Nobile Dynasties

II SLA,NlIC· ED U C.A TIION FOJlUNDA.TIO'IN

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'Oi, lntroductlon ".',.,', .. '. ,,~ ,,'.' .,~ .. ,'". ~."''' ,i",'",," ~ ." •• ;'"''" ." ••• ;,.,.,..,. .". ~ .".". ' •• ' .',' .".

_, NUT ,Ad-Di~Mtl,h mud Ibn Zangi ,',.;,.,,'~.,',', ... "." .. ,"',' ,',',',','," .,.,~"." .. = 'Tbe: Parentage of '[he FI,Ql'Ise of Atabeg '.,' ... ,'.'.'" i"'" .'.',,,,' •• '.'.',..'

= A Bdef Account of Zangi ,",i,,'.,,'m.'.'.m." ",,'.~'.;'i"; i'i'''''.,.,.~".,., •• ,.~.,'"',,.,,',

,= The 'Rtde of Zan g'~ over :M'OSLl~ '.~.' ..•• " ...•• ' ..... ,,", •.•• ',.,' •••• ',',' ••

....

,_ Zangi' s Ji!1ail Against the Franks .... ' .. ,.,' .i •. ", .• , •• -+ •• ' ,"~~ •• -e - The Conquest or Edessa by Atabeg .,,"'" ",." ,''', ... ' .. ''''" ...... , .... ,,'''' .. _, The Death of the 'Martyr Zangi ."""""'~.""i" ,,'~.,," ,,",',' ,,','.,",','"'' , __ The B :iograph 'j 'Of the Martyr Ata beg Zangi ... m ..... " ••••• " ...

- The IncidentsThut Followed the Murder of Zanei .'.'.'; ..

,,_

T'I ' F-" 'k'''~' 'I' ,,," ~"Ir- '~", ,,' D'''o:' - , -, -, -, " ,.

,'_ '" 1C "f,iil,m~, ]~J ,r\l~ ~ac ~ 'On "urHlSCU:S: ''" .",.,," "" .. ". "". ". """ ... '''"" " ....

- Thle Death of Sayf .Ad,-:Db~ Ghazi Ibn Zangi .. ,.,,,,,,, .. ,,,ii.,i, •• ,,

-' Events of 5,4,,5 ,A,.tt •.. '. i" .,,',"' .';'.,',.'.' ••• '.'.' ••• '.' ••• ,'" •• ,'"",.'.,,',,',.,',',,',,',.,. ,,;,'," se-s e.s

~' Capture of Joslin, .. , """ .~~.,,'''' , . ., ,. ,.~.", .. ,~" " ~",. ,,"

- Events of 54·(5 f\. ~1" .. '" "."".'" "' .. i"""""""'" "'~,,.,','" .,.~ •• ,. ,."~,,, ,,'~ •• ,'" ,,-.

'7

'li? ,.;1,'

39

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53

56 ~8

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74 '76

~ Events of 547 .A ... HI. .~ .. " .,!,' e tu •• , •• ".,. " ••••••• "",,. """, ••• ,. "" •• '''' ., •• " ••• " •••• ,.,

- Evenrs 'of 5,49' A .. J-(" "","'" ".,.~., ".,.,'~.'j, •• ' ••• ' •.• ' .• ' "'~",j'.""""."."'".'.''.''.'.'.'.'''''

,~ Events of 55~. A.,.'f-T., ".~ ... " .. ,~, "''''';'''' j •• ! .• " •• ,,, ".~ , , '.,,, .• "" " •• ""' ~.,. "!'"

- :6,VI~ n ts 0 f ,55 2 A. fl'", .. " .' .. "" ,,, ... ' .. '. ,,,'.'. ,j .... " ,j •• '. ,,,j,,, • ' ' .' • ' ;, ••• ". ,j .. ", • '. '" .' ,.'" •• '"

_, Fort of Shayznr and the Rule of Banu Munqidh ,.,.~.,., .. ,.,. "j'

,_, Events of 558A,ll . "" '.'.,j '.'., •• ,.""'. "' .. ,.,.,.~; •• ,., ••• "i""~.",,.~ •• '",.'., j,

,_ Events of 559 A . .J.-f, .. ''''!''''''''''"." • !'" '"'' .,!', .. , ,." ' ••• ' ". "!'" ,.'. "'!'

,_ The Conquest of Harim ".~ " .. ,.~ .. , T

~, Events orr 560 A;~H, .. ,',"', ... ,',"" " " .. ,,,. ".". j", ,," " " .... j,,,, ••• ,j., ", j

=. EV'f:.11.!S of 56:2 ,A'j,E~"i' .'.'.,',','," .,',',.,'".,', .. '.,',' ''''~'''''''''''''~'.''''''''''''''''''''''''''.''''''!''''".'.

- Events of 5;64 A J~t .. "., ~" '" , ~." " L .. '''''''''!''''

,~ N u:r Ad -,D i n' S Reac til 0.'11 '" .. "" ' ,"'",,, " .••.••• '. , .. '.,' ••• "j '. ~ •• ",' .". ' •• '. '.".

- The, Arrest and. :K:i lling of Shawar ~ j"j •• ,,'" ,," .,'.,." j .' ••

- Death of ,AS,~H::1 Ad-Dlin Shirkuh .,,' ".~ "" '.", ' .. "", ' .. '.,,', ..

~ Events 'of 56',)1 .A . I-I., ., ... ,'".".,.,,', .. '.' .• ' .,!,.,.~ •. "",~",,,.,,.,,,,.,,.,.~.,.,,., , ,,.,.,.,,,',.

u N ajm A,d-'D'i n A,YYLlb~ s, March 1'0 Eg,YP'L .' .• , ,,,.' .. ,',., ,. .. """'1'·"

- Great Earthq uake ,! j, •• rsu • , •• ". ",.'. r..'. '. , i i ~ .-.' i ' •••• ' •• ' •• " ••• ~., •••• , •••• ' • .,. .,,',

~ 'Events of 566, ,A.l-[". , .. " .. ,,, .. ,, . ." .. , ... "'.~ ... ,."'.,." .. ;,.".~ .. "'.'.,"'., .~.;,' .... "' -' ... ,

~ Events of 567A.H'. ""!' ." •• '.' ••• "~ •.• ,, .• ,.~ •• ".' .... ,,,.,.,j, ".,.,j .' •• ' • .,. ", •• ' ,. I,','

- Nur Ad·-,D~n's Determination to March to Egypt ';""""j"""'.

= The Carrier Pigeons . " .... "". j" " ••••••• i , a "T'" d" "." "~.",,o,~

- Events of 5;I~S8 A,.I~l., .,.,.,",., .. ,.~.,., .. ,.,',',.,' "" , !'~"" " ", ' .

=N'nj:rll ad-Din Ayyub' s Death ., .. ,.,', ,., ,_ .. , .. , " " ""j.'~

- The Conquest of Yemen .. ~.,.,.;,' '",,'.','.'.',.'.'.''"'. " .• ,';" .•. ".,-,',',_,'" .• -,; a ••••

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84

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- 'The Crucif x i om of '[he Yerneni Poet . ,+~"'~'! ,.~" .. ,,, ... "";,, .. ~ ...

"""1 ", DI' ;.'1-, " f N:'" ~ Adl 'D"'"

- , 1,e, ',e,all 1 0' I "" III 'II;.~~','" I n .. , ... ;,;~.,., ,.- .. """", .,",', •• ,., a, .... ",. '.",",. '''' ,." "."

- Events of 570! ,A, .. H,. i"'''''''''' ;' ••• ~.,. i"'" .' •••• e H."" _',-, ,,' .'-,,-'., .,.' • ',",' ."" ".,"'.

S'C1'! '::-I~';rirlI 's -M" "-"~I"I>~,·,'L ~I"'""' D" "'10m" "1i.t"C'!'II'''''

.. , I ~~~,~Ulll~1I1 ~:J ._. itl. 1~.11 II!U .l _ '1'.1. I '-l.~· y,.:jl ,,,,"'I!"I!'",,,,,, ;"""P"'"""""'"'';;", """"""'"' ; ,.,,, "';1;'0; ;;1,. 1,~_,I!lI"!,;!I1

- The Conquest of FHl118 and, Hamsh e e ' •• , ,,"," ' •• ,. '.,'",' .,"" ••• '''". " ~ Whtu Happened to [he Penple of 'M-O'S,lLl~ and Aleppo '" - The, Conquestof SO'nlC Countries Around Aleppo ... '." ..

- People 'OF Al-Hashi s.hiyyah~ s Second Attack on Saiadi n

'~' Events of' 57'2, A.,'I'l. '., .... ,., .... ,., .. ;'" ... ~ ... ,."., ........ ". , .... ,.",,' .. ~."'.".,",." ~;,., .. ,.,

'~ Sel ling the BOQk~, and Constructing 'the' Castle ;,'".' ' .. , .' ..

,_ Events or ,5'14 ,A",:H. ""' .. ~.' .. ' .. ' .. , .. '.' e re e ' ••• ~.".""",.,.~.",."~ .. ,, .. s e e e •• ~~, .,., .... ,+

= Some Incidents c.; •• ,., ..... , ..... " .... ,,,. ''',"''''~''''''; ., ~" ..... ,',. "F' ".~~ •• '. , •• ,.,.

- The Situation Surrounding the Franks '''" .. ".,,' ... "" ... ",'.'.",.'.'

=' Events of 57'5 ,A .", :1'.. ' •••• ,."., !",.".".~ .• , "", ; ri •• ,,,', ••• ;,',.,',.,; ,,' """'i'

'~' Events of' 51'6, ,A, ,,:H, ...... ". ""' .. "'" , ."",, ,,' .. ' .• , .. ,.~., .. ;' •. a .~.,., ,',-;;,-

=' Death of "King As-Salih ,",',.',., ,", ", ".,.,," .. ,.",." .. ,"" "" " ""

- Sultan' s Return from Egypt to the Levant ,"', ", ,

,~ '1E'I/'e'111S of ,5'78 A.l~. "'"" ",., ,." "" ;", ~ .. ';',h'" ' ,. "'"";"'i"';' .,.,'~.,' "1'

- Evenrs of ,579 A. H:" '.""'''",''''.'''''?''''''''''.;'' ,,", , •• ,><,' ,+~; .. ". ,,',',.'.' ,~" .... ,.", .,'

~ Events of j;8(] s: fL, .'.,;' .. ".,.~,. ,"""."''''''.'''i'''~~'''''''I'''''' •• '' .... ,.,-, , •••• ,., •••

~ Bvents of 581 ,1'\ .,J-~, .. ,',',',. ',"""" " ,," .'.,,, '.,"', ...•• "".,., .. ".,.,., .. ,~ .• ~

~, 'Events of 58.3 A,lt " .. " ,"". '''" " ." ., .. , '; ~i'. 'r"""

~, 'C,onqu,ering N~bl!us and Some Other- ICilies .,. ,,, .. ""," ua, ..... c.; 'Conquering T'ibnin, Beirut and Other Cities "-.,,, .. ---"_-

~110 ,~71

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201

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227 230 1]3

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- Conqueri ng Jerusalem ~." ..... ~., ... 'I", , ... " " ••• " ••• "." •••• "., ,.""",,~,,!

Tl S'I . '8'· I" J '~

~ ifThC' >tl tan s sesreze 0.,' enmtbelTI ,.~. """""".",,~,! ea .' ••• ,',',.';'.'.'.'.';

"-'"

_ '\Vh~]~ Happened Ion the 'D,ay of [he Conquest .'., .,",.'. "'" ,,',,',. _ Performing the Friday Prayer in A,~~'AqSl1 Mosque .. ,' .,.,.

,_ The Sermon of Judge Mu.~h'}d ad-Din . "" ,;' .. ,., .. ".,. ,,',. ".".,' .',' ,,",

~ 1'b,c Pulpit . "',.' .. ,,, ,. '~'!'" """,, " ••• ",,, •.•. ,, .,.'n,' •• ,._ .• ,',., ,'".,.,.~ a a ,.,.,.,;., .".,.i, ,

~, Some Events ,,,i , ",~ , " •• ,.,,' .,',." •••• ,.,1"'., •• ,1,',' ••.•• "i'"'' .' ' ;

,_ Even ts of 58i~ A .1;1, '!,", •• " , •• ,,,.,,.,,.,.,, ••• ,_,,,'.',,!,, e •• ;'.' i •••• '.' " ••• 0 "

'~ Concluding a Truce '\vi th the Ruler of Antioch ',.,.,',. " '."

,_, Conquering S,affi,d, .'. ;, .. , .. ""' ,,'" .. ,,' ;"" .. ,,"',. "'.". ,.!" .• -s " •• ,,',',',.'; , .ae ""'i ,~.,

,_ Conquering '[he Fortress of Kuwkab ., .. ".,." .. ".,.,,,m ...... mn ..... " .... ,"

- Events ,()f 585 AJ~L T •••••••••••• T •• ,; " •• ,; " ,., ,'", ••• , •• " ,.,'".,'." •• '!

,_ T~·:te A rd va ~ of ~he ,P r',~1 m: k 5 at Acre . ,. ; . ",""" . " ,' ,. ' .•. ,' ., .. .s. ,," '. ,!

- Th e IG reat 1 nc ursi ,on That Began 'B adl Y but Then

] :nn proved .' .... ' .. , .... " .... '. " .... "'" .'. '" .. "'; .... " .... ;, .... " .. , ... , ., ... , .. ,." ,,',. ,., .. , ...... ~., .

= The Incidents of the Same ye'ar l'l;'1F\,GI,lC and Others .. , .

.~ 'The News About 'the Gerrnnn K'i ng ". ,,,. """"""I',""'~,,,. "."i' ;,.'.

,_ :E vents of ,,5: 8,6 ,A" 1-1. !". , •• '. ,. e a • ~.",. ' '. 'I"" ,., ". '. ""'. '., .' '" ,;'.'.'. "'", "',. '. !' , ..

~ Tbe Condition of the King or Germany ,', , , "',"~ " '.

~ ,Ai'~'~,Adlll Attacking A .. ere on 20lh JU111ud,jl ,A.lr .. Akhirah

~' Sending ~lhe; Sh:i p [0 Acre ! ••• ' ••• ".",""., •• ,1. 'T< ••• '.'.'."", •• ', .. " .... ,,'" .... " .... - Burning the Ships and Besieging Adh-Dhuban Tower

-, 'Correspondence Between A,~,~F(,ldi~' & the Sultan "".,., '.

- Th!e Letter Sent [a (he. 'King or M'orocco .. ';'.'.' ,;" .. ,.m" .

24S, 25,5

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2S0 283 286 28~~ 291 293 2.9!~

303 306 ~H]

,g, Al-Kam in Battle ~~l1d Replacing the ~rrOO1P8 at Acre ""., ..

,g, EV'C1JtS of ,587 A "H'" .",'~" .. ".,.,','~.," "',','_.,,.,"',. ,~ .... " .. ,. """" .,.,."" ",.",,,,.

';" The Ene m y C apturing Acre ~" '. 'i ••••• ,. ••••• ",!,. • '." •• , • ~" ,,,_ '. '. ~ _,' .. '.' .,,',. '. I_ ·The Evenes th~d Took pl ace After Capturing Acre .,i.,. '''' ~ The Incidents That Tool Place After the Destruction

of Ashkelon '.' .... """""-"'!""""~;'i""'i .,.".~ ••• ,"' •• " ''', •• , ",,,,,,,,,,u,,,,.,.,",,,,,,,_,_,,,,

'", Events of .588 A.FT., '.,"'.'.,., .. '.'."'.'.'.~" .. ,," .. ",.,.,,' ! ' •• , •• ,"', " .. ,',.,_.

= The, Franks' Intention to Head for Jerusalem ... '."''',. '!'' """

= The Proposal of Recenciliaticn fn::HTI the English K~ng

= The Inc] den ts T'I1:iHt Po I, I, owed the Truce I.' ••• "" ,,, , , ,!

~ The Su UaJ:'I ~I'S: Tra \f"e.:~ frorn J erusal ern to ,D [l.'nHlJSIC U,S " ••.••• ,'

= Events of 589 A.l-I. ; m , ",mm"" '"'''' I ",_~", ., •••• ,., ••• " •••• ""'!

=, Tlrne Sui tan 's L6g(l,C:Y and :M anners .,', .•. ' .'. ~. ". '.i •• '. '. 'i. ".' •••• '. ' •• ~ ""

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= His Persistence in App']yi~lg the Fundamentals of

R"e~]:~i,lo:n """"i •• " •• i .'.'.' •• ';; .'. ", .... ",,.,.,.,. ••• ",', .... ~., ... ,.," _'",,- ... ".~ •• ".; ." ••••• ,' " ... '.' ]- {'.5

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- The :D~ V] sion of his Kingdom .111 ••• ,'~.,.,'., ", •• ,,,.+~., , ••• '., •••• ,." i""... 380

_, TheDe~th of Judge A.l-.lFadi [ """!'" ''','"' ''' •• , ",','~+.,' ••.. '. ".""' '.',. '''' .'. J~2

= 'B,'i:bli~),glra'iP hy '., "" .. ~ .,,, .. ,." ,,,,',,., ,"',.' '.' " ."~" ","" .. ,." ,,,',.. 385

~ M;ap;s ".,.,.~.! ",.,'., '+"""""'~i" •••• ',' • ._.'.'.'. ;.. •••• '.' m ••••• ". I,., .,- .,',' _. ,,' '''! -,-,- '"'''''' 387

'Wf:, should revisit the past to learn k~ssoWl.s from it. Ev'ery nation underwent significant landmarks in theiir history that highlighted great and ~adent~dJ men andwomen ~ and leaders, who changedthe course olf history.

This book miii a "biography of some of those unique people who were renowned of their sincerity ~ magnanimous feats, and great influence, They emerged 'when Istamwas about to filde out an d. w hen the enemy was occ [I [iJ:ylng more than hal of the Levant, The Mus~ lms at that [i me were div ided into small territories and were :ru led by scanty eutonomous governments, The caliphatein Cairo and Baghdad was only I name. The: Franks had necupied Muslim territories for III ore, than ifUty Yell'S" They were huge :i n number and backed by EUlm~e.

The, Muslims th(nlgh~: U~e.y were to live i:11lJ thls unceasing phase of trouble and strife", Then along carne two men who raised thebanner of the Bver-Glorious Qur'an and awoke the people ren['incl,illg them; 'of their freedom, After that the M~'ls,~w'lns had the upper hand and achieved :a great v ~ctory "'

It is irnpo:ScSibi€ to be defeated 'i!j nder the shade o f the Ever-Glorions Qur'an, However, dl¥er~ence from ehe Ever-Glorious Qur'an, dui,lil,g, injustices, and following OMt desires are fatal mistakes that ha ve ,~J 'I'N,ay S broug ht about loss and ] nferi 01' i ~y . Ttl] 5 'iN ~s the

methodology of N ur ad-Din and Saladin: 10 bring people back to the Ever-Gtctious Q'Ur"~111 and show them '~~R~ wayto sal vation,

This book recounts their story when they freed. the. shackled M U 5i lm ihn n mho and re stored I h e 'ill" su b I ~ I11C pos i l i o~ ~ 11 the world.

This book in hand is a translation of :lIJ.H Arabic book tided LM'(dd,l'fJsat .Kitab A.r-Rau~d{lI.'.(j_wl Pi Akhbar A.dr,Da~vJ{uQ;)!'t'd compiled by Imam Abi Shamah, revised by Dr. Muhammad MlIS~l Al-Shereef and puhlished by Dar Al-Andnlus Al-Khadra', Since translation is an arduous task that requires precision and dedication, we ha ve exerted ourselves to produce this precious work, 'but perfection 'is only Divine .. In addition, due to [he delicate nature of the subject as well as the special style of the Arabic l~,mglulge~ the translation in hand is net literal: our translarors and rev isers have done their best to render the text presentable and legible, On various occasions they 'have amended [he: Arabic text by \V"y of paraphrasing, rearranging and summarizing.

Al-Falah Foundation would like to thank Taf'at Faruq, Nh"v,an

TH'I!";'"iI;~' \. ~I:..l<'",~ r S··'e. 'I;if~ F;;II, rii• ill 'R' ·'l'1.q '!I 1r1id' , :S··l'I" 'U",I ·N···· 'lll·ll. \\d10 trans ~ ated the ... AI! .II.~II., 1~.1 r.~ . 'A II!i~j. A'. I" ~ . ".; .~ ~ .. H·. ,.'"" .U ... ~\J' ~.' ... : .. I "'~!,;) . .I~I, ... Ik .. '

book, Great apprec iarion is due '1:0 Sf:'] nUl Cook, A bde I. Haml d. I~' i.wa and Ahnuu:1 M'~ Hasan: our editors and revisers, under whose guidance. and supervision the subject matter took form"

Finally, we ask .AU~h ~'O make tn is work of benefit for Islam and the Muslims and to forg':ive 'Our errors and omissions. All praise and thanks are due (0 Allah, without Whose Help and Guidance nothing can be. accornpl ~ s h ed,

All praise and thanks are due to Allah who raised the minarer of this. true rellgien and exalted its rank by the 'hands o~· the righteous peop ~e und the true be ~ ieve rs, Such, people we re as subl i me as .s'[~rfi; :i n the h~~,\I,eFi IU1,[I, the moon on j,]j, d~lrk wllghl..

[ 't.esdfy I~:!h~n, there is no god 'b'!JJ[ Allah and that Muhammad is FBs Servant ,::IJnd Faithful Messenger, He is, the Mas[e:r of a~1 Creation, m~oy A llah's peace be 'LI,pun him, his, household and Ccmpanlons.

The glorious history or Is lam is a great cant ri bu tion to II ~ nation s ~ as it is filled !tlJ~fh determination and iglfl'~les such emotlons In our souls, Muslims WnLUTh1jn~decl the world. after nassinu throuah ,fl, lonn

r ~ - ~

period of darkness, They raised i),I:1 insurmountable civllizntien and g~lary _ They became the real hearers of Is~,ain and, saved it from, devialiol:'i and bewitdemess, as lhe,y exerted all their eFfar1[ 1.0 uttnin the standUlds. our Lord, the Almighty prescribed. The earth WI1S adorned with their' tight" and the heavens were embellished with the nob! ~iI,y of martyrs: who, we'[",e great examples of devotion and sincerity, ,Regard!es'~ of the ,~liL~rdng example of [he pious, there have ;;ll\vaY$, been stubborn and urrcgum disbelievers ]ndul,g:im,g more and ImO,I~ im the vmti:~.y of U:1l:is life and adhering to fm~g,ehood., wihl:le iuminga dle:,lf earan d a hi 'i nd eye to I~he It ru [h., They con sp L red a.g ~j nst the v icteric us arrn, i:md gat he red thei r fore e s to eneou nte r h" Til us 1 he :M us I irns were compelled to launch raids und attack them bade This Is an

example of one of the unalterable Divine WIlyS: Whenever the. Muslims finds no way out, the kingdoms of polytheism assemble letting eve.ry false person launches sk.inilishesaga:ins[ them .. then Allah, the Great and A ~nli,ghty ~ endows [he believers with a great victor)' and thus the disbelievers are- disappointed,

\Ve know from history that since the lime of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon hun) url'ti! now the disbelievers have attacked the :MUSUrlilS many times. A'~n1ighly Allah gays, Do [)(!oJ}'te think that they !!lj~iN be left aloue because ,tiley' say: iWe ben{!l'fj" i ~md' wil'! nat be tested. ~(~)

It is beneficial for M ~,sJWI11,:S to explain 'these facts to people as there are many m i sconception s a bou l Is ~ am and. M LIS i im s. Furthermore, ~~roijghkoowirLg these things the believers will be reassured that victory will come even if we have to wait and be patiem for a period of time. Allah, the Ahni,gh'~y says, A.I~d {1m tha; Da_'!; Ihe believers (i.e. ,wlrt.dim.'fl) N:jj~in rejoice ~ ~'I'j:th the he.lr of A,Uoh.H~ JUd(Hl whom He \'j;'iU.~, r.Wtf He is the An~ Mig~'~ly. {'Ire, ~40.'I;1 M(t.',i"C£ft,d- ,,(2)

There are parallels 1'1"1 history to what we are :fac:ing ~oclay,,, We can find similar examples of strife and conflict during the dYTlast~~s of the two great rulers: Nur ad-Din and. Saladin. Understanding ~~e h'l stor i ca II context of such challenges is beuefleialto Musl ims today, so I decided to let the reader know about the events: fhlUjt occurred at the time of Nur ~,d,-D'in ~l'i1d. Saladin.

Ini l La 11y I i VI ten ded 1'0 wr;~'te a biograph y fIJ.I1d C ompose an all-inclusive book until Allah guided and enabled IDle ~D read Imam Abu Shamah's great book Kit,[jb It r-Rawdatay» Fi Akhbar A.d-·Dcl~fVl(uay.w~ (The Two Gardens ()I~ the Hi story of [he' T"YoDy nasties) i Thus, I

I ~ AI~" Anl{,[I'bll.l: 2. 2" Ar-Rum: 4,~5.

Forewo rd X::U I

decided i~:O abridge this book and set aside [he idea of composing a. book of 11U"1 y own,

:fijjrst, it has an all-inclusive narration of significant historical events. Second it' gi yes a fuJI 81CC:OUl1t of the feats of the, two rulers: Nul' ad-Din and Saladin, This is extremely significant as, their biographies were, great, especially that of 'N~.Ir ad-Din. Indeed, hisbiograplhlY capti vated me, I bel ieve that bo [h. grea; rulers w i] 1 be A 'I:~ ah t S argumen t against the presidents ,InC! kings of today,

T'blirtt the events mentioned In this book are" similar to 'what. we witness today, The crusaders dominated the holv lands and the ICO~lSl

,~ .J'

of the Levamr(lJ for a long time, Theil Allah sent Nur ad-Din to fight in

Allah's Cause against them ul!iitH one G·f his rulers, Saladin ~ managed UO restore al-Aqsa mosque and defeat them. This is similar 'to W~:l,~X is happening today; the Jews have been violating the holy lands for a Icmg; time and the Muslims are awaiting a leader who will defeat them a~a i n in the near future.

Fourth, dozens of :f~£[US that are mentioned in this book motivate and gi ve hope '~D the believers souls. A I SID" this book contams :many events that depict file great sincerity and faith these people had in, the Almighty. Furthermore. it ~]]ustrale8 the unity between the, sultans mild the schol ars an dhow th is ~ s nece s sary toattai n vic tory.

F~.fnl ! it mention s sorne b] ogr~.p hi e s of schol ars ~,v.I,Z]el,'S,~ and princes in addition to the biographies of the 't1VIO rulers tfHll serve 1,0 en rich lh i s great book-

-

1. II includes the' cutLt1l1Lt~e's hcrderl 11 g on the ea stern M'ed:i te rranean Sea fmin TUJI rkey

to JEgypt ,.

