n ad-Din: 'I
redeemed
some captives on your behalf for whom I could not pay cash.
Arab-Historians-of-the-Crusades
He honoured scholars and men of religion, and had the deepest respect for them.
He would rise to his feet in their presence and invite them to sit next to him.
He was always courteous to them and never contested what they said.
He used to conduct correspondences with them in his own hand.
His expression was grave and melancholy, because of his great humility.
Many were his virtues, innumerable his merits; this book is not large enough to encompass them all.
One of the four principal schools or systems of Islamic law. The other three are the Shafi'ite, the Malikite and the Hanbalite.
The Sultan's personal name; Nur ad-Din was simply an honorific title.
1
1
CHAPTER NINE
The following chapter, which might be called 'Frankish scenes and Frankish customs, seen through the eyes of a Muslim', consists largely of extracts from the celebrated Autobiography of Usama ibn Munqidh, the gallant and cultured ami? r of Shaizar whose life spanned almost the whole of the first century of the Crusades. His memoirs, a rich jumble of juicy anecdotes and references to historical events, are stuffed with passages recalling his encounters with the Franks in peace and in war, passages in which hostility, curiosity and sympathy appear in turn. These little episodes are sometimes delightfully paradoxical, and offer a welcome relief from the monotonous scenes of warfare that fill the pages of the professional historians.
THE FRANKISH CAVALRY (USAMA, 48)
Among the Franks--God damn them! --no quality is more highly esteemed in a man than military prowess. The knights have a monopoly of the positions of honour and importance among them, and no one else has any prestige in their eyes. They are the men who give counsel, pass judgment and command the armies. On one occasion I went to law with one of them about some herds that the Prince of Baniya? s seized in a wood; this was at a time when there was a truce between us, and I was living in Damascus. I said to King Fulk, the son of Fulk:1 'This man attacked and seized my herd. This is the season when the cows are in calf; their young died at birth, and he has returned the herd to me completely ruined. ' The King turned to six or seven of his knights and said: 'Come, give a judgment on this man's case. ' They retired from the audience chamber and discussed the matter until they all agreed. Then they returned to the King's presence and said: 'We have decided that the Prince of Baniya? s should indemnify this man for the cattle that he has ruined. ' The King ordered that the indemnity should be paid, but such was the pressure put on me and the courtesy shown me that in the end I accepted four hundred dinar from the Prince. Once the knights have given their judgment neither the King nor any other commander can alter or annul it, so great an influence do their knights have in their society. On this occasion the King swore to me that he had been made very happy the day before. When I asked him what had made him happy he said: 'They told me that you were a great knight, but I did not believe that you would be chivalrous. ' 'Your Majesty', I replied, 'I am a knight of my race and my people. '1 When a knight is tall and well-built they admire him all the more.
Fulk of Jerusalem (1131-43). For his relationship with Usama, see below.
This exchange, and the whole paragraph, depends on a play on the terms 'chivalry' and 'cavalry', for which Arabic has only one word.
1 1
Part One: From Godfrey to Saladin 45 FRANKISH PIRACY
(USAMA, 25-6)
I entered the service of the just King Nur ad Din--God have mercy on him! --and he wrote to al-Malik as-Salih2 asking him to send my household and my sons out to me; they were in Egypt, under his patronage. Al-Malik as-Salih wrote back that he was unable to comply because he feared that they might fall into Frankish hands. He invited me instead to return to Egypt myself:3 'You know,' he wrote, 'how strong the friendship is between us. If you have reason to mistrust the Palace, you could go to Mecca, and I would send you the appointment to the governorship of Aswa? n and the means to combat the Abyssinians. Aswa? n is on the frontier of the Islamic empire. I would send your household and your sons to you there. ' I spoke to Nur ad-Din about this, and asked his advice, which was that he would certainly not choose to return to Egypt once he had extricated himself. 'Life is too short! ' he said. 'It would be better if I sent to the Frankish King for a safe-conduct for your family, and gave them an escort to bring them here safely. ' This he did--God have mercy on him! --and the Frankish King gave him his cross, which ensures the bearer's safety by land and sea. I sent it by a young slave of mine, together with letters to al-Malik as-Salih from Nur ad-Din and myself. My family were dispatched for Damietta on a ship of the vizier's private fleet, under his protection and provided with everything they might need.
At Damietta they transferred to a Frankish ship and set sail, but when they neared Acre, where the Frankish King1 was--God punish him for his sins--he sent out a boatload of men to break up the ship with hatchets before the eyes of my family, while he rode down to the beach and claimed everything that came ashore as booty. My young slave swam ashore with the safe-conduct, and said: 'My Lord King, is not this your safe-conduct? ' 'Indeed it is,' he replied, 'But surely it is a Muslim custom that when a ship is wrecked close to land the local people pillage it? ' 'So you are going to make us your captives? ' 'Certainly not. ' He had my family escorted to a house, and the women searched. Everything they had was taken; the ship had been loaded with women's trinkets, clothes, jewels, swords and other arms, and gold and silver to the value of about 30,000 dinar. The King took it all, and then handed five hundred dinar back to them and said: 'Make your arrangements to continue your journey with this money. ' And there were fifty of them altogether! At the time I was with Nur ad-Din in the realm of King Mas'u? d2, at Ru'ba? n and Kaisu? n; compared with the safety of my sons, my brother and our women, the loss of the rest meant little to me, except for my books. There had been 4,000 fine volumes on board, and their destruction has been a cruel loss to me for the rest of my life.
In spite of his title ('the good king') al-Malik as-Salih was in fact the Fatimid vizier Tala'i' ibn Ruzzi? k, who ruled Egypt under its Caliph al-Fa'iz and died in 1161.
Usama was deeply implicated in the intrigues and bloody revolutions of Muslim politics; this explains the reference in one of the letters mentioned in the text to his fear of 'the Palace'. Baldwin III (1143-62)
The Seljuqid Sultan of Iconium. The two forts are in the region of Samosata. These events took place in about 1155.
2
3
1 2
46 Arab Historians of the Crusades
FRANKISH MEDICINE
(USAMA, 97-8)
The ruler of Muna? itira1 wrote to my uncle asking him to send a doctor to treat some of his followers who were ill. My uncle sent a Christian called Thabit. After only ten days he returned and we said 'You cured them quickly! ' This was his story: They took me to see a knight who had an abscess on his leg, and a woman with consumption. I applied a poultice to the leg, and the abscess opened and began to heal. I prescribed a cleansing and refreshing diet for the woman. Then there appeared a Frankish doctor, who said: 'This man has no idea how to cure these people! ' He turned to the knight and said: 'Which would you prefer, to live with one leg or to die with two? ' When the knight replied that he would prefer to live with one leg, he sent for a strong man and a sharp axe. They arrived, and I stood by to watch. The doctor supported the leg on a block of wood, and said to the man: 'Strike a mighty blow, and cut cleanly! ' And there, before my eyes, the fellow struck the knight one blow, and then another, for the first had not finished the job. The marrow spurted out of the leg, and the patient died instantaneously. Then the doctor examined the woman and said; 'She has a devil in her head who is in love with her. Cut her hair off! ' This was done, and she went back to eating her usual Frankish food, garlic and mustard, which made her illness worse. 'The devil has got into her brain,' pronounced the doctor. He took a razor and cut a cross on her head, and removed the brain so that the inside of the skull was laid bare. This he rubbed with salt; the woman died instantly. At this juncture I asked whether they had any further need of me, and as they had none I came away, having learnt things about medical methods that I never knew before. 1
THE FRANKS AND MARITAL JEALOUSY (USAMA, 100-1)
The Franks are without any vestige of a sense of honour and jealousy. If one of them goes along the street with his wife and meets a friend, this man will take the woman's hand and lead her aside to talk, while the husband stands by waiting until she has finished her conversation. If she takes too long about it he leaves her with the other man and goes on his way. Here is an example of this from my personal experience: while I was in Nablus I stayed with a man called Mu'i? zz, whose house served as an inn for Muslim travellers. Its windows overlooked the street. On the other side of the rcad lived a Frank who sold wine for the merchants; he would take a bottle of wine from one of them and publicize it, announcing that such-and-such a merchant had just opened a hogshead of it, and could be found at such-and-such a place by anyone wishing to buy some; '. . . and I will give him the first right to the wine in this bottle. '
The Crusaders' Moinestre, in the Lebanon about ten miles east of Juba? il.
