Ismail Kamdar – The crusades and Salahudin, Detailed
AI: Summary ©
The conversation discusses the history and current events of Hungary, including the rise of Islamists and the return of national leaders. The region is facing conflict with the arrival of Islamist elite trying to unite the region and restore peace and justice, and is facing war and revenge against Muslim troops. The conversation emphasizes the importance of history and unity in the face of conflict.
AI: Summary ©
salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.
hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa Salatu was Salam ala Karim. While early he was heavy at Marine, probably shot recently we are sitting on the Ottoman rissani of koko de Allahumma Isla Molina Illa, Allah intercalary mocking. So hamdulillah we are now moving on to the next phase of this course, having completed a brief look at the Golden Ages of Islam, and what were the cause of the rise and fall of the various Golden Ages, we are now going to tackle what is referred to as the Middle Ages, right a point in time where the Muslims significantly lost power, but not to the level that they would later on. So this oma has gone through Golden Ages, Middle Ages and Dark Ages, Golden Ages,
for example, like the time of the abbasids, the image, the height of the ultimate power, Dark Ages, like the Mongol invasion, which we will come to in a few weeks time and the current state of the Yuma between all of this, there were some middle ages as well. And in the incidents we're going to look at over the next few week fall into that. And this is a time where the oma was so powerful. But he was also weak in some ways. And this is the era of the Crusaders. So in the era of the Crusaders, while we still had
the Abbas's Empire round. And while we still had control over many lands, there was some cracks starting to fall in the cracks that if they had not sealed them very quickly, could have caused an early downfall of this oma. So let's dive into what we're going to cover this week. And most likely next week as well, is we're going to take a look at who the Crusaders are. Why do they come about what did they do in the Muslim world, we focused on Muslim history. So we're not going to look at the Crusader history. Outside of the Muslim world, we're going to look primarily at the conquest of Al Aqsa and the war between the newbies in the Crusaders, they will come up again later in history.
When we discussed the rise of the Ottoman Empire when we discussed the
we already discussed the Inquisition of Spain, that also was the Crusaders. But they kind of become like the standard villain in the Muslim story moving forward. So it's important that we understand the roots, the history, the origin of what they felt they were doing, what they thought they were doing, and what they ended up doing to the Muslim world, so that we can understand the next phase of our history. So the first part of Muslim history, the Muslims were primarily at war with the Byzantine Empire. Right? In this next phase, it's primarily the Crusaders. And then after that the phase after is the Mongols, and then comes colonialism. And that was the default default of the oma
with World War One. So in every phase of our history, the different major villain at play a major Baghdad play, are trying to tear the oma apart and conquer the Muslim lands. And as we move away from the period of the Byzantines being the primary enemy of the Muslims, as you would have noticed over the past few lectures, that the present teams are growing weaker, they are no longer a threat to the Muslims.
And essentially, there was a lot of peace in the Muslim lands for hundreds of years, besides the civil wars, besides the actual fighting amongst the Muslims. So at this point, a new enemy arises the Crusaders from the west. So who were the Crusaders, let's take a look at who they were, what caused the rise and
what they did to the Muslim world, who were the Crusaders.
The Crusades are described as a series of religious wars, initiated, supported and sometimes directed by the Latin church in the medieval period. So going back 1000 years to the year
1000, a Christian era, it was at that point in time that the pope came up with a new concept called the Crusades. And the Crusades were developed
as a as a religious reason to go out and fight the Muslims. Why, why didn't this happen before? Why did it happen at this specific point in time? Well,
before this, you know,
we look at the hundreds of years before this, the Muslims were fighting the Byzantium. So now remember the present yums. And the western Europeans followed two very different understandings of Christianity, very different from each other, or they essentially saw it
As disbelievers and as enemies, they did not support each other. And the Muslims had taken these lands from the prison teams.
And as law and what the Muslims That is, they allowed religious freedom to every branch of Christianity in Oxford. So as long as Muslims were controlling a laksa those who followed the Byzantine version of Christianity could go to Oxford for pilgrimage, those following the Roman Catholic version could go for pilgrimage, as well as every other version. Right to us, they just look it up, they are Christians, they are given the same rights. So it was in the best interest of Christians at that time, that Jerusalem was controlled by a non Christian power that gave them freedom of religion. So Christians were in fighting each other for the holy lands. And this is why
there wasn't much scuffles or fighting over Jerusalem.