B 'is noteworthy here to mention Judge "Abd ar-Rahim al-Bisani (Judge al-Fadil) 'who was the advisor of Saladin. He had 3 great impact on Saladin and supported him in the 'way of .lj;had; thus Saladin said to the lenders. of b~i:s army, "Do ~10'~ ever think dun we' conquered rerritorles by your swords; we did so by the pen, of Judge al-Fadjl."

M lb '" t th ~ k ,,' y contrl "'~. unon to '_~ ~ rs ;:J!OOi~_

Kitub .Ar~l?awdata~Wljs ~ considerably large book and was published and. printed in Egyptin 1281 A.C. and ~ 288 A,.C., The 'book was written in a small font U1id could not be easily read; if the book hod been edited properly, l[ would have, been released in five huge v o~ umes: I found an ed i te d part that was pub I i shed i,11I ] 382. A. Ci in one v 0 fume but ill conta i ne d m i stakes Howe ve r ~ l his part is. very d iffi c u U. 1[0 find 110W~H:~,ays in, either public OlF private libraries, Moreover, Imam A ~~, i('Ill,..,.. .,' . 'l. I,..' m·· .. sel I: ,,. 1"'1 - 'd;- Ii ed t'14;' c, bo "0'· 1L. ,,,. 11 d lt 'W"11[! nrin [,,,,,.4 in t~ w,c", t"l.![J U ,.J; ul,llJrnl(l]~. ,] I, , ::;: ~. . ,~,l,! n~'1f;j II;:: ~ ~,~.I.oJi . ~ l\ ~~ _ .. ~ - ~ ~ '" 1 ,I, _ .• C'U ~ ~ ,I ,~ . .

volumes and verified by Mr. Ahmad ~d~BayS'UIn:L However, it lac ked significant events that included 'lessons and examples for mankind today:

Due to the aforementioned reasons. I decided to abridge this book, Kitob ,Ar~I?',mvd(lIaY'H Fi Akhb{tr AdwDnwlu.uilyn, The procedure of B'JJy work was as follows:

.. l rem a ved from the hook all the even ts til at 'had no s:j gni fi en n L lesson foil:' the reader, Also, ,I t,eITIOVOO, any unnecessary digressions and details in order [0 mlnimize the hook; [~S I am sure that a huge vol U me CQuJ donI 'j be read, b:r- a sma ~lll numbe r of peop 1 e .

• The author, Abu Shamah, used [,0 narrate the event twice: [he first tiline according to a rhymed nanntion of "Imadad-Din al-Asfahani and the second time ~KconJ~,ng. 1,(,) the narration of Judge nJIlJ Shadd ad i J btl Ab~, T i:UY y Or others ~ hu [ con tai ned no rh yrnl8s. Th u s, I

Foreword XV

decided to use the n a rnu ion 1 hat had no rhy rn es and I :i ncluded 1.1: hi this summarized work, might ha ve combined them if al-Asfahany' s narration 'W~]5 of benefh and if it mentioned other narrati on s.

'. ] adapted most of these narrations in a way that is cohesive 'with [he context [0 'keep the :ilneamling U Inc hanged",

Finally, I ask AJ lah l1H~ A lmighty t to grant me success, knowledge void of ignosance, a feat withnut hypncrisy, words spoken truthfully and. faithfully ~ a state of trustworthy ethics and, sagacity 'with sinceri [y. .. iO A llah, may You never .iel down the believer who ]S committed to You, nor refuse ,£\ hand stretched DI.],t for Yom- aid, nor humiliate a soul which is mighty owing [0 believing :in You. nor deprive a mind. of its. intellectual power ~I,S this 'mind is enlightened by tbe I ight of Your guidance. 0' Allah, ~nay You never blindfold an eye [hat 'is opened by virtue of YQIUV grace, nor .gag a tongue that Is used to 'praise YOlL As You are graceful, endow LIS with Your bounties: my destiny ~s in Your hand, ~ny face prostrates to YOI!], righteousness and graces are Your due because of Your greatness and 'IDY dOO~l1. is predestined by YOLt

!\1,ay You envelop us in the mantle of in fa~,~ ibility iu this transient life, adorn us in the everlasting abode with the embellishment of security and let our souls be weaned from seeking worldly pleasures, Mrly Allah's Peace und Blesssngs be upon Prophet Muhammad, his household und ~.ll I'.~s ConllP~Hl ions. An praise and 'thanks are due [0 AJI,~h.

Muhammad Musa AI-S.h.a.reef

He is the ,,gre:lt Imam and jurist, "Abd ar .. Rahman nUL Isrna'il Ibn Ibrahlm, born in Damascus in 5'99 ~~,"'H. (1,202 A.C,). A'O,l1l, Sham,~hql,) was hls rul'~ctnalne because he ~UJd ~ l)i~, mole above his, 'len eyebrow. He rec ited the Hol y 'Q'UT~an w hen: he 'was '9 years 0 ld, He pe rfeeted 'I:he various 'ways, of 'roc ita {i,OIll s when he w ~lS :11 and he learnt the f:rop,hetk traditions. He worked as a teacher, defivered ~e2:i:lJ.1 opinlona, and excelled hl the Arable [a~gl11g,e.

He was modest: he never rl 'VaJ led. W 11 tb others '[,0, ga 1:]1. ~e;\Jv ~OSit]OHS. or posts. He preferred seclus ~ on and 'he pursued know ledge since his early childhood until the dayhe passed away,

Two men, presumably from, the S~C'~ of ~'['-:~n.I.~llJiyya~, who were renowned for killing scholars and pious men carne 'to him pretending [hat 'they were asking him JOf' a 'legal opinion. They bent him severely a.1f1ld no one con ~d. come to hi s aid, as his hOU51 e w as j n the suburbs of the c'jilty •. He died rill ,~9ll~ of Ramadanin 6(15 A.H. (I H~,9 A,.'C.) (m,~y the mercy of A.U~:h be ~Llpon hiIIU).,.

All praise is due ~,{J' A.lI,~h,h 1$ through PEls Kindness thet our deeds became acceptable und it l S through His Generosity and Bounty that our hopes are rea i ~ zed. 0 U r cleed:s,;;~ re sub ject t 'J! Hi 5 'lJi;l i '~~, find accord ing to Hi s Wi ,I], til i ngs e hange. G'~'Qry 'be to Hi In 1 he :B \I eli ],::lJS;~ i ng, the Knower of the Unseen 'und the Seen. the M'ost Grear, the Most Hi g h, the Acceptor of repe il:~a[lce~ the S evere in pu ~1 ~ shmen r, the Bestower (of favors), Wf~, praise Him ~or all His Blessings and Bount i!e s. All .p~L~ee :U'Hl prayers be H pen Hi s Prophet and .7VXie.sse;n,ge:r Muhammad ibn .• A.bd.una.·~~ tbe owner [)'f tbe t'ntghesl honor, lofty grace, deep -rooted ~ 1.10'W :~Iedge:. beau l j\ ,an d per feet ion, May the peace and lbh~~s,in.gs of AHah be upon him, the closest angels I~.he Prophets, the !:'Jles~.enger.) .. and a.]~ those who ~fon,o;w i:11 their footsteps whenever a . star eclipses or shines, lVl::ay .A.'ilt'lh forgive those who are negligent and llal,y in their worship from ~]nil.(m.g (he nation Dr Prophet Muhammad and mav 'we be resurrected amana his Comounions and under his

~ ~ J~

[1] After I spent most of mylife learning rellgious knowledge and ~:i.~.'er~uy masterpieces. H' [hough~ It.l~~!l·1 .] shou~d turn my ~Uearlll1:;rm 10 the study of history hoping thut ]: may benefit from i[. and find tl true example in our blessed ancestors, Our I rnams used to tell us about thei I' great ness;

Musab az-Zubayri said about Imam Abu "Abdullah ash-Shafi' i (may A.11r!h be pleased W'ilh him), "'n have never known a person who is more knowledgeable of history than ash-Shafl' j,; I! ,AL')o it was reported that he studied history and literature for twenty years and whene vel' h~ was as ked abo [U that be wou ld an s wer ~ ;! I di~d so onl Y to master fi'iqh (Islamic Jurisprudence)."

This wil I be of great benefit for '~IS. as the history of former nations and their successors is full of useful examples and lessons, A'I lah, the Alrnighty, says,

~ fhrd all tku! \lIVe relate I'D yO!" (0' ,/ilhJ:JwnmuJ'd) of,~he' ,ti~'WS of 'he messengers is iu order ~h,at It\fe ~,~,!ajJ nu;,k.e Sfrong (md !i,rm yow' heart ~h~,1·el;y. Aud ill this .has come U) .\i(N,~ the ttufh, as 'w,eU as {In admonition mill' a H:f1-III'I.{:ter/m- the believers: ,,(.1 i

And,

4- A,~~'d ~~~\dcc,d lhe re luss {'olne. 1:'0 thetn Ne I,~:'S (i"n th if;' Qlli j" ~o rI.) L-V'il.el-e~:.f~ there is (eNough vl.!arnrng) to check: (them Iram evil], Perfect w~sdon, trhl:'i: Qw··,m:), bu: (thr: pr,r;:odl.ing on WlJn~el'S lJc'WJ~IS them no,t ,,(2)

ln add i t kn ~1, our Prophet (peac e be upon h]1 rn) na rrated some even ts about what happened during the pre-Islamic period and the times of the Children of Israel: he (pence be u,pon hi m) sald, "Retare :1f~,t: »tories ,oflile CJ"i'hJrel'i (]f,iH'£u!~ (~,~t'ich have bee'li {alight M yoU}", for it is l~Ojf .'iil~fi;'IJ 10 do ,,1'0, j..[3~ Also, he (peace be upon him) narrated WlfH1H he saw during

the Night Journey,

L Hud: 1211

2:, "11;, 1·Q:nlli'lHr: ,4-~,.

J" Repo rted In}' al- B ukha r ii,

~2.]j The Companions of the, Prephet (peace be upon lhl]m) and the Followers continued to, sUldy the ,aCCOUJll.U~ of previoas Il,ations;, their travels, poetry, etc" As they are Q,tlf fine examples, W~ should follow run their footsteps, Hence. I tumed ~,H my attention to this field and read studiously. I spent I long time searching and studying, At last, I managed ~ praise be 'to A~,~;flh '~ 1[0 [earn much abour the Prophetscthe Messengers, the Companions, the Fo'I]Qi\'hH~;rS'j, the Caliphs, sultans, jurists, the scholars. of 11luIUh" the pious, poets, ,~rmfnn:UHili,m:ru;~ mud '1]1 ~~,'fmy 01 hers, m: d lseovered dla:l readi ng '~he history of those people is like living with them attheir time,

I would like to quote these two lines (,)f poetry:

A Hah destin ed !US '~O' be the ~a;sl[ nation and showed. us the tid I,ngs of the former nanons ~liIJ order LOI be warned about what happened 1.'01 them, We should Ifon,o\'~-l in 'the footsteps of 'fil:ue Prophets and good Im ams w ith whom we hope to be gatheredin Parad ise; as everyone will be giJthered (on the Day of Judgment) with those whom he loved most,

[3] The person 'who ts ignorant or ~ls'Lor-y is like the rider ora, blind beast which wanders aim:~less]"i. lie rrlJay ,aJssigll ~h~ accounts of [he former nations to ~:~e modern and vi c e versa, I:f be is retoned, 'I~, w iTI make no, d ifference to [1] rn, If he i ~ rem inded l. lh e \vHii not take 'heed." He does. nan distinguish between a Companion ~nCl ,m Follower a r...J·i 111'·· n·',If, 'f~""~ low , .. ,-,: """f- 'I-n·'~I" A"· Jil..'~'l Hanifa -11)· BI''i'~11 ;"Ii, eot;.adT'i {:!1L ,,t;:'A'~]""','wer of

!i:""1.~l, Id, J '![_!Iil ,'l..IrU· .. , ··,er LII' I I~"_ •. c;UI!.! ,f"lg., ru ,;t;!, _ '!l!I,~~1!.!JI ~ .JI'~L __ ~ '1,.'.': Jlv,i~v ' v.

Imam nsh-Shafi' ]}~ a Caliph and a prince, or a sultan and a minister. Such ignoran! persons do not, know about MuJ'a~'11,11ad ibm ~ Abduflah (peace be upon h:~m) 11110re [han [hat he was a. messenger; consequently, they know nothing about the Companions and the F O~, ~ owe rs.

[[4.] ,~ witnessed au assembly of l~lh-[een SChO~Rrs including jhe Chief Justice and ether dignitaries, They 'were discussing the issue of ~,k,-" relatives of the Pronhet W]11i"'1 were r.orbidcl ~,I1,' 'to,' receiv :'ii,"" lms. TI-.e:;

Ibl,~,e I r;... ,Lll ~ ,,", y ,~~~ _. t" ,0 ,'~ , ,v , .,."...., __ . e, , ~" .... '\.- I, ~ '!!lI,,_I." ,,1,1'j

n "d II'TI~l fH hOd '~ , f "Abc!

(],,' sa,,," ~ ,1(;Y ail:'C 'n,e :Bons 0', !' , as " 1m, au, [le: SO~ilS {)'; , "" , I

al-Muttalib." Actually, they were am wrong and 'K wondered at their ignorance as they did not differentiate between "Abd al-Murtalib and ul-Muttalib: !they didnot recognize '[h~l al-Muttalib was the uncle of ~. Abd al-Murtalib "VhOW~lS the son of Hashi rn, This is neg~~ge[Jf'H! This maneris at principal past of [sbunic8Iuf.Ti ;'ah which they neglected and an important brunch of knowledge which they di,e:! not take heed of. According 10 the judgment of those people, the sons of al-Mmtalib aile to be stripped of this moral excellence,

:~ sincerely wished LO seek Allah's Pleasure and J: rejected to be like them, Thus, .li began to study history. ascribe things back to their true SO~lrc8S and explain their destination, This hi because a lot of those who knew about the words of people neglected t-o ascribe them to t~~;ii:r rea lewners.

[$] Then, l wanted to, compile these events 1..11.[(;) one book t~nd master what ] had learned. So:' I resorted to the biggest book ever wl'IU,e:11 in this field: Tarikl« i\lhuU~W'f DhnndJ..q l The History of Damascusl arid managed Ito abridge ~[. Tarikh N1adiluu Din~a.~h(j was 'iN ri tten by the in I t hori l a[ i ve ex pert A tlu al -Qas lm 'A li i bn &1- Has an ul- ~ Asakri (Ibn ~ Asakir), arid it consists of eight hundred parts

publ ished .In eighty volumes, In this great book, '~ read the biography of idngNur ad-Din and I was del~]ghted, te know about him aJnd I was irapressed to know about his great influence, Then I read about ~,lng Saladin. At their time they were ]i:ke. the two R ightly-guided Caliphs Abu Bakr and "Umar (~nr~y Allah be pleased with them '~1'1.) .. AU of the m. followed i Ji1 the 'Foot steps of the Proph et (peace be upon h im) in. ,. istiee '7i""'..;a J,."/:, . .,.J., thev {'o·- .. tared '10 effort ro strengrhen Isla m', Thus .]

JIIJOJ!d"",. ~hy - ~ !Cl.u; ~. -.J >!I1."·c . L. 0._ ' •• W~· _ ..... I~~ ..... 1.1 _. _ ~;:O " .I,U",,;,I

discovered tha~ lt was essential [0 highligh~: the superiority of these t\VO great rulers, i.e, Nur ad-Din and Saladin,

Uj'l I dec ided to designate ,[ffi study abOIJ11t l he irk in gd oms i ncl udi ng their achievements and presenting them in such a w"~.y that guides any ldng who does not know them personally and does net [ollow their example .. These noble kings may lye an argument from Allah against (he kings and. leaders 0.[ our time, Allah the A·lnli.ghty says, \~ AntI remim:l for verilv, remiur:iiHg profits tke believers. ,:( l)

The ~ l ngs of au I' t imes can never regard thernse I ves to ever be ~ ike the Rightly-guided Caliphs and, those who followed their example including the former Imams. If some of 01lJf kings todEitY allege [hal .[ hese former k i m1 ~ s belen ged to a t j, [me go 11 e by and that the Rightly-guided Caliphs were peerless, the biographies of these two recent rulers are an argument against them. Consider the words of Abu Sa Ii h Sh u~· lay b ibn 11 arb ~·!I=M.iThd a 'ini (:~nay AJ l.ah be pl ea sed wit 11 hi I.n" in order to grasp what Imeun, "I think that Sufyan ath- Thawri rn.ay be brought on the Day of Judgment as an argument rrOITI Allah against peop te. They wi U be. told ~ 'If you did 11 ot see ycm:r Proph et, you have ~ll re~llcly seen Sufyun, .EIL would be better for you to follow hi.s

~ III

eXa1l1pil.e;

[7] Thus, these two rulers are an argument. against. the kings and sultans of our l.i me, They were closer to one another bo~h rnrn age and the dnration of lh~~Jr reign; Nur ad-Din (may Allah have miercy CHlJ him) was born In 51. I. A,H. I( 11 ~ 7 A .. C.) and died in 569 A.H, (1].7] A .. C .J; w h.~ le S aladin (rl1;ly A ~ lah ha ve mercy on hi m) 'was borni n 532:

A ... lt (M :[37 A.C.) and died in 589 A"Hi {:l19J A.C.). They 'both lived 'for less than shay years,

Nur ad~Di.rnl ruled Damascus in 54'9 A,. n, {] "~,54 A,C')j' while Saladin ruled h ill 570 .AJ·-[ (1 ~.74 A.C.). So, Damascus remained under 'Nrulr ad-Din for 'twenty years and for nineteen years under Saladin where. 8v~:I. deeds wen! u .. prooted and good ones prevailed. Nur ad-Din restored things by means of his justice, striving and ~ravl~.y, 'He succeeded in bri.mg:ing the [ight of Islam into many territories, Saladin strived. m ore , took part in many wars and. brought many territories

....

u nder ~he realm of Is bun" Furt hermore, he ma naged to restore 'the

Sacred lund, i.e, Jerusalem, 'May A.H~h 'be pleased 'with those two great rulers who deserved such a praise:

[8] Some meritorious scholars 'have already preceded me ln writing about: the exploits of these two kings like A.bQ~, al-Qasim 'J~ .. : i ibn al-Hasan ad-Dimashqi who wrote well about NLIJ ad-Din Mahmnd ibn Zruull1gil (may AJ1ah have mercy upon him), Also, Abu Ya'!a Humzah ibn Asad ar-Tamiml wrote about Nul' ad-Din's reign; 'while sheikh '~]2.Z ad-Din Abu, al-Hasun ., Ali ibn Muhammad ibn "Abd al-Karim ;1L1-J~lri (Ibn al-Athir) WI'O[,e .a\JOU[. the reign of Saladin, Judge Baha' ad-Din

Abll ~~]-Mafu;~sin Yusuf ibn Rafi' ibn. Tamim al-Musl 1,[ (Ibn Shaddad) wrote about the explohs of Saladin and his conquests, and Imam ;, Imad ad-Din al-Katib Abu Hamid ,Muh~UI11.I.TUld, al-Asfahani composed two rhymed books ~i1 a wonderful style about the conquests of Saladin and his biography and about 1:he last days. of Nur ad-Din.

! depended upon the 'works ,o,'f 11=Q'~di (judge) ~.II-Ea(Hl . Abd ar-Rahim al-Bisani, the poetry of "bin,ad ad-Din al-Asfahani and. other books and poetic works, ,A.I SIO~ I depended on some trustworthy people who l.i ved at that H me" Th is broug h~ about a wonderful book tha: m titled Kitab ,.4.,.."Rilwda/,ayn Fi Ald11;u::lr ,A,d'-DI(I'Wla.t(:~~W',i, [literally J The Book of the the Two Gardens on the History of the Two Dynast ies J ( I ) ,

May Allah ha ve mercy 0[1 Habih ibm A ws who said:

A',U ~:}. .. _A ~._ .' _~ Iuj .. _.,

MU~,,;~M~ ..... , ... ~' .. '-

.. -1.'-1 .. 'T---!P."'~' _" -~-'I'- -- '~'-'-',' '-' . ~.,

A ;1 j:l..;u~ - n s tt. ....... I; ... ~

N~~,~ WMe:~~,ti;,,~,~

Chltp,fe.,~ I

N'Ur~ f£d~D1n Itlahmud Iben ,Zan,gi

His full name is Nur ad-Din AblID. al-Qasim Mahmud ibn "hnad ad-Din Atabeg (Abu Sa"]dJ :Zanl~) ibn Qasim ad-Dawlah Aq Sunqur at - Turki, Also, he 'was ca,!1 ~ed Zangi and Ibn al-Qasi m.

~:9] The scholar, Abu al-Qasirn (Ibn "Asakir), menrioneo In his book that Nul' ad-Din was born In 5]11 AJ~" (I] ,~1 A"C,,). His grandfather Aq S U nq ur ru I ed ,AJeppo and ot her pl ac ~8 in the Lev ant:

'w'hJle his 'father ~ngi 'was broughtup i,11I. Iraq. Afterwards, he ruled Mosl1~ and the Levant Zangi conquered Edessa, ~~=Mill'aJ'llth~Knrr Tab and 'many other cities delivering 'them from, the disbeiievers,

When 'Zilngl passed away, his. ,SO"l) Nur ad-DIn. succeeded him in 541 A.,H. (.1 146 A.C,). Nur ad-Din conquered Aleppo and many other cities. In Aleppo, he supported am attempts to apply the prophetic Stt:lf1nm~ concerning .Iiriium' {caM to prayer) and he devoured the evil plots and, discord of the dissenters. He estubl ished schools, charities, and spread justice, Aliso; he besieged Damascus twice and conquered ill, ,ttlhe third time, He estabfished i'~s regulations, fortified ir, buill schools and mosques, paved roads, enlarged market places, Mopped excessive taxes, punished those who drank 'wine aJ:U1d de~i]vered the fortified border cities (Baniyus, ,~,~-,:Jv].tlnay~:irah and :maJily others) from the enemy.

[11.0] He was a great warrior and a good archer. He WOIIj,I,cl, march at the front of his fellow' warriors praying '[or martyrdom and invoking the, AJm!wghty to resurrect hirn on the Day of Judgmera from the stomach S of beasts or the (;];OP5 of hi rd s,

[H] He (may Allah hav61nercy upon him) dedicated an endowment for [he s ick, the cal ligraphers, an d. the teachers of the Ever-glorious Qur'an and. the inhabitants of Mecca and Medina. He be s t ow 00, kwge pieces of land on the Arab princes ~n order that ~lhJey would not increase the taxes on the pi lgri rns, Furthermare, he ordered [hal a \~I:aH be built around Medina and that ~ 'wen be dug in Uhud. He built bridges and dug many canals, Whatever ~;h~ did in Damascus, he did [he S ame iu the other ci ti es that were under his c ontrcl.

[I2] He C~IPU!'I-,ed SCHne Frankish princes and defeated the forces of the Romans and, the Franks in a place called Harim; 1Il f~"tJcru·,es.s ~r'IJ Aleppo. Furthenncre, he managed to control many villages in Antioch.

r:~,3] He, conquered the Egy:p~~an cities which were about to be completely invaded 'by 'the enemies and he revived the, Sunnah d)f '[he Prophet (peace be upon h ~ m) ,~~g:~)j ~1 and stop ped a II h e resies,

[14] He was .n good caJ 11 ~ grapher, fJJ. S,d10 I ur of reli gion and .!1 follower of I(me Sunnah, He was persistent m performing congregational prayers, excellent in. reciting the Ever-glorious Qurqan" incorruptible and keen to do good deeds. He wag provident and used [:0 seek lawful means conceming food and clothes. He W'~lS never heard '[0 be obscene whether he was sa.'tisfk:d or angry, He was keen to hear a 'word uttered for the sake' of AI~~,ah or some advice that was compatible with the purified Sunnah,

['15]1 Abu al-Hasan ibn al-Athir said:

m heve read about the pre = Is] ~ mic period an d the h istory 'Of Islam un tl l our modern l~rn mes, bat ], ha ve never kn own aJ Hiller ~ except for th e Rightly-guided Caliphs and "Umar ibm "Abd al- "Azi':z - nobler than the just king Nur ad- D rn n. He devoted ~ ~ msel f [a, worshlpping the Almigbry, spreading J LlSIC]'ce). equipping 111:1e:n for Jihad; putting an end to injustice, g:h.dn,g alnts and conferring gifts.

[16] In s.~,~;l!®, of the V astness 'of ~his kingdom and treasury, he. never ate, drank nor dealt in what he really owned from his share of the booty 0,1" the 1110n~:y app:Qinted. for jhe pub[icgood of Muslims until he broughr the Fa.qihs (jurists) and asked for their religious advice and acted upon their verdict, Ienever wore ,~.ny unlawful garment like s~lk or gold.

[Jl,7] He pr'~l!le,n~~d drinking 0-1' selling wine an over the. Islamic b!':nds~ it was also not allowed '~O be shown in the markets, He whipped - according ~a tTh1e Islamic law = any drunkard, and ell people were 1 reared equally,

[':1 ,8] A fr ]end of rni ~.1Je from Da masc us who Wi11i ,fJL foster brot her of the daughter of Ma ~ in ad-Din I[:~e wife of Nur ad-Din, and her ,m~m:isle:r told me, !I Wiru~n,ever N ur ad-Din returned horne" 'he would sit i ~1 ~ is fa verite p bruce and hi s w ife wou ld serve hi rn, The n l she 'W Otl]1(1 le~ve him and go toher private place, He used to spend time reading the parchments, which the officials sent him, or :n~~ld'ilil,g or answering letters. Also, he used 10 pray for Jl!I. long time and read parts Qlr the Ever-Glorious iQ~ujan by day. When night came, he would pray .... .I:~htl (Night) prayer and sleep for a. while. Then, he would ge~, ~I,p in the middle of the' night, do ablution and pray urnil morning. I-Ie used to send an amount of money La his wife, but it Wl1S Ilol enough because of the high cost: of living. ThLm:S~ she sent me '[0 ask him for more, blJlli[ when I told him, hegot amg~y and said, 'IF rom where should I give her? I~ she not satisfied with her money? By God, .F am not rendy '[0 go to Hell-fire in order to 'meet her demands, If she thinks that [he money of the Musli ms which I have now ismine, then 'what. a bad wife she l:~! lt 'is '[he money of the l\tius,Hms. assigned for '[hei,r general benefit and 'i~ 18 allotted for attacking the enemies of Islam; only. ( min Ute caretaker of the money and I will never betray them, I have three S~OlPS in Hirns

~ll I ·11 I, .- ~ . 'i,_ II~

anci W~, l1iCSIO'W themto ner.