Not all Frankish doctors were butchers like the fiend portrayed here, but the air of ironic superiority that this passage conveys was justified by the supremacy of the great medical tradition of the East at that time.
1 1
Part One: From Godfrey to Saladin 47
Now this man returned home one day and found a man in bed with his wife. 'What are you doing here with my wife? ' he demanded. 'I was tired,' replied the man, 'and so I came in to rest. ' 'And how do you come to be in my bed? ' 'I found the bed made up, and lay down to sleep. ' 'And this woman slept with you, I suppose? ' 'The bed,' he replied, 'is hers. How could I prevent her getting into her own bed? ' 'I swear if you do it again I shall take you to court! '--and this was his only reaction, the height of his outburst of jealousy!
I heard a similar case from a bath attendant called Salim from Ma'arra, who worked in one of my father's bath-houses. This is his tale: I earned my living in Ma'arra by opening a bathhouse. One day a Frankish knight came in. They do not follow our custom of wearing a cloth round their waist while they are at the baths, and this fellow put out his hand, snatched off my loin-cloth and threw it away. He saw at once that I had just recently shaved my pubic hair. 'Salim! ' he exclaimed. I came toward him and he pointed to that part of me. 'Salim! It's magnificent! You shall certainly do the same for me! ' And he lay down flat on his back. His hair there was as long as his beard. I shaved him, and when he had felt the place with his hand and found it agreeably smooth he said: 'Salim, you must certainly do the same for my Dama. ' In their language Dama means lady, or wife. He sent his valet to fetch his wife, and when they arrived and the valet had brought her in, she lay down on her back, and he said to me: 'Do to her what you did to me. ' So I shaved her pubic hair, while her husband stood by watching me. Then he thanked me and paid me for my services.
You will observe a strange contradiction in their character: they are without jealousy or a sense of honour, and yet at the same time they have the courage that as a rule springs only from the sense of honour and a readiness to take offence.
ORIENTALIZED FRANKS (USAMA, 103-4)
There are some Franks who have settled in our land and taken to living like Muslims. These are better than those who have just arrived from their homelands, but they are the excep- tion, and cannot be taken as typical. I came across one of them once when I sent a friend on business to Antioch, which was governed by Todros ibn as-Safi,1 a friend of mine. One day he said to my friend: 'A Frankish friend has invited me to visit him; come with me so that you can see how they live. ' 'I went with him,' said my friend, 'and we came to the house of one of the old knights who came with the first expedition. This man had retired from the army, and was living on the income of the property he owned in Antioch. He had a fine table brought out, spread with a splendid selection of appetizing food. He saw that I was not eating, and said: 'Don't worry, please; eat what you like, for I don't eat Frankish food. I have Egyptian cooks and eat only what they serve. No pig's flesh ever comes into my house! '2 So I ate, although cautiously, and then we left. Another day, as I was passing
Theodore Sophianos, the Greek commander (ra'i? s) of the municipality of Antioch.
It is fear of this 'unclean' food that troubles the Muslim guest, who even when reassured eats cautiously.
1 2
48 Arab Historians of the Crusades
through the market, a Frankish woman advanced on me, addressing me in her barbaric language with words I found incomprehensible. A crowd of Franks gathered round us and I gave myself up for lost, when suddenly this knight appeared, saw me and came up. 'What do you want with this man? ' 'This man,' she replied, 'killed my brother Urso. ' This Urso was a knight from Apamea who was killed by a soldier from Hama? t. The old man scolded the woman. 'This man is a merchant, a city man, not a fighter, and he lives nowhere near where your brother was killed. ' Then he turned on the crowd, which melted away, and shook hands with me. Thus the fact that I ate at his table saved my life.
THE TEMPLARS AT JERUSALEM (USAMA, 99)
This is an example of Frankish barbarism, God damn them! When I was in Jerusalem I used to go to the Masjid al-Aqsa, beside which is a small oratory which the Franks have made into a church. Whenever I went into the mosque, which was in the hands of Templars who were friends of mine, they would put the little oratory at my disposal, so that I could say my prayers there. One day I had gone in, said the Alla? h akhbar1 and risen to begin my prayers, when a Frank threw himself on me from behind, lifted me up and turned me so that I was facing east. 'That is the way to pray! ' he said. Some Templars at once intervened, seized the man and took him out of my way, while I resumed my prayer. But the moment they stopped watching him he seized me again and forced me to face east, repeating that this was the way to pray. Again the Templars intervened and took him away. They apolo- gized to me and said: 'He is a foreigner who has just arrived today from his homeland in the north, and he has never seen anyone pray facing any other direction than east. ' 'I have finished my prayers,' I said, and left, stupefied by the fanatic who had been so perturbed and upset to see someone praying facing the qibla! 2
I was present myself when one of them came up to the ami? r Mu'i? n ad-Din--God have mercy on him--in the Dome of the Rock, and said to him: 'Would you like to see God as a baby? ' The ami? r said that he would, and the fellow proceeded to show us a picture of Mary with the infant Messiah on her lap. 'This,' he said, 'is God as a baby. ' Almighty God is greater than the infidels' concept of him! 3
1 2
3
The beginning of the canonic sequence of prayers.
The Muslim at prayer must face the qibla, the direction of Mecca. The custom of facing east to pray was widespread among mediaeval Christians,
A Qur'a? nic formula, used with particular relevance here in reporting what is to a Muslim a blasphemy.