From the time of Omar and your hotdog rodeo, and over the next 300 years, nothing Christians were quite happy with the status quo, that Muslims are in charge, there was religious freedom, any Christian will go and live in that land, as long as they pay the jizya. Any Christian could go for religious pilgrimage to land and that suited everybody. So what happened in the 11th century that changed things? What happened in 11th century was a period of civil war amongst the Muslims. So going back to what we spoke about the the Abbasid Empire, we said that the above acids in the after the first 300 years they began to arrive after the first 200 years, or the Abbas's began to lose
power. And each of their lands began to splinter off and become a mini kingdom with its own ruler. Some of these rulers had more power than the Abbas's, but they also referred to the abasi as the Caliph as a figurehead as a puppet Caliph. Right. This is a period where the apostle is just a figurehead he doesn't have any real power, and other governors and Sudan's are fighting for control of various territories. At this point in time, two powers arise in the Muslim world, both of which want to control Jerusalem. The first to the north, we have the ismar eally Shia movement known as default image or the obey these default inmates were a group of Izmir initiators who took over
Egypt, right, they found a claim to be the Mati, he gathered a following around his claim, and he took over Egypt, and he began to oppress the Sunni majority and enforce smiley Shiism upon the people. And he set his sights on Jerusalem, and he wants Al Aqsa to belong to his people. At the same time, to the note, we have the first ever Turkish Muslim Empire, not the Ottomans, the seljuks I so for those of y'all who watch the two rule show, you notice that at that time, the ruling power in Turkey is the cell jokes, and is only after the cell jokes that he passes to the ultimate when the last cell joking dies. So the cell jokes go back long before the Ottomans, they go back to this
period. They were the first Turkish people to gain power.
The Abbas's did not want to keep power only in the hands of the Arabs, not like humans. So they began to appoint governors from different races. And so from the Turks, they chose to sell jokes to be the governors. But the cell jokes grew very powerful. And they became an independent, so darn it, and they wanted control of Jerusalem. So the powers are now fighting over Jerusalem. And what happened during this fight. What happened during this war is that the
the seljuks, end up taking over Jerusalem, but they are not as educated about Islam as the Abbasid way. And they don't give the Christians and the Jews of Jerusalem their full rights. Instead, they begin to destroy churches, or they begin to oppress all the Christians, they begin to take away some of the religious rights. And news of this travels to the pope Musa this travels all the way to Europe to the Pope, where they are told that in Jerusalem in the Holy Land, Muslims are killing our people. Muslims are oppressing our people, Muslims are destroying our churches. Now note, just like how we don't distinguish between the different branches of Christianity, in terms of treating them
equally. They don't know the difference between a cell joke and a
bar seed and a
fatty meat nor do they care about the difference between Sunni and Shia. All they know is Muslims are harming their people. So that status quo that lasted for 300 years, that it's fine that the Muslims control Jerusalem because we all get to travel there and do a pilgrimage in peace that's gone now. Instead, they are looking
The Muslims as oppressors, right because of one dynasty that did not follow Islam.
So the pope comes up with a political move to bring Jerusalem back under Christian rule. And that is a entirely new innovation he comes up with called the crusades, a holy war. And that's why the most famous crusade was the one that took place for 150 years, almost 200 years, the effort to liberate Jerusalem and the surrounding areas from Islamic rule and make that a Christian land called the Kingdom of Jerusalem, or the kingdom of heaven. This
was the most famous Crusade, they were actually more than five crusades, but this is the most famous one. And this is what we are going to focus on. So again, the Crusades was a reaction to oppression done by the seljuks, and the 40 minutes. And the reaction did not discriminate between any Muslims.
In the meanwhile, the cell jokes did not hold Jerusalem for long the last into the 40 minutes. And again, the Christians don't care. Either way for them. These are Muslims, and the end, you know, they're controlling our lands, and we need to take these lands back.
So in the year 1095, to this is like
930 years ago, another 40 years ago,
Pope Urban the second came up with the idea of the crusades, and he declared the First Crusade encouraging military support for the Byzantine emperor against the seljuk Turks, and he called for armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Now let's break this down. We said that the Christians of Europe did not support the Byzantine Empire, because we were different denominations of Christianity. But now, now they see it as necessary to work together to get rid of the Muslim threat in that land. Right. So they now see it necessary to unite against the Muslims. So he's willing to militarily support the Byzantium, even though they see them as heretical in their beliefs.
Number two, it was against the seljuk Turks that we notice that by the time they get to Jerusalem, it is the fatimids in control and not to sell troops.
Number three, as a very crafty bit of political maneuvering by the Pope, he didn't call it a holy war. He didn't call it a war at all. He called it an armed pilgrimage. That is,
peasants and nobleman alike. from Europe, were encouraged to take up arms and make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. with permission to fight and kill and loot. Any Muslims they find along the way, promised great rewards promised that the sins will be forgiven by the by the church, if they do this for the sake of God. So a religious pilgrimage, which includes
in reality, it was a war, described this disguised as a religious pilgrimage. And so 1000s of people across Europe, gathered together and began to make an pilgrimages towards Jerusalem. And along the way, attacking caravans attacking towns, attacking farms, attacking villages, and taking over various Muslim lands. Now, it's important to note that the Muslims of that time did not see this coming.