(] 9] Ibn al - A.1,h:~ r 5),[[ id:

:~~,e (il13J"j Allah h[lJ,ve' mercy on him) 'was a, man of good intentions There W~$ a. man on rbe islandwhowes distinguished by his devotion and pietyr Nur ad-Din used lO consult him" and seek ~l]S opinion, 10m! day, '[ he man W,~S in formed ,[ hal Nur ad ~ Di n ,I nved play in g 'PO~lO so much, so he wrote him, "I did no! know that yo~ ;play sport and torture [he :horses aimlessly and without religious necessity." Thus, Nnr ud-Din wrote back, "By AHrJJh,~ :~ do '!il,o;t play polo for mere SpO.1, and rec k l.es s ness, bu I we are in a fu!."[:i fied border ~~] ~ ''!l an d the e [lie my is

I" i rl .ing 'li"il.::i-'!I ii''' and ~1'11:!!'ad 'y to t"';lg'I~'~ us "W" ,,' 1", I~ I~ l he enemv know ~ '[11... ~ t 'W" C!! <. ~I' 'd'

~,u·_, l&. , ,Ij , II.U ...... ~..u U,;. ·~IJt "!....- .. ' \:.' ,\.J! J ~I·-. iwlL. !L.;I!II .' ,[,~ ~I . J ,\_. ", II"'_', ,U.lIJ '"IJ" ... ..3 ]Jo,rJ,. '~(I,IUI,

the horses, are resting, they wi ll anne], us from all sides. A]sQ" we .0,0 nor have the abilitv '[0 perform Iih,u} by· dav and night we must have,

- " " , " "I 'J ,'-' ,_, - _ ~ '" _ ~ (,_ ,- , ' _ -"" _ _ _ - __ , - _, _..;;" _ ,_" _

some rest If we leave the horses in their stalls, they will, g,H.J'( J.i~ aker an d n ~][ 'be ab lie to race" turn smooth ~ y 0]' obey the horsem en, in the, battlefield, By Allah]! ~hs.Jt is what made me play polo."

Look at till s unique ruler who surpassed ~l1Je sincere worshipers! :~( ]5 rare to find a person who plays ga mes for [he sake of All ah, Til i s proves. that he did not do anything aimlessly; ~11.is 'is the merit 'Of great rulersl

[20] Itt W'UJS, narrated that he was given ~ gilded turban from Egypt He did not bring j,'t to lhls house and when it was described to him, he paid no auention 'to it, While they were speaking about it, a poor man carne to him and Nur ad-Din ordered it (the turban) [00 'be given to him, S orne attendants wondered ~ '11 h 'I S n 01 good for s uc h (Jj rna n, If he is given something else, il will be better for him." But: Nur ad-Din said, "Gi ve it to him because I wish [0 be compensated for it in the Hereafter, II' The poor mantook i'[ and went to Baghdad where he sold it for six or seven h u ndred d in ars,

[[21.] Ion al-Athir said:

The prince Baha' ad-Din "Ali ibn as-Sukknri one of the c losest friends io,f Nur ad-Din, narrated, "Oneday I was with him in the battlefield in Edessa. The sun was behind us; whenever 'we marched forward, our shadows appeared i 11 front of US. When we came back our shadows were beliiind HS~ UUlS l1C' raced his horse while looking back and said to me, 'Do you know 'why 1: am racing my horse and looking back?" I said, "Nf,L~ He replied, 'This situation is like QUi' (worldly) life; it escapes from those who seek it, and seeks these \,I,r-'i10 esc ape from ir. II lIe re ~ q u ate th e 5~, t w o ] j nes of poetry:

7ks ~~e we ~ to. i~ U lihe AU.ulan/; dtc~w ,tkd,~ i#t~, '~l $~a.~, u; ~!~'WJVe4~, '1W1~ 1uwJ, ,CU1, d Ur ~!' 10' ~

['''] '~~, 'I A ,[-,u .'. ' ; I ~ <~ - .... .-,; 111.,,1'11 [1 -r~, _u],~1 St:l,lu.

Nur ad-Din (may Allah have mercy upon hi In) used to pray much by night and supplicate to A llab. Furthermore, he. was fond of reading,

[2_3] He a I so sai d:

Nur ad-Din was knowledgeable in Hanafi Fiql«, He knew nothing a bou [ .FLU) 0 t i C'i srn: as to I era 11l ceo. mod erat i on ,jJJ rtd j ustice we re his merhcdology - He learnt lladil.tl ,and t~ughl ll~, seekl ng only A Uah!s reward!

[:24J ~11 ifrrtct~[h.~IS austere ruler was a great example IfOir' all kings in the past, and the future ~IS he adhered to justice and equity. Furthermore, he completely abandoned all forbidden food" drinks, clothing, etc. Many of the k~,ngs of ~]:S time, ~ike those. of the pre-Islamic period. i ndulged in pleasures P'I)F~,ng no aucnrion ~,O performing noble deeds. However, N ur ad-Din adhered to Allah's commands and asked his followersto follow ~n hJs foctsteps. Undoubtedly, the one 'W]10 sets ,t~ good examplewill have his reward .and the equal reward of those who follow '~iIJ]m until 'the. Day of Judgment,

[2""]· Tb ] A· I . "...ill

'~ .. n a ~,~ ur sam:

One nuL.Y ask, "How can a person be described as austere whm]e he has expansl ve kingdoms and taxes are pt~jd, to him?" YO~l.I 'CHI1 answer s'aying that Prophet Sulayman (SOIOfillOIl) l~]ough his kingdom wus

'~,1]rg-e,~ WflLS th e Imost a 1).1 stere person of hi s ~ ~ me. Another example :i s our Prophet (peace be upon him) who rolled Hadramaut, Yemen, al-Hijaz and the Arabian Penmsula while he was, in fact, the moo'[ austere ruler ever known. Being austere means emptying the hean from love 0:[ ~h]s 'woI:l!cUy Iife, it does [lot mean having l1IJoth~ug in one's hand,

NUl ad - Di n was the fai rest k i n,g ever known i~ n mri s ~ i me; he exempted the Levant '(he Arabi ~i"i, Peninsota 'M"" - ...... ;fi--~ .;; - d the E'f,J\i'-- 'I"'"

~",!;!I_ P , __ ' '_ ~ _ '_)j""j, ,- _ ,_: all!J]'~H ._ 11_"_~'-!II_(I'~, ' ,";~.jI!lJ,:t ~lI]l _ ~n, I bJ p~HUl

cities from paying taxes, He used. to he~p ~~e oppres sed regardless of hi So status: as all peep le were equal in front 0 f him. He USIOO to 1 i sten to the C omp I a in~s of the oppressed a nd investigate these C ompl i9J ints himself That is Vi'hy he is. still popular lU)I~ i, I ~oday.

His justice is manifest in glorifying the acts of the purified Slulrf'aft (Islamic law) He used to say ~ "Weare created ,~J'ldl employed for its s ake i n order to carry out i ts comman dmenrs. r~

One day, he was playing polo ~11 Damascus when he S8J.W ,a man talking to another and pointing at him, He sent a servant for ~~he man to kn 0'\\1 W h.a:~ 'the preble 111 W(lS, The man told the serv ant ~ 1'1] have a d ispute over a. certai n propert y 'W i tb the j 115t l~d ng, And this ls the boy of [he judge [,0, summon him, 'I I' The servant returned to NLU ad-Din and told, hi 11m, about that, Irnmedurtely ~ Nur ad-Din threw the mallet :El;WRY aJ:nd. Ieft the p.JI,'ygroulHi headillThg for the judge who was - at that (line - Kamal ad-Din ash-Shahrazuri, He said to the judge, '"I have come here to the court ~] ke an yother person i:n order to be' tried, !SCJ ~.reat 1flI~e the same ,:]1S any orher person, II 'When the man carne and sat beside the defendant (Nu,r ad-Din), the judge examined the case ,1'I1!d NUl" ad-Din

was, found not guilty, 'NuT ad-Din addressed the jndge and [he' peopi,e in 'the court, NDo :I owe him anything?' They said, ~~No."He said, "Please bear witness ~:hat [ bestowed 'the property that he claimed to be his to h 'i 'Il1Il;, I Il:: new that rn twas mine and [hat he d id not ha ve any r i gh~ to ~ t but I accepted I~O be ,5;1LIed in order that people would ,mOL think [hal I oPfJU!ssed hini, Since 'things have now 'become, clear, H' bestow it on him."

This is the highest degree of justice and equity, May A.~~:~lla bless hi s purified soul whicb 'was, naturally guided to the' right course o.f action "

[28] He continued:

Another evidence of his j u sti ee was tha t he never P1] ~1 ished anyo ne depen d ing on mere accusa t ion; he used to ask for wiraesses and! search for evidence incessantly, but 011ce ir was 'found he would punish the gu~hY' tlccordmm_g to the appointed penalry prescribed by Islamic law wi t hout delay. He abandoned the tort uou s me an s 0 f [he gove rni n g, bod ies dorn i nant El.1: his ti me li ke excessi ve .p un i shmen t S and suing people on mere suspicion, This led to the safety ~)f his kimlgdom ]'11 spite of its vastness. Due 10 justice :and, applying Islamic ,il]:w~ [he c rime r.!IIJe, greatly dec reased.

Someone whom 1 trusted toldme that one d,tty when Nur ad-Din entered the treasury, be notsced an amount of money" He, asked about ~;t Hewas told that the j ud g"e Kamal ad - Di n ,had sent i t aud tha,'~ ] t was from such and such ,a place, He said, "This money is n{)i'I, ours'; 'we do n or ha veany money in the p:~ace you menticned. n Them, he ordered the money 'LO be sent back ~o Kama ~ ad- Di n in order rha ~ he retu rn ~ t to 1 ts real OWHiBf. The treasurer 5811'[ it to Kamal ,md-Din who returned h

agmiilfii to him and suid, IfU the king asked again about the money, you shou ld tel I~ lh im that I sa i d. it 'be] on gs to him," When N 1lJ r ad - D'I n C a 'TIe again and found that i,l[ was. stil ~ in '[he treasury he denounced what he hmd seenand said ~1ng]'i[y, "Did :~' not order lhwJ this money must be sent D0JC'k to its, owners?" They told him what Kamal ad-Din had said. Then, he said, "Tell Kamal ad-Din that If he can assume the l'es:ponsi,bj:~ity of this :mol],ey~ I 1iIJ:m not able 10 assume its responsibility 'when the Al~[n'ight)' asks ITIe about it CHl the :D.~y of Judgment. i.

The following strange story is a. further evidence that his justice influenced others even after his deathl One da.:y ihere was 3i man who lmmigrated to Damascus and resided the \! permanently because of the [usrice of its ruler. i.e, Nut ad-Din, 'When N ur ad-Din died, one of his sold le ".e': encroac hed upon ~I' is m ',""TiI~ T' he" man went toc ..... ln1f'l.il]~':' il~"!;iU,t-·

,;)IV .. ~I,., .. ~I_V~, ~leu !JI,_'~ ~_)__ _,_iIl!,~i, ,_ _ ~ _ _ ,. v_ f""IlJI~, _I 6' _

nobody took any notice of him .. I;'I,e. felt great oppression and caine out of the court while asking for help, crying bItnelf:~~l arid. teasing his c:~,gth;e$. He cried "Oh, Nur ad-Din! 'Were you here now, you would certainly have meJlicy Om1 DJI!S. Where is the time of yourjustice?" Then he headed for Nur ad-Di 11.'8 gra-ve along with many people; ail of them 'were cry ~ ngand shouting.

When Saladin learnt of 'what had, happened he was advised to deal with this situation wisely so as to protect his people and territory, otherwise chaos would prevail. Saladin summoned thar man and returned his: 1"~lghl 'to him, relieved him and gave him a gift S urpri sing ~y the ulan cried louder (han before. S aladi n asked h im, ~'i'W'hy are "!DiU s~H~ cry",'og?! I!' The maJll answered, I!I cry for a king 'who n throu gil [raj, s j usti De r rn il n ue 11 ced others even a ner hi s deat 11, ~i S al adin sa id ~ "You are right ~ He ] So our master and ~'n ] s he 'IN h c L~~ ug h~ us how'

- ~_,~,' it- n

U], 100 II U5~"

l3,1] He went on [0 sm.)':

Nur ad-Din (may AU~1.:~1 have mercy mi hI1l1} was the first to build a court of justice, He stayed for a long tlme in Damascus along with his princes especially Asad ad-Din S11! rktli'h,~ the greatest prince and, the uncle of Saladin. Sbirknh wns the H10:s.1 important man Ito the extent that he was t~olllght to hi! a, partner in the rule, Those princes became extremely wealthy and they had fubulous amounts of property. They began to encroach upon one another and npO'11l the ordinary people. A huge number of complaincs were snbmiued to Kamalad-Din "tho dealt 'with them all, except 'those t~u·~.'n W~I-e against Sli11rku:h. Thus, he reported what happened too 'Nllr ad-Din who ordered the court [,0 be established as soon 'as possible, When Asad ad-Din knew that be gathere d al [ his representati ves and sai cl to them t "Y ou. s~ oul d. kn ow that Nur ad-Din estab l i shed rh Ii s court: on'ly for. .nl€; because I fun the only one whom Kamal ad-Din \IVUS not a,b]e to sue. By AH4:'!l1t~ I will cruci f~{ the one who wH'I: make J,lI1~ go to that court. Go to everyone with whom you have any ccntention and settle it with lh.~J11 with all cossible means even i:f he asked for aJI mv monev ~I Hi c.

J:-' .. - -. ... .. . . .. .- - - .. ~ . ',J ,I j . "I 5:

rep resentarives said "Had [he' ceoele kno .,\:VI"'i. ~'~ .... '1_ lh· .::I;jiJ' Vl0;':1,~."'~ ",,~"~n,'·~

" .. "" -.,~ . ;;!!. ~ . .. i:"" ....... .I!V· ~ 1\ .... ,_II 1~~;~!I'!l , . , ... J '¥ '~UJ ..... "'tvr:~

you." He said, "Losingall my wealth is easier than to be seem as a gu~hy and a haughty Opl,I~I''eSS01i by Nur ad-Din, H His representatives left h~~TI and carried out what he had ordered; they satisfied ull their rivals, When Nur ad-Din completed e~nab~i,f)lling the court, he attended two days per week with lI.'Ile judge and SO~Tl!e ,raqi.hsir~ order '[0 deal \~dt h the expected compla i nts. :B u t 'h) '( ~H31 r surp ri se ~ no one came to complain, especially against Asad ad-Din, Thus, N'Uf ad-Din 'wondered! "No one C81n.e to complain against Shirkuh." Kamal ad-Din told him what Asad ,ad.-Dil1 had done. Nur ad-Din prostrated if! praise to Allah and said, "Praise be to Allah Who made our people behave justly be fore bei ng sued be, f'ore U~; I~

C OIllJS ide r [11 i s wonderfu ~ ex a mple (I f .J usti ce 1, CQ ns ider the g real ness of this di,grllry! Consider [he wisdom of this policy! He achieved justice IN i ~,h out b loodshed or exce 53,i ve p e na ~ ty ~ hi s Sill C eri ty a nd good in EI! fit ~ om s were rhe rea 501:1 be hi nd his jl ust ice"

U],,'II 'Ii-T • d .. :1 .-:n'i l'" .... ,1 ,I,,~e a Uey"

His courage and wisdom were iucnmparahle. At times of war, he 'was the 1110cst courageous and patient, Moreover, his tactics were: unique and 'he was the best ['0 know about the affairs of his troops. In a word" he was a IT! ode I, ex ample.

[33], Ibn al-Athir said:

I ha ve heard .111 D1 my peop ~ e sa Y' lh~~i[' the,y had n eve r seen a horseman better than hi m. Hewas the: best polo player of his time. He had the j]b,i i ity to hi'[ the bal I! make his horse nut, pick up the. bali, and throw it agaln to the farthest point of the playground,

[34~ In t~m,es of war. :hle was the first to fight and he used to say. i'm' fought many battles and wished [,0 be ~l. martyr but T did, not obrain 111)' wish, iii IDn hezlri,ng him, Imam Qutb ad-Din au-Naysaburi toh] him, "l adjure you in the name of' Allah not 1:0 risk YOUir life. Islam amid ~he M: IJ sl i ITlI51 .for you. are 1 hei r hac kbon e"W ere )' au to be k i ~ led in a bat [l e '. [he 'Muslims would be murdered and their lands would be invaded, III Nur ad-Din replied, "What IS all this about'] Who am T tc be considered so important? There is One Who saved Islam and its lands before me; it. is the Almighty and there 'is. no god but He,,111

NUl" ad-Din (mKlY themercy of Allah be upon hi rn) 'was a strategist and he used his skin particularly with the Fnmks. He conquered most of their lands by I11lak'ung use o:W In'i'I'~t~ry tactics,

His mi lirary prowess can be seen In the wny he de~l!'~ with ,MaJih ibn Liyun, the king of 'the Armenians. Nur ad-Din infiltrated his CO~Jr[ and attracted the king until he became his ],oy,aJ C(.lMP'Ul.iOJrl. Jn this \~Hl.y, NlLlf ad-Din was able to make LIse of hi 1111 hil fighting rhe Franks, Nux ad-Din justified this by saying" ii\~h~u: made ~rne favor h im is that h ~ S c 0 untry i s fort i fi ed wi th bumpy roads and in v inc i b le castles, ,[F~U1'l hermore, he may au ack us whenever he wishe sand endanger the Musli:m 'lands. And rnf we want :[0 fight him, he 'will rake refuge in his c ast ~ as ;~~ nd 110 on e wil 'I be abl e to reachhim. Thu s, I deci ded to give him SCHue property and money in order 10 keep hl~, m on IQ ur side un 't~ ~ :h'e accepts 01.11" offer arid supp orts us again 5'~ thle Frank s.1I'I

Wben N~J.r ad-Din diecL his successors ad'op~ecl. i d ifferear policy, Hence, the successor of [he king of [he Armenians. al-Mutawalli, conquered a large 'p~\!r~: of t~l~; MlIsl,inl lands and fortresses and became a source of great d anger.

He behaved rnn an. exemplary manner w'i~~f1l his soldiers .. Whenever one of the rn was k i, ~ led, his property W';:1 S ,g:i v en to h is son. .~ f his son. wasmatu re ,~nou,:g h, he would be ~:~lowed 1[0 lake it ove r h imse ~[ If the son was still '[00 yOll.mg to take proper care of the property, 'N'ur ad-Din 'would ,mppoblt a 'wise and responsible man I~:O take care or it unril the son was matere and wise enough 'to take over the responsibility, This encouraged the soldiers and motivated them to 'I1g1ru'l steadfastly for they Ifelt sure that fhe lands were theirs and will move [0 their sons afterwards,

[31] Also, he would write the; names andweapons of the soldiers of every prince in a record lest some careless princes failed to offer all w hat he 11 ad d urin ill: ['I mes of war, 'When he 'W'lS asked about that, N UJ~"

ad-Din answered, "We are always at war; if the soldiers of every

, .~"-,,, ,--" '-', iii' ' ,~. id " , , iber d ~ '," - '" '11-" "M - slims would 'be'

prince were not rea Y in, nnmner ani arms, --.le.'_ ,u;:, 1:,;:1_ L,_ -'.

defeated, I ~

[38]1 He said:

Nur ad-Din carried out Inany projects for ~he benefit of the Muslim ] ands in order toprotec l. ,M us] ims and their territori es, J-I e buil L walls and. established caseles in all tbe territories of the Levant suchas Aleppor Hamah, Hlmsv Damascus, Barin, Shiraz, Manbi], etc. He spent great arnoun rs o f mone y 10 do these projects.

[39] Also. he establisbed Shafii and Hanafi schools 'in Aleppo,

t

Harnab, Damascus and other cities, He bu,itl mosques throughout [he

Muslim lands. His mosque 1[1 Mnsul was an architectural masterpiece, Nur ad-Din entrusted the process of bui lding and supervisiug this mosque 10 shei kh ~ Um:ar' al-Malla who was a very pious man. It was said. to N ur ad-Din, "This man IS '1101 fit for such kind ofwork, II But he' replied, "Were ]: to' give the job to one (If If'ny fellow soldiers or writers, he 'would, oppress and commit injustice from time to time, But if ~ give this job to sheikh "Umar whom I think of highly; he will not wrong anybody and ]f he does. SOl he will entails the sins not m,e.1'I1 Thus, he gave the others the responsibility of lifting any oppression.

[40]1 Furthermore, he bunt one of the most beautiful mosques .n Hamah at a~- ~ AS1 River, ]~n other chles, he rebuilt ahe Inos<ques that had 'been partially destroyed either by earthquakes or 'for any other reason.

I[ 41] He ])u1]1 it lot of hospitals: the greatest 'Of them, was that in Demascus. :nt: gained a lot of wealth and ill was told that Nur ad-Din did 11101 make It an endowment for the poor only but rather for i)J'~'~. :M:u is rui rns, ric h 0]' [K)OJr.

1:42] The reason for build ing this hospital IS ~, wonder according to what :1: have, been told. Nurad-Din (Inu,y the mercy of AI,Ia.h be upon him) captured one of the great Frankish kings. Later, this lk~ng paid a large sum of money to ransom bimself Nlur ad-Din consulted his pri n ces a! nd fde; nds but no one agreed to S\e1 th i s k Il1g free becau se of the great danger and thrent he posed. However, Nur ad-Din decided 10 take tile runsom ~ner he 'offe.,recill, [he prayer of f~'l-I.w'ikharali't I]. SO Nur nd-D i n took the ran som un d set the ki ng free at rnli,gh'[ so that his advisers :mi,ght not oppose him, 'Wh~n the Frau kish king: reached 'his country," he died. Nur ad-Din knew of the story and '[old his; advisers what had happened. They were aston ished at Allah's clemency 0]1 the Muslims since He gave them two loved things; the ransom money and the death of a dangerous enemy - Nur ad-Din decided to spend this mli'l em ey to bu i, ~ d th is g re at hos pl till and dec i ded it~i1 ut ~fI one. of 'the

ud lH ~ ~lor.t- "-li nd m"1l ri 111 ·-:. .. ,~ W-O·l11 ~ ,r--:I t, . .:.. Q' ~I Li"elil ~I~' becau Ci~ ~; ~lC-:'II'\J' np--~ n n L:'A('J- ~ 'L '[Iln the

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beg inni ng.

[43] fun ul .. Athir said:

l~:,e built inns along the roadside in order 10 sa ve the lives and property 0;[ rra velers. By doing SO,! he offered fIJ. warm comfortable :p'~ ace for travelers i n \~.! inter,

~44] Also, he built a 'lot of watch rowers along I:he borders with the Pranks and sent efficient soldiers with carrier pigeons 'in order '[0 send 'Wfl rn i ngs If 'U he y saw an y or the ene 1m ie s so as 101 g i v e the people a chance to take defensive action. Nur ad-Din Wi1S so kind ~'O think of protecting Hn.'e Muslims in such a \V3y.

'~_ II' is a pifaycl' 1 fI wh iC'Ih! the Mus:1 i m appe,ll~ ~ to A I] uh to ~ II i de him whether 10 choose Or 'iI!o~ Ill] 'L::+~OH~e: iH,:cF~,"Lr] matter.

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l''"f;j.w ~~, ,e sa~ 11.]1:

'N" - ad ]).. II-. ilt sch "I' J I ' , , . fc ,!'j)", S-, -ill tbr ,- hoi this

,,' 'U r a, - ~ ,! n lull I t SC y, roots ano 1101.1 ses 'or ~ ~ I:e ' ~ u " ! s[ ~ ~ aug, 0,[1 , ,:'

land s and spent a ]().t of money fa r l.h~l't pu rpose. Moreover. he appointed a certain allowances and used h) summou their leaders, honor them, and behave humblywith them- 'He used to stand ~IP to welcome .[tmy of them whenever they appeared and he would lnn,:fi;' him, Silt with him an a carpet and show great interest in him, He used to do ~:he sarnewhh scho lars; he wou lid ,~;'I olJify~ revere, an d respect tbern . He used 10 gather them 'when e ver the re was somethi n g that r,Bq n i red research and sci1o~att"ly opinion. Thus! scholars were keen to come to him frequently from djstan~ places fike Khurasan and evetywhere .. ,

[46] In s:un]m[ljl)'~ his ITIOst 'favored grou[Jwere the religious scholars whom he used to hold in a high and 'lofty position to the extent rhat the princes used to envy them. They used to backbite them in his presence but he would 'prevent them from doing so. If one of' his attendants criticized any of the scholars, he would reproach hlm sayi (1 "Who . S . ri fa U· ble? I '( bi n k tha I the eerfect oerson is the one

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whose sims can be c oented. 'iii

,~: was informed that a great prince envied Q'ulJb ad- Din an-Naysabnri, the Shwfl";.]_ jurist when :N ur ad-Din summoned him from Khurasan ~Ind 'was extremely generous to him One day this great prince spoke badly of him in the presence of NUl" ad-Din, who reproached him saying, "O [nan, were you 'right ~riI. what you allege about this man? I think he has two great traits which would make up his faults. They are knowledge and piety, But you and others who are like you have double of what you ascribe 'to him and at the same time YO,lJ1, do not have any good trait, Were you more mindful, you wo~i~d OL! more inclined '~o know Y01.U own 'faults. I. tolerate your faults while you 'have no good traits. So should I not tolerate a sin of this man while he had lots of good.

traits? By AJlli~h I cannot bel ieve what YOLll .5a~ _ If you say anything ill again about him or about E;UiI,y other scholar, I will, punish you."