Part One: From Godfrey to Saladin 49 THE RANSOMING OF PRISONERS
(USAMA, 60-2)
I had sought an opportunity to visit the King of the Franks to sue for peace between him and Jama? l ad-Din Muhammad ibn Taj al-Mulu? k1--God have mercy on him! --basing my hopes of success on a service that my late father had once performed for King Baldwin, the father of King Fulk's wife. 2 The Franks brought their prisoners for me to ransom, and I ransomed those whose survival was God's will. There was a fanatic called William Jiba? who had gone off to sea as a pirate in his own ship and captured a vessel carrying four hun- dred men and women who were coming from the Maghrib on the Pilgrimage. Some were brought before me with their owners, and I ransomed as many as I could. Among them was a young man who greeted me and then sat without speaking. I asked who he was, and was told that he was a young devout, who was owned by a tanner. 'How much do you want for this one? ' I asked. 'Well,' be said, 'I shall only sell him if you buy this old man as well, for I bought them together. The price is forty-three dinar. ' I redeemed a certain number on my own account, and another group for Mu'i? n ad-Din--God have mercy on him--for a hun- dred and twenty dinar. I paid in cash as much as I had on me, and gave guarantees for the rest. On my return to Damascus I said to Mu'i?
n ad-Din: 'I redeemed some captives on your behalf for whom I could not pay cash. Now that I am back, you can pay for them yourself if you like, or if not then I will pay for them. ' 'No,' he said, 'I insist on paying, for my dearest wish is to gain merit in God's eyes. ' He was outstanding in his eagerness to do good and earn a heavenly reward. He paid the sum I owed the Franks, and I returned to Acre a few days later. William Jiba? had thirty-two prisoners left, among them the wife of one of the men I had been able to ransom. I bought her, but did not pay for her at once. Later that day I rode to his house--God damn him! --and said to him: 'Sell me ten of these. ' He swore that he would only sell the whole lot together. 'I have not brought enough money for all of them,' I said; 'I will buy some of them now and the rest later. ' But he insisted that he would sell the whole group together, so I went away. That night, by God's will, they all escaped, and the inhabitants of that quarter of Acre, who were all Muslims, sheltered them and helped them to reach Muslim territory. The accursed Jiba? searched for them in vain, for God in his mercy saved them all. Then Jiba? began to demand the money from me for the woman whom I had bought from him but not yet paid for, and who had fled with the rest. I said: 'Hand her over, and I will give you the money for her. ' 'The money was due to me yesterday, before she escaped,' he said, and forced me to pay. But it meant little to me beside the joy of knowing that these poor things were safe.
The treaty of 1140 between Damascus and the Franks (see above). This passage suggests that the author had a hand in drafting the treaty.
Baldwin II had been the guest of the ami? r of Shaizar during one of his periods of captivity, as Usama himself informs us elsewhere.
1
2
50 Arab Historians of the Crusades
A PROPOSAL TO SEND MY SON TO EUROPE
(USAMA, 97)
A very important Frankish knight was staying in the camp of King Fulk, the son of Fulk. He had come on a pilgrimage and was going home again. We got to know one another, and became firm friends. He called me 'brother' and an affectionate friendship grew up between us. When he was due to embark for the return journey he said to me: 'My brother, as I am about to return home, I should be happy if you would send your son with me,' (the boy, who was about fourteen years old, was beside me at the time), 'so that he could meet the noblemen of the realm and learn the arts of politics and chivalry. On his return home he would be a truly cultivated man. ' A truly cultivated man would never be guilty of such a suggestion; my son might as well be taken prisoner as go off into the land of the Franks. I turned to my friend and said: 'I assure you that I could desire nothing better for my son, but unfortunately the boy's grandmother, my mother, is very attached to him, and she would not even let him come away with me without extracting a promise from me that I would bring him back to her. ' 'Your mother is still alive? ' 'Yes. ' 'Then she must have her way. '1
THE FALCON OF ACRE (USAMA, 142-3)
I went to Acre with the ami? r Mu'i? n ad-Din--God have mercy on him--to visit the court of the Frankish King Fulk, the son of Fulk. 2 There we met a Genoese who had brought from the land of the Franks a great falcon on a lure. It worked together with a young bitch, hunting crane. When the bird was set at a crane the dog ran behind, and as soon as the bird had attacked the crane and struck it down, she seized it so that it could not escape. The ami? r asked the King to give him the falcon, and the King took the bird and the dog from the Genoese and gave it to him. They travelled back with us, and on the road to Damascus I saw the falcon savaging gazelles as it did the food we gave it. We brought it back to Damascus, but it did not survive long enough to be taken out hunting.
CHRISTIAN PIETY AND MUSLIM PIETY (USAMA, Kita? b al-'asa 528-9)
I paid a visit to the tomb of John the son of Zechariah--God's blessing on both of them! 3--in the village of Sebastea in the province of Nablus. After saying my prayers, I came out into
It is characteristic of the mediaeval Muslim family that in the excuses he invents Usama invokes not the boy's mother but his grandmother. What a pity that he did not agree to the proposal; Usa- ma's son, visiting the Christian world, might have left us some fascinating comparisons between the two civilizations.
See above.
Both Zechariah and John the Baptist were believed to be prophets and venerated as such by the Muslims.
1
2 3
Part One: From Godfrey to Saladin 51
the square that was bounded on one side by the Holy Precinct. I found a half-closed gate, opened it and entered a church. Inside were about ten old men, their bare heads as white as combed cotton. They were facing the east,1 and wore (embroidered? ) on their breasts staves ending in crossbars turned up like the rear of a saddle. They took their oath on this sign, and gave hospitality to those who needed it. 2 The sight of their piety touched my heart, but at the same time it displeased and saddened me, for I had never seen such zeal and devotion among the Muslims. For some time I brooded on this experience, until one day, as Mu'i? n ad-Din and I were passing the Peacock House3 (Dar at-Tawawi? s), he said to me: 'I want to dismount here and visit the Old Men (the ascetics). ' 'Certainly,' I replied, and we dismounted and went into a long building set at an angle to the road. For the moment I thought there was no one there. Then I saw about a hundred prayer-mats, and on each a sufi, his face expressing peaceful serenity, and his body humble devotion. This was a reassuring sight, and I gave thanks to Almighty God that there were among the Muslims men of even more zealous devotion than those Christian priests. Before this I had never seen sufis in their monastery, and was ignorant of the way they lived.
1 2
3
Normal practice among Christians of the time (see above).
The text and meaning of the last words here are uncertain: the cross in the form of staves was probably on the habits of these monks of the Chapter of St. John.
A monastery (khanqa? ) belonging to an order of Muslim mystics, or sufis.
Part Two
SALADIN AND THE THIRD CRUSADE
CHAPTER ONE
The Muslim sources for Saladin and his deeds are, first, his officials and household retainers 'Ima? d ad-Din and Baha? ' ad-Din: the former with his history of the conquest of Jerusalem (which continues in fact up to the death of Saladin). The extremely artificial style overlays an eye-witness account of the events described whose value is being increasingly realized. The latter, the author of a biography of Saladin written in a less flamboyant style, shows a warmth of sympathy and devotion that rarely slips into unctuous apologia. The third and frequently quoted authority on Saladin is Abu Shama, in a section of his Book of the Two Gardens, which is an anthology containing extracts from 'Ima? d ad-Din (shorn of the flowers of his style), Baha? ' ad-Din and Ibn al-Athi? r. Its only real value lies in the inclusion of other sources now lost (Ibn Abi t-Tayy) and for its selection of acts and documents from the Sultan's Chancellery. Ibn al-Athi? r, although his attitude to Saladin was tainted by his political loyalties, preserves his unusual qualities of clear, informed exposition, using his sources with independent judgment.
The best all-round portrait of Isla? m's great champion is the one that opens Baha? ' ad-Din's biography, and it is reproduced here in its entirety.