David, number one caught up in your own Civil War, II sell jokes default image and the end of passage, we're still fighting each other. And number two, they always looked at the Byzantines as the enemy, the focus is always towards the Eastern Roman Empire. They ignored Europe. Because to be fair, Europe was going through a dark, dark in Europe was a a backwards land, they did not have technology, they did not have science, they did not have what the Muslims had, the Muslims did not see them as a threat. He did not see them as as the equals. And they underestimated what religious zeal could do for these people. So they did not look at any one coming from that side as an actual
threat. They only used to two types of people traveling from Europe, to the Muslim lands, either pilgrims heading towards Jerusalem for Christian pilgrimage, or traders coming to do business with the Muslim so those lands were in depth well guarded and those lands.
kind of let the guard down and everyday so pilgrims coming because until this point in history, Christian pilgrims were peaceful people. It never crossed the Muslim minds, that these armed pilgrims marching towards Jerusalem are about to cause bloodshed and take over all these lives. It just wasn't something that they had any historical
precedents for at that time. So this was just let go. He was just something that, you know, they saw these guys walking and they go is pilgrims coming in go into Jerusalem for their pilgrimage as usual, having no idea of what went down in the church having no idea about the Pope's declaration having no idea about the concept of crusades. But what is promised the Crusaders nothing. They just saw pilgrims coming. Now across Western Europe. The response to this was very enthusiastic. People were really, really poor in Europe at that time.
And the Muslims at that time were the dominant superpower, they were the largest empire, the most powerful empire, the wealthiest Empire,
the pope giving Christians permission to enter the Muslim lands, to loot their lands to steal, to take over the land to take over the world. This was something that many people were perhaps waiting for, hoping for wishing for. Now they had a religious reason to do it, they had religious permission to do it.
They even had promise of religious rewards for doing it. And so with a lot of zeal, people from across all backgrounds in Europe United for these armed pilgrimages.
So let's take a look at some of the reasons historically as to why the Crusades happened. And these really these reasons are not necessarily Islamic, they are more historical analysis done by both Muslim and non Muslim historians, to help us understand why this happened. So we looked at one political reason, right. And that is
the what the seljuks had done to Christians in their lands, right. And the 40 minutes as well, both of these empires did not have the same good reputation as the abbasids, or the domains.
But the way internal reasons for the Crusades as well. Reasons for the success reasons why so many people join them, reasons why they were so enthusiastic and CLS. Let's take a look at some of the reasons number one was religious salvation, they were promised paradise. In exchange for this campaign, they were promised forgiveness for their sins in exchange for this campaign. Now,
if for someone growing up in Europe at that time, to whom Christianity is the trip, right for them, they viewed Christianity as the truth. And they they viewed the pope as speaking for God, to hear the pope tell them that if you do this, Your sins are forgiven and you go into paradise, this lit up in them a file a form of religious zeal, that was terrifying. And you get actually compared, if when you look at a comparison from the Muslim world, you can compare the crusades, the coverage, right, in their religious zeal and their zeal for blood, that they viewed what they were doing as holy. They viewed what they were doing as good. They viewed what they were doing, as a path to paradise.
And when somebody becomes convinced of this,
it is terrifying, what they will do in the name of religion. May Allah protect us and always keep us balanced in our understanding of Detroit. But you know, just as the hawala which are the typical wisdom example of what misplaced religious zeal can lead to the Crusades are a similar a murderer example, in Christianity, that just as misplaced religious zeal caused harbor giants to commit bloodshed in the name of Islam. misplaced religious zeal caused Crusaders to cause bloodshed in the name of Christianity. So the promise of religious salvation played a major role in gathering the troops, giving them a lot of zeal and pushing him forward to do this with Atmos violence. And
savagery. Number two was satisfying feudal obligations. So the feudal system of Europe at that time, no certain people were
tied to other people they had responsibilities to, to fulfill towards other people. They didn't want to call it slavery, although, you know, historically, if you look at it, it was a type of slavery, it's just, they didn't call it that. But essentially, it was like a contract, right with some people out certain people and and so just say, there's a rich Paul kid who doesn't want to go on the crusades, and somebody else is, you know, has a feudal obligation towards Him, He will send that person out instead and that person wanting to be free, wanting that contract to be over wanting that the obligation to be over will do everything possible to make this mission successful, and to ensure
that he gets his freedom through this.