[41J' He, bliUl an Institute for ~~EIJ,rn]ng and leac:h~il1g, Hadith. H} Damascus and allotted much money 10 iJ and to those who worked i~fl this project. According ro OHr knowledge, he was the first one :[0 build n n i nsti tute for ,1~1 odith,

[48] He also built rn~U1Y orphanages and spent a lot of money on the In and, thei r teae he 111 I'

n 49] He built many mosques ~nd set ap"rtan endowment for them and for the reciters of the Ever-Glorious Qur'an Indeed, this net was unprecedented. Someone who was expert in [be affalrs of I1Jt Levant told 'me that the endowments made by Nur ad-Din given in 608 A"fL ( rn 21] A.C~) amounted tn nine thousand dinars monthly,

[50] H_e added:

He 'was extremel y re vered and. venera ted, He was ham at '[ i mes but never harsh. FIe- wa s mild but n ot wea k. I-Ie was an exception a l exam ple; he ~ rnposed the :I!] ws om hi, S so ld iers and frie nds to' '[he utmost degree. Furthermore! he enjoined service on everybody regardless of his sUa1:I!lIS,

No prince was able to ~~dt down in his pres,ence w'jlthout ml\;ing permission except Nujm ad-Din Ayyub, the father or Saladin Yusuf. The other princes like Asad ad-Din Shirknh and M'ajd, ad-Din ibn ad-Dayah used lot) stand 1l111ll~.iJ he asked them to sit. Surprisingly l' he

used ~i',"" ,.;",r"!i,""'] il'p: :~,"'" .CI ~'~Ifi-I. ~i jurist '01" ~.I noor man entered A-' I;" for ~;L.'lj!i; ~'~"1;..lI. I!rV ~!!.~J~I!JL!\JJ ~~ y ~I~_. _'! I~' ~l~ '~~~l!!' l1}., 1(;11. r . 'I!J.IIU ~ill~,LU, ~, ~'!i..,.IlluIdJ. '" .lI "u.. ~~;I~

I atter, he: tI sed to bri ng h im d oser to his sitti ng place and '[real 'hhrn k. indl y, Whenever he g~l ve an y of t hem someth ~i mg, from the treasury, h e WOLl ~ d sa y ~ I 'Those people 11 n ve '( he i.r ri g ht on the rre aS~1 ry. If the y were satisfied with the little we ga ve, we would be grateful to them, II

[Sl] The meetings he used to hold with others were I ike those lUuTam,ed about the Prophet (peace be UP0rl hw m ):;, they were ful l of wisdom and were held for the purpose of di se us si Ilg Ule M us I, ims' af'fai rs and ITI!!,] i,g lous and sc ienti fie matters, They were ne vel" obscene. His council was deeply devoted to' kno'w],edg~,~ reljgiou, bioglil~llhj,es of the righteous people and eross-oplni ons about J nt{'~d and c onqu enn g rhe enemy's lands,

r was told th,f~'~ Ibn ~ Asakir ad-Dlmashqi attended the connell of Saladin Yusuf when hie 'was the ruler of Damascus, illbn "Asakir discovered that the council 'W',f~:S ful ~ of triviali ty and mi s be ha vi or. He tded to, te]~ Saladin as he used to do so with N!1/1T' ad-Djn but, he did nat. llt'H.Ula,ge this due to the noise ~f've]. He did not go to Saladin's CIOI~1I1crul, for a.1011g time, Salad i ~Il sent for him several d mes and when he carne, Saladin blamed him. for his absence. Ibn, ... Asakir replied, ~!'I keep 'my self from sue ~ 'C,O~I ncils because :~t is muc h more .1 i ke ~hnt of the

commoners: '!lilr. 0-' ne heeds the speal .. er and 'RO on ""' answers ~I ouestion

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In the [l'~~JU we used to attend the council. of Nur ad-Din and 'we were S U ent ::UThC.! fu U of dj gni ty, 'Vert be ro speak, we WOLI ld ~ isten atrenti vel y and were we to speak, he: 'would be attenti ve tous, v~ Saladi n ordered his friend 5 not to :m~ S behave again ] Wl the presence 100f Ibn "Asakir.

[,52] He was extraordinary example ~]l. adhering to 'the fundamenrals of the religIon.. He would never 'let anyone tamper with anything that was contrary to the correct pdtllcip]ec~. If anyone dared [0 commit any illegal ac~ concerning religion, Null' ad-Din would puuish him

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aCCO],IIillI,:n! to ~115, crime.. e usee ' to ute eXC!3;SS;,IV,e iTi. t us aspect ana usee

[101 say, r!We keep roods safe 'from thieves and highwaymen while they

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are ess nannru , so W ru 'we not preserve re J g ion an sec u re 1 L Itt is

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A:~- '" Irnnd al-Katib mentioned mi~, the introduction of his book A l-Barq Ash-Shami that he caine '[0 DanUIJ,SCillS in Sha "ban 5,62 A.H. ( [1.67 A,.C.) during the reign of king N'ur ad-Din Mahmud ibn Zangi, A~~ ~ Imad mentioned some events ~h~l'[ '[oak place during 569 A.H. (' _[ ] 73 A,C.)j the year in which N ur ad-Din passed aW;fIY"

During this year N~lr ad-Din increased the budget of endowments and charities and reconstructed old ~:nos(,]ues.Mor,eover~ he eradicated a,ny s l gn of sin or il le gal ,[],C I, ion and s topped al [ ~a xes, ex cept J izyoh (pc I] tax) and Kha raj (land tax) i, I-] e '0 rdered me to w ri te parnph I ets 1[0 be, distributed throl~g]lOU.t the Muslim countries. I wrote more than one thousand pamphlets regarding the new c hanges of 'the taxes, W'e calcuiated his alms for the poor during these months and it surprisingly exceeded. thirty thousand dinars. H~ used 'to bring honest men from every place and as k '[ hema bout th e need y J mon g the ir people.

[54] 'If he- was gi ven gHls by kings. he would never '[ouch those gilf~:s~ hie would ralher bring them 10 the judge who would spend them in reconstructing old mosques, When they investigated matters concerni 111 g the [nos q tie si n D~ m a. SiC u 50, l hey feu nd that abou tt one hundred needed a lot. of reconstruction work, J,.Ie ordered to reconstruct rhem all and dcdicntcd eudowmeras for 'this purp-ose" Were J to trace his endowments and alms, I would never fl~nish rny book But it is sufficient lO simply look at. these buildings that indicate the king's sincerity. He used tohold sessions for preachers and specified a cert aln ,r)i ace for the rn in the ci lade 1 so th at they COLI ~d. 'plr~'8J.(J1JJ ~o the peop le., The 1110S~ em i ne n '~, ju ri st a rnon g the ~TI "vas IQU ~ b ad- Din an-Naysaburl whom Nur ad-Din Wl1S very fond of. The kingdom of N ur ad - Di i n W,JS infl uen I iu ~ u nd we 11- 0 rgu n ized.

[55]1 She ik.h Abu al ~ Barak at al-Hasan ibn Hi bat A~, I ~~h rI a rrated t'ha[, he attended the cia[ln.c'i~ of Nur ad-Din with his nne Ie .A bLI. al-Qasim (may the mere y of Allah be UpO:I1 h i m] i, n order to hear SO me usefu I rel igi OLi 5 ] essons, Dud 'Ifl g ~'h e lesson ~ il wa s said t hat I he Prophet f peace be upon him) once went out while havi I1g ,m sword around his neck, Nur ad-Din eKc~:ai'lned and deduced ~h~~,~ the Prophet used to do so Uri 'I] ke 1 he h abit of the 801d iers in those day s 'W ho used to tie i: t ,u rou nd their waists. The next day, we passed by the citadel where many people were wmiti,~lg for 'the sri lta IJ,., thea v.~le joined them" N iL~~r ad-Din (may the mercy of AJ lah 'be upon him) appeared havmg a sword around ~Ti5 neck 50 were Ids. soldiers, 'M'~y AH;lh have mercy on this king who was, !kee'll to [[01 low the example of the Prop~le~ (peace be upon him) precisely.

[56] 1 W~I,S told that ht~~ forbude preachers to mvoke A~i'~a~ for him during their sermons on the pulplts mention ~ng his titles.

[57]llIis vizier M'[~w~~fftlq ad-Din ibn al-Qaysaran i dl1:RD1L1t that NUr ad-Din 'W~]S washing his clorhes. When 'hie '~old, him, ,NlU ad-Din ~hOUg~il,l for a \.v1h11e then ordered that the ~ales be nulli fled and said Ito hi m, 1'1 Thi s :i S the i n te rpret at ~ on of your drea in. ,!

[58.] He used I~'O say during his night prayer~ ~!O Allah! Have mercy 011 the person who 'takes the lax, !~v.Vhen he cancel ~ed these taxes, he asked people I~,O pardon h im and addres,sed. '~Jn.renl~ilyl~rlg, "By Aihl'h 'AN! did not take them except 'for .hhad"

(59] NUl ad-Din was unique among the other kings of his rime, He used to HElen attenti ve ~y to any advice even i f it was said roughly and with sternness. S~IHlrHf ad-Din ibn al-Musrawfi snid that d1e. preacher Ab u 'U L h man 1 bn ,I\. bi M u h min mad ii bn nl - B u,~n u ri ~ ~ - \Vru,si[ ~ cam e to

]l'biIK{~) and gave ,mil sermon there. He traveled to NUl" ad-Din M~"hJlmud ibn Zangi 11:'1 '[he Levanr because of the invaders. ,N ur ad-Din ordered [lll,al he be gi ven nn amount of uaone,y hut he did riot eccept i~ t. and returned ]'L to h [1]'1..

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Indeed, these ~illles :m. i,gh[ ha ve been among 'the ma i 11 reas oms that provoked Nur ,ELd-D,i~ to cancel the taxes and abolish any other wrongdoings which Muslims experienced ,am thar time. :May the mercy of .AJI,ah be upon the adviser and the advised and whoever 'longs to fo , :! I O~:I r- ;llii 1,';,5': .Ie.." 0" '~[':iI' .... nl;'

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1[,60] In the following passages T have copied parts from a book entitled Tarild« tl,cd€lb [The History of Aleppo] by scholar Kamal ad-Din Abu al-Qasim "Umar ibn Ahmad ]'~:HTh Hibat Allah who said:

.l ~ ave a 'parch ment wri tten by the hand w ri ti ~n g of t he v ~ zils:r '1(~n1 ~ d

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ibn N" 9""1" '1"1J..I"I' S",<:Ii'~,I,,~ii"' ·~I-Q·"·, '.,~I'iJ~Il'[anj who sent it to NUl" ad-Din and the

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rep~y of Nur ad-Dia was also in the. same parchment on the top and. be~w(~en the lines; so I copied all that. Nur ad-D:~'11 asked ibn al -Qaysarani 'tCl fiend hi 111 a copy of. \11.l hal the preae hers u sed to in voke 011 ask Allah for bjm lest 'he should be, described by something that was not true, and to pllreven~, lies. from being told as well as preventing h]ITI fl~O'm bei,~] g known, :fo[' someth ~'Ilg dl~l he d id n ot do, The copy of "K" ~ • I'd, ,- ads ~'M'·,·'"~,· A', 'I~··'" '11 .,~ ise the rank of our ~i'nlo both I'll this line'-

, af:l.t-. Ire.,l s,. ,_ ,lY, w,iJ,. ,I !,,IL~ -" .---- - ..... - - ----'0 _ ~ ~ _" '_,"- ~, _ ,

,and, im the, Hereafter, And me'[~ his dreams and his wishes hOI], come true for himself'and his ~OISU~f,ily. May Allah, OUR of His Graces and Bounties. sea] a~1 his WiCH''kS with good, deeds and guide hirn to the best both in this, 'IU~~ and. the Hereafter by His Grace and Glory, Ma~l A~~l;lh be, pleased with him and h.i,s, parents and nrHly He .bc:il~ru'[u~e the means for his; pleasure, A.,ll,ahi 5, the Ever Omn ipoten r. .I saw that the preac her should supplicate ,AJ~~h to, be pleased with the sultan by sayil'rng,; "0

A.1,luh! A mend. Your Ser~tiJIJnt who badly needs Yonr MJercy ~ who is submissive to Your Glory, who is seeking refuge, in YOHI" Omnipotence, who is striving in Your W;JLY and who adheres to fight the enemies of 'Your ReJigiou~ Abu al-Qasim Mahrnud jbn Znng~ ibn Aq Sunqur, ~]-1e supporter of the Abbasid Ca,1'ipl1 ~'IIl Bughdad."

Nur ad-Din replied ~~'t. rhe top of the parchment saying, jiWlhcu, I meant was that no lies should be told on the PLll~P]L I am not ha~p,y when [ awn described with somethmg l do, not do. What has been written is good; so inscribe it in order to send it throughout our lands." Then, Nur ad-Din added ut the end, of the letter, ~~We should begill'i our supplication wi th, i 0, A 'Ill~i h ~ Show h im I: he rig ht, pl ease 'hi. m"rende r him victorious and help him achieve his ~_I IlnlS,,111l

[[(j.'I'] M'y father I:(dd 'me that a prosperous merchant came 10, Aleppo during the reign of Nur ad-Din. This merchant died, there 'Iea,vllng a youn.g boy and 3 ].argeamO!J!111 of wealth. Some people of .A leppo wrote to Nur ad-Djn durn a rich man had died leaving a ten-year-boy and more than twenrv thousand dinars, They .. sU2'[!,es'led that it would

J .l ""'ir.~

'be bet ter to keep his mone yin [he, treasury U III i I th e boy grow sup and then some of :~t would be gl ven to him and the rest would go to the treasu ry, N ur ad ~D'.~ n rep lied" i I'Ma y A llah have me res on 'the decea sed; may Allah raise the young boy; may A llah curse the money and rn~ly Allah damn those who sought the bO:yIIS property ."

[62] ~ Urnur :i bn S unq ur ~ A [i q S haz ,I] a kht ,to]d me, ~I I ha ve heard at-Ta washi Ba:khtl the servant, saying, 'One day ~ 1 amd Sunqurja were ~iElnding beside N'[~,J!' ad-Din after he had offered dle Maghdb Prayer. H,e sat m:hlinki~iig deeply and digg:ing his finger in the dust. We were amazed m'~ ruh~s conlellli1pIH~,]'O'l1 and wondered about what occupied his concern; his, Fam::i~~y or his debts? ]~' seemed that he noticed OUT bewi lderedne s s, so he IT, ~ sed h ~i s head ,~t n d su i d: \rVh,al: are yO~1 say 'i ~fl g?

W'e said: ·We are amazed ar our king's deep contemplation and we said that he I.TIight be. thinking about his family or himself He replied: By Allah I am thiu king off a ruler whom I appointed hut he was not just \!!lru'~:h '[hie Muslims and he: oppresses the i\lJ:usU·ms who are: my friends and assistants, J "fear Ol.at. Allah will qnestlon me about it, By Allah! If you see any injustice, yuu must tell 'me as fast as y>()1j can ill order to put an fond to it, otherwise yeur salaries would. 'be ill-gouen."

[163]' 1(~) heard the chiefjudge Baha' ad-Din Abu E1J,~ Mahasin Yusuf ibn. RaJ!." ibn Tam i m 5 Jjf ill g" I'IN ur ad -Din used t01 send a mes sage ro sheikh "Urnar ~1-Ma]I,~, every Ramadan asking far something [0 break his feJ;,SL TiIIJS! "Umar used to send him back cases of crumbs and small dry pieces of bread and other things- Nur ad-Din used to eat n~js d:IJT'~n,g the itdh,an~ (c~~r~) of the Maghri:'b Prayer every day ~m Ramadan, Mlo'F~ove]'" he 'used roeat from the meals of sheikh "Umnr al-Malla whenever he carne [,0 Mosu I,. jij

[64] When Nur ad-Dln conquered MQ\s'I!d~. he ordered the ruler ofthe city Karnashtakin to follow nothing but the orders ~)"t· Islamic Shari',nh whenever the judge ordered him; furthermore, 'the judge himself and al I. his representati ves should nat make any decisicn before consul tlng sheikh "Umar al-Malla .. They told Kamashtnkin that the number lof i rnmoral peop le had inc reased an d. therefore eorrupti on h~~d spread and they wOnJ~~d never Sl~()P' except by meting <Dill severe punishments .. They asked. him to send a message to Nur ad-Din [!e~[i,rtlg himabout th~'1.. He

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and asked ~llrnm. [0' write to Nur ad-Diu. Sheikh "Umar wrote to Nur ad-Din, "Dissoluteness corruption and hi.ghw, .. y rubbery have increased and they require severe punishments If someone's pcssessi ons are stol en j n ~Ihe desert, from where can he ~~~: .K'! wi [ness? I~

N Uri ad-Din answered him, '!'AI~llah, Glory be to ,Hi,I!rtIJ~ created people and knows what ]!il best fo]' them; He enacted a ~,a,'w which is for their benefit. People's welfare rns achieved perfectly by adopting Islamic 1 a w, ] f there wasmore benefit ,I rI so'me'ruhii ng other man Is I amic law All ah wonld have prescribed It So, we are in no need of ,aln:y I~):I her la W ,II!

Then? sheikh "U mar al- M al La, gathered the people of Mos,miL re ad the message of N ur ad- Di n aloud and commented, "Look ,~1 the message of the asceti C'~O the khug: au d that of the ~dng to the ascetic! j~

,[65] rt~) quoted some tlnes from Abu al-Fath Banjah al-Ashtari wh .. o Wt~!S one of those who carne 'to. Damascus ,nrlld wrote a br]le:if biography about Nur ad-Din .. He said, "INUll' ad-Din used to ,a~te:nd four or flve days a week in the coarthouse ]]1 or-der to. investigate the people's problems to sort them out, He did not do that In order 'to have extra salary. Rather, he Oill~y sought I~Jlah"s, Pleasure and Reward; he longed (;0 be close to A] ~,mh, in the Hereafter, I~Ie used to bring the scholars and the juri sts m.~{m,~ with bim, He, did :1101: 'keep a servant or a doormen so that :ilL1Y personccHlld reach him at any time; the we ~k and the strong, and '~~e pcor and l~le rich, He 'would speak Inildly tothem, He used [:.0 bdng an old woman who was not able to reach her opponent or '~O speak [0 him, He, w~:lJ,ld take her right owing to Nur ad-Din's justice and her' riv~1 would keep silent due to his fear o1f N'l1]I~' ad-Din's justice. By doing SQ.1 the right would become obvious and AUah let NuD" ad-Din speak with all, that coincided with Islamic Sha;vi' ah, He used to as~ sc ho~ ars and j urists ,aib[)u,~ ambi,gLlous problems and his sessions were dedicated [0, the'; Islamic Shariah:

K 6'] He added:

He was, completel y concerned about the p u b1 ic interests of the

I .-III he al id d' 't., • p • ..;~.' " d ~ _.Jjl

peopie .Illlu, "~e arways 'CiOI1S1 iereo tneu ~wvl:ng condttrons an snowed

:me:rcy ~o them, His thoughts were d irected to showi ng the exce llem aspects, of Islam and setting 'Up the infrastructure of an Islamic state like building schools, houses for Sufis. and mosques. The Levant was free from knowledge and scholars, but 1]1 Nur ad-Din's time it became the home of scholars, juaists, and Sufls.N·ur ad-Dill used to keep his promises, forgi vethe wrongdoers a-nd had never been hesitan t,

[16,7] His sessions were unlike those of other killgs .. They were free from debauchery ~ cursing, backbiting, defamarion and speaking ill of people. He did not. gain any money by force and never accepted 1~'O give even one dirham from the treasury without a I·: .,~~ti,:mate reason,

[68] Kamal ad .. Din eentinued:

Some trustworthy people slid that Nur ad-Din used to spend nights praying and invoking earnestly. He used to perfcrm It he, five dtl]~Y prayers in absolute humility,

[69] Senne trustworthy Sufis who visited Jerusalem said. that the disbelievers (~he F~t_U1[k8) said, "Ibn al-Qasim (Nur ad-Din) is close to Allah, He did 'not \'Vhl battles because of ,I huge number IOf soldiers and warriors, bUIlt w~th supplicarlon a~d prayer at night, He used. to. prfi·Y ,at might and raise hls hands hi.gh invoking Allah, Thus, AUl.h

I . d ai 't.,"~' L k ,I

answers 1.1ID anc grves nrm whatever ne as. s .':

Shei kh Dawud al- Maq disi stated, '~iVilh] ie we were at. the Court of Justice in Rabi' al-Awwal 558 A.H·, (ill 163 ,A_.C,)~ a man claimed that tbe fatber of killl:g N ur ad =, D'i 11 took some man-e y from hi m. i llegal ~)'.

The nl1!8l!11. asked Nur ad-Din !O returu jhis money to' him. Nur ad-Din replied, 'm do nor kUM,)W arly~h]~Thg. about that. If you have any evidence or wimess who can support you, you can produce it [Hid ~. will give you. back my share because .~ .. am not the onlyheir. i The man went to seek his wi tness. I thought, 'Thi s ls pu r,e j u stic e j ndeed ~"'n

[1 I] He conti m lied:

Once an asceuc 'with traits of goodness and piety came to him. I n~.ted about that ascetic and they told me that he was the brother of Abu al-Bayan .. Before his death, Abu al-Bayan was entrusted with. a deposit, T1D!~ deposi tier e:1 ai med ~iJia:t the ascetic knew' about the deposit and wanted rn~ back. The ascetic refused to admit it, Judge Kamal ad-Din made him swear that he did not have a.ny idea about the deposit Thus, tbe ascetic swore. l .. Iereupon, the depositor began to curse, slander' and abuse the ascetic saying, "He is a ] iar." The ascetic wen It to k1f1!g NUl~ ad-Din cornplainmg about I[he man. He asked the king to summon him ~Utd. stop him from slandering him, Nar ad-Din addressed the ascetic, "Does nat A.n.~lh say in H~js. Book, ll~A.fKI whe« t/:~e ignaran: address t~'ugn~ (wid( bad wOlyis.J, the'Y teply b(,~t;k ~'Ndfl~ .mUd words ofgenMen.es.Ii ;P)? If he is an rng:n.aranl person and behaves li!.·k·te tli.~~.I~., YOH should not do like him, you should not return ~~le offence with aaother offense, but yotU should return rhe offence w 1 th charity." I real ized, "What king .N ur ad- VI] n said ls ti.g;ht';. he might have read J[ !Ill the boots of the interpretation .of the Ever-Glorious Qur"[lJn or Allah guided him 'h) it, II

[72] He added ~

A YCU,lrug boy carne weeping to king Nul" ad-Din and told him that nis father had been .i rnprisoned because he did mot pay the rent of ~J:5 room which belonged 1[0 '~lij'e state' s endowments. Then, .. Nur ad- ·.·.~n

asked about rhis boy and his father, They told him that the boy 'was the sam of sheikh Abu Sa'dl who was ascetic and was unable to pay the rent of Ibis room The m;[ruml in charge of 'I hue e ndowrnents 1I1 ltd imprisoned him because, he did not ,~y the rent fnr a full year, King Nur ad-Din asked, "How much is, the rent for a year?" T~,ey replied, II!One hundred and f1fty ." Tbea, N'HIf' ad-Din said, "We win give hirn this Hm;OUl1i~ annually in order '[0 be able to, PI:J!jY [he rein of [he room," Moreover, he ordered to release ehe man. The people were very pleased for this incident and responded as if they were ~~n trouble and then helped by the 'k.i,ng.

'[7"1:] 'I'j' -. ·"-!'-I ,- c·nl, .... '" "f j' b -n .. K··~7.- --0"'-1 "...j "I' , .-.--"~~.

_ ",.]1 ,m dl1Q[, :Iff p~ace Q, ,yll,S, .' ODtr..~ , .... am,i" '(~u'~,u,1Il S .. Uu.

]nill\h[l:'r ad-Din "Abd al-Munalib al-Hashuni told me, "Taj l!JIJd-.DhlJ

A,lbd al-Ghafur ibn Luqman al-Kurdari, the judge of Aleppo, hrad a servant boy cal :~ed Su wayd who wag ] 11 c h urge: of bri Wlg'~ ng ri val s to. the judge's session. ,A, merchant carne to the judgeand sued Nur ad-Din. Al-Kurdari ordered Suwayd to suunnon the ~ing,

Nur ad-Dsn was lin the hippodrome and S'u'wayd carne to ius ga~e "iN here Is m;n,":j I ,M l- Khazindar recei ved '~ irn, S uwa yd to]ld N sma' i 1 the story and the reasonof his visit I~J]d. said 'Judge Taj ad-Din sent me to

I Illr" liT] . I" ""] ....l . e 'f 1 ". .,.1

summun the tl:JI1,g .. -, rereupon. tsma ]~ mace run o nun any went ItJQ

Nur ad-Din ~,allJghil.ng 'while he spoke, IIM[IJ,:Y Imy :k;~ljg stand up?' Nul' ad-Din asked, 'Where 101' Isma'Il said, 'The servant boy of '~r[lj ad-Din C3w1l1e 11,0 SUI~1Tnon. YOu,,' NU1f ad-Din told him mot to make fum and s,aici, 'Do you :ITIQ:C k me bees use I am sum rnoned to ~lhe court house", I ha ve ro hear and obey. Allzlh, the A~[ni,ghty., says, 4f The !l}n'y "~ayill',:ga;f rl:ifi! Ji;1,.ithfid believers. 1i!J/;I~'~~ I,hey are cl'iU,ftd to Ali'ali (His \iron/so the Qurr{iIlJ,~) a~MJ J-Hs: M'esJu::nge.r (P'IlClC€ be l'I.J'ltJIH him), to ju.df1rt b\etwll'E£,'~' them. i,'l; thrr,'i ,1he:y say;' ~f e heat ~H"i w,e obey, ~,~ I )

Nur ad- Din stood Lip qu ickl y am d rode hills horse until he reached the entrance of the dty. He, summoned Suwayd and sa:id, to him, 'Go to the j udge and tell '11 im tha t ID: have come here for th~ S ~ke of All ah; but I could ~ot reach the place of his court because I had to CIIQISS these narrow streets which are full of mud. This ismy representative who wiM go to the court. :~J there is a must ~o swear before the judge" IwU] come ~A:lla h w ru 1'1 ing,' Then 11i$ representati ve came and attended the session but Nur ad-Din bad. to swear: SO~ al-Kurdari summoned him again. When Nut -ad- Din 'found (~h~lt he had to come to the court in sp ite of al I, the di ff cu ] ties of the road, ~e S um rnoned the. merchant and sertled the, problem w ~l h hi m.