SALADIN'S CHARACTER (BAHA? ' AD-DIN, 7-41)
One of the authentic canonical traditions1 contains these words of the Prophet: 'Isla? m rests on five pillars: the asseveration that there is no god but God; prayer; the paying of the legal tithe; the fast of ramada? n; and the Pilgrimage to God's Sacred House (at Mecca). ' Now Saladin was a man of firm faith, one who often had God's name on his lips. He drew his faith from the evidence duly studied in the company of the most authoritative scholars and the greatest lawyers, acquiring sufficient competence to take his part in a theological discussion should one arise in his presence, although of course he did not adopt the technical language used by the specialists. The result of this was that his faith was free of any taint of heterodoxy, and speculation never led him into any theological error or heresy. His faith was firm, within the bounds of healthy speculation, and it had the approval of the highest authorities. The ima? m Qutb ad-Din an-Nisaburi compiled for him a catechism containing all the essential elements of dogma, and he was so deeply attached to this that he taught it
Hadi? th, mentioned several times in the following sections. They are sayings attributed to the Prophet and transmitted in a standard form, each with a chain of guarantors, the purpose of which is to establish its authenticity. The 'science of hadi? th' became an important branch of Muslim theology.
1
54 Arab Historians of the Crusades
to all his little sons so that it should be impressed on their minds from earliest childhood. I myself have heard him instructing them and heard them. repeat it before him.
As for the canonic prayers, he performed them assiduously, and used to pray in public; in fact one day he remarked that it was years since he had performed them any other way. When he was ill he would send for one ima? m and would force himself to rise and pray with him. He was assiduous in his performance of the extra-canonic prayers; if he woke up during the night he would make two raka'a? t,1 and if not he would perform them before the morning prayer. He never omitted the canonic prayer except when he was at death's door in the last three days of his life, during which time he was unconscious. If the hour of prayer came round while he was travelling he would dismount from his horse and pray.
As for the legal alms-giving, he died without leaving a large enough estate to be subject to it, for his extra-canonic gifts had consumed all his wealth. Of all that he had been master of, he left in his treasury when he died forty-seven Nasirite drachmas2 and a single piece of Tyrian gold. Nor did he leave houses, estates, gardens, villages, fields or any other material possession.
As for ramada? n, there were ramada? ns that he should have made up, because of illness at various times. The qadi al-Fadil1 kept an exact record of these days, which Saladin began to make up when he was at Jerusalem in the year of his death, persevering in the fast for more than the prescribed month. He had still two ramada? ns to make up for, that illness and involvement in the Holy War had kept him from observing; fasting did not suit his temperament, and God inspired him to fast in that year to make good his omissions. In the absence of the qadi I kept count of the days on which he fasted. The doctor was not in favour of it, but Saladin would not listen to him. 'Anything might happen,' he said, as if he had been inspired to pay his debt of conscience, and fasted long enough to discharge whatever he had owed to God.
As for the Pilgrimage, he had always wanted and intended to go, in particular in the year of his death. He made a decision to go then, and ordered the preparations to be made. We got together provisions for the journey and were ready to set out when lack of time and shortage of the money necessary to equip himself as became a man of his standing prevented his departure. He put it off until the next year, but God decreed otherwise, as often happens in the experience of men both great and small.
He loved to hear the noble Qur'a? n recited; he examined the ima? m whose job it was and required him to be learned in Qur'anic studies and to have a perfect knowledge and understanding of the text. At night, when he was in his room, he would ask anyone who was awake to recite two, three or four suras of the Qur'a? n while he listened. In public audiences he would ask whoever had been appointed to the office to recite twenty or so verses. Once he passed a child reciting the Qur'a? n to its father, and the recitation pleased him so much that he called the child to him and assigned to him a part of his personal daily food and bequeathed to the child and his father part of an estate. He was humble and sensitive of
The rak'a (plural raka'a? t) is the complex of prostrations and elevations and formulae that together constitute the unit of the canonic prayer.
I. e. stamped with his official name, al-Malik an-Nasir (king-champion of the Faith).
Head of Chancellery and Saladin's intimate councillor; he is referred to several times further on.
1
2 1
Part Two: Saladin and the Third Crusade 55
heart, quick to weep, and used often to be moved to tears by hearing the Qur'a? n recited. He enjoyed hearing hadi? th delivered by a profound scholar of tradition and doctrine. When any were present at court he would summon them and listen to their teachings, and would make his sons and the mamlu? ks in his service listen too, bidding them all sit down to listen as a sign of respect. Or if a certain scholar was not the sort of man to knock on sultans' doors, but rather shunned audiences at court, he would himself go to the scholar to hear his readings. In this way he heard the hafiz1 al-Isfahani in Alexandria and transmitted many hadi? th from him. He loved to read hadi? th himself and often he would summon me when he was alone, send for the books of hadi? th and read from them himself. When he came upon a tradition containing an edifying parable it would move him to tears.
He venerated deeply the laws of the Faith, believed in the resurrection of the body, the reward of Paradise for the virtuous and of Hell for the sinners, and accepted all the teachings of Holy Scripture with an open heart. He hated philosophers, heretics, materialists and all the opponents of the Law. For this reason he commanded his son al-Malik az-Zahir, Prince of Aleppo, to punish a young man called as-Suhrawardi2 who called himself an enemy of the Law and a heretic. His son had the man arrested for what he had heard of him and informed the Sultan, who commanded that he be put to death. So he was killed, and left hanging on the cross for several days.
He put his whole faith and confidence in God and turned to Him (for help). As an illustration of this I shall recount an incident of which I was a witness. The Franks--God damn them! --had come up and camped at Bait Nuba, a few days' march from Jerusalem. The Sultan was there, having posted advance guards in close contact with the enemy and sent out spies and reconnaissance troops. Thus he obtained the news of a firm decision taken by the enemy to besiege Jerusalem and give battle. This frightened the Muslims. The Sultan summoned the ami? rs and informed them of the critical situation in which the Muslims found themselves, and consulted them on the advisability of staying in Jerusalem. The ami? rs began by blustering, but their real intentions were quite different, each of them asserting that he would not in the least mind staying in the city, that the whole of Isla? m. would be exposed to danger: they, they said, would remain, and he was to take a detachment of the army and go out to encircle the enemy, as had happened at Acre. His job would be to cut off the enemy's supplies and to harry them. Theirs would be to defend the city. On this decision the council broke up, but Saladin remained firm in his resolve to stay in the city in person, well aware that if he did not stay no one would. When the ami? rs had gone home, one of them returned to say that they would not stay unless Saladin's brother al-Malik al-'Adil, or one of his (own) sons, stayed behind to command and support them. Saladin realized that what they really meant was that they would not hold out, and this troubled and perplexed him. That night, the Thursday night, I was on duty beside him from sunset
In Islam a hafiz (from which comes the name of the celebrated Persian poet) is one who either knows the Qur'a? n by heart or is versed in hadi? th.
Philosopher and mystic of Aleppo who in 1191 fell victim to the intolerance of orthodoxy sanctioned by Saladin. This aspect of his real character bears little relation to the fantasies created by historians of the new enlightenment.
1
2
56 Arab Historians of the Crusades
until it was almost dawn. It was winter, and we were alone but for God. We discussed this project and that, examining the implications of each in turn, until I began to feel concerned for him and to fear for his health, for he seemed to be overwhelmed by despair. I begged him to lie down on his bed, in the hope that he might sleep a while. He replied: 'Perhaps you are tired. ' and rose. Scarcely had I returned to my rooms and settled to a task than dawn broke and the muezzin's call to prayer resounded. I almost always made my morning prayer with Saladin, so I went back to his room, where he was washing himself. 'I have not shut an eye,' he said. 'I knew that,' I replied. 'How did you know? ' 'I did not sleep either, there was no time for it. ' We prayed together, and again took up the usual problem. 'I have had an idea,' I said, 'that may be of use, God willing. ' 'What is it? ' 'Turn to Almighty God, call on him and have trust in him to resolve this terrible dilemma. ' 'How should we do it?