Number three was the opportunities for renowned for becoming famous, and really many many of the Crusaders became famous. A writer today you will find him in video games as characters in movies and TV sees
There's hear people talking about them, it was a time to become famous. And we know that the desire for fame causes people to do terrible things. And this is why in Islam, chasing after fame is a sin. It's something a Muslim should never do. A Muslim should never seek fame. Because when you seek fame, you will do anything to get it. And the Crusades are a good example of that, that there was a time to become known for one's courage to become known for one for one's skills to become known for the land you've taken over and the people you have killed in the land, you have looted, and so many people who had in their hearts, this desire for fame, they went out and they join the crusades, and
they became the leaders of the Crusades. Number four was the economical advantages. So again, we said that the Muslims were the dominant power of their time, and the Christian lands were comparatively poor. This was a chance to gain a piece of the Muslim world, this is a charge to go into Muslim lands, and basically loot those lands, take over this land. So even if you don't take over those lands, take some of their stuff and go back to your lands wedding. It was a get rich, quick scheme that involved violence and bloodshed, right. And many, many people who are greedy for wealth or who are desperate, not necessarily greedy, maybe just desperate. peasants, farmers, people
who had the lowest level of society, this was the one chance to get wealthy. And they took it and ran with it. Oh, by the way, the Crusades have a very strong economic advantage on Europe, because they did bring back a lot of the Muslim world to to Europe, not just wealth. But a lot of the ideas, a lot of the science, a lot of the education, a lot of the technology, a lot of the culture. And a lot of the food of the Muslim world was introduced to Europe by the Crusaders. So Crusaders went to Muslim lands, they conquered Muslim lands. But in the process, they came back with new knowledge with new ideas with new culture, when you practices. And a lot of the things that made the Muslims
are the superpower of their time and gave the Muslims an advantage over the Europeans, these things slowly now became part of European culture.
And so the Crusades were
terrible for Muslims. But they also were
very beneficial to the to Europe, in that this was how Europe got hold of things that it otherwise may have, have gotten hold off, into as far as knowledge and resources and wealth is concerned. So there was the economic advantage. And then there was the political advantage
that Christian Christians had not had any control over Jerusalem for over 400 years, for the Christians of Europe, to conquer Jerusalem, we put them on a path on a on a on a political level higher than that of the present teams. And we established for them a power base in the Middle East itself. And the Middle East back in the Muslim world back then, was the most powerful land on Earth, to have a political base over there to have control of land over there was something very, very advantages in terms of both dealing with Muslims and dealing with the present to so lots of opportunity and political advantage, not just for the kingdom as a whole. But even for individuals,
many people who left Europe as peasants, or as, as people with feudal contracts, or as low level princes, who's no one ever going to inherit the kingdom because the older brother was going to do so whatever it was many people who left Europe because they saw no future for themselves in Europe, became governors, and kings, in the Crusader kingdoms.
So it was a political advantage, even on the individual level. And all of these things cause the Crusades to be very, very successful. They just swept into the Muslim lands, took over many Muslim lands, and established Three Kingdoms next to each other, the most famous and important of which was the Kingdom of Jerusalem. This is the biggest and the most important of the Three Kingdoms established in what was now at that point in time to Muslim lands. So what did they do?
Number one, they established states in the Middle East, namely three states that we discussed about and the most important thing is that Jerusalem fell to the Crusaders. And this caused a a splintering of the oma and devastation throughout over now imagine living in that time. Let's take a moment to think about this. Imagine living in that time.
Imagine up until that point in time. Muslims don't really lose from the time of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. until this point in time,
the oma was just expanding
Was Medina, Baca then Arabia, then then a sham and and Iraq and Egypt and in North Africa and Spain and summer Congo parts of India is just expanding, expanding, expanding, and then suddenly,
Al Aqsa, the third holiest land falls to the Christians, a massacre takes place. Muslims are not allowed to enter that land anymore and are not allowed to play in that land anymore. And a huge chunk of the Middle East that was Muslim for over 300 years, is now part of the Christian Empire. Can you imagine how the modularizing that was for the Muslims of that time. And so this was a huge, huge hit to the models and the to the morale and the
energy and the strength of the oma. And the oma was now split, we held the the default image in Egypt, we had the Abbas's in Baghdad, we had the cell jokes in Turkey, and we have the Crusaders
in Al Aqsa and the surrounding areas. So right there in the middle, that learned that it's so important to both religiously and politically, is not under Muslim control. And the Muslim lands surrounding it are not united, they are at war with each other. They don't like each other, they're not going to work together. So the splintering of the oma was a devastating thing that took place in that time.
