Egyptians because of past wrongs that had been committed by Shekur; Salahdin’s uncle.
These included the desecration of a sacred Shia cave and also the fact that Salahdin, the Kurds and Turks were Sunni Muslims while the Egyptians were Shia Muslims.
The difference between the Shia and the Sunni is that the Shia Muslims follow Imams (Religious teachers) that are exclusively descendants of Muhammad’s kinsmen, while Sunni Muslims practise Islam without necessarily requiring that their Imams should be kinsmen of Muhammad.
Both groups are required to follow Sharia (Scriptural) law and thus are the same in religious practice.
The gap between the Shia and the Sunni reportedly came about shortly after Muhammad’s death.
His nephew called Ali was murdered by a faction of the Muslims over Prophet Muhammad’s succession.
It is said that Ali’s offspring were also killed and from then on, the Muslims that followed Muhammad’s descendants became suspicious of all Muslims who did not follow Muhammad’s descendants.
When Salahdin inherited Egypt after Shekur’s death, he also inherited the hate of the Egyptians towards him.
An Egyptian called Sinan raised the first ever team of assassins (hashashun) in his attempts to take Salahdin’s life.
Sinan’s assassins were prepared to give up their lives for their ideals.
His trained killers were made to take hashish before their missions so as to become invincible.
They were stationed at a castle in northern Syria.
Salahdin narrowly escaped assassination thrice.
After the last attempt on Salahdin’s life, Sinan was confronted and by the end of the altercation, the two had made peace and established a truce.
The Crusaders at Jerusalem were now taking advantage of the commotion between Salahdin and the Egyptians.
At one point they sent a negotiator to Sinan in order to form an alliance between the Crusaders of Jerusalem and the assassins.
This would have been very bad for the Muslim world.
Thankfully, at the end of it all, both Salahdin and Sinan concluded that it was in their best interests if they combined forces against the Crusaders instead of fighting among themselves and causing instability in the Islamic kingdom.
Salahdin could now focus on the jihad, which entailed destroying the Crusader kingdom in Jerusalem.
The Crusaders in Jerusalem were located in a large stone castle with little sophistication, but heavily fortified.
The thousands of Crusaders, who stayed there, in the Knight’s temple and Knight’s hospital, were always fully armoured.
Even the so-called monks wore amour.
Another problem that Salahdin encountered was a French Crusader called Raynold. Raynold had become a leader of Antioch by marrying the widow of an Aramean prince.
This Crusader was indeed a barbarian and had committed terrible acts even against Christians.
He once attacked Cyprus in 1156 CE, which was inhabited by white Christians. He killed the people, looted the island and cut off the noses of all their priests.
He also tortured an Aramean Patriarch in Antioch in a painful way when he refused to comply with him in his bid to attack Cyprus.
In the time of Noardin, Raynold was imprisoned for raiding farms that belonged to Muslims.
He spent 16 years locked up in a dungeon in Aleppo.
After Noardin’s death, the governor of Aleppo released Raynold.
Raynold again married a rich woman, through which he acquired a castle known as Karak.
Raynold’s castle was very remote and was located along the caravan and camel route that linked Egypt with Syria.
Raynold would stock travellers from his castle and raid them of their wealth, and in the process take their lives.
Raynold paid no taxes and observed no oaths or agreements with non-Crusaders.
In 1181 CE, Raynold raided a large caravan on its way to Mecca, the holy city of the Muslims.
The offerings that the unarmed Muslims were taking to Mecca for pilgrimage were taken by Raynold’s men as booty and the travellers were killed in cold blood.
In 1182 CE Raynold even attempted to attack Mecca itself.
This attack was stopped by the governor of Egypt who captured Raynold’s entire army and these men were taken to Mecca and beheaded for their crimes.
Raynold escaped.
Salahdin set up patrols on the caravan routes in reaction to Raynold’s continued acts of terrorism.
The Muslim world became firmly united against the Crusaders because of Raynold’s attacks on Muslims, particularly those on their way to pilgrimage in Mecca.
In 1183 CE, Salahdin tried to attack Raynold in his castle and besieged it for an entire month.
After learning that the Crusader army of Jerusalem was on its way to fight the Muslims, Salahdin caused his army to retreat so as to avoid casualties.
Shortly after this, Raynold again raided another caravan.
On this particular raid, he took a woman captive along with the booty.
This woman was Salahdin’s sister and she was abused by Raynold and his men.
Salahdin rallied up his whole army in reaction to this and swore to take Raynold’s life himself.
Salahdin had an army of 30 000 troops, both trained and volunteers (mujahidin).
The Crusaders from Jerusalem, besides those from Karak were provoked to go to war when they were lured to Tiberius, where Salahdin had captured the wife and castle of a key Crusader titled the ‘Count of Tripoli’.
The only water in this region was by the lake of Tiberius and Salahdin successfully trapped the Crusaders before they got to the water hole.
He attacked and chased them to the top of a mountain, on which the Crusaders were scotched by the sun and consumed by hunger and thirst.
Forced to head for the water, the Crusaders were massacred with arrows, swords and fire.
Raynold was captured and Salahdin cut his head off with a sword.
His sister was retrieved and the Karak castle along with the Knight’s temple and hospital became desolate.
After this battle, Salahdin’s fame and honour increased.
The Crusaders feared him and the name of Salahdin was causing terror in the hearts of the Europeans, as did the name of Hannibal before him.
The remaining Crusaders were chased away and some were made slaves.
The only Christians that were allowed to continue on in his Empire were the eastern Christians who were mostly black or at least coloured.
The Italians and their Barbarians were expelled and for a while it seemed the Crusades had been conclusively ended.
Unfortunately, Salahdin left the Crusaders one fortress along the port of Tyre, assuming that the Crusader refugees would all eventually set sail back to Europe from there.
Shortly after this, an Italian called Demont Farat entered Tyre, barricaded it and took control of the city.
Salahdin did not perceive them a threat and this would prove to be a fatal mistake, as the whites would regroup and again embark on fresh Crusades and conquests.