[74] .]e added:

I heard the chief judge Baha' ad-Din saymg, "Sultan Saladin narrated [0 me that ~dng: Nur ad-Din sent him 'with a. message to his uncle AJi ad ad- D in Shirkuh who W,~,S ,N ur ad-Din's best ad'vis,or '~o tell him that he was considering to cancel raxes and guarantees. 'When Asad ad-Din received the message he told. Saladin to return to Nur ad-Din \V',ruth this reply, 'O king, if you do that, you will lfHJI[ be able 10 pa ":I ~:h:e soldier's S i!IJ laries. You are al ways jn urgen t need 'of them.' Saladin said 10 his uncle, 'King Nur ad-Din ]5 convinced to do that, 'I ask you to help him achieve his goal' As a result, ASi]Jd ad-Din shouted ail Saladin saying, IG{) tel him and tell him 'what .~ have told '10u,,~ Then Saladin returned 10 Nur ad-Din and told him what his uncle had saidl NUlI' ad-Din replied, 'Go [0 him arid. tell him, 'Were we to fu nd au r COFU] uesrs from the se resources, we 'would stop, t S aladin I returned to Asad ad-Din and told himthe Ine,~;;'5ag~. Asad ad-Din sent a rr1lessage to NM,r ad-Din (]\g,~:iri with this reply, "Were the.y {the enemies) to leave you and you were 'to Si.'OP your conquests, h. would 'be better ~ 1'J"p O'1f!I th ~ S :S· "''IJj lad ~'I1J beg ,p'lr",·:1 hi 'm' I ~I ga ;"11' ~11""'~' to .I~·I' ,~:i§::11 i ade 11 ~ m "

__ ." .~. ,_,\".o, L 'l·.·I( "." .llll. 111-· '" ·_-tIJI~j JIll I U'Io:zI --=-:~:I;.,IU, lJ ~, ~.:u ... _:. ~ _'I0I!J. Y ~ .~"..Ji'IIA!'U>"1l;r I_~'_L

from doing SO'~ but he shouted at him say ing~ I'G,o to him and tell h im what: I said.' Thus" Saladtn retumed to Nul" ad-Din andtold him, King Nur ad-Din ceased doing so foil' a period of time, then he carried out what he had intended to dCI'" II

[15] Hie abo said:

1 heard Khalifah Ibn Sulayrnan sayrnng,~ "l beard my father ,s,~,y:i,n,g,~, When N ur ad- Din was defeated in ~ll- B aqi' ah, al- B urban il'li~ Hit rkhi sai d: How can you. w ~ n while Yo1l:ur so]dllers are ,dl runk and ~here, are n.1u,..;,':,~~tl instruments and drums? N ever.N ever!

WhenN ur ad -Din heard that, he stood up and took his clothes off an d pledged to, A~ lah to repent and began by canoell ing the taxes, ~~

Nur ad-Din (may ~~l,'e mercy ()'f" Allah be upon him) 'was eulogized inmany poetic works", Indeed, his qualities were indescribable. During hi s time there were two famou s poets ~ Abu, "Abdu 1 lab ibm Nasr ibn Saghwr- ,and Abu al .. Hasan Ahmad ibn MURir. They eompoeed wonderful lines about him,

, read in the collection of Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Qaysarani ~he fol lowing lines:

i'l ~~- .~ t_,i;l_ ., ~".. . J ~'.liIPr·-.'

dlie ",.' . ~~" -:-,,':' ~ '_.,

__ ".: .i .. "_ ~ -' .... _._._ -._ '._ .: ,_,,_: -" - ... ': ... ' ..... L •• -,; __ "1'"_ .

dlU'~i~'U.~,riu'li ~'~f t:J'~.,_~,tt.~~

'7o.lA4 ~-1iIu ikU; i4 ~I Q"~ aIJ.,~"itJ ~twtJ ~~, ~~tk,JUt-~ ~r dep&J

,!!~'~ipJ4~f l~,~~,tk~"

J}n ~,~.fH.1ti4 ~, ,It~,~:

"lite, ~,~ "'GHe"~ -tm~,~,

tJ~ if ,/ku,,~ ~ o/r the :~' N«A ruA .. ~iH, '71M ,~ wIw 4DIJ ItA!! J&d !DiIm, Jl~

'I4HJ~~~iBlu:m ~~

ll~ __ .1~ ',I s; ~.,~.-- .,Ji ,~-~ , __ .,JL """',"''''' Jif,AJ }'_ s» " .-" ..... /! I!'''I'~~~ _ ~[~i~ ~ ~'J

g~~l4ia~~ JlG~~!~;W~ ,~~ ~ ~ mWJ-itl"~ ~',milJ~

~\tk'~aJtk~,i4,,~i' JIB fMdl~i Ik ~ oIt',~!

'Be, died on ~ 1M] Shawwal 569 ,A"M,. (,l 17.3 A.,C",) and was buried iu Damascus citadel, Then he, W,[lS taken ~o hrn1) dome at, his school near al-Khaw W;,mSh1_

This ,i~i I ge~le.lll~ review abour Nblf ad-Din. Now, we are go;i,~g to discuss 'his ~CCOlJJmH& classified and explained by his ancestors. Fnrthermere, we wi 1,1 mention briefly SOll1C events 'that rcok place during their ~]fe~i."mes. biY .A,I'~3h"~ Wil:l.

fil.. t I '[ I Ln)Up 'cr, '. '

rhe ',arentag,e of the ,H'(Juse of At1abeg

T-Ile' P'" ." ren '!I" aae 0' ,'f': 'I' '1',- e house of A' 110[1 L..o:'" e ]" e 'Q'.' '0:0 it';; m ':-Ii '(I "D'" '!l \-It) 'I "111 'I',· A: n

,,' ",'CiII, ,', , ' llie ,6: "l ,,' MVd!.jlI U, "L!tl,u;t::j'j ,.:i :, ',;(I,,;j;~ ,III (,t, -,'(ll::', Iii! W : '''i

Sunqur; the grandfather O'f N ur ad-Din, W:e; will explain in detail some eV'~I],'I,5 which took place during 'his lifetime and then relate the story ,of his son Zangi and Zangi's son; Mahmud ibn Zangi. Afterwards, we win examine the Ayyubid dynasty of Saladin and some relevant eve 111 ts,

[76] Aq Snnqur was a Turk of the sultan Rukn ad-Din Malikshah ibn Alb Arslan, Sultan Malikshah 'was one of the Seljuk kings who controlled 'Iraq after the fall of ~:he Buwayhid dynasty. Qasim ad-Dawlah was one of ' the sultans' 'friends, and was of the same age, He was broughe up wlth him since ,ct:d]dhooo and continued 'with him until 'he beca me rnatu re. When :1\4 al i, kshah beca me a k i Fa g a lter the death of his father, he chose Qasim ad-Dawlah to be, his '11l0S~, important prince "Ii nd d ~P'I"Ji<f'" C:Orl f ',d" 'i'11!~' '~i, nd d'!.o>1f\.' 'r.:> nded 0' I!j, h ~ 'm' , "

~ , "c~~ '\"0,,,,,," ,. ,_, ,i;.!i, '~, ""L_ _ _ .... ,~~ .... ,! .... !;,)I, 1,,1 ~ J , ..

Then when the companions of the king feared Qasi m's 'i nc rea sin g power, ~hey advised Malikshah '[0 grant him the castle of Aleppo, Hanl1a.h"Ma'l1bU~ ,aJ=Ln.dh~qi,yyah and some other cities. as fiefs and the. king agreed, These places remained under QiaSil111S control until he 'W a S m U rdered in ~g:J A .. , H. (1. (J94 A,. C. ),'

\'Alhen Qasi m nd-Dawlah settled i:l1 tile Levant, his efficiency ~ powe~ ~md rsol'elmlr~lty became manifest When sultan Malikshah d ied,

Qas:i:tm marched 'w i:~h an army ~o Tikrit and captured it In 48.J A. H, (~,088 A;C.)~ Qasim ad-Dawlah headed for Shay,2'J.r and cont~oll!ed it, after wh ich he; returned to Aleppo. ]~rl ,483 ,A,Jt I( 1 090 ,A~C,,J~, Qas1 lTI ad-Dawlah and Bazzan united and conquered Hims, ·Erl 484 A.H, 1(,nO~),~ ,A"C.)~, Qasim annexed the fortress 0;'[ Famyah and. ar-Rahbah to his lands,

[77]1 Sultan Ma,llks.haILl did a lot, of geed actions and be died in 485 A.H~. (M092 A,C,)., After :hilS d,ea~h~ his two SOIl,S; Takyaruq and :~lulh,3Jlnmlad 'icmg:ht Ther-e was a state 'Oif W~U" 'for more than twelve years. between them, until TakyaT'!U1C]_ died and Muhammad became the suhan,

Previously, su~t[ljn Malikshah gr~n,ted his. lIbro;[j]H~;r!, T;aj ad-Dawlah, Damascus and '~be, neighboring cines like Tiberias and Jerusalem as fiefs. However ~ when he died, Taj ad-Da wlah aspiredto be. the. S~I] tau" Thus, a series of W',~,'U'S took lP~;ac~~ the ,mrlll} of Qasim ,md,-Dawla~, was defeated and. he hlmself was captured and ~iU.~d. by Taj ad-Dawlah,

[78] Q;:sisn ad-Dawlah was ,~, good rules. His people enjoyed eqlUwty" general decrease of prices, and a stare of peace, '

I~T- tit . ~ at =-,,,,1 en II", .jl.'l' neoo ~e;; tl!.. o!II,ft W]1;o."!l;iIi'II,f.'I'V;!Ii.f .,. c aravan e ontai iI1'Ii i'I1'O' :te:: s ~p~li!f.I, ey I!..,I, lulruOJi t' 'r,Jl!"; IIl.HIl.IIi!l- .. ,_ ..... ~!"" . ."._ g ,I!;.I..L '!4, _ ~!,_ YI',l.I! -, ~L.-e:.

~ ruU 1,~ 01" much, W~ s S~O len or even one person was kidnapped near ,~my vlllage, me inhabwtarnts of that vHLa,g,e should pay the. value of the stolen money. Hence, travelers used to lea ve their ~ugg:,lge; when they arrived In his state and would sleep while the people of th~~i[, place, were guarding them till thejf departed. The roads were k.e:p~ safe. and ~he travelers used to eu lcgl ze hi tn contln uall 'j ,!

[791] \Vhen Qasim ad-Dawlah Aq Sunqur wag, killed, he. men amIy one son, "Imad ad-Din Zangi - the father of NUf ad-Din, A~ that ttlm~ Imad ad-Din was, ~,e~ years, old. His, father's assistams and scldiers supported and united w ith h i 11[,'1.

Prince Karbuqa Ieft the prison after Taj ad-Da wlah was ld ned iJ] 4·87 A.,.H,. (1094 A .. C,) and headed to Hanan w'rnth a large number of soldiers and managed Ito conquer it He also headed to Nasibayn ,a'lld conquered iJ. as well, Then he headed to Mosul and. deposed. "Ali. ~bn Shm.r,af ad-Dawlab .al-·~Aq.i,.IL. Furthermore, he managed to conquer Mardin ..

I-Ie grew' p owerful wh Ue he w SL8 under the leadersh [I' of 'R ukn

~; D' '1 ill.. T' k Whenh ]'1 d 'I ...~ ....j

ao-. law an .. a .yaruq_.. ... e-rn ne centro .J.~. t ]eSJe cures, ne summonec

[he soldiersot Qasim ad-Dawleh Aq Sunqur and ordered them to brin.g "Imad ad-Din Zangi and said, "He (Tmad ad-Din) ]8 ~ny nephew' and I am the person who jls 111QSt responsib le to rai se hri nl,.·II!1 They brought him. and Ka rbuqa granted them, rnaJny lands IS flefs, Furthermore, Karbuqa made use 0:( their efforts during times o:f war and. they were unbel i evab ly brave ..

[,801] Ka .. rbuq a remained the ru Jer un ti ~ he died in 494A. H.. ~! 10 1 A.C.), Musa. at- Turkmani ruled for a short period of time after h:inl before he was :ki.Ued. Mosul was ruled by Shams ad-Dawlah Jakarmashwho 'was also one of the IC'o'I1iJJWanilons. of sultan Malikshah,

Jakarmash raised .. Imad ad-Din Zangi up and brought him dose to

I· 'I '~I· 'II d 'I'L·· '." fl\..·' f'-I 1'1:"

nm, ioveo urn anc adopted rum m recogmnon 0" _IdS ratners ravor

'and, status, "" Imad ad-Din stayed with him until he was killed in 500

A .H:,. (1. [06 A .C,.). Therefore, no wander that Zan g l: W as grateful to Jakarmash when the fCiFmet ruledMosul and 111any other places; Zangi took Nasir ad-Din Kuri, the son of Jakarrnash, fa vored ~"'I',- -'''''k ned

_ ..... _ ._ ... _._. __ _, __ .. .::> _ . _ ' . ... ,.~ V_I;.P_ ~,!]m, grYi,i~"" ..

him large flefs, made him honorable and was related to him 'by. marriage, Mosu! was ruled after Jakarmash by Jawli Saqa'uh, "Imad ad-Din communicated with him, after 'being very wealthy and valiant. He continued no support Jawli until he disobeyed sultan Muhammad, Jawli crossed to the Levant in order to control :it and. Ito depose its king, Fakhr ad-Din Radwan. Thus, the sultan sent prince IYlawdud. to Mosuland g:~:ve it to him 118m, fief in ,502 .AJ·t (] ,~,O~! A.C.)" Th~l1~ Zangi and some other princes ceased to support. Jowl i

[81] When Mawdud settled in Mosul, Zangi communicated with him, ]WIe was 'very generous to Zangl; ihus, Zangi fought wieh him, Mnwd:ud went to ~he. invaders in rhe Levant and conquered some fortresses belonging to the Franks and killed the people' residing there, Then, he went to Edessn,(l) and besieged i,~ but he did not conquer it After that he C!:UiSS~'MJ file Euphrates in order [() besiege the hJl~! of Bas'l"~i,r(2}. He besieg~,clil:forforly-fi ve days then 'he marched to M a ~ arrat SiJl ~ N u' man and be sieged it too, Tugh ti kill! l he ru ler of Damascus came 10 him; '[hen both of them went '~a Tiberias and besieged it. Zangi proved to be incredibly brave.

[,8:2]1 The two parties, the soldiers of Mawdud and, the Franks, engaged in a fierce baule. "I'he Pranks 'W~I-e defeated and prince

~ . A c illy i iii Turkey-

:2; A c'll[mddn1lfli1l1of A leppo,

Mawdud allowed the ItroOPS, to return horne on condition tha~ they should c orneagain in the s p r'i n~" W hen h is sol d i ers le 1Ft ~ be w,eut [,0 Damascus and, shl~ed there. One -day while he 'was. going out from the Friday prayer, someone rushed and stabbed him while he ''''~,S wulking with T'Uglll[ lid n, Pri nee M,a, wd ud , W 110 W IS fasting, recei ved four fatal wounds, They took ~d m 'r o ~~e hou se of Tughtiki [1 'W ho ~11 ied to make

'~ ; ~... !~ 'Ll. '" f- b ~ ,Iii:, d d id Ill'll[ "'~ ..1;, 1'111 I I "II

mm lull.'fli,it\ 1i,:~S, .ast nut ne reruse an, sat ~ ,~, 'W~,:S,U~I to meet ,1'\"U,a '} W 1.1 re

,f am fasting. Undoubtedly, I will die whether fasting or not. mI I ~,e died at 'the' end, of that d[~y (rutt~y AJ] ah have me if<C= Y upon hi 111 ),' mt was; Sill d dUi't al ~U ati n iyya,h"~ ) in the te'V'a;n'~ feared bi m so they assess inated him. Also, it: was said ~ha.'t Tughtikin feared him, so he 'pil]d a mercenary tokill him, Mawdud was just :and famous.

['O''l'lI I'b"I1· "~11_ "~ th ']' I" O!='Q id ~ 1!;t.,J J ' , _' , ~I!L~ f''I.)!.~, _ "'"l~"I, .,

My fadheu (may the mercy of Allah he upon h ]-lTI) sa id tome, "The Frankish king sent a message ro Tughtikjn 'in which he sald, 'The nation that ki Us its head. in itls best: dlEDJy (feust) at lts most sacred place (the mosque), Allah w'w~1 undoubtedly fOO'~ 1rt out."

[14) 'When prince Mawdud was lld,[ ~Iejd ~ the su [tan ,grarwted Mosu I ,[[ItS ;8. fief !~O prince Habbush and sent his. son with the prince to d'UH, place, }:I~ equipped Aq al-Bursuqi with an army in order to tight the Pranks and sent @j, message to the soldiers of Mosul that thei should :fig~l,t with him. They went with him and "]mad ad-Din was among ~hem, "Imad

~'d' D'I" ~:!l""I'" known ~!'n"l;OMIQ rlt1L'e soldlers '!ill!!' ~,~",,;:lI, 'II[ evantine Zansi

11r.I-I. .. _''''''''' lUI '!iF_:I~,;)! lK. ,II- . ·~.1l11 I[JIJ,,, "I." ,Il~,~ ll).,~,~:.· ~v U_.: w-b. !;,Il~ !I.l~II,L-.Lu I.' '_ : ._,!l_,~~ ,,", -~':~~.e.,~~

AJ -:B ursuqi 'went to Edessa wuh m fteen thou s~.nd W arri ors. He besieged i~ and k ill cd the Pran ks and ~he Armenian s who were there, Whe~ his supplies decreased, he left for Sumaysat, which was ill the

I., ~t i s a dil~bc licvi:[]g grm~p' ai J:nimlg: m k itlling, the scholars and the pi eus ::I,ifrlOfl.~ the r~id r;:n;. ~It j s atso c~I!1 I~(J .f~I- ]-ti1S hshashl 11"

ba nds L'>o_IP! j'n,le'- Franks. He, controlled ~'I', and dem olished S,,-'U'(-~li1.-1 and

. ",,1L1 -'lI vl!l. IJI, _ J..'_:i1i!,n.._ _v I!,.I _Ii, ~ , 'I!J',~Ol! __ . __ L:J ~n

Sh a bakhtan " Zang'! fought bravely and fiercely in all d1,e:se battles, When the troops returned, they ~o~d stories about his bravery. A l ~ Bars uqi returned to B aghd ad and, Zangi sta yed in MQI~ad with king MaE;'" ud a-md pri nee Ha bbush til'lI .5 2~ AJ·t (,t 1. 30 ,A,. C. )., D'll.'l"i11.g d~is period, bngi attasned a h1,gJIJ status,

'N- . ad n··' 'Ii;.,&""l., d ib Za ',.]".. ,. 5' "I '-I A H (,] '1117 A C- '),

,'" tlf 1;- ':[[1 llVJ!lW~mU_ ill1 ,~_ngru 'was uom Ul -'-, ~ ~ I_~"" •. ' "I .. ' '_, .• , -.,j'.

[85] lin this year, Si]]jafo.~ W,[lS flooded and ;;1 '~,ot ()f'peop~e peril 8:1,]&1. One (~f the wondets was '~haJl the flood carrieda baby' in his '-'d~l- The ';:-'"!JI,,;<I]~, iU..nn'ilF ~,I'!I, ;;)1 tre t:!i 'n-I'Ii,tii'~ II''D-'!<'e, water receded and the baby

CHa,~e.. ,iili ...... laJllu ,,,", W.il.u 0; 'V!~ ;14 .... """rut ~~ I~J!I!I, __ __ 1, .... ,!i;IIUl'~ __ _ ,,__~,U ,

was saved while cle vel!" s W immers drowned,

r86] A l SO~ in tb is year' ,I violen t earthqnake struck Irbil and some near places,

1['8:7J I~J this, year on 24~h of Dhu al-Hljjah, sultan ,MlIhamlTIad ibn JVf'aliiksbah died at the age of thirty -seven y~aws~ fourmonths and :5,1 x days, The 'first ume he was eulog ized in Friday sermon S was in Dhu al-Hijjl2RJ.n. 4'92,A,.H. (1[)99 A,.C.) in Baghdad, Ills; kingdom, however, was not completely s le·u led, and that was 'why the preachers did not cOIJj~iuually pray for him. He 'met maNlY hardships til ~ hi B brother, Takyaruq died. It was riot. ll110 ~ ~~iu~,[~ [i me tha.~ he became the sole sultan :and people obeyed him. He remained a, sultan after his brother's death. for twelve years ;8IJmJ six months,

[88] lie was just, fa rnou s, and co urageou s, He ca nc e~ led the faxes throughout his kingdom, H was rnJ, part of his justice that he bought some Ma me luke s from. some rnerch ants and ordered t he rul er of Khuzestan to pay their prices '~O the slave wader. The ruler paid some and [put off' pa)']rlg the rest. Thus, the merchant carrte to the session of the cou rt and stood 'I n the do 0 rw a y from 'W hie h the s u ~-m.rI would. pass. and called for his help, The su ltan sent i1J message to know what d'le 'matter 'was; The janitor carne back and told the sultan what 'had happened '~O tha t mere hant. The su 'I tar! 'was extre me I y au noyed and ordered the ruler' of Khuzest!:llTTh '[0 be brought and obliged him to pay the me rchan t.He .r',eg reued his prev iou S absence from dille' court session and said, '11'1 regret not. corning 'LO the: court session. Had I' done it,

evervo ne wonld ~r1I"!iI,V,o, ": nitated me and no one would ha __ \J,;O;_" 1~.~_--""' __ en

- -.J. ..... .. L_ ~ ~~ _.... I ml ~ ... . ......... 1JI;;; ..... ,~l

accused of wrnngdoistg. II

[89] Ibn al-Athir said:

This merit was oms of A]tab!g Favors [0 the Atabeg's; king Nu.r ad-Din Mah1l11Ud ibn Z~ngi, did what sultan Muhammad neglected to do and regretted as; 'was. mentioned previously. When the princes and other people knew that the sultan was himselfjust, liked justice, hated oppression, and severely punished the oppressors, they followed in his footsteps, Thus the people felt secure and justice prevailed.

[90] After sultan Muhammad died, his son N~Iah~r]]ud ruled.

M~ahmu,d was fourteen years old when he: became the sultan, ,A, wax 'look place between :~1,im and his uncle Sinjar in which 'he. was defeated . .FiJ:},a~ly.~ he C2IJme back to ~~jIS uncle who accepted his return wiih no cond ition S andwa s very generous to ~] In.

I[!.nru When Mahmud became sultan, heappDlil1[ed his brother M:iJJ s' ud tIJ S i'l rule r a v er M usu I. ,m IiI d se u ~ pri nee Hn bb us h with hi In. IYI~lS'~ld remained obedient to his brother until 514 A.H. (~, :[20 A,.C".)~ then. In,le 'E hough~' to se parate from h'~ 1J1 .[t n 1I, bee a:m,e the :5 u,,1 tan. He rebelled and was known as a sultan. Zt~ngrn '~:houg.ht that 'they should obey the Stll.iw.n and never quarrel over fh=u matter. Purtherrnore he W,Q rrl ed t he III agaln s[ rebe II ~ ion btl t t hey refused to '~151en,. The arm ie S of the ~WiO brothers fought; the iltmy of '~!ihl.s"' udwas defeated and a group o f princ es and lord S were capt u red.

[~'''] M"" .~ ,,'--.<l!., J nri ", .. :Ii. =1"':[" bb "to, ' rd ""'f " .' d 'I'" ;'--11 ".' " f ~: L ,,~lS ua a 11I!( P L nee " au U sn SOL.g J( protect ~ on a n ' t 1e iii u tau

- , , , J

conferred hi s protection O~;'I them but in exchange for Mosu I which had been gran ted, to Aq al-Bursuqi with its vicinity Iike aj-Iazirah, Sinjar and Nasibayn 1.[1 Safar j l5 AJ·[ "n.12 ,[ A..C .). lie sent :rtJ-13 ursuqi 10 II am d ordered h im to protec t "Imad ad ~ Din Za ng i a nd 10 follow ~.'i s opi n i on. }\, l- Burs IJ q [ d id so bee ause he k new the w isdorn and brav ery of Zangi am d al so the nobl e slat 1'1 s of his r:rnlher.

[93] In 520 A,.H" (I 12J6A.C.,),~ A,q Sunqur al-Bursuqi was murdered 'in ~he old 'mosque G,lf Mosul after the Friday prayer, Ten persons from al-Batiniyyah attacked him; he managed to kJlll three of the rn but he was ki 'I led .

He 'W~$ just, we! l-mannered and sociable .. Hs used (0 ~nly a 1'0[, ~very n,igh.t. He never used [;0 accept help in his ablution for prayer. The sllldn~ul granted ;, laz ad-Din Mas'ud, theson of Aq al-Bursuqi, au'

that was under tlte reign of his; father. like Mosul, aj-J azirah, AI~~p~)OI!, Harnah and the island of Ibn "Umar. "Izz ad-Din was a young man who was endowed 'with sensibility. He ran the affairs of his. staee efficiently and he died a.1:ler a short period in 521 ,A,.fl (.~ 127 A,C.). lHis young brother ru]ed after him and prince Jawli, who 'was one of their father's Turkish Mamelukes, managed to nun. the affairs of the kingdom during the time of the '[\\1'0 brothers

'Ckaptel~V I

The ,11'uLe 0" Zangi ,over ,MOIUi

(Ind, Other l'lrue;s 'That Wel~e under A,l~'l1ur,suqi

194] Whe~l "Izz ad-Din al-Bursuqi died, his. young, brother succeeded him and Jawli took care of him, He sent a. message to sultan Mahmud ask iog him, toac kn ow ledge h irn as. ruler. The appointed men, who were asked to carry this 11l€:SSflJ.~~, were judge Baha' a.d-D:~1I1 Abu al-Hasan .. A:I i, ibn ash-Shahrazuri and Salad in Muhammad al- Y ~gh b i san i. They arri 'led in B aghdad ru 11 order to del iver this mes S age to the sultan, They used '[0 fear Jawli and were never satisfied with his TIde. or being s ~Bb~:ec ts nl, hi 5, stare,

They said to the doorman ~ "You and the sultan k mew th at ,aj~J&Zir.ah and the levant were invaded by the Pranks and that llney gifOW more powerful everyday .. Al-Bursuql used. '1.'0 challenge and vanquish them hut since his murder they have grown greedy, His SOJri ~s sti ill a you 11 g boy, There ~1J'i ust bea brave and va U a nt man who (:,1:111. defend Islam and its lland,s,- W,e have told you this, so we will 110~ feel

gui ~Ly ,if the M'lUs~]Jns ,get weaker or Islam 'is alienated, Another reason 'why we have told you this is that the Su~,1a]1 would nOI blame ~m. il

The doorman tolcill the sultan 'who admired their words" and SMJid" "Who do you think 'Is rnost fit For this place?"