One of the four principal schools or systems of Islamic law. The other three are the Shafi'ite, the Malikite and the Hanbalite.
The Sultan's personal name; Nur ad-Din was simply an honorific title.
1
1
CHAPTER NINE
The following chapter, which might be called 'Frankish scenes and Frankish customs, seen through the eyes of a Muslim', consists largely of extracts from the celebrated Autobiography of Usama ibn Munqidh, the gallant and cultured ami? r of Shaizar whose life spanned almost the whole of the first century of the Crusades. His memoirs, a rich jumble of juicy anecdotes and references to historical events, are stuffed with passages recalling his encounters with the Franks in peace and in war, passages in which hostility, curiosity and sympathy appear in turn. These little episodes are sometimes delightfully paradoxical, and offer a welcome relief from the monotonous scenes of warfare that fill the pages of the professional historians.
THE FRANKISH CAVALRY (USAMA, 48)
Among the Franks--God damn them! --no quality is more highly esteemed in a man than military prowess. The knights have a monopoly of the positions of honour and importance among them, and no one else has any prestige in their eyes. They are the men who give counsel, pass judgment and command the armies. On one occasion I went to law with one of them about some herds that the Prince of Baniya? s seized in a wood; this was at a time when there was a truce between us, and I was living in Damascus. I said to King Fulk, the son of Fulk:1 'This man attacked and seized my herd. This is the season when the cows are in calf; their young died at birth, and he has returned the herd to me completely ruined. ' The King turned to six or seven of his knights and said: 'Come, give a judgment on this man's case. ' They retired from the audience chamber and discussed the matter until they all agreed. Then they returned to the King's presence and said: 'We have decided that the Prince of Baniya? s should indemnify this man for the cattle that he has ruined. ' The King ordered that the indemnity should be paid, but such was the pressure put on me and the courtesy shown me that in the end I accepted four hundred dinar from the Prince. Once the knights have given their judgment neither the King nor any other commander can alter or annul it, so great an influence do their knights have in their society. On this occasion the King swore to me that he had been made very happy the day before. When I asked him what had made him happy he said: 'They told me that you were a great knight, but I did not believe that you would be chivalrous. ' 'Your Majesty', I replied, 'I am a knight of my race and my people. '1 When a knight is tall and well-built they admire him all the more.
Fulk of Jerusalem (1131-43). For his relationship with Usama, see below.
This exchange, and the whole paragraph, depends on a play on the terms 'chivalry' and 'cavalry', for which Arabic has only one word.
1 1
Part One: From Godfrey to Saladin 45 FRANKISH PIRACY
(USAMA, 25-6)
I entered the service of the just King Nur ad Din--God have mercy on him! --and he wrote to al-Malik as-Salih2 asking him to send my household and my sons out to me; they were in Egypt, under his patronage. Al-Malik as-Salih wrote back that he was unable to comply because he feared that they might fall into Frankish hands. He invited me instead to return to Egypt myself:3 'You know,' he wrote, 'how strong the friendship is between us. If you have reason to mistrust the Palace, you could go to Mecca, and I would send you the appointment to the governorship of Aswa? n and the means to combat the Abyssinians. Aswa? n is on the frontier of the Islamic empire. I would send your household and your sons to you there. ' I spoke to Nur ad-Din about this, and asked his advice, which was that he would certainly not choose to return to Egypt once he had extricated himself. 'Life is too short! ' he said. 'It would be better if I sent to the Frankish King for a safe-conduct for your family, and gave them an escort to bring them here safely. ' This he did--God have mercy on him! --and the Frankish King gave him his cross, which ensures the bearer's safety by land and sea. I sent it by a young slave of mine, together with letters to al-Malik as-Salih from Nur ad-Din and myself. My family were dispatched for Damietta on a ship of the vizier's private fleet, under his protection and provided with everything they might need.
At Damietta they transferred to a Frankish ship and set sail, but when they neared Acre, where the Frankish King1 was--God punish him for his sins--he sent out a boatload of men to break up the ship with hatchets before the eyes of my family, while he rode down to the beach and claimed everything that came ashore as booty. My young slave swam ashore with the safe-conduct, and said: 'My Lord King, is not this your safe-conduct? ' 'Indeed it is,' he replied, 'But surely it is a Muslim custom that when a ship is wrecked close to land the local people pillage it? ' 'So you are going to make us your captives? ' 'Certainly not. ' He had my family escorted to a house, and the women searched. Everything they had was taken; the ship had been loaded with women's trinkets, clothes, jewels, swords and other arms, and gold and silver to the value of about 30,000 dinar. The King took it all, and then handed five hundred dinar back to them and said: 'Make your arrangements to continue your journey with this money. ' And there were fifty of them altogether! At the time I was with Nur ad-Din in the realm of King Mas'u? d2, at Ru'ba? n and Kaisu? n; compared with the safety of my sons, my brother and our women, the loss of the rest meant little to me, except for my books. There had been 4,000 fine volumes on board, and their destruction has been a cruel loss to me for the rest of my life.
In spite of his title ('the good king') al-Malik as-Salih was in fact the Fatimid vizier Tala'i' ibn Ruzzi? k, who ruled Egypt under its Caliph al-Fa'iz and died in 1161.
Usama was deeply implicated in the intrigues and bloody revolutions of Muslim politics; this explains the reference in one of the letters mentioned in the text to his fear of 'the Palace'. Baldwin III (1143-62)
The Seljuqid Sultan of Iconium. The two forts are in the region of Samosata. These events took place in about 1155.
2
3
1 2
46 Arab Historians of the Crusades
FRANKISH MEDICINE
(USAMA, 97-8)
The ruler of Muna? itira1 wrote to my uncle asking him to send a doctor to treat some of his followers who were ill. My uncle sent a Christian called Thabit. After only ten days he returned and we said 'You cured them quickly! ' This was his story: They took me to see a knight who had an abscess on his leg, and a woman with consumption. I applied a poultice to the leg, and the abscess opened and began to heal. I prescribed a cleansing and refreshing diet for the woman. Then there appeared a Frankish doctor, who said: 'This man has no idea how to cure these people! ' He turned to the knight and said: 'Which would you prefer, to live with one leg or to die with two? ' When the knight replied that he would prefer to live with one leg, he sent for a strong man and a sharp axe. They arrived, and I stood by to watch. The doctor supported the leg on a block of wood, and said to the man: 'Strike a mighty blow, and cut cleanly! ' And there, before my eyes, the fellow struck the knight one blow, and then another, for the first had not finished the job. The marrow spurted out of the leg, and the patient died instantaneously. Then the doctor examined the woman and said; 'She has a devil in her head who is in love with her. Cut her hair off! ' This was done, and she went back to eating her usual Frankish food, garlic and mustard, which made her illness worse. 'The devil has got into her brain,' pronounced the doctor. He took a razor and cut a cross on her head, and removed the brain so that the inside of the skull was laid bare. This he rubbed with salt; the woman died instantly. At this juncture I asked whether they had any further need of me, and as they had none I came away, having learnt things about medical methods that I never knew before. 1
THE FRANKS AND MARITAL JEALOUSY (USAMA, 100-1)
The Franks are without any vestige of a sense of honour and jealousy. If one of them goes along the street with his wife and meets a friend, this man will take the woman's hand and lead her aside to talk, while the husband stands by waiting until she has finished her conversation. If she takes too long about it he leaves her with the other man and goes on his way. Here is an example of this from my personal experience: while I was in Nablus I stayed with a man called Mu'i? zz, whose house served as an inn for Muslim travellers. Its windows overlooked the street. On the other side of the rcad lived a Frank who sold wine for the merchants; he would take a bottle of wine from one of them and publicize it, announcing that such-and-such a merchant had just opened a hogshead of it, and could be found at such-and-such a place by anyone wishing to buy some; '. . . and I will give him the first right to the wine in this bottle. '
The Crusaders' Moinestre, in the Lebanon about ten miles east of Juba? il.