It wasn't just the fall of Jerusalem, there was devastating, but more than that, the massacre of Jerusalem. So the Crusaders didn't just take over Jerusalem. had that been the case, had they just taken over Jerusalem and allowed all religions to have similar freedom to what the Muslims had given and asked the Muslims to be some kind of Gz or something in exchange for living there and worshiping Al Aqsa, maybe history would have been different. Maybe Muslims would have tolerated their presence. Maybe Muslims have just let it go. But instead, Muslims were banned from Oxford for 90 years as with the Jews, Muslims and Jews, when are both banned from the holy lead holy to both religions, as we
are the types of Christians whose beliefs did not match that of the
Crusaders.
And
the Crusaders massacred 1000s of people. 1000s of people were massacred during this war, not just Muslims. You know, we often think of the Crusades as being just against Muslim, but really it was, anyone who they saw as heretical, is included Jews, is included mostly Muslims. But you also included Christians who followed other denominations of Christianity. And so this was a a, it wasn't just a war, it was a massacre. It was a
complete wiping out of entire families, and communities and tribes to establish a Christian Kingdom in the Middle East.
And you may notice the similarities between the story and what's happening in the world today. That with the Muslim style fighting each other,
and we lost Jerusalem.
And surrounding Jerusalem are a bunch of Muslim countries that don't get along and are divided along sectarian lines or political lines are at war with each other. While oxa is in the hands of a foreign power, who is not giving Muslims their rights history repeating itself almost exactly 1000 years ago to today.
The good thing is that the story 1000 years ago, has a good ending after 90 years. So we are optimistic that the same will happen maybe in our lifetime or in the lifetime of the next generation, that they will see that history repeating itself as well, and Muslims regaining control of their land.
So what happened? The Crusaders coming? We take over Al Aqsa, the massacre about 60,000 people in our oxa alone in Jerusalem alone, Muslims, Christians and Jews alike. They boast about this in their own diaries. Right to today the diaries of the Crusaders are available and translated. And in these diaries, they boast about the streets flowing with blood and the skulls pile mountains high
a very fanatical and and and barbaric in the methodology and they boasted about things like this. And this completely destabilized the region it completely demotivated the Muslims, what happened?
Allah subhanaw taala rose up from amongst the Muslims a hero who would take the lands back and this hero his use of even a YouTube more popularly known as sallahu de la UB for him Hola.
So the Muslims did not forget about Alexa. This is the third or yes land. This is a place where we are encouraged to travel to
wants to pray Salah. This is a land that was under Muslim rule for 300 years. Is he the place when for those living in the time, many of their friends and family and fellow Muslims were massacred. So this is a very important location religiously and politically, and Muslims never forgot. And they continue to fight and continue to try and take back land. The most famous person who tried to do this was a general a governor by the name of new Rudin, elzinga nurudeen Ziggy was a political leader in that region at that time,
who was very charismatic, very famous, and very shrewd as a politician. And his entire political campaign revolved around one simple concept. Muslims need to unite to take back Alok so
fascinating. I mean, I think that campaign could work today. Muslims need to unite to take back kalocsa. I mean, that's exactly what we need today. This is what he thought of 1000 years ago, Muslims need to unite to take back aleksa. And
he began to unite various lands behind him to build armies build strongholds, and fight back against the Crusaders and take back a few small towns from them. He was never able to actually reclaim Al Aqsa in his lifetime.
But he did lay the groundwork for it in terms of coming up with his political campaign, building up a force, uniting many regions. And most importantly, he noticed in a young man use of even a youth
the potential of leadership and he mentored this young man and he raised this young man to be a military leader in the region. So
Salahuddin Allah UB, Obi Wan, as use of even au was a Kurdish Muslim soldier, who nobody noticed in him greatness, or sometimes leaders do this. Many times leaders, when they interacting with people, they just noticed something special about specific individuals. And they latch on to those individuals. And they and they and they become mentors to them and and, you know, put the hope in that person. And so nurudeen develop this kind of bond with Salahuddin where he essentially mentored him and helped him to basically become the next minority.
So his name is used use of even a YouTube he is popularly known as Salah Houdini, the revival of the religion, or a UV from the descendants of a youth, and his descendants would become known as the ayyubid dynasty. And sallahu, Nene was more influential and more popular, the newer again, to such an extent that a civil war almost occurred between them. So nurudeen had sencilla Houdini up to Egypt, to try and convince the fatimids to unite with new regions forces to fight the Crusaders. And Salahuddin grew so powerful in Egypt, that he that the fatimid Empire ended and he became the new governor, the new Sultan of Egypt. And he did this not to want bloodshed, but through diplomacy, to
getting to know the right people building the right contacts, you know, getting the right people on his side becoming popular, he rose up in the ranks, became a close advisor to the policymaking and eventually, people wanted him as the ruler, and he was instated as the Sultan of Egypt by the abasi the Empire. So Salahuddin grew more popular than nurudeen. And this led to tension between him It almost led to a war between them, but new Reagan passed away. And this is perhaps from the mercy of Allah subhanaw taala to prevent a war between these two great people who we look up to.