They recommended some people like "Imad ad-Dill Zang], 'W]10~n they eulogized greatly. The sultan agreed 10 appoint him because of his valiance and competence. After that "Imad ad-Din left Bag,hda:d and headed 'for Mcsul, J~ wlimet him and returned with ~rum as one of 'his assistants. Zengi sent him to ar-Rahbah and its surroundings while he stayed in 'MOBU]. He began to change and improve the conditions there

[91,5J At thar ume, the lands ():f the Pranks increased astonishingly and their number of soldiers also increased rapidly, Their prestige and power became; great. They began 10 i,I!IJV~Hie the M,us~mln lands and the Muslims were not able I~O defend (be; I' 'lands. The Frankish atracks against the Muslims were successive and merciless, They tortnred rhe Muslims and their kingdom expanded from Mardin to al-"Ad:~d'Jj in Egypt. A[I, these areas carne under their power except Aleppo, Hamah, Hirns and Damascus, Their camps expanded from Bakr [0 Amid and f rom aj -Jazi rah [oN as] bay ~ and Ra's a] - 'AYrI., They tort ured the people of ar-Raqqah and Hanan. They destroyed the roads to Darnuscus e,xc~'pu the O'D1,es leading to ar-Rahbah and al-Barr' They imposed tribute and land taxes 0]]1 all the surrounding areas in order not to invade them,

Mere over, they went £..0 Damascus and snrnrnoned ~he slaves who were c apt [I red from t he Roman s a nd t he A rrnen ~ ans ill n d other Christian countries and gave them the choice between going back horne or staying wid] ihetr masters, They lett rhose who chose [0 stay \1\1' ith their masters and. reru med those who c hose to go horne,

Furthermore, they took ha If of Aleppo's municipalities, The- rest of the Levan l was degraded more and more,

Then A H a h decreed that ~ Imad ad - Din Z~Wjg i sho uld ru I e so as l o save the Musllms, "Imad ad-Din invaded the Fn .. inkish lands, avenged '[be M'u£~i'ms\l and recaptured ,In~ny fortresses. His conquest, as. well JS that of his son, will be explained in detail later.

Chapter VII

[96] Zan g.l (may the me re y of .A 'I'~ all be upon hi ,.11) proceeder' l'!';) restore the invaded Muslim ~ands. FI'e conquered the h~trU1,d of ibn "Umar and lrb~~1 in Ramadan 522. A.H:. "112.8A.C.). }le returned to Mosul and headed, for. Sinjar on Jurnada al-Ula 523 A":H,,, (1 ]79 A.C.) and conquered 'it. Then he went to al-Khabur and ar-Rahbah and conquered them as weILA'ft~:r that he conquered Nasibayn and went ro Harran,

Edessa, Suru] and other municipalities of ad~J azirah had. been occu pied by l he Frank s, The peopl e of Harren we re se vere ~ Y oppres sed by the. Franks and t]1 ey EmS ked Lang] to he' 1 p them and urged him to se t their lands free, He responded 10 them and mnde a short truce wi]:]] the 'Franks ]1} that place ,j n order to restore other cities in the Levant. His mai n aim was to cross the El'I p hrates and conq u er ,A, leppo a nd O~ her cities.

Once he crossed the Euphrates, he besieged Aleppo and conquered it lie reorganized everything there, then he headed for Hamah and conquered 1l too. After that he headed for Hi ms and captured its ruler before 'he, conquered it in 523 .t-\",l .. t (ll29 io\.C.,),

~,n 524 A.H. (l [30 A.C-,h '[he ruler of Amid collaboruted with 'the ruler of Kay r~t fortress and some other rulers and gathered about twenty [11 ousan d so I d iers, They intended, to figh t Zang i but he vanq ~I:i shed them all, "Imad ad-Din decided 10 complete his Jil1ad.~ $0 he fought the people of 'the 'fortress of Atharib that 'W~~S the most dangerous place for the people of Aleppo. The Franks prepared for ;;1 great battle against h im btu: he vanquished them and made ~1 historic victory _ h was said that the bones of the dead soldiers remained for ~ long period m the battlefield, He then returned to the fortress and seized :~'[.

A f"teliward 5; he marched 'to the fortress of Harim, but the Frankish survivors of the battle sent a message cnlling for a peace treaty in return for paying fifty percent ,of Harlm's revenues . Zangi agreed because most lof his: soldiers were either wounded or ki lied. So' he seized the chance of peace in order to let his troops rest. Tille M.tls.~i,ms, in the Levant were also SlU~; of an imminent victory and felt safe, G'~[ld tidings were spread throughout the terrirories. After that Zangi c onq ~~ e red Hamah :i n 524 ,A. H. (,I :~].O A; C.)_,

Ihapter V]'] ]

Z-· a"l-1ig., ';' r", }" '':h- ,n d' ,'i "~ g" 'U': ~ t"t',' t: h· .n Fi r' a'" "'1(');".r: .('

_, ,r~· . ~ ~ ,",' Ilti. ~~ _ . /:1 ... " .. .oli~',l.lL]i, :,.'t:? I, '. -·,'11" 17~.:1t

:'. '~'.

t97] In 532 A,,'H. (11.3"7 A..C,,)!. the Roman king marched with a great army from. Constantinople, He headed [0 the Levant: and caused great serror, Zangi was busy conquering 11M:; above-menrioned fortresses ~JHJJ was FIO~ able [0 len ve t'v'ilosul. The Roman king began with Baza"',[I_'h and besieged it. He conquered it and killed nl'~lny' wa rri ors and e:'ll S ~ a v cd the i r pns te r-i ty i il S ha ' ba I~. The n 'he head e d For

S ha yzar l hat wa s ~1 fort ress ncar (0, Hamah. 111'c hcsi egcd ] ~ ~ n the rnidd l,~

O:~,? S',',l'riri'~' ~":''''1Im; a .'\ .. ~ set up about eighteen (',~),t" ii1I~ II'~ s. 1"["5 ruler A·.', .bu al- ~ A· '~k·il"

l~ '. _ ,~~I 1!iJ".q,,!1 ~ ~ll] I"~ ,"")l I. 'L, !.,I ~)V u ~ V~,. __ ~'- ..... !:I ..... ~,dl~ t . ~ o,]i. _, ~ _ ~. Ii 1.::. ~ _ lJIJ "i, , ,L .. , ~ ~

Sulmn ibn ,Munqi,dh~ sent ~~ rrneSS{Lge to Za.ng'i Ulsk:ing for hcllp-

ZflJngi encamped in Hamah and used 10 go '[0 Shayzar everyday with his soldiers i,,11 order lO make the Remon ldng sec them, Furthermore, he sent baunlions [0 kidnap any Roman soldiers who tried 1:0 loot.

The Romans and the Franks encamped tn the cast, of Shayzar, Za,ngi delegated an envoy say ing to them, "You have !"url1'fied ··· ..... ·1 -selves j(J~~1;-- th ...... s··,,:;; 'm', ""'.Inl f i us: 'were' , '\/'"",U brave, -'0': U' \~'O! iJ. d g··,,:,o··. ro.·· ,~:6.i~: )i'Vt.l.:! , . .:1 [}ir hM ~ !IIIV !;! __ ~J'!L" !LoU __ ,~~" . - , . J v .,_ "ill - ~)i . .. '" .,1,,4 . .. ~,I.!I:

desert to fight, ]'f you win you w~,!11 hold Shayzar ~~i1.d m,2~ny other {~1 t~es,;, if I 'w'i n I WI U relie ve the ,M' us li ~.11 S from y OlU ev ~ I, s." He wa s i1,O~,~ by any means, able [0 overcome them because of their mighty power. He told ~ hem SO onl,y 110 frighten them, The Franks mude ] ight of 'b~11,l and advised the Roman k ling to confront him. btu the :k ~ng told them, ~! Do you, lhJn~ '[hat those are his only soldiers 'vihlile hnv~.ng all these lands? He is only leering you with this smal ~ number of soldiers in order that yo LJ bee orne greed Y a nd con front ,lij m in the dese rt. If you do so you w t:~ I see forces swarming on yo'u before: which you \~ .. ] l~ stand helpless, III

During '['bat 'Ii me, Atabc:g Zang'i was cornmuuicating with the Franks '0.( t:hc. Levant warning themabout 'the, Roman king. He told them that if 'the. Rornnn king overtook any fortress, ~'!L::! wou ld take the, rest of the fortresses whicb 'were already ] n [he- hunds of the Franks. He ulso '(used (0() befool the Roman kung by muk i ~lg him think that the Franks W~'I~~ em his side. Thus! both tbe Romans and the Franks tos~ conf d ence ~;~l euc h ot her . Hen ce, the Roma nk i rI g with d re win Ramadan after he had stayed there for twenty-Jour days" He ],cJ~ the petard su,n d ~l J. ~~ l' h ei :1' eq U l, P ment. Zangi fbi I~ owed the i[ l roops and, captured some soldiers at the rear of the army, i Ie gni ned enormous spoi Is :lnd, k ~] led u nd C' aptu rC'd. m ~L ny of th C11'n_

[98] Ataheg, the martyr. headed toward rhe Frankl sh COLJlJl tries and invaded some of them in 534 A,.H. (R.l39 A~.C,.), T~1e Frankish kings L~ni ted and marc hed the i r 'il'ODPS to eon front. h ~IIJiI. The con fron tation took place near the fortress of 'B;ilU .. il:ilI~ which was, at ~hal time, under the control of 'the Franks. The ,[,WO ~;r,mlrues ~fOru,ghtfi.e'liCely and steadfastlv in an unprecedeneed wav, The ,M liD sl ims were vi ctoriou s

rrI , or"

ow j ng to ,A ~1 ab 1 s Grac e, The Fran k i sh ki ngs fled. al ong 'w] til ~bern I'

horsemen AIlJd entered 'the for[:ress ,of Barin accompanied by the king of Jerusalem, They sought refuge in that fonress because it was the nearest to them. They handed ln the ir ammun i,~ lon and eqU!,i prnent and many of their soldiers were: wounded, The martyr headed :~Qr the fortress of Barin and besieged it. They asked him for security if ~hey give up the fortress, but Atabeg disagreed,

It \'1[[1;:5 reported 'thm:t some coasral Franks sent for the Romans and the Fra~l ks seek i Illg I[ heir he I [J .llnd teJ!~ i ng them w halt had happened to their kings. The Romans and the Franks decided ro send reinforcements At the same ~:i~~r.e~ the besieged soldiers did not know any'tt1.in:~ about their plans, Those who were besieged repeated Urtelr offer of a ceaseflre; :Zangi, agreed this lime ~'Uld. took control of the fortress. \VhHe they were departing, they were ,Irne~ by Cbristian reinforcements. The reieforcements asked them abo'~,lrt what had ha ppened and they rep li ed t~ln~: they ga ve o veil tbe fortres s to '[he Iv! us] i Ins. The Christi ans blamed them and. [I) S ked them, U\V 13n'~ you not able to keep the fortress for two da y 81"'1 They B\-~~ Dire that they had :11,0 idea about rhesr arrival since the beginning of the siege, They added

I"W ben we recei ved no, news, 'we ~ho ught tha ~ you had ~,gnored. ~S. W"f:,. saved curse] vies from, death by g rn v i n,g over the fortre ss, n

Ibn al-Athi ~F commented:

The fortress of B,,~ rin was one of the 1IIllOSt dangerous Fran k ~s!h fortresses against the Muslims. The dwellers of this fortress plundered whatever was ~:n the area that lies between Harnah and Aleppo nnd caused mischief t~iuou,ghoult the whole area, A,m,~lh employed Atabeg [0 remove til i,s g1f(:,at harm.

Whelllhe Romans and the Pranks reached. [he Levant they tried [0 ,ga,i rn1 any moral 8Co.l'B; thus, they .fought Aleppo and besieged ~t Atabeg preferred not lID saerlflce the M'us,nm soldiers Ul'I"OIu'g'h confronting ~~lese armies because of t~heiir g:rea~: numbers. He withdrew and encamped near them ~n order to pre vent suppl ies from reachi ng them and to protect tbe outski rts of the ci~y from the enemy and 'from, being fa ided,

He commissloned judge Kamal nd-Dm ash-Shabrazuri to sultan Mas'ud to rurnfOirm him about the sad affairs in the Muslim countries and to tJeJI, ~Th:inl about their urgent need for help, Kamal ad-Din said Ito him, II'I~: fear '[hat the sultan may take this as a. pretext IO':r taking the country from us. Iris soldiers may seule and OCClIl:PY rut ~~ But Atabeg SO]d, to h j,:UlIill, i 'The ene my C'ovei~ed these .I sl am ic I and s; ~ f they ta ke Aleppo, there will be WlO Islam ~r~ the Levant. However, tbe Muslims are worth ier of :i t, iif they covet it,"

Ash-Shahrazurl said, "When I arrived ~n Baghdad an.,dj delivered tthe message to, the sul ta:n,~nle promi sed ro send sold iers but he di d not lift ,3 finger, Atabeg' sent 111e. In~,llIJy messages urgi,l1,g roe '~O' send soldiers as fast ,~!S possible, m kept la~'king but g():t nCJ~:h.hlg except promises, When m became SUI~e that the 5 IL] I lam cou 1 d not rer!.'i] y care

about this dangerous matter, I summoned a j urist who was ~he legal representative of the sultan and said to him, 'Take these di uars and d i st ri b u te l he rn ~I ~II'lO ng so ~ iI1Ie of ~ he conu noners of B aghda d and non-Arabs. OUl the Friday sermon, you and those hired ~ig;.it~'[ors should rise and ask for he'!", savine al I in one voice: 0 Islaml YO'LI~,

t,r. ...:' ~

with them, \v'i ll go out of [he mosque and head for the palace of the

sui t an aski n g for he I p _ ~ AJ so I I sent so me h i red pel'S ens to the sultan's mosque [0 do 'the S8i.ITle. 'On Piddny the preacher ascended the pulpit then this jurist stood U1p,~ tore his clothes and threw' his turban away, H e begun to cry lou cll Y '! ,MJ:11 dthe hi 'red co mmoners did '[he same, Then ~ everybody in the ~'nosqLH~ began to c'ry. Alii, the people W~10 were in the mosque headed, toward the palace of the sultan, along with those who were in the' SUhi;U1JP.S mosque, The jnhahitants of Baghdad and the soldiers gathered at the palace of the sultun weeping, crying and as ki Illg for ~) el p, The 5U ~ ta n wondered ~ 'Wha I, ] S 'ill e rna tter?' He was told that the people revolted because he did 'not send soldiers La fight against the invaders. Thus" he gave :his order to summon me, 80 J went to him, I wasefraid but 1 intended to tel I the truth, When, .I came in be asked me, 'What is all this about ?~ I answered, 'People acted in such n, 'way because they feared the evils of the Franks, There is no doubt Ihi:IJl the sultan did not know ~10W near he 'IS from the enemy, They are a week's journey from us, U they seize Aleppo, they will cOI11!e nearer to ynu than the Elli.lplilr,f!ltes River, There wi 1'1 be nothing to separate [~e~,n from Baghdad.' 1 exaggerated the whole matter until he imagined himsel f looking at them. Thus! 11~ said, 'Keep those commoners ·;lW;U,Y from LIS and lake as many soldiers as you like and head forthe occupied land, Supplies 'w'il] be sent after you.' 1 came out to the commoners !1'11.d told them what had. happened and. ordered them to go back. Then, I chose re n thou SH nd horse men from his. il fin).' and. wrote to A tabeg to tell him what ~ haddone. He ordered the army 'to march quickly. Soldiers

crossed the western side: and, while we \" ... ere equipping ourselves, a messenger arrived frcm Atabeg jelling us that the Romans and the Franks had departed ,1'\ ~'C'PPO after being defeated. Thus.he ordered me notto send the soldiers. When the sultan ""'OS in formed about (hait he decided [0' send 'the soldiers to complete rn,'lmCl r hhad and i nvude the Fran k i sh c onnt r'j es, :H e i mended to send. his u"OQPS ~.U1d ITIti ke 1 he 11:11 se ttle and DCCUpy the Frankish lands on this pretext, I continued '[0 persuade the chamberlain and the impcrtant men until l managed '10 make 111:e' soldiers return [00 the eastern side, then W went, to Al~,l'beg Zangi."

Ibn al-Athir 'WfU[ on to say:

How great Kamal ad-Din wasl He js better than, len thousand horsemen. M~y A~ lah have mercy on Atabeg; he W'SJS very C~H"er:U] in se lect in g 11 is me n fro m every C GITlJer of ,11 i s lands ..

My father said to me, "It was said EO Atabeg, 'Kamel is. being paid ~TlOI"e than ten thousand r()~lJi dinars annual ~y while others are satisfied with only five ~~~md red dinars.' H(~ repl ied, ~5 it your way to judge an matters D I1d the a ffa i rs of the state?' S Lid) a. bi g a rnou n l of rnone y is not enough for a person like Kamal ad-Din while five hundred pounds are too much for others. J ust one mission of Kamal ad-Din Is worthier than one hundred thousand dinars."

Cllap.ler' X,

The Conqlt1est o{'Edeissa by t.ll'(lbcg

[1100] Edessawus invaded by Joslin who was one of the tyrants of the Pranks and u prominent leader and horseman. .Al,~:~b~g besieged the

city for ~welTh'ly-ejgh~ d~ys and esrablished Islamic rule" Edessa W~S one o f the Chri s ni an! s bono r a.b'l e cities, £ t was one of the rnos t: jlll~(lortt~Ju: cities LO the Christians: 'the most important of which were Jerusalem, Antioch, Romiyah, Constantinople and 'IE de ssa " The Muslims, 'who were, I i \I ing i 'n Ede s sa, were ,g reatly affec ted 'by I[he Fra n k s who a 1 so seized SOUle fortresses 'in [he area between Mardin and theE!lup'hn:nes, Their violent raids reached Amid, Bakr, Mardin Ra's ~ Ayn and ar-Ruqqah. Furthermore, they used to raid Harran from time to time,

Atabeg realized that he would 110:[ be able to strike them as lowag as, Joslin remained their leader, Thus, he began to resort to intrigues and tactics hoping that Joslm might leave and go I~() any other plaice. He pretended that he would not approach Edessa and he fOllght I1I11~ci'ly against neighboring places 'like Diyar Bakr, Furthermore, 'he appointed some men ~,O inform him us SPCIl. as the Franks departed from Edessa, When JosHI] saw that Atabeg was busy fighti ng in Diyar Bu kr, he thought, that AI~:abe,g would not fight him and indeed he did ~1,Ot have the courage to do that, For this reason Joslin, left Edessa and went to his Levantine domains in order 1'0 ta:ke care of them anrl to examine ~1l.s 1~ m mun i t i on a nd the- e xten ( Q f h isw e al th,

Knowing that Joslin had left 'Edessa.~ Atubeg hurried to it along with his 1,I'OOPS and besiege it until he managed to conquer it, lie destroyed the eros ses of th c C ity, k i i 'I ed l he e x (n~]11 i s t p ri ests and mon ks rmd. many of the cavalry, J·Hs U"100pS took everything as booty. When be settled ~n the city, 'he admired it and did nul want such a beautiful place 10 be destroyed, so h~ ordered [.0 return what had been taken like furniture money slaves and children. Everything was returned and. the p I ace bee arne popul alec! and org a n I zed agn in. He reo rg~l n ized l he place and headed for lhe fortresses l[hl1~ had been invaded by the FI,'UJlks and CO'Iil,C] UI ered I, he] n - The :r)C;OP le were safe a U1 d 'i f W~]S a grc a ~ v ic tory,

11'11 .0 I] Ibn :~ '1·-, ',ill r. thir ~."" 'I ';1"

It JJ.. JI. 1 U, ," .f1.. ,II .-~G .!y!.",

Some trtrustw()~lhy and pious people irl.'~O'rr:tled me that on the day of the; c 0'.11. q uest of Edes S:~. sheikh A btl "Abd ~I llah ibn "Al i ibn Mahran who was a gre:a~ ascetic stayed for ~, 'Iong time i,-D1J, hiis, awn hermitage, Then he w,efl,t out :~~lliJ:ng d,eJi.ghl~d, optlmistic and extremely reJieved. 'vVhe:11 be sat down he said, "One of Q-U[iJ' friends told me that Atabeg Zangi conquered Edessc and our friend was among the conquerors this day, Nothing wil [ harm you after today' s .~chruevew~e n ts, Zangi!' I Th is was tine same day ]111 which the conquest tnok plnce, Them some soldiers who partieipa ted in til i 50 conq uest came '[0 the sheikh and ~,o~d him, "Since we saw you. by the ~~KlJI:i, W~, IC,mf111~ to know for sure about d'IJe v ictory, 'ii' The sheikh den led his pre sence whi le t~iley s wore '[hat ~:hey had already seen ~il11.!

1[1. 0:2] Ibn al-Athi r added;

A. genealogist told me, "The king Q'f Sicily was Prankish ,~It the dime of the conquest of Edessa, A g-ood MtwocCll n shei kh was there 2IJud the k i ~ g used 1[0 sumsnon hi In and shower :111 m \iJ j th gl fts ~ The k lng trustedhim and preferred him 10 his monks and priests, When Edessa was conquered, '[he king sent out a great army thar traveled by sea to Africa .. They looted, raided, andcaptnred, The news: came to the til]g \~hUe thi s Morccean shei k h was present and feeling sleepy, The king woke him upand said, :10'1 juristl O~r kinsmen lnflicted the Muslims with :5:0 and S(~"5 w'~~:;r,e 'was, your Prophet then to defend them?" The sl1Je'i~Ji!J replied, "He came '[,0 conquer Edessa .... The Frankish attendants laughed but the ~ru:nl' said to them, "00 110-1 laugh; 1 swear ~lliat be said so. becausehe :1 S sure of i~. ~I! The k in g, fe I t ,g reat s~dlless and '1 t was TiI:()'U

~lA'if'j;{[r LI~l't"11 ~'lil..e· Frf'Ir1Jj~W'''' carne that A- i''1I,l_i!!iI('i'' had '1"!Oi~I"e;'I. con tr .... ·I- of Edessa

W~~ ~,~ , _,~, _ '_ _ ~ U ~J.. . ~ ~[~ ," li~ ~ iil~,_ _' ,=~:_ ~,I " -,~ ~~ ~~~I ~! ~,~ . ~~~.: . ~I,I !Ir. U~· t, 0 ~Il ,W ,~\;r.:3~:§;W'!I

Th eywere shocked and d i stressed bee ause the c; ty w as great ~ y revered by the Christians ..

56 Nob!« f) 1I11tHI ies

More l han one person whom .I tru st told me t ha~ U P:IOll S man said ~ "I dreamt about Ata1,eg after his assassination: he. was. in ~ perfect state an d I SIt i d to h.i :111. 'I 1';'1 o "M;.' d. id A U all aw a rd you?' He replied ~ I H e forgave

'i .~. ., d I·W·'· 'I' .' I;" ? i '[J' .. '1"..:11 ! II:' I . .. f' 'E!d .. I'! I

inc. .w StU ~. f1mt tor? . ;-:~e ~rep re LII ~ l' or the C onquest 0: "[j; e ssa .:

Cltapl.erXI

The' DC,fll'lt of'tlte iJlct"ttyr ,Zangi

[104] Ibn al-Athir said:

Sultan Mul ikshah had delivered the castle of Jt1.~ bar (a castle by the Euphrates) [0 prince Salim a 1-" Aqili when Qasim ud-Dawlah seized .A leppo .. Prince Salim and his sons kept il. 1J1.1il[] l 54.1. A..fL (~ [46 A .. C.). Then Atubeg headed (HJl toward it and laid siege to it in order not to leave a city lhal WJlS not, his own among :IT~S territories; he 'was exrrcmelv cautious, He besieged it himself nnti ~ the 51h of Rabi".

- -. - - ~

'VVhi]e he was sleeping, some of his Mamelukes stabbed him and

escaped to the citadel, 1'IDi,5 companions did n0'1 notice t:~]~u and when [be killers ascended tothe citadel, the dwellers of thar place shouted to the soldiers and told them about his murder, His companions hurried [0 him, Some or them found hi ~n breathing hi s last. Allah ended his I ~ fe .~1.S a marty r.

Ibn al-Athi 1i add ed:

H'J!s·' !i:' on e. 'W' ere ~;:!jj vf !!!I·d' I=D·:; ~ IG' -;.',1-"':.1' 7 ~ ~,~!L ..... ~ IJ .... ,,.,,.c;co d ,~'-:I '11 ~ ~11' 'N.· ur ad ·'·D·'"11t"1.

!'. !3V .. ilI _\.,I _' ~gJ' ~._ .~~~"_ ._,p __ ~lIJ lI~·W~'''..!''Ji __ ,Ii....\,;.-~~. __ !i,..,rJ~, _,_~~ _I, . ~IIJJ iIl_' .. "_" .:.il.,i!

M"·-I'i.-.';~'-l".i_ Q"'--iI'b'- ad-Din -M·. Iawdud tbe father of the kings ·o··,f' Mosul

,_,' ,1,umt u,~ ' .... Ill, aa UI ", Y, ,11,)111, __ ' _ ,..... .Y,!I. __ . _ _ t~L .,J _'_:_ ~ . ,tv,!", _ "' '~

Nusrae ad-Din Amir Amiran and he had one daughter, The klngdom was. inherited by the SOl!] S of Q utb ad - Di n \%{ ho had uniqu e characteristics,

["105] I C ommen red:

One of the, 'wonders of conquering 'the' castle ,olf Jabar was drHllt when the castle was besieged, Ibn Hassan at-Manbiji carne at night and ca.ned the ruler of t be castle He said to Jm ~ nil. 1'1 Thl s is m y king Atabeg, He is the ruler of these Iands ,lnd has come to fi'g[lt you with countless soldiers, wlhruie you have neitber chamberlain nor supporter. I s~lgg~st i~hfit I ma y intervene and ask the 1k in~: to compensate you for thi s castle.Were he F.1 or to do SO~Wh~l are you wai tiug for then 1'1! The, ruler. of the castle replied, "I am waiting for dlH!. same thing that your fa~liler waited for."

.h happened tha t Balk ibn B. uhrum '-' the ruler of Aleppo, besi eged the father of Ha ssan in Manbij and set erp petard s .. One d£lY ~~e. said !~O Hassan, !'W:i][I, you surrender? What are you waiting for?" Hassan said to. h]~11~ 11m am w:~:~~i,ng for an arrow," The next day whil~e Balk 'was. preparing a petard, he was shot by an, arrow from an unkn own p I ace. He gal it in hrns neck which was 'the o!nJy unprotected plaee in his body.

When ibn Hassa» heard that, be, wjtllurew', Atabeg W,~,S murdered

,", th . !I.L.~, sn . ne same lI'ug~ ~lll ..