Not all Frankish doctors were butchers like the fiend portrayed here, but the air of ironic superiority that this passage conveys was justified by the supremacy of the great medical tradition of the East at that time.
1 1
Part One: From Godfrey to Saladin 47
Now this man returned home one day and found a man in bed with his wife. 'What are you doing here with my wife? ' he demanded. 'I was tired,' replied the man, 'and so I came in to rest. ' 'And how do you come to be in my bed? ' 'I found the bed made up, and lay down to sleep. ' 'And this woman slept with you, I suppose? ' 'The bed,' he replied, 'is hers. How could I prevent her getting into her own bed? ' 'I swear if you do it again I shall take you to court! '--and this was his only reaction, the height of his outburst of jealousy!
I heard a similar case from a bath attendant called Salim from Ma'arra, who worked in one of my father's bath-houses. This is his tale: I earned my living in Ma'arra by opening a bathhouse. One day a Frankish knight came in. They do not follow our custom of wearing a cloth round their waist while they are at the baths, and this fellow put out his hand, snatched off my loin-cloth and threw it away. He saw at once that I had just recently shaved my pubic hair. 'Salim! ' he exclaimed. I came toward him and he pointed to that part of me. 'Salim! It's magnificent! You shall certainly do the same for me! ' And he lay down flat on his back. His hair there was as long as his beard. I shaved him, and when he had felt the place with his hand and found it agreeably smooth he said: 'Salim, you must certainly do the same for my Dama. ' In their language Dama means lady, or wife. He sent his valet to fetch his wife, and when they arrived and the valet had brought her in, she lay down on her back, and he said to me: 'Do to her what you did to me. ' So I shaved her pubic hair, while her husband stood by watching me. Then he thanked me and paid me for my services.
You will observe a strange contradiction in their character: they are without jealousy or a sense of honour, and yet at the same time they have the courage that as a rule springs only from the sense of honour and a readiness to take offence.
ORIENTALIZED FRANKS (USAMA, 103-4)
There are some Franks who have settled in our land and taken to living like Muslims. These are better than those who have just arrived from their homelands, but they are the excep- tion, and cannot be taken as typical. I came across one of them once when I sent a friend on business to Antioch, which was governed by Todros ibn as-Safi,1 a friend of mine. One day he said to my friend: 'A Frankish friend has invited me to visit him; come with me so that you can see how they live. ' 'I went with him,' said my friend, 'and we came to the house of one of the old knights who came with the first expedition. This man had retired from the army, and was living on the income of the property he owned in Antioch. He had a fine table brought out, spread with a splendid selection of appetizing food. He saw that I was not eating, and said: 'Don't worry, please; eat what you like, for I don't eat Frankish food. I have Egyptian cooks and eat only what they serve. No pig's flesh ever comes into my house! '2 So I ate, although cautiously, and then we left. Another day, as I was passing
Theodore Sophianos, the Greek commander (ra'i? s) of the municipality of Antioch.
It is fear of this 'unclean' food that troubles the Muslim guest, who even when reassured eats cautiously.
1 2
48 Arab Historians of the Crusades
through the market, a Frankish woman advanced on me, addressing me in her barbaric language with words I found incomprehensible. A crowd of Franks gathered round us and I gave myself up for lost, when suddenly this knight appeared, saw me and came up. 'What do you want with this man? ' 'This man,' she replied, 'killed my brother Urso. ' This Urso was a knight from Apamea who was killed by a soldier from Hama? t. The old man scolded the woman. 'This man is a merchant, a city man, not a fighter, and he lives nowhere near where your brother was killed. ' Then he turned on the crowd, which melted away, and shook hands with me. Thus the fact that I ate at his table saved my life.
THE TEMPLARS AT JERUSALEM (USAMA, 99)
This is an example of Frankish barbarism, God damn them! When I was in Jerusalem I used to go to the Masjid al-Aqsa, beside which is a small oratory which the Franks have made into a church. Whenever I went into the mosque, which was in the hands of Templars who were friends of mine, they would put the little oratory at my disposal, so that I could say my prayers there. One day I had gone in, said the Alla? h akhbar1 and risen to begin my prayers, when a Frank threw himself on me from behind, lifted me up and turned me so that I was facing east. 'That is the way to pray! ' he said. Some Templars at once intervened, seized the man and took him out of my way, while I resumed my prayer. But the moment they stopped watching him he seized me again and forced me to face east, repeating that this was the way to pray. Again the Templars intervened and took him away. They apolo- gized to me and said: 'He is a foreigner who has just arrived today from his homeland in the north, and he has never seen anyone pray facing any other direction than east. ' 'I have finished my prayers,' I said, and left, stupefied by the fanatic who had been so perturbed and upset to see someone praying facing the qibla! 2
I was present myself when one of them came up to the ami? r Mu'i? n ad-Din--God have mercy on him--in the Dome of the Rock, and said to him: 'Would you like to see God as a baby? ' The ami? r said that he would, and the fellow proceeded to show us a picture of Mary with the infant Messiah on her lap. 'This,' he said, 'is God as a baby. ' Almighty God is greater than the infidels' concept of him! 3
1 2
3
The beginning of the canonic sequence of prayers.
The Muslim at prayer must face the qibla, the direction of Mecca. The custom of facing east to pray was widespread among mediaeval Christians,
A Qur'a? nic formula, used with particular relevance here in reporting what is to a Muslim a blasphemy.
Part One: From Godfrey to Saladin 49 THE RANSOMING OF PRISONERS
(USAMA, 60-2)
I had sought an opportunity to visit the King of the Franks to sue for peace between him and Jama? l ad-Din Muhammad ibn Taj al-Mulu? k1--God have mercy on him! --basing my hopes of success on a service that my late father had once performed for King Baldwin, the father of King Fulk's wife. 2 The Franks brought their prisoners for me to ransom, and I ransomed those whose survival was God's will. There was a fanatic called William Jiba? who had gone off to sea as a pirate in his own ship and captured a vessel carrying four hun- dred men and women who were coming from the Maghrib on the Pilgrimage. Some were brought before me with their owners, and I ransomed as many as I could. Among them was a young man who greeted me and then sat without speaking. I asked who he was, and was told that he was a young devout, who was owned by a tanner. 'How much do you want for this one? ' I asked. 'Well,' be said, 'I shall only sell him if you buy this old man as well, for I bought them together. The price is forty-three dinar. ' I redeemed a certain number on my own account, and another group for Mu'i? n ad-Din--God have mercy on him--for a hun- dred and twenty dinar. I paid in cash as much as I had on me, and gave guarantees for the rest. On my return to Damascus I said to Mu'i?
n ad-Din: 'I redeemed some captives on your behalf for whom I could not pay cash. Now that I am back, you can pay for them yourself if you like, or if not then I will pay for them. ' 'No,' he said, 'I insist on paying, for my dearest wish is to gain merit in God's eyes. ' He was outstanding in his eagerness to do good and earn a heavenly reward. He paid the sum I owed the Franks, and I returned to Acre a few days later. William Jiba? had thirty-two prisoners left, among them the wife of one of the men I had been able to ransom. I bought her, but did not pay for her at once. Later that day I rode to his house--God damn him! --and said to him: 'Sell me ten of these. ' He swore that he would only sell the whole lot together. 'I have not brought enough money for all of them,' I said; 'I will buy some of them now and the rest later. ' But he insisted that he would sell the whole group together, so I went away. That night, by God's will, they all escaped, and the inhabitants of that quarter of Acre, who were all Muslims, sheltered them and helped them to reach Muslim territory. The accursed Jiba? searched for them in vain, for God in his mercy saved them all. Then Jiba? began to demand the money from me for the woman whom I had bought from him but not yet paid for, and who had fled with the rest. I said: 'Hand her over, and I will give you the money for her. ' 'The money was due to me yesterday, before she escaped,' he said, and forced me to pay. But it meant little to me beside the joy of knowing that these poor things were safe.
The treaty of 1140 between Damascus and the Franks (see above). This passage suggests that the author had a hand in drafting the treaty.
Baldwin II had been the guest of the ami? r of Shaizar during one of his periods of captivity, as Usama himself informs us elsewhere.
1
2
50 Arab Historians of the Crusades
A PROPOSAL TO SEND MY SON TO EUROPE
(USAMA, 97)
A very important Frankish knight was staying in the camp of King Fulk, the son of Fulk. He had come on a pilgrimage and was going home again. We got to know one another, and became firm friends. He called me 'brother' and an affectionate friendship grew up between us. When he was due to embark for the return journey he said to me: 'My brother, as I am about to return home, I should be happy if you would send your son with me,' (the boy, who was about fourteen years old, was beside me at the time), 'so that he could meet the noblemen of the realm and learn the arts of politics and chivalry. On his return home he would be a truly cultivated man. ' A truly cultivated man would never be guilty of such a suggestion; my son might as well be taken prisoner as go off into the land of the Franks. I turned to my friend and said: 'I assure you that I could desire nothing better for my son, but unfortunately the boy's grandmother, my mother, is very attached to him, and she would not even let him come away with me without extracting a promise from me that I would bring him back to her. ' 'Your mother is still alive? ' 'Yes. ' 'Then she must have her way. '1
THE FALCON OF ACRE (USAMA, 142-3)
I went to Acre with the ami? r Mu'i? n ad-Din--God have mercy on him--to visit the court of the Frankish King Fulk, the son of Fulk. 2 There we met a Genoese who had brought from the land of the Franks a great falcon on a lure. It worked together with a young bitch, hunting crane. When the bird was set at a crane the dog ran behind, and as soon as the bird had attacked the crane and struck it down, she seized it so that it could not escape. The ami? r asked the King to give him the falcon, and the King took the bird and the dog from the Genoese and gave it to him. They travelled back with us, and on the road to Damascus I saw the falcon savaging gazelles as it did the food we gave it. We brought it back to Damascus, but it did not survive long enough to be taken out hunting.
CHRISTIAN PIETY AND MUSLIM PIETY (USAMA, Kita? b al-'asa 528-9)
I paid a visit to the tomb of John the son of Zechariah--God's blessing on both of them! 3--in the village of Sebastea in the province of Nablus. After saying my prayers, I came out into
It is characteristic of the mediaeval Muslim family that in the excuses he invents Usama invokes not the boy's mother but his grandmother. What a pity that he did not agree to the proposal; Usa- ma's son, visiting the Christian world, might have left us some fascinating comparisons between the two civilizations.
See above.
Both Zechariah and John the Baptist were believed to be prophets and venerated as such by the Muslims.
1
2 3
Part One: From Godfrey to Saladin 51
the square that was bounded on one side by the Holy Precinct. I found a half-closed gate, opened it and entered a church. Inside were about ten old men, their bare heads as white as combed cotton. They were facing the east,1 and wore (embroidered? ) on their breasts staves ending in crossbars turned up like the rear of a saddle. They took their oath on this sign, and gave hospitality to those who needed it. 2 The sight of their piety touched my heart, but at the same time it displeased and saddened me, for I had never seen such zeal and devotion among the Muslims. For some time I brooded on this experience, until one day, as Mu'i? n ad-Din and I were passing the Peacock House3 (Dar at-Tawawi? s), he said to me: 'I want to dismount here and visit the Old Men (the ascetics). ' 'Certainly,' I replied, and we dismounted and went into a long building set at an angle to the road. For the moment I thought there was no one there. Then I saw about a hundred prayer-mats, and on each a sufi, his face expressing peaceful serenity, and his body humble devotion. This was a reassuring sight, and I gave thanks to Almighty God that there were among the Muslims men of even more zealous devotion than those Christian priests. Before this I had never seen sufis in their monastery, and was ignorant of the way they lived.
1 2
3
Normal practice among Christians of the time (see above).
The text and meaning of the last words here are uncertain: the cross in the form of staves was probably on the habits of these monks of the Chapter of St. John.
A monastery (khanqa? ) belonging to an order of Muslim mystics, or sufis.
Part Two
SALADIN AND THE THIRD CRUSADE
CHAPTER ONE
The Muslim sources for Saladin and his deeds are, first, his officials and household retainers 'Ima? d ad-Din and Baha? ' ad-Din: the former with his history of the conquest of Jerusalem (which continues in fact up to the death of Saladin). The extremely artificial style overlays an eye-witness account of the events described whose value is being increasingly realized. The latter, the author of a biography of Saladin written in a less flamboyant style, shows a warmth of sympathy and devotion that rarely slips into unctuous apologia. The third and frequently quoted authority on Saladin is Abu Shama, in a section of his Book of the Two Gardens, which is an anthology containing extracts from 'Ima? d ad-Din (shorn of the flowers of his style), Baha? ' ad-Din and Ibn al-Athi? r. Its only real value lies in the inclusion of other sources now lost (Ibn Abi t-Tayy) and for its selection of acts and documents from the Sultan's Chancellery. Ibn al-Athi? r, although his attitude to Saladin was tainted by his political loyalties, preserves his unusual qualities of clear, informed exposition, using his sources with independent judgment.
The best all-round portrait of Isla? m's great champion is the one that opens Baha? ' ad-Din's biography, and it is reproduced here in its entirety.
SALADIN'S CHARACTER (BAHA? ' AD-DIN, 7-41)
One of the authentic canonical traditions1 contains these words of the Prophet: 'Isla? m rests on five pillars: the asseveration that there is no god but God; prayer; the paying of the legal tithe; the fast of ramada? n; and the Pilgrimage to God's Sacred House (at Mecca). ' Now Saladin was a man of firm faith, one who often had God's name on his lips. He drew his faith from the evidence duly studied in the company of the most authoritative scholars and the greatest lawyers, acquiring sufficient competence to take his part in a theological discussion should one arise in his presence, although of course he did not adopt the technical language used by the specialists. The result of this was that his faith was free of any taint of heterodoxy, and speculation never led him into any theological error or heresy. His faith was firm, within the bounds of healthy speculation, and it had the approval of the highest authorities. The ima? m Qutb ad-Din an-Nisaburi compiled for him a catechism containing all the essential elements of dogma, and he was so deeply attached to this that he taught it
Hadi? th, mentioned several times in the following sections. They are sayings attributed to the Prophet and transmitted in a standard form, each with a chain of guarantors, the purpose of which is to establish its authenticity. The 'science of hadi? th' became an important branch of Muslim theology.