At this point, I need to mention something
very important.
One of the problems we have is when we study history is that we tend to turn these political figures into myths and legends. Right, we tend to think of them as this perfect Odia with no faults. We'll be talking about Salahuddin a UB or a to rule of it, or Suleiman the Magnificent or honorable Abdul Aziz, may Allah be had mercy on all of them. We tend to exaggerate the good qualities and
ignore any mistakes you make or pretend that he never made any mistakes. And we build up such a hype and a myth around them that they actual biographies can't live up to the hype. And this is our problem that instead of studying history, for what it is as history, we want to study history is like some kind of mythology.
We want to build up this
All you have heroes and villains and legends and, and amazing people. In reality these were normal human beings
do a pious in some aspects of their life, they were sinners in other aspects of their life gave a
brilliant in some parts of this world. And they were,
you know,
not good the other aspects of work life, and particularly those of them who are given political power.
I don't think any politician in history after the whole of our Washington can live up to our expectations. Muslims today have this such a super natural, perfect mythological idea of or khalipa, that 99% of califa throughout history will not live up to those expectations. Rather, the majority of the believers in history
were
human beings. They had their faults, they had their sins, they had the good deeds, they had the bad deeds, and you can't really do politics without getting your hands dirty. You can't really do politics, without
you're getting involved in things that are
that are that are not nice.
And if you are going to be a politician in the medieval world, or even in the modern world,
there's going to be things where you're going to have to choose the lesser of two evils. What you choose to do may still be evil.
But you have to look at what has the overall benefit. So I mentioned this, because I don't like this idea of us, raising Salah, Udine to such a level that when his faults are brought up, we lose a man
we like or we refuse to believe history. Because
we can't imagine him doing anything wrong. He was, for all intents and purposes at a time. A regular governor who was maybe a bit more knowledgeable about religion a bit more pious in other governors, but he was still a governor. He was still he still does. He still bribed people, he still killed people. He still saw political power is to put his sons in power after him, he's still involved in nepotism, he was still involved in
almost starting a civil war with his mentor, he had faults like everybody else.
But
on the other hand, as Muslims, when we look at our historical figures, we also look at them from a lens of they have passed on, let's not dwell on the faults. May Allah have mercy on them? Right. So we have to find this balance. On one hand, we have people who only want to analyze the faults and look for faults and and are obsessed with the faults to such an extent that they begin to demonize these historical figures, and they begin to look at them as as evil people.
Other hand we have people who exaggerate the praises and put him on such a high pedestal that reality can never live up to the hype and imagination we have built around them.
reality.
These were men,
they sinned and they did good deeds, but we remembered him for the good deeds and we ask Allah to forgive their sins. That's why whenever we mentioned any of these historical figures, we say, Rahim Allah, may Allah have mercy on him. When we say may Allah have mercy on him, or may Allah have mercy on her, we are acknowledging this person had since his person has false May Allah, Allah is mercy over Allah's mercy overwrite his sins and their faults, but Allah accept their good deeds. And we are washed over hand over data coming from the people of gender. This is our approach to those who have passed away. So when we study history, or sometimes we may bring up things that are the faults
of historical figures, it doesn't mean that we hate them. It doesn't mean that we want to focus on these faults. It doesn't mean we obsess to these faults, we are simply being unbiased about the history.
But we will focus on the good qualities we will make do out for them. And we will be optimistic Allah Subhana Allah will forgive their sins and accept their good deeds because they passed away upon light, you know, not mahamadou Rasul Allah, and so we will approach him with his optimism. So it's important for us to have this attitude when dealing with our historical figures.
So with that in mind, so that within a UB he was very shrewd, he was very charismatic. He was very popular. He took on the campaign of the Muslims need to unite behind one leader to take back a laksa afternoon routine, he passed away and people began to unite behind him to take back Al Aqsa because now the vitamins are gone. new routine is gone. He's now the most powerful man in the region. He is by far the most pious of all the leaders. He is by far the most charismatic of all the leaders. He's by
I find the best military genius of all leaders. He has the best character of all the leaders. All of this put together
cause people to flock to him, and his army grows and his power grows. And finally, finally, the Muslims have a chance to take back the Holy Land to take back Al Aqsa.