,Chapter XII

Tbe ,Biography of the' !"a'rl:lJ'r·' Atabeg ,Zll,ngi

[H16] lie \\",I1S one of the best kings and his subjects lived m absolute peace; the strong could not wrong rhe weak,

[t 01] Ibn a1- Ad1 ir said:

My 'father told me, "Atabeg came to us in the island of ]brld ... Umar illl wintertime, He settled in ~~e castle tim! his troops stayed ~ll the, camps, Prince "'[zz ad-Din Abu, Bakr ad-Dabtsi was among his princes and 'he was one, of the most 'famous and j udic ions 'COIJ1n selors, Ad- Dab isi settl ed in a. Il{i<lI:S,'13 owned by a J evil' .. The Jew burned to seek help from Atabeg 'who, asked him about the sitnation and the Jew to~d h!i~n '[he whole 8[0I'Y. Ad-Dabisi was beside Atabeg; Zangi g] inted ,M ad-Dabisi angrily but he (~id not, utter a word. Thenad-Dahisi 'w]thdl1C;W '~'. . -,t" .ti,~1 'r- .. - - . ..:1 iI""£i~, -1 rr oJ;,A It othe ""'l~ V "10 nd (I r.i"1 ered 'Ir~ 'fi I' ~;..! if' C ", -n- - 11-.·6 set - - - ,~iIUTI:.:J;.,,;~, ana :i-" .. ~I~L !~I"';"y,,'!,.:i' ',_,_"'; '"'~~':,i '!i!!,,_ ~(l!. .. '_ Ii,.! ere 1..1 ~,~UUI~u, ms can P oe ~'I! up

outsi de it, The land W'~IJ,S too mudd y to set up a camp, J saw the workers

i·~ 'Il... '.'~ d ·";11 'I b'l 'I .

wnue tney were carrying tne mua in oroer [0 ne an e to set up J1S camp,

When the y '~c)ii.ru-nd th at the land W,~S teo m'~~.ddy, they pU'l d,o,;!J.''I1, straw. jj

Ibn aJ·,AU',]r added.

Zangi used ~,O JOI~b~d his companions from owning properties ~.fiIJd u sed to so. y ~ 'I', As W~ c ontrol these [and s we have no need [0 .p ossess amy I)Un of :[[, em! beeau ~-e [he fiefs compensate us, W',t::.re t hese .~ a nds 1[0 be ta ken from us. the properties woul d also be taken. If 'l he properties weregi ven to the followers of the: king, they would oppress people

d k ~ .. ' rr ,am ta ce tne I r properties.

r· l., . .oi .' .- .~. ';' ,.f",J.,.;; M.· ... ·rt:'U·I' A ~''''J,I'''.:.1"g:' 7""""0'.: 5:9

, Ile D,WgltSP~lJ OJ .NI!I',~!,_ ,_,.'"r !'1!.~'~'I'~·"'" 4-~H~",,!,

ll,08,] Ibn a~~Ath],r went on '[0 say:

Due 'to. h is sound re5tSOFW ~ mg~ he d iS~l[lljtiChed, I. group of the Turks to tbe u vant and mad e them seale in Aleppo. He, then ordered them to fi ght t:'llJe F~1JIil1'kS., He used to grilnl~ them whatever they seized from the Frankish territories and appoint theelin as governors there The TlIDWls COl1.t ~ nued to. fj,ght the Pranks by d a_y and 11 igh tarn d they seized man y vi ~llage-s and secured. that great city, These dom ains were kept W'iE th the Turks l,urJli] 600 A.H- {m 2Q3 A.C . .).,

~,

[1M] lie added:

Atabeg was an unbelievably courageous warrior, He was extremely protective especially of the spouses IQf his soldiers: he never forgave anyone who caused them amy harm He used to S::l,Y" "My soldiers are always with me inmy conquests and they seldom stay at horne. W~re we ,n ot to keep, their WQIi11E:rI safe, they wool d '[urn ] OQ,Sf:" II

1110] lHe narrated:

Nur ad-Din Hasan al-Barbati 'was, the keeper ,of the cas-de of aj=Ja:-d:r,J!n and he was a close friend of Zangl, but he had a had reputatkm, Zangi knew th~!t rh is keeper II sed tomolest the women of his. sokliees, n~n2:i ordered. hil:Si chamberlain Saladin al- Yaghbisani to go '[0 him hu.lTi~dly and break mto the castle, When he reached there, he should arrest al-Barbati, cut h:is pen is, tear out his eye'S and then crucify him, Al-Barbati did 11.0t know anything about that and w'hem he informed him that Sa1 adin had come to the castle ~ he went' out. UG receive hi m, Saladi n s aid to him ~ !I Our sultan f\ tabeg greets y OU, and wants, to prom ole you and raj se YOUT" rank. He wants to g rant y eu the castle of Aleppo and appoint yO~1 as a ruler over all the Levanrine territories up to Mosul." The ~aol man was extremely happy and collected all his wealth Ira take to MOliUL When Nur ad-Din collected

all his wealth, Salad in punished him w~th rd~ he was ordered to do and. confiscated .rIl~ l h~.s \l\,fea.l'[h so as nDR to let anyone do that again.

He used to d.'i SH i bure O~'H! hu nd red roy al d ~ ri ars ,~inong th e poor every ~riday ~n public and. during the 'week days he would gW\i',e secretly, One day he was ri~i:'!1g his horse and it tripped HUll 'he almost fe l~i of. He summoned one of the princes who were with him mild told him something which the [DI'j nee did not understand. The' prince returne d h orne, hade farewell to hi sw j fe arid. dec j d e,d '[0 run a way, Hi s wife said '[0 ]1 im, '!~Whal did you do wrong? What is the reason for your escape?" ID1.'~ told her '['!hIe whole . story, She said, "Nasir ad-Din, the chamberla in of Zangl, I.S 0:11 good terms with you~ t,e~~. him (he story 8md do wha te ver he orders you Ii "I fea r t I.li~~ he rna y pre VClH rile from running away and that I will be killed, U was his reply. His wife kept persuading and strengrheni n~ hi m unti [ ~e agreed and told Nasir ad-Din who laughed .. iUld said, "Take this purse and go 'LO him: H' ]8 wbat he. asked for;'! He' said, "I seek protection of AU~d1 for 'In)1 blood and I ifei j~ Nasir ad-Din said, "Do not panic; he was o:n'~y i~tf~er these d inars.' The prince went to Zangi and when Zaugi S~lW him he asked ~ im, "Do ycm. have anything with you? "Yes," he replied, Zangi ordered }'d 111 to gl: ve it 'to [he pOOL Once he fi ni s hed ~ he went 10 N asi r ad-Din ami asked him, II'Hnw did you know that he: w.~n.~·ed. the purse' of dinars?" Nasir ad-Di nanswered, "Zangi used 10 .~ruve this Qi1110Unl of money 'in charity 0]1 th~.s day. On '[hal: d;]~{, no one came to take the money, I 'IV 3. 5 informed that his ~H)rSC tripped and he \'·V.E[S about to fa! I~ thus, he remembered the ch~i.ri[.y and asked Y01lJ [0 come to me. H

(::t lZl He went on to say;

People used to fear Zangi so much. My father told [fiLl€! that one day Zangi 'went Olll[ of the castle and fouud one of his sailers sleeping. Some of lVs guards woke the man up. Once he saw Z[ljngi: he fainted, and they tried to move him but he; was deadl

[1] 3] 1 JIe added:

'7'""n"g~; 11 ad ,r. "'+l'1Il~J,,,,,, and s trone character lJ"", never betraved "'1'll'!il~ of '~~,I~: ,:I~ _,_",L" !!;.i!" 'Q,~all.H"'9_~I~!JJI, '_ ..... ~ !i..[i,~IMJIL- _o;:t~. ,[,,)1.,,,, ,!;:i"'!i:;.~1 'I!)":;;I~, iUl.J'W' ' fi!!1,1,~..r' '1.,.1',

his fr~€[ids from '~h~ time he became sultan until he was murdered, Thus" they used to advise and pay '!WrOI1ll their wealth to keep him secure. N'D one fe~l~ 1lO:ffi1ely umong his men; If he was a soldier.they would take care of h l' m and direct hi In. If he was one Q f the d.] van, he W'G}i'U lid go to the met) of the divan who would honor him as a guest If he 'was a scholar, he wo '~II-~ go to the corn m" un 'n I'll '0·&' co,,", hol "lI1 rs n,;:~,;OI. CoB'·;rI nn ash-S '"I~ '"~ h '!)I,T'~""l'U'[l'

,ti·.· '\P.f .. _ I!.- UI. :. ," .. I;J.I' [~, "I!r.r ~V, -. Jl •• ~ .. ,~llJ· .. ,~ o;)!~.l~ .. -., ~ "". ,U~~ ....... _->'~JL~'!J.,_· ~ , I,HLy. g,J iU,i£r. ,

who would treat him so kindly and, he would feel, at horne among rr."heml .. The. reason for this was tha~ he used ~:O' select his aids carefully, :H'e also used, to S~-l ower his; s upporters wi't h g ruf[s .[IIJl d. gi ve tll]f 11.1 11dgh sa 1 aries so tha t it would be eas y for them to do, good, deeds an cl. ~e c hari table.

o. t'" 'X""']~']

'.' 1 r', .11 _'.

".apf.,r, l!1 .

7:- "h J-- iii' lertt· '11hat' ,"1 tw" d- the" ' tJ;f'.' rde I'-"Z-' ~

.' - : : ~ (-'~" , .. _.,:, '" .' ,," .'", :-. ",'-"1 • ',"."_". 'J' ", I,' L', .;" ", ,-.-, .'-.~.:_:} ",'i-I' ,-.,'~' : '.1 ~

1\16 ,m'll." S c_' __ . owe,· ; ,u, ... ,r o_,altgl

[114.] Abu Ya'Ia sa id:

K,~ng ,A,~,p Arsalan ~tl.'e son of the Seljuk SIJ I UlI1 .M as" ud set our with 'his ccmpaalons for Mosul with Sayf ad-Din Ghazi ibn .. Irnad ad-Din Atabeg, .. ,1\ 1 i Koj nk the D"U ler Q,J Mosul d :id not S~II·I'-e nd er for it whi ile

until [bey reached a poi Ill: of agreement after which he agreed m'o meet them and g~ ve up the position for Say f ad- Di 11 Ghaz L G hazil bee arne the ruler and prince Sayf ad-Dawlah Siwar and Saladin :rv1'Ulh~lnu1l:1~ld ibn Ayyub al-Yughbasani went back LO Ale~~'P0 with prhice Nur ad-Din Mahmud ibn Z3IJgi. He began [0 form an anny and reform the' city, Consequently, he carne [0' hold. the reigns of ~)<oweD'~ took eontrnl of his subjects nnd managed '[0 ]JUI. an end to ,~M troubles there.

Ibn Tayy al-Halabi said:

Asad ad-Din Shirkuh rode hurriedly to the camp of Nur ad-Din.

He said to Nur ad-Din, li'~' knew that the. vizier Jamal ad-Din bad joined 111"'" soldiers ~ .... f Mo,ell] and favored. vour brotber and mad e I' ~ .. ~+ e -.~ n, .

_" .... ._ . ., v _ . . ~ _ _ ,/ _ II!J ....... _. _"" ~ ,_~, __ fum IL,fl_ u;~~elli

or MOSHL Most of 'the: soldiers have JO~l'IJed them, I. suggest that you head cut for Aleppo and make it YOlLlr capital and mobilize (he soldiers of the Levant and join them to' your army. 1 firmly believe tlhm Yf0U will seize the w,~~.o~e kmgdcm one day because 'whoever wants ro conquer theLevant should first seize Aleppo. Wboever seizes Aleppo

·'11 . -·'1 'h I[ 'E I~

W~ _ serze '[ le WulO, e east,

11 hen he orde red t he cal le rs to inform the peop le a nd tile sold iers of the Levant who had gathered and had become loyal (0 'N ur ad-Din. They went to Aleppo and conquered it on 7~h Rabi" al-Awwal. When they reached its cnsrle, Asad ad-Din called its ruler and told him about the matter. N'lIl~ ad-Din look control of it bC'C~]U5e of Asad ad-Din, Nur ad-Din appreciated that and Asad ad -Di n used to be proud of that arid he 'was [he main reason for making him rhc ruler of ,A. leppo:

Ibn al-Athir said:

When S~yf ad-Din settled theaffai rs of his kingdom, he returned '[0 'l h t Levan t ]u order 'l 01 kn ow how ~W1~ngs were gO'i 1rn,g O[~ and on vv-'h [IIJ I terms he should trent his brother N UI,f' tHJ-,Di n who had settled in

Aleppo .. Sltyf ad-Din delayed [going to his brother OU'[ of fear, He used !i0 correspond with hi.ITI as'kilng 'for hills favors, and he ~·()~:lI!d give him whatever he asked fur ill order to 'win his pleasure, They agreed to meet away from the armed troops and. everyone WCH1'~d have five hundred horsemen. O~ the appoi nted day, N ur ad= Di [;1 [en ~~;S camp whb five hundred. horsemen" but Sayf ad-Din went wii'[h only five horsemen, Nur ad-Din did not recognize his brother's anny until they approached them because of their small number .. When N'~'H' ad-Din saw' his brother. he recognized him and dismounted hls horse and went ~O' him, He fell on his knees and kissed the land b~;nf.!,fj·nl :~iirn and ordered his horse~'YIe:n 11:0 withdraw .. Nur ad-Dim and Sayf ad-Din sat down ,a:ier the:y hugg)ed each other and wept.

Sayf ad-Din addressed Nur ad.~Dhl~I'IIWhy did ~ld mot come to me? Did you fear that If m:i ght ki~ I you? By .A]'~ ah, 1. have never n~ ough L of such a tin wng. Wh at do possess ions a vail? W:i th whom wi l~ ~ I ~. i '\1'.(,: and from whom should I seek support, ~f I behave so dishonestly wi'~h my brotherand the most 'beloved perscn to me?"

Nur ad-Din ~fel::~ relaxed and safe, Hence, he returned to Aleppo, He eq u i pped ~:11 s army and came bibJc~. with h is soldiers but this ti me it n '[hie service of lids. brother Sa,yf ad-DIn, who, :said ~o him, "I have no, interest in your staying here, M:y purpose was that I VIi', nted 'the Frankish kings Ito know thar we are on g!Qod terms with each other so that they 'might stay away from us .. ~~

1[1.15]1 Ibm al-Athir said:

When Zangl was k illed, Joslin sent for the mn:habilmnls ,of Edessa and most o~ them were Armenians, He set out 0[1 a certain d,IY to reach them and he seized the city" 1. he Muslims who were in the fortress did '1101 surrender and decided to 11ght _ I-Ie fought them Ifi@,I:'~~.y.

NUIr ad-Din knew Wh,M was happening whilehe was in Aleppo and be marched his soldiers eo Edessa WhenJoslin carne to ~nowth~t. NuT' ad =D in was approach ing he escaped, NU:f' ad -D i 11 conquered the c i ty ~ looted i:i[ and captueed its, ~:llhiTh.b.iuu.n's .. Sayf ad-Din Ghazi knew about the Frankish aggresslonwhtle he was in M:olSut so he equipped his army and marched to the c.~ty~ Wl1e:11 he reached there, be found that Nur ad-Din had. already conquered ]t. As ,~. result, he wi UW'I1gly left the c i ~y for hi s brother ..

[116] He added:

Nur ad-Din sent some of the 'booty he had gained 'frown the chy to the princes .. He :S;e';I1~ some maidens to Zayn [~d.=DI~Il;. Zi!IlY-11 ad-Din \~len~ 10 see them and [hen carne back after he had washed. He was laughing and when he w as asked about ~l~.~- reason, he r~p I. i ed, '!~WI~H~.l1we conquered Edessa \.'Ii ith Zangi, ttl,6~'j3 VIas at maiden .i n the 'booty wh (}1.l11. coveted ,. I had decided to rmke love [0' her but I heard tl~e ca] I er of Zangi aski ng for th e ma iden s and '[he booty [a, be return ed, Th US., I cl.~d not touc ~il her and. retu med her. Now, 'N ur ad- D"~ n sent rny share of maidens ~o .11K~: and ~ discovered that this maiden was; .rmmong them so I ]mrrnecl][!!j'~e]y made love to her lest 'N'lJllu' ad-Din orders me (,0 retum ·he.I~.1I

IChapter' X.'I·V

Th« F l~,(i Ilk i,s.h Jt l-t,mc.h 01t Bemascus

'1-1' ] ,.] '\b' y" ..: ~".", :"--11,

,~ , .. . . . .n.lI d. ,i,E! sa, h.!I.,

In this. year there \V,E[S com ti nua I, news ~J~~1t some Ro:m.il!']. and Frankish kings had gal.herecl in huge numbers in order 10 attnck ~·ifn.e

h:lan~iie lands, They urged their citizens to set out to fighl this W[aU'. With innumerable groups, they 'left their lands unprotected and collected massive (JJITIoun1s iaf equipment, ammunition money, and soldiers. It was saidthat there were more than a million warriors and horsemen, They seized Constautinople and its kll1Jg had In accept their terms and U): keep peace w:~lh them, The ne·t,fhboring Musli rns states proceeded to ~:a~e 1.he necessary defensive measures when they heard about that, They headedfor the. roads and forti filed border cities and. passageways from 'wh;ich the Franks could invade i[he~rlarid5. The Muslims continued to earl'y out raids 0[1 the Franks who were 'Om! the borders and fought them fiercely unti I Iarge numbers were lk~]lled. or starved '1:0 death. This was '[he state of a:ff~liIFS until the end of 542 A.1I (I. :~.47 .A.,C.)

..... , , ., __ ,., ., , __ •• _, .. Oil _ lOll.- _ __.. _ .... ...."_

(Events rtf543A.H. (JM8 A.C.P.

'--------------------------------------------

News heralded the arrival 'Of the Frankish ships to the seashores of Tyre and Acre and their collaboration with '[he: Franks In these cities, n w a s s.ald '[hal the n ~I mber of Franks there amou n ted to 800,.000 after the k~l:~ ing1 diseases and starvation they had been subjected to, They he1ilided for Jerusalem 10 perform pilgrimage and after that some 0'( them returned horne by. sea, Many of them died as, well as SOiTU~; of their kings, After a long discussion and many disputes, they decided 1[0 conq La er D',~ masc us.

'I'1i-. ,~I .A· ~"IJi..:' - , , .' A • .ll un ~]~I~.· ·u~ rr S~],I;IJI,.

In a massive nrmy .. the German king merchcd with his Fran k1Sh sold i ers '[0 I, he Lc \I::' n r. W hen he ·011' i ved, he an d tbeLe va ~1 'R:i ne FruJ'I k s

agreed to conquer DiiliTH1SCI!lS thinking [that i'[ WDU~d1 be an easy tr'l.1'tJ;,el beenuse of the ·I'I~ '1~'iIlJ r,jij;:;, "a' IiI'n'I' .\ 'r' tha .. t' ~'~-[n' e '-D"~l'n-""~'''C~1'J-'S w- as 'iIU,."':I;I-"'I" tLL.,.._ I'~'I'I,'""

.......... "' ... " ...... __ ' I,. ..... ,~ h _ ~"".' __ ~ -'J'" /,,\,,> !!- ,'~, '~ ,- ',~,!~ R!i:I _ Ii; " "_ ,;[ ,;:ii I!-lIL'"""","" ,uw ..... , I~ , ....

of Muj:iir ad-Din Ar:[;~q ibn Muharnmad lbn Buri ibn Tughtakin; yet! he was n01 its real ruler for it was ruled by Mu"i'n ad-Din Anar who 'was the: Mameluke of his grandfather rught~kim1, M~I~ in mobl lized the soldiers and some of the: people of Damascus in order to protect '[he clty from the Franks who besieged themon 6ih ,R,abf al-Awwal.

[,11 fU Among those who joined the army was the venerable sheikh Hujjat ad-Din Abu ai-,Hajjnj Y'IJ1.su-f ibn Dunas al-Findalawl, the, Imam of the :rMlaHki, MlU,//Huilb in Damascus He W21S an aged ascetic man who joined the finrny but he did no:~ mount any horse,

When he saw him, Muin ad-Din went to ~hn 'w~th great respect and greeted. him politely saying, ~1'Oi great shei kh~ you are exempted in this case for YUU,,[i a.~,e. W@ ilill canperform JUuul instead of awhite-hairee man li ke Y,iQ 1.1. Y cu have u 0 ubil ,i ty to fight ~ul,d participate i m J! had ."

But the sheikh answered him, HI have sold Itru!nd lie (Exalted and Glorified be he) has purchased. So .~ wiU never cancel such ,[1 deal I'! Shei kh Abu ;],~-Hajj~jl meant the Qur'anic verse, ~ 'Verily. 1"thJh has IJIlH:iiased oj ,au: believer: thf},ir lives (md their properties; jor the price that theirs shan be ,Pan:l,(,Use, ,~ I) [ih~ fought fiercely until he was martyred,

nlay 'the me rcy of A 'I 'Iu h be upon him,

The 'Mlusli.nHi were lacking in strength to f~gh~ the Franks who coosriuued a great. power. Thusv Mu' :iin ad-Din sent 'I~') Sayf ad-Din '~Ilformi-ng him about she had state of affairs and asked him for help, Jrrunediatety, Srl,yf ad-Din mobilized his troops and marched [_Q Hi Ins, then be sent a 111I.essag,~: to 'M'~'I"in ad-Din saying, "I caree uccompanied by ~d[ who can rake up arms in rny territory. I c~~me to you while D~urU1SCUS is not uuder the. rule of aoy of I'ny represeraattves or fel 'lows ';,

t. AI-Tawbi.lh: 111,

so if ~ am, defeated" A:~i,mh, forbid, we wiM, be a]~ murdered for our territory is nut far [11'0111 yO~lrEL Thereu P-OJlL,. Damascus an d other Is ~amic states wil 1 00, an easy target for the Franks, If "i Oll wan tine to confront them, you shoul d surrender Damasc us ~o- a trust worthy person from among Iny fel ~O\VS~ 11 swear ~ if 1 beiltt them ~ m win rrot s~ay there and I w I 'I i, lea ve ~t i mmedlate I y to you ,after wh kh I wi 11 rerum to lTIly home land, II

Mu' i n ~d,~ Di 11I,put off answering him in order to know ~lJ~)'w ~he Franks would react, Then, Sayf ad-Dm sent to ~he German Pranks threatening to attack nlf~:lll if they did not leave, Mm''eove;r; MlJt~11 ad-Din sean a message to, t hem say ing, '~Th:B ki,n,g of the East has come '~O YO'I.], with ,a_ storming a ITflI y. You ]1f1U;S~ leave our territory otherwise I wd.1 submit it to him and then you wrnU never dream of safety." f'Udhenlbo:re~ he sent a message 1[.0 the Lev,[I!ni~i]leF'F,a.i1,ks inti n~ildatj,n~ them ,~JhO!lll, the German Franks. FIe told them, "Y ou. are 0]'[ 'the hom s of a d ilemma: ,i f the German Franks occupy D~UilllaSGU8, youwill lose all thelands under your control. And. if I surrender Damascus to Sayf ad-Din, YOLI will never be able, ro fight him off or prevent him from conquering Jerusalem," 'rvlu~'in ad-Din promised to deliver them the fortress of Baniyas if they managed to persuade the German Franks ~() lea ve Damascus,

Certain of ~he; rruthfulness of 'M'I1";in ad-Din's words, the Franks accepted hi s offer, Therefore the)' gatbered together 'W j,th the: 'Gen11 an king, and frightened him with accounts of Sayf ad-Din, his numerous soldiers and endless means, of support. They told. him 'that Sayf ad-Din might ge~: hold of Damascus and then 'm1ey would never be able '~o reside ~ n the LeN am t. He granted their demand and ]ef~ Damasc US and the Le van~:i ne Pranks departed as we'll .'

Consequently, they delivered the fortress of Baniyas 'fn:HTI Mu' in ad-Din, It remained under their conerol until Nnr ad-Din conquered h

'JH" 'W' ; II 'I\",to, 1"11"11 ~'II'I' ~';I oned '1I·rh~'il'w "!!'I....,.:g "'_ i-i,.Jj .. ~., Ill.... u ~]~ !L,~ WI ill.... ' 01;11 ,li,,,",,I] ' .. ,I!!l U U,;}"

,11k t·, ~.J It!;- -a~p,_e'''' A~i

[1l1.9] The scholar Abu al-Qasim Ibn .. Asakir (mlay the mercy !D,f A:~ ~,i1h be upon hi mJ mentioned ]'11 his book that someone had a, dream about the jarist al-Pandalawi 'j He asked a~,-,F'andala wi j' "Where are you i:U,YW,?1H "In the Gardens of Eden on cemfoetable beds," he replied. His tomb ~ s being visi Led now in am area cal led the tomb S 0'[ "Bab as-Saghir", rut has ~, ~:~ge cenaita:p[~ iQn which hi,s bj'olgr,lp'hy is jnseribed,

In R:fijab ,of '[his. yeEit H W,aJS said that Nur ad-Din, the ]lu,l,er o;f Aleppo, stopped the, callers from saying, ~!'C(Ul1e tOI ~fue best deeds" al the end IIDf the cal ~ to Dawn prJyer, A[sQ.~ he completely re.J ected blasohemlns '·']-1""] Corm anlons of ":-I,0fi0 Prot JI).,,-t H-'~ -w- '" - '1-- sl ed b , .. il'll-. . .• : ~~J-[- ... ![~!,~ "....: ~v~ - _p~ :_!Vil.!;.:! .... _ !J,.~"", I.· ,i['pIUII.'e •. ', I .... , '. '1;1,8, le, '![]'10" :y ~nle

group of Ahl ~:s=SllT.imah (The supporters of thus Sunaah) 111 Aleppo" ,A~~ these actions annoved the Ismailites and the S~"U iite who --('_ ,~. d .-'~J~

___ . _. __ __ __ __" __ ., _ _ _ 0. __ ·_ _______. ' .]] ... ". :rage, W~ ,

anger but d1ey d]d not dare do ~:ny fbi n~ OUl[ of fear 011" N UJ" ad- Di]1,

[Ill] He ,~dded,;

I'll Rajab, the preachers were only a~~,ow~d ~o speak on the common topics, Previously, dhey used to s[lQeak about unnecessary and sensitive issues like d!ilf'felnences between sects and their special characterlstics: th U1S people became confused,

___ , •• _. , ._....lI...lI. .......... "r" ....... II ........ _

~ ~~

/' --:' , " ,', " , '(" '" - r \.

f\ E1)'Cl1tS' ,of 544 A . .11 .. _"" 11,49' A", C.) )

,- /

"" • • __ ._ ..... __ ...... __ .. 01 'YY"'"

~ 1,12] Ibm al- Athir said:

IDrn'I th i s year N ur ad - Din 'went to Famiyah fortress O~ at was 1!111dfJi" the control of the Fran k s, It was far from ,K amah and W~tS we I, I fortified and built on a high hill .. , bs, Frankish inhabitants used to raid Hamah amd Shayzar; 'they used to h umil rn ate the p~'0'P,I,~ of those :1 ands, Nur ad-Din went to this fortress and besieged i,f preventing ,~,nyol.le 'frown escaping d,ay or '11 igh~., He f()~;gJn.t them incessantly, The Franks fromma ny :~en1 tori es doc iOfd to' collaborate In order to force h im to retreat; bUilt before his, arrival, he managed to seize the fortress and, [11] it 'with amnnmition, food. and men, When hie kTi1~\V about. the Franks' coming, he marched out to meet tbern and .. when ~~l'ey saw' his, readi ness to fl ght, they w ithdre w to thei r Iands and forged u peace treaty with him,

rh~i. ·a·· -11i,f,IIi'}¥ X'-' V''·" ] I

'L~".· ... u rt~"·.· .', . '"

'--II IJc th f': S·· t Jld n-:7 'I rh' 'I " Z' ~

neueau 0_1 _'ay~ ,1iI-='18 g,az:l c_Jll>a:ngt,

I''"' l't M B· 'I -h- f~'J\fu' d'D''''

,~~ -"'. i). - - , ' ,,' ,..' '~ .' -" '" . -,.' - , ,'. ~ ~

l'lle -: .( T "rot" €t ,{l , . '.,1- ([J" -.. t n

~ 12.3J Ibn al-Athir said:

Pr~Vi,OlJS]y ~ Atabeg Zangi conquered Dara and it remained under his control ulnti1 his death after which (he ruler of Mardin seized 11.