1
54 Arab Historians of the Crusades
to all his little sons so that it should be impressed on their minds from earliest childhood. I myself have heard him instructing them and heard them. repeat it before him.
As for the canonic prayers, he performed them assiduously, and used to pray in public; in fact one day he remarked that it was years since he had performed them any other way. When he was ill he would send for one ima? m and would force himself to rise and pray with him. He was assiduous in his performance of the extra-canonic prayers; if he woke up during the night he would make two raka'a? t,1 and if not he would perform them before the morning prayer. He never omitted the canonic prayer except when he was at death's door in the last three days of his life, during which time he was unconscious. If the hour of prayer came round while he was travelling he would dismount from his horse and pray.
As for the legal alms-giving, he died without leaving a large enough estate to be subject to it, for his extra-canonic gifts had consumed all his wealth. Of all that he had been master of, he left in his treasury when he died forty-seven Nasirite drachmas2 and a single piece of Tyrian gold. Nor did he leave houses, estates, gardens, villages, fields or any other material possession.
As for ramada? n, there were ramada? ns that he should have made up, because of illness at various times. The qadi al-Fadil1 kept an exact record of these days, which Saladin began to make up when he was at Jerusalem in the year of his death, persevering in the fast for more than the prescribed month. He had still two ramada? ns to make up for, that illness and involvement in the Holy War had kept him from observing; fasting did not suit his temperament, and God inspired him to fast in that year to make good his omissions. In the absence of the qadi I kept count of the days on which he fasted. The doctor was not in favour of it, but Saladin would not listen to him. 'Anything might happen,' he said, as if he had been inspired to pay his debt of conscience, and fasted long enough to discharge whatever he had owed to God.
As for the Pilgrimage, he had always wanted and intended to go, in particular in the year of his death. He made a decision to go then, and ordered the preparations to be made. We got together provisions for the journey and were ready to set out when lack of time and shortage of the money necessary to equip himself as became a man of his standing prevented his departure. He put it off until the next year, but God decreed otherwise, as often happens in the experience of men both great and small.
He loved to hear the noble Qur'a? n recited; he examined the ima? m whose job it was and required him to be learned in Qur'anic studies and to have a perfect knowledge and understanding of the text. At night, when he was in his room, he would ask anyone who was awake to recite two, three or four suras of the Qur'a? n while he listened. In public audiences he would ask whoever had been appointed to the office to recite twenty or so verses. Once he passed a child reciting the Qur'a? n to its father, and the recitation pleased him so much that he called the child to him and assigned to him a part of his personal daily food and bequeathed to the child and his father part of an estate. He was humble and sensitive of
The rak'a (plural raka'a? t) is the complex of prostrations and elevations and formulae that together constitute the unit of the canonic prayer.
I. e. stamped with his official name, al-Malik an-Nasir (king-champion of the Faith).
Head of Chancellery and Saladin's intimate councillor; he is referred to several times further on.
1
2 1
Part Two: Saladin and the Third Crusade 55
heart, quick to weep, and used often to be moved to tears by hearing the Qur'a? n recited. He enjoyed hearing hadi? th delivered by a profound scholar of tradition and doctrine. When any were present at court he would summon them and listen to their teachings, and would make his sons and the mamlu? ks in his service listen too, bidding them all sit down to listen as a sign of respect. Or if a certain scholar was not the sort of man to knock on sultans' doors, but rather shunned audiences at court, he would himself go to the scholar to hear his readings. In this way he heard the hafiz1 al-Isfahani in Alexandria and transmitted many hadi? th from him. He loved to read hadi? th himself and often he would summon me when he was alone, send for the books of hadi? th and read from them himself. When he came upon a tradition containing an edifying parable it would move him to tears.
He venerated deeply the laws of the Faith, believed in the resurrection of the body, the reward of Paradise for the virtuous and of Hell for the sinners, and accepted all the teachings of Holy Scripture with an open heart. He hated philosophers, heretics, materialists and all the opponents of the Law. For this reason he commanded his son al-Malik az-Zahir, Prince of Aleppo, to punish a young man called as-Suhrawardi2 who called himself an enemy of the Law and a heretic. His son had the man arrested for what he had heard of him and informed the Sultan, who commanded that he be put to death. So he was killed, and left hanging on the cross for several days.
He put his whole faith and confidence in God and turned to Him (for help). As an illustration of this I shall recount an incident of which I was a witness. The Franks--God damn them! --had come up and camped at Bait Nuba, a few days' march from Jerusalem. The Sultan was there, having posted advance guards in close contact with the enemy and sent out spies and reconnaissance troops. Thus he obtained the news of a firm decision taken by the enemy to besiege Jerusalem and give battle. This frightened the Muslims. The Sultan summoned the ami? rs and informed them of the critical situation in which the Muslims found themselves, and consulted them on the advisability of staying in Jerusalem. The ami? rs began by blustering, but their real intentions were quite different, each of them asserting that he would not in the least mind staying in the city, that the whole of Isla? m. would be exposed to danger: they, they said, would remain, and he was to take a detachment of the army and go out to encircle the enemy, as had happened at Acre. His job would be to cut off the enemy's supplies and to harry them. Theirs would be to defend the city. On this decision the council broke up, but Saladin remained firm in his resolve to stay in the city in person, well aware that if he did not stay no one would. When the ami? rs had gone home, one of them returned to say that they would not stay unless Saladin's brother al-Malik al-'Adil, or one of his (own) sons, stayed behind to command and support them. Saladin realized that what they really meant was that they would not hold out, and this troubled and perplexed him. That night, the Thursday night, I was on duty beside him from sunset
In Islam a hafiz (from which comes the name of the celebrated Persian poet) is one who either knows the Qur'a? n by heart or is versed in hadi? th.
Philosopher and mystic of Aleppo who in 1191 fell victim to the intolerance of orthodoxy sanctioned by Saladin. This aspect of his real character bears little relation to the fantasies created by historians of the new enlightenment.
1
2
56 Arab Historians of the Crusades
until it was almost dawn. It was winter, and we were alone but for God. We discussed this project and that, examining the implications of each in turn, until I began to feel concerned for him and to fear for his health, for he seemed to be overwhelmed by despair. I begged him to lie down on his bed, in the hope that he might sleep a while. He replied: 'Perhaps you are tired. ' and rose. Scarcely had I returned to my rooms and settled to a task than dawn broke and the muezzin's call to prayer resounded. I almost always made my morning prayer with Saladin, so I went back to his room, where he was washing himself. 'I have not shut an eye,' he said. 'I knew that,' I replied. 'How did you know? ' 'I did not sleep either, there was no time for it. ' We prayed together, and again took up the usual problem. 'I have had an idea,' I said, 'that may be of use, God willing. ' 'What is it? ' 'Turn to Almighty God, call on him and have trust in him to resolve this terrible dilemma. ' 'How should we do it?