So, do we have enough time to cover the retaking of our oxer? Okay, I think we will do one more slide and then we'll
close off for today and do the rest next week. The retaking of Al Aqsa
sallahu Deena you'll be here too, took over Egypt and ruling from 116321193. So four, he ruled Egypt for 30 years. And in 1187, he took over Jerusalem. So about 24 years into his reign as Sudan. He takes over Jerusalem now let's break down these events.
And take a look at it. So
Egypt we understand what Egypt was at that time.
Egypt had been ruled by the Israelis for around 90 years, are very similar to how long the Crusaders had been ruling Jerusalem. So both of these lands had fallen for 90 years each to different enemies, Egypt to the fatimids, and Jerusalem to the Crusaders. The fatimids had done a lot of damage in Egypt. But they had oppressed the Sunni majority. For example, they had Banta, Ravi, they had created a whole lot of holidays, by to try and get the masses to love them. But the most famous of these holidays, the one that stuck around, right until today is the moment or the celebration of a Prophet's birthday, and I'm not is a historical classroom or passing any judgment on the moment. I'm
simply saying, historically, that's its roots. Historically, it started off by the Israelis, as a political move to get people to like them. And so that who then takes over he keeps the model as a holiday and it can it enters into Sunni Islam. Through that, right through that political move by Salahuddin.
Another thing that smilies did was they both have University and so that who didn't keep that as a university, but he converted into a Sunni University and it remained so right until today. So that same other university in Egypt today has been a Sunni University since the time of slavery in a UB that is 900 years. For 900 years there has been a Sunni University. So it's a very old very prestigious. So he takes over Egypt is now the Sultan of Egypt. Under the abasi Calif, remember, it's very important to remember this point of history. At that point in time, the Abbas's had no power. The bosses are just figureheads. So that means the man in power. So that Houdini is the one
who people know by name, who people see who people love, who people trust when people follow who people will go to war for their boss it. He's just a figurehead. So LaHood is the Sudan of this region. And in his goodbyes, he says we pledge allegiance to the Khalifa of the Abbasid Empire. So really the halifa just here to is to say that look, the halifa is still an Abbas it he stole from the family of the prophet SAW you some descendant of the prophets, uncle, he still got the Quraysh. And this guy is just a Sudan working for the halifa. In reality, the Qureshi had no power at a time, all of the power is with this, our general so that could be so it's important to understand because
when you look at this point in history, a lot of people wonder, where's the Khalifa? I go, why are we studying sallahu Deen and nurudeen and the sell jokes in the party means where's the Hollywood? The Hollywood is powerless. This is the point in history where for the next few 100 years, the Hollywood is is just a it's just a figurehead is just a puppet ruler. He has no real power is just there to feign some kind of unity in the oma and some kind of link to the correction. So Salahuddin is a real man of power, His power grows, and the Crusaders become threatened by his power. And the battle takes place between the Crusader armies and Salahuddin that devastates the Crusaders. Before
that.
100 years before this, we said that the Muslims of that region were fighting each other. And this weakened them and allow the Crusaders to come in and take over Jerusalem. Fast forward 90 years, the same thing now happens amongst the Crusaders, that the king of the Kingdom of Jerusalem at that point in time, where the 16 year old with leprosy and he was dying from leprosy. And he had no descendants. So his sister, his ministers, his generals, they all start fighting for power. And they all want to be the next king. They know this man has no power. He's sickly, he's dying. He's weak. He has no descendants. They all begin to fight for control of Jerusalem and for leading the Crusades
and
They ended up weakening their own Empire with his fights. And then the biggest blow of all was the Battle of hattin. So in the Battle of Haiti, and so that would mean took his army out into a into a huge field, and the Crusaders thinking that this was the opportunity to wipe away shala Houdini and his army, they send the entire force of the sallahu de and it is a complete complete one sided victory, Salah Houdini army completely destroyed the Crusader army. And there is nobody left to defend Jerusalem besides a few average people. Right, so the entire Crusader army
is defeated by the army of Salahuddin in Hatim
what's left at Jerusalem. One nobleman by the name of Balian, who has a good relationship with Salah Cody. To put things in context, Balian wanted to give up the crusades, and to go back to his land with his wife and his his child. And so that would Dean had promised safe access for his family back to his lands. But the king had banned Balian from leaving that land and put him in charge on the defense of Jerusalem. So he was obligated to stay in Jerusalem and fight Salah Cody. But Salahuddin being the great man that he was, he still gave barians family safe passage and escort to their lands to make sure they go back to their land safely. So they were not caught up in the war for Jerusalem
and he will not kill by mistake in the war for Jerusalem. So Beijing is now left alone in Jerusalem to defend this land surrounded by by peasants by farmers by traders, or by whoever is left behind in the few guards of the city. As Salahuddin is a Thai army is coming, a siege takes place. And Salahuddin surrounds