Sayf ad-Din iha a~ngi, set out to ~':[ lin ,544 ,A.lH,. {l ,~491 ,A.C,,) and m.ill:nu,ged to eonquer it I-Ie conqnered most of b;J'ardil1 amd seized Diyar Bakr and restored what had been taken after his father's d~al.h., Hls soldiers were guilty of looting and devastation. The ruler of ,M'ardin commented; Were we eomplaining about Atabeg? Where are hi: days? They were feasts compared 10 nowadays, He besieged us, and he 1] ever oppressed anyone, nor drud Ih i s sotdiers take a bundle of straw wi U; out ('layUllg for h ..

,fJ~" !)'~~,~ G I&uj.':& I~~l ~'"", ,f) ~,~Uud'iIM:~ ,j.;!~,

.

al .. Khaum, In him. Sayf ad-Din left Mardin and went toMo~lILI] and

al- K :UltL11l 'was prepared and sent to, him, She reached M:cslI:1 while he was on his deathbed; he (UOO before ,ccn~Llinlm,rtltilng his marriage. This took place at the lend of Jumadaal-Akhirah and he was about for tr yeurs old .. He was buried ~l1[he great school, which he had bulh in Mesal, He ~ef~ a son '\. hom Nur ad-Din :M,a:hmud,! his uncle, brought up and married him to his niece, rhe daughter of Qutb ad-Din Mawdnd, He d ied ,j m the prime of ~1!fu s yO~J t h,

Chftpt'fJr X V] I ,]

Ibn nl-Athir said:

Wh,ie.n Sa,)rf' ad-Din iGhaz,i died, his broth jr Qutb ad-Din IYla:wdud was jn Mosul, Jamal ad-Din and Zayn ad-Din, the chamberlains of Sayf ad .. Din, Ghazi, agreed to appoim Qurb ad-Din ill1. order to g£lhl his

,1.

favor because he 'was a good-natured man, TI1Iiey sent 'for hi, 1m, and pl!edg~d allegiance to him and he, in ~UIfI1lJ!, took an oath. He H10Ved to ..,~i,-:~ nalace of Irii.'e ,e.- ~II~'''- P inces "11- .. 1 troonsn ledzed ,,.- lleaiarce Ij,o' h "]1m t~1,e, ]l'n. t,!! .• .' , 1Li~ 1.. !i:J; UI,w ~an. - nlU . _ ...... i) ,~nl!.~ ,r·. !Ui,!,J.!;:;; [JI!I!u.e;cu I~ •...... b c,!ll!.. ~ .• """, ~ -. ' 1, _.

as. ~hey used to wi'~h Jamal ad-Din and. ZIYl~ ad-Din, Hence, he became SlJ. king who, was w~]l,-sec~n~d.,

[1. 2A] When he assumed power, he. married hi s brother's w ife al-Khaum the, dau,gh~er of HIlD51.3fm ad-Din Tamrtash, the nl~er of Mardin, She gave birth to. some 1~((IlS of Qutb ad -Din who became kings 'Of M'OSli[ aiffit.e,rwar4s~ None of Qutb ad-Din's sons becKU-fn,e a ruler except hers,

It 'was religiously lawful for al-Khatun to take off hie,]," veil before

fifteeu kinss from 1\e:"1" "t'i~-~;li'I]' ers brothers '1· ... ephew eo husbands sons and

-,IL~-Ii..,.'· "I,j ~.,~~ Wi .. , ",1.1 ',li~l." .. .IJ,.3':i U,I,")L~I,:·.,I'~~ ,,1.'-', il,ib,r·.· .. i:J!,,. ,11I-~'._\t}l.llIl:-~:!I,~·.'"J~,'Ii ~JljllL .

grandsons,

Ibn al-Athi r menti oned their [,[UflJ1'lJCS, :~n h is, book. In this respect 'she

'1- 'It.- n··' 'II-" he d 'h' r-- "'AII-.,~' il] M' II'! __ "Ik. M' 11 JIl-.

was JJ1i.!e I.'al:mna~,il., ~]iie calUg, ~er' !J)':: w il~,W'~I~ 1~,~~1t\.. ton .. arawan ann me

wife of "Umar ibn"Abd al=",Aziz- She was also re'l~gIO:lll.sly permitted to take off her we i I before thirteen CIt iphs begi nning 'wlnffil M.l!lC awiyah '[0 [he ! a ,,~.. of the Um [ljy' 1I.1'1i'd· (C- m I ~ nib. ~ ",",'fi,1' ceot M.· "o:i; --'Ii; W;'lI, - - ~.I-. - '1;;,,1 - iI~- - .'1; -- - ,- "",f~ _ __ -' _, __ ,';;'I~. Y'L "_" ~ ~,'L,,_ .. , i~ " . 'iI!.l·t.t~n."l! ,...;,.h.....,I~:..." > (!nl,'~ ;~n bjIili l:V.ihl~li!(.,i,ml.n(.i,I!.~'

'W~110· .'. was her eousin, Fatimah's m- I 0···.c·11, a>'if' ~~ji!ll~ .... A- tikah !i4-'--'iO y ... -~" zid '-I ib 'I

_ ~ . _, ~ '.1_ '!.I' __ ~, _~_ _ __ ~ !li!- .. _ iii! _ ._""'~ '¥'J~';') . , ~l~., l!lJlnl,· . d.zl. ~,. n

Mu"U:wi'villh:" thus MUIJ'" awlvah W',IS her mother's I~ an dfathe: Yazid

, _ _ ,.I , ~ - -- - i " -, -, _,,!' ,-, -- - ~. " .... Ii" ,i;i,If.ll. (, . r. . Z~.

himself was her maternal grar~d]aU1e:r~ Mu",~.wiyah i'bn Yazid was, her lim del M arawanwa s ner paternal grandfather, "Abela; -Malik 'vas, ner father: ,al-W,iIl~j_;d.~ SlY Iyaman M~H.sh[IIJ111 and Yazi dI were her brothers; "'U mar ibn "i\ bd al .: Aziz was her husbead and a 1,- WaJ,rnd~ Yazid, and ibn al-Walid were her nephews An of them were Cal~mphs.

However, something that ibn al-Atblr mentioned 'was not quite, ri ght as, "Ati kah bim Yazid was not her mother, for hermother was a. 'woman from the tribe of Ma,khzl!.l.'[ll. Thereupon, Fl~lmalh was

",1

rel igiously permitted to luke off her veil before [en Caliphs: Matawan ibm al-Hakarn and ~i1]S o ffs[Joring. except fcr Marawan ibn Muhammad; w hile ... Ali! kah was. perm in en to take ,off her veil be fore ~J 1 of the fourteen Urnayyad Callilph.s except 'for' U mail!" ibn "Abd ~l~~' Aziz and Malrw:~lm ]bn sl-Hakarn,

The one who outnumbered both of them run terms of the unrnarriageable Ca.Nphs that she could remove her vei I, legally 'before was Sittu-ash-Sham hint Ayyub, Their number was more '[han 'Rhi tty ft4ahranrs (unmarriegenble kins); they were her 'four brothel's a l-:M'u~'azzarn~ Saladin, al-' Adil, Sayf ad-Din, tthe~r sons, grandsons, 'tier nephews from her elder brother Shahanshah ibn AYYlIb! Tnqiyy ad-Dln and his offspriug who were the rulers of Hamah and Furrukhshah and bis son, al-Amjad, the ruler of Ba "labsk.

Chapter XIX

[]:2S] Abu Ya' I a sa id;

N 1lI IT ~,d ~ Din k ne w that file Fran ks were loori ng and de vastat ing Huran so he decided to march out 1,0 fight them, He sent a message 10 those in Damascus in order to i nform H~em (If his intention to figbt the ",",' o;:5i: - ~ :',~ - it: ~~-\_A t:k .:'ii'~ 1-,,"" w,~~ i"i ~;'t:ii d '~I. i" hou san d 110· ],,~~'~:iI1r-;.1f!I 'I ed b \I a rel rua~k I e

'b D1 .... i.TI I eel! ;!,IJ 11;1 IL I, i!l;ll [ ....i.l_ ~ !~_ ..... ~ .Ii,!! ~ ~ ~ _~ ~_ ,_.,~ i>~~ - ~,.". ~ y, - ~ ~- - .J ~ _ ~.... ~ I)J ._

lender, Previously, the ruler of Damascus had held a treaty with the Franks ~,O fight against the .M:ti.:s~,i m armies together,

When Nur ad-Din approached Damascus and they knew about his arrival, (but ~'he'Y did rlO'1 know his destination), they had contacted the franks asking for their help, Heedless of their conspiraciesv Nur

ad-Din decided to continue the Jihad find ordered his soldiers riot to harm, any of the peasants, There had been a season of aridity and. there had been no ra ~ n for a 10ng period iin, ~he area of H uran ~ ,ill..! ~,M:aJrj and al-Ghutah; thus, a ~ot of the inhabitants had left the place, When N'Uf ad-Din reached IS.a" labak O~ Tuesday the 3rnil of Dhu al-Hijjah, i~ rained heavily, People s,"lpplicQ,led. for NiJ1:f ad-Din, mid said that the. rain fell OW1111.g to his sincerity and justice,

O ?6th f' D·'I!,. l 11' • iial "N'" d D.'· t l..~!u" 11 .zr I 0 : ,! '~~IU a,~ ~ if. :I~jla [},' ',' L1 r ~L = '1]1 sent a rncs sage "'Q nctn

M ll1j i IF ad- Din an d the chief an d told. them, I'll did. not come here ItOI fii,g,h~ you but when I knew about the complaints of the Muslim peasants that the Pnmks loot and enslave their women and children and no one helps them, ] ha ve no choice but to help and 5~p:pmt, them and s~rllgg]Je against the disbelievers and I: have the ability to struggle for ~~~H:. Muslims; praise bellO AUa'~," ID~ know about your weakness and negligence, which drove you to seek he~p from ~he Franks ,agains~ me, and 1[0 give them the possessions of the weak and, the needy, This, cannot please Allah or any :M uslim, 'We meed one thousand horsemen urgently in order to sa ve the bard ers of As hkelon and Gaza, II

They answered him Sly ing "War will' be OtU reply ~ the, FI~Rl1.ks wil I support ~I:S to defea you if you in tend to come here" ~i

W'hen the message reac hed hi m he ~1a.S surpri sed and dec ided to. f ght them, but the heavy raj nprevented hi m

:\. i;;~-t; -~f545 -;.t ,~,II.-7iisii _A~4rC:f'~

,_ ,

._ .... ~_--.~-.---------.,~----- • __ ~-- .. "7"F .... _...,:I

11'n the ve 'r\! beginni nO" ofM 1'1 h'-;"I-T'''' In"_ 'N',: '1111" ad-Din ~1i"1i,1!'1 1Ir1~.:> ['i.-IEOr of

.a:.~~ ,L . _ -,J ..... ,_~~ _'L_,~ _'" ,, ,!lI!!,_ Ol~[ ~ _""', ~y, ·.·"JII und 11l,ll.v ,U] 1i;.O" IL,J'"

ad-Din ~l~ted shedd.ing, more :Muslinls' blood if he continued his war, They obeyed him and 5tlpplkaJoo. to A~~lah for him on the Friday's sermon after the sul t,[[IJH and the C·[[IjI.:i p h ~ f urthermore, hls fi arne was inscribed on coins,

Chap,terXX Conquering '~Azzaz( I)

[').2i,~ Abu y~"la said:

o h flru- fM - ~ - --" - - - Co W . 1 'ta t rt T - - t ~ l . ~cr - lh (ill

',_~1 l' e . J .. ~.l 01 ._ 11. :UlIiJir.llJll'j news came t" ( [ t le urs rsn so rers _a:

captured Jos.~~n·ii ~he ruler of" Azzaz, and some of hls companions and had imnrlsoned them in t~he castle of .Ii I~eppo. The peop llei we re ha P])Y because of this victory. N'lU ad-Din headed for" Azzaz and besieged ~'[ un,I~;il.Alllah made 1'~ easy for him. '[it) conquer i.~ even though i~ was well (011::1 fied. W:hen he got H ~ he appoi m~ed s orne trustworthy men to manage it Finally, he :lelA: i.~ victorious to Aleppo in Rabi' al-A wwat,

C--· f"J u

· __ apt'uTe' 6'<' .·· ... 0.8··1n

[t27] Nur ad-Din marched his IrOOPeS to the 'fortresses, which He north of Aleppo iinduding t~lie fortre.~,s o·~ Ba~~I~r hl]~, "A.j-"'IiI Tab and.

"Azzaz 1 hat were under th e C'O n nul of J Og~] n who sou ght help frO-IIl1 the Franks, They confromed N Li:1' ad- Dill and [ollight h ~ III ji,erce ~y ~LIT~ti i they deJeated the Muslims. This, was a disaster for Nur ad-Din 'who began 'no employ all kinds of ractics and plots, He knew that if tie gathered the Islamic armies, the Franks would suppcrt Joslin and fight him, He summoned some Turkish mercenaries and paid them generously in order to capture Joslin dead Oln" alivel It so happened that Joslin had gone with, a. gTi'OUp of his soldiers and raided some Turks, They looted. and captured some of them, Among the c aptives Vilas an extremely beautifulwoman whom Joslin. coveted and tried to have sex wit], her under a tree. The Turks hll rried to Ihirn and he rode h is 'horSle an d began f:i,g'b~img them, Finany~ they managed to capture him" He asked them 1..0 release him, in :ret urn for a great 'r,~.1150~n. They agreed j[tra.d kept: it secret and Josli n sJen~ for the 1110ney. ,A Turk went to. the ass'i S~Jm t of 'N 1l'F ad-Din in Aleppo ,a.'Ildl mold. him, what had happened, The assistant sent some warriors with ~1:iJm and 1:lhey took Josfin by force from the Tunks .

. A~ that time, NUl" ad-Din was rum Dims," Joslin's capture 'ViIlI.S, til great victory because be 'was a bitter enemy of the Musl lms, He was the promlnenr teader of the Franks in their wars against the Muslims

'N-.,,:r."".';~ I n c-;Ii; of .w., is Inned fo 'F .~.;[' ~ O!i In· ~1·1d ,.l"l i!i; M·· i 1;i..,.'U'" m,e '1- 'he I·e· h _ ... tla . "'"" , . UV""!l:I.!I!I,Q~_,I. E:U i:j, . ,i,~!ILl..:;- ]_.~ .~.i;iI']'!l!I;.,: i!!I!-_'~' ~he :_, l.!I;jo,I~, : i:. •. "~ .. _ .. J.1"il; liill],;ji \vere

greatly affectad by his capture and the Frankish lands became an easy target for the Muslims. He never kept hits \;volld nor did he fulfill Li'l< promise, Many Prankish fortified cities were conquered after his. capture ]l ke .. Ayn Tab, .. Azzaz, al-Barah fortress, Khal id Hill, K.3iJr Latha and MI ~lr'" ash.

'Vhenev~r Nur ad-Din conquered a. fortress" he used In fill 'it. with 'men and ammunition.which would he sufficient far ten yeurs .• Ie used '[0 do SlO because of his fear or Prankish atracks

[ 1 2' S'l A b Y' . I " d

.. ": I ,. ",' . ~ .... .... r.

, ',:' 'U ~l ~I Sd rul ,

A group of pi l gri m s from Tra q and Khora san, 'who h ud beBI1 captured during their return by the d isbelievers of al- "Urban. arrived in the month of ul-Muharram. They narrated am account of an unprecedented disaster mar \1j~U so horrible, This gl'o~p of pilgrims consisted of prom i nent persons from Khorasan, inc I udi m~ j uri sprudents . scientists, judges .. a large number of women, enormous sums of money, and. a lot of 1u.ggage_ AM these things. were taken. I] 101 of people were killed, women were violated and Imlnny died as a res u 'h. of hunger and thirst. Some generous 'people from Damascus ga vie clothing to these people as. well as whatever was necessary for them to return to thei r hOIIH:'! s,

[12,9J In this year, Nnr ad-Din besieged Dnrnnscus because ~I~S people asked the 'Franks for support Preparations for the besiegernent rook place and the messengers of Nur ad-Din were sent [0 the rulers of the countrv. In all. his messages, Nur ad-Di .. ~l repeated, "I seek 0111.'\1 the

~ ~ " ~

best interests (If the M'u~;'Ii ms, :fighling t.he disbel levers, ~'fiId the freedom of tile capf ves, If you help me I:It our fight against the d isbelievers, it will be the best si tuation .. ~' Ttl' hls surprise the replies be received were U nsarisfacrori ~y: so he seuted near [he mosque of al-Qidarn and did not march 10 Damaseus so' as to avoid ~t~U~ !l,g i, nnocent sou ls,

The gathering of the Frnnks 1(-, support [he' people of D~lIl~~H;CHS beca rn e \VC 11- k IlJUW n ~ [he: pi GUS ~11ll1D1l g t ~1!! p~ op I e den ied the Sf bad ,~1~] d

Events oJ546 A. H, t 115.1 A .. C.) 7'

weird conditions. Skirmishes occurred continuously btu wi~,ho~l~ real ngl~ .. ~~~.lt~" The soldiers of Nur ad-Din marched and they were innumerable, Furthermore, their numbers increased claiJy as supporters. including the Turks, from aJll directions joi ned thei r ran ks, However, Nul' ad-Din d id not permit ,any of his sold iers '~'O ~IU~lC'k, the

~I~ ""'II"1I"l;,\'" E_I,9,_!U,IJ"

'He decided to head toward az-Zabadani ln order to deceive them and oblige themto come 10 him, Then, he sent H. t~L1JITIJ of about 'Forty thcusand horsemen with some majors ~o stay in Huran with the Arabs '1:0 await the Franks and then r~gh[ them ..

'When the 'FI'~HrJks gathered with dle cm:l1p from Darnascus, they beaded for Busre to besiege and fl.gh~ it but 'they could not The rule]' 'Of B usra turned 1J11P and fought them, fie rcely j so they turned away empty-handed, The soldiers of the Franks conLactt,e{l Mujir ad-Din and Mu'yyid ad-Din asking 'for their plots of lund, which were given to them as a fief in return for the disnliss~.~ of Nur a~j,~Di;~"1 from Damascus. Tiley st~wd> "Without our help, Nur ad-Din -would never lea ve yo u. !'

[1301 Abu Y.~"I;) said:

~ --

News Q:r the arrival of she well-equipped Egyptian nav-y. to the coastal city became wei l-kncwn. It was mentioned [h~11 the number of its m !.lill'Dl,ed ~rn rn ~ i 'tary boat s u rno unted [00 Sf ven ty • Th I s n.ee I was matchless and it cost. as was narrated, about fh:ree hundred thousand dinars. The fleet drew near 10 l~1IJe seaports o'f the Fran ks at Ya fu and the fighters killed, captured aad burned "dmtevt~.r they encountered. Then [l~,cy captured a liarge:: number of Roman and. Frank ish boats. A her that, they went '~O Acre, the coastal city j and they did the same; '~]H~Y seizedmany Fran kish mi lilt~,ry' boats und ki ned a klirge number of

"7 S Nob~ {;. ,Dymut ies

warriors, They also went l{l I~he seaports ~]f S a yda 'I Bei nn and Tripol ii, dol ng the same,

Nur ad-Din promised to march to, this f~eet ro help it confront. and overcome the Franks, 111:]S coincided with his, return to Damascus with the intention of bes,ieging it He considered taking control ef Damascus and, malrnng himselfking because o:r its' weakness and the way its soldiers supported him as well as. its, subjecrs. He was well-known 'for his. justlce,

Nur ad-Din reviewed his soldiers and found that their number was th irty thou sand, 11k.: left and. settl ed 1,1:1; the laud of Dari yyn near Damascus. The soldiers and the youlth were su mrnoned ~Q the m bur only ~, small number responded, Minor skirmishes 1:00:1<. place between the '~W(lt parties but without any serious 'figlnin,g because lboU~ groups were: Muslims. Nul' ad-Din said, "There is. no need for the Muslims to' kUJ each o~her and I would like to save n~eh" souls so, they can 'fj,gb:'[ the, di sbel ievers. ~I[

Correspond ence continued ;~I'I; order '·0 settle the di .... pures 1It-.J"~+-'W· een

. ',~; II, .... !D, .. !J ,u·", .... ,[!I"""", '1;..' _ 111,t.l, II !I. ,I..,.., ,! ~! y~ iIJ[..,. ~", .. ". ,~_.' ,1"-' .. " .:!,' 1i.!!,11db- " It} .... ~ '! __ ......... "

the people of Darnasc .JS according 10 certain terms and eonditious .. The jurisprudent E urban ad-Din :~d=B.aJlkhi,~p:dl1ce Sa' d ad-Din Shirkuh, and his. brother N~j!11L ad-Din Ayyub took on the respoasibility (l,r these correspondences, The situation W'~~,S flnn]~:y settled and the people 0<11' Damascus agreed on the suggested terms,

O th d ~.. . -h '(I' 'a., ~[O[lll f fi 11...,'" 'I A' '1"'1 "

. [rill s were mIDI. ae between tne '[\\;I[Q sices on tne ~I. -'·0: ,i,flJll.il' a. ~"·,r:::,,l':llr.

After '[ih~.'l Nur ad-Din headed toward Busra after taking from Damascus a II that be needed In te rms of m i:'1 itary equ ipmenr, He :~nU~;nd~d to attac k the ci ty beC.8L LlI,S e of the di sobed ien ce of :i l~~ ru ler ~ Sarkhak, and his afflliarion wuh ~he Franks,

Chapter X.XIl Some .Evenls of' This .re'[~1"

[]":I 11], A" br "y",,~- •• il .. ,.,-' .-:ll· ,.Jll, ",il] , d ~,~_l :g,j;l],Q .•

N,.' ev 1', ,C;JI 'i"i!iI.;jlI_ 'f--- 0 'ill E~~ t1r'Up"[ th o!!i t the rate ofmona H tv in D" am iet ta wa ("

- w S ''-'Lu.~ [~I..., O:Jl',' ,', • Ail ~ .~ ,I'''''I~, , ,~ .. ~ ~V'_ " .. ~ - ',J .~!, , .. ~ ~ ~ .... _ "'- - '- --'"',

extremely lId,gh,. There. were seven thousand dead in 545 A,.Hio (1150 A.C.) ,[ij.nd 'the. same number in 546 A~H .. (11.5 ill A,.C,,)~ thns the total number amounted to foureeen thousaad s. Many heuses were: empty and remained closed.

A,I SO'5 Muj lr ad- D'i.l1J,! the :1'lILI,'h~;r of Damascus, went to, Aleppo wi th his prominent companions on [hie 12_~n of Rajab. When he arrived he met NUl" ad-Din, the ruler of Aleppo, who honored and granted him great 'fa vors, They agreed on some suggestions espec iall y when Muji r ad-Din offered his allegiance no Nnr ad-Din and promised to act on his, beha lf ii n Damase IJS. M'I,)lji,r ad- Din returned :1~:Ul pp ru 11 y on the 6lh of Sha'ban,

[1L321 Ibn Abi 'fayy said:

Some Turks raided the fortress of Baniyas im-. 546 .A.H. (.l~.51 ,A,.C.) and the Franks of Baniyas came OUL 10 salvage what was [eft but the Turks defeated them, W:h~n the ruler of D,3J.na5cl'IE; came to know about that, be 'W:~5 extremely angry because there 'was a truce bet ween him. and ~he Franks. As a. result, he sent some soldiers ro the Turks and took back what had been taken, When the Franks knew what had happened ~ they prepared a storrni ng arm y and waged war on speci fie places, They took Z\ Io[ '0 f captives and spa i 1 s

When Najrn ad-Din knew about the raids of [he Franks during his stay in Balabak, he ordered h:is. son Shams ad-Dawlab"! together w i til a group of so ~d iers from Darnasc us and his friends, to wage war against the FI:',[l!jn1< s, They 'I1I,[1j naged UQ defeat them, as the Franks were 'in, trouble amidst a lot of snow, Shams ad-Dawlah rook advantage of thi s situati Ornl and ~ i lled a lot of 1 hem iilJrJd released the c apt j,"V'9S, ~h~lt had been taken by the Franks.

[J33] [~e ,adde;d:

TIn that year, Saladin left his father and went to Aleppo to be in the service of his uncle, Asad ad-Din. His uncle introduced him to :NUiF ad-Din who embraced him and granted him pieces of land as a fief,

~ ~ __ y_.& __ .w-'~-~-'-ww~_w .yw_n .-'_~w~~~ ~ _~~"

:~~,E1JfJllt,S of 547A,.H~ (11152,JJ".C.[)

'--------------------------------------------

[],34J Abu Ya' la said:

There was, n ew s tlti,aJ.'t N 1Jr" ad -Din ha.d conquered rhe fortress 10:[ Antars us' wi[h 'hid s soldiers in Muharr,~ml and k i lled '[he, Fran ks w 110 'were there, The remaining Franks appealed to him to spare aheir lives and he, agreed", Then he arranged for guard 8, to remain there and rerurned. He controlled a 'lol'~ of fortresses b,y different means; that is :~l [0 say, captivity i' sword, destruction, arson and asking 'For security ~

At that time, rhenews came that IRhe men of Ashkelon had won the battle and lmd defeated the neighbormg Franks in Gaz;!!J,. 'J'iv1:any of :tbe ~-rank.s we're ki ~ led and ~,he rest were defeased.

I,. He 'U~) th~ r~~thi;;~' of S.~,~;iad,i!i:;, his bh.1~.i:·a:phy wi]l be []"'J;ernt~(]in!~d. In detail ar~.'~~rward$ A.II ah ,,~~ i'.l, I ~ ng:.