Jerusalem for about two weeks from the 10th of 23rd of September until the second of October. Finally, you know, during the siege is back and forth, catapults arrows, again, remember cities in those days are designed with, with a wall around the city, and a few entrances and the arches on the walls, and you have to get to one of the entrances to get into the city. So it's all a battle for the war. And that's why the siege can last for months. But it's clear that the Christians are not gonna win. No reinforcements are coming from the Christian lands. The local Crusader army has been devastated, wiped out, may what was left, most of them have ran away back to their lands back to
their mini kingdoms to try and protect getting them set up again, because they're more worried about losing their own kingdom to Salahuddin and trying to protect Jerusalem is just bail here and his forces left in Jerusalem. So finally he decides to meet with Salah Houdini outside the walls of the city and discuss handing it back over to the Muslims. Now, why was this delayed by two months? Very simple reason. They were afraid, and rightfully so that if the Muslims take over Jerusalem, they are going to take revenge for what happened 90 years before that. What happened 90 years before that, the Christians entered Jerusalem and killed everybody, man, woman or child regardless of their
religion. their descendants are now living in Jerusalem defending it against a Muslim army, and they are terrified that the Muslim army is going to come in and take revenge. The Muslim army is going to come in and kill every man, woman and child. But that's not the way of Islam. And so therefore Dean hamdulillah he was a quarter of Allah that someone who took Islam seriously was leading this army. Salah who Dean wanted to emulate the Sunnah of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in retaking Al Aqsa he wanted to do at Al Aqsa, what Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam did in Makkah, the people of Makkah had treated Rasulullah saw so many believers so badly.
But when Rasulullah sallallahu took over Makkah, he forgave the people, he entered in peace, and he allowed him to live in peace.
And we see that the same thing is what's allowed within that sphere. So Salahuddin takes over,
acts up in a surprisingly peaceful negotiation, even though the war for Jerusalem was very long and * many, many battles over 90 years. But the actual conquest was a discussion between Balian and Salah Putin and a
discussion that ended very peacefully because Salahuddin was not interested in killing anyone. He was not interested in taking revenge. He was simply interested in restoring the status quo of Alexa, that this is the Holy Land.
As long as Christians and Jews are coming as peaceful pilgrims are living here peacefully paying the jizya they have full religious freedom. And so that's what he offered.
He offered peace, freedom of religion, within the boundaries of Islam, of course not the modern understanding and
Safety to all Christians, you offered, those who want to return to their lands can go back to the lands, those who want to stay here can stay here. Those who want to stay here need to pay the jizya don't want to go back to the lands will be escorted peacefully. He did not massacre anybody.
And this move of his makes him famous and legendary, even in non Muslim circles, even the non Muslims praise him for this, they look up to him for this. They consider him one of the most generous and intolerant leaders in the history of this world. Because remember, he's living during a time where it would have been completely normal to take over a city and massacre people. That's what all the Christians were doing. That's what the Romans were doing. That's what the Crusaders were doing. So the Muslim approach was shocking
that we did this your people 90 years ago and you are giving us peace, forgiveness, freedom of religion. I mean, freedom of religion itself was an unknown concept at that time. So Salah, who then became legendary for what happened at that event, I mean, even the Christians themselves have a movie of this, the kingdom of heaven, which shows the journey of Balian from the farms to the Crusaders to ruling Jerusalem to finally the negotiation with Salahuddin it's all covered in a movie.
And they do a decent job of portraying slavery in the movie, I'm not 100% accurate, but decent job considering is a christian movie.
It's really amazing.
How Salah hooning took back Alexa.
And one of the benefits we can take from the story is that just as the first half of this history seems to be repeating itself, with an accent today, we have foreign power has come in that nobody was ever taught to be powerful group of people that nobody was looking at as the enemy. And they've taken over Luxor and the oppressing the Muslims, and they denying us our rights. And the Muslim lands around it are fighting each other and disunited, and
some of them even siding with the enemy.
The same story is happening. So we hope that the second half of the story will happen as well, which is Allah will, will give this Omar, a new leader who will unite the oma in taking back the holy lands and restoring the peace, justice and freedom of religion that Islam is known for in that region. With that we come to the end of today's lecture, and I hope you find this beneficial. We will continue looking at the history of this region and this era next week by taking a look at the default image and the later crusades and the impact of the regions of Hungary is a massive boon or Salah mousseline will hamdulillahi Rabbil alameen wa salam wa Alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh