Similar arrangements were made between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Fatimid governor of Ascalon. According to Ibn al-Qalanisi, the governor, Shams al-Khilafa, bought a truce from Baldwin. Al-Afdal, the Fatimid vizier of Egypt, was not at all happy about this and he sent an army to Ascalon in 504/1111 to have the governor removed. Shams al-Khilafa got in touch with Baldwin, who agreed to send him supplies of men and fodder. The Fatimid garrison was driven out of Ascalon as Shams al-Khilafa suspected them of being on the Fatimid side. The episode ended with Shams al-Khilafa being conveniently killed and Ascalon reverting to Fatimid control.155 In the case of Ascalon, concern to leave trade undisturbed played an important part in the decision of Shams al-Khilafa to side with the Franks: ‘Now Shams al-Khilafa was more desirous of trading than of fighting, and returned to peaceful and friendly relations and the securing of the safety of travellers.’156
Thus we see how frequently in this period a mutually acceptable modus vivendi was established between Frank and Muslim across the ideological divide; this realism could even survive military skirmishes and raids between the two sides. As Baldwin said to Tughtegin after Tughtegin had been defeated in battle in Sha‘ban 502/March I Io8: ‘Do not think that I am breaking the truce which has been concluded with you because of this defeat.’157
Figure 2.28 Soldier wearing Mongol armour, Rashid al-Din, Jami’ al-Tawarikh (‘World History’), 714/1314, Tabriz, Iran
Behind these opportunistic alliances made between Muslim and Frank lay two principal factors: pan-Syrian solidarity against the outsiders – ‘We do not want anybody from the east’ was the cry of the local Syrian rulers – and the particular ambitions of the local rulers to maintain their own power intact. According to the chronicler of the city, Ibn al-‘Adim, the political elite of Aleppo were in favour of the continuing existence of the Franks in Syria, because it helped them to perpetuate the independent status of their city.158 Similarly Ibn al-Qalanisi, the local historian of Damascus, describes Tughtegin as acting more as a local territorial ruler than a far-sighted jihad fighter.159
Tailpiece
It is worth highlighting at this point some of the themes discussed in the preceding pages. Overall, Muslim disunity meant the dominance of local interests. Muslim rivalries which had existed before the First Crusade continued after it. The Crusader states slotted into the political map of Syria and Palestine and both Fatimids and Turks were able and willing to use Frankish power creatively in their own interests. On both sides these seem to have favoured the continuation of buffer territory between the Isma‘ili Shi‘ite Fatimid state and the Sunni Turkish rulers of Syria and further east.160
Summarising his mournful catalogue of Muslim defeats, Ibn al-Athir is in no doubt as to why the Franks achieved such resounding successes in the First Crusade: ‘The sultans disagreed, as we shall relate, and the Franks seized the lands.’161 This thought is elaborated by Abu Shama (d. 665/1258) who, speaking about Seljuq internecine strife in the period 487–498/1094–1105, writes:
Malikshah’s [two] sons, Barkyaruq and Muhammad, fought each other and the wars between them lasted for around twelve years until Barkyaruq died and the sultanate became established for Muhammad. In the period of these wars the Franks appeared on the Syrian coast [the Sahil] and took possession first of Antioch and then of other parts of the country.162
This chapter has focused closely on the impact and repercussions of the First Crusade in particular. It is clear that although other Crusades were to follow, they did not result in major territorial gains nor in the establishment of new Frankish states. Just as no Crusade was as glorious in Western eyes as this one, so too its effects were more profoundly felt by the Islamic world than any other subsequent attacks. As time went on, like it or not, the Muslims became accustomed to the Crusader presence in their midst and in a sense they came to expect further invasions from the West. But the years 1099–1109 were the period in which the Muslims of the Levant had to learn to adjust to these unexpected and powerful invaders who did not go away but stayed to put down roots in what was traditionally Islamic territory.
Notes
1. Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, X, 256.
2. L. and J. Riley-Smith, The Crusades: Idea and Reality 1095–1274, London, 1981, I.
3. Al-‘Azimi, ‘La chronique abrégée d’al-‘Azimi’, ed. C. Cahen, JA, 230, 1938), 353–448; new edn as Tarikh Halab, ed. I. Za’rur, Damascus, 1984.
4. Hamdan b. ‘Abd al-Rahim al-Atharibi. For more discussion about this author, cf. Ibn Muyassar, 70. Cf. also F. Rosenthal, A History of Muslim Historiography, Leiden, 1968, 62 and 466.
5. For example, Ibn Taghribirdi, Nujum al-zahira, Cairo, 1939.
6. Al-Abiwardi, Diwan, ed. U. al-As‘ad, Damascus, 1974–5; Ibn al-Khayyat, Diwan, ed. H. Mardam Bek, Damascus, 1958.
7. For a discussion of this work, cf. Chapter 3. A photocopy of one of the manuscripts in Damascus was consulted during the final stages of writing this book thanks to the perseverance and generosity of my friend Dr ‘Adil Jadir.
8. Ibn al-Athir, Al-Kamil fi’l-tarikh, ed. C. J. Tornberg, Leiden and Uppsala, 1851–6.
9. Ibn al-‘Adim, Zubdat al-halab, ed. S. Dahan, Damascus, 1954.
10. Ibn Taghribirdi, Nujum, V, 139.
11. al-‘Azimi, 371.
12. EI1: Zuhal.
13. Al-Maqrizi, Itti‘az, 283–4.
14. EI2: Malazgird.
15. EP2: Kilidj Arslan.
16. Ibn Khallikan, de Slane, I, 612.
17. Al-Nuwayri, 246–7; Ibn Khallikan, de Slane, I, 160; Ibn al-Dawadari, VI, 450; al-‘Azimi, 373,. Ibn Zafir, 82; Ibn Muyassar, 38.
18. Al-Nuwayri, 258; al-‘Azimi, 373; Ibn Taghribirdi, Nujum, V, 149–50.
19. For a modern analysis of this issue, cf. M.A.Köhler, ‘Al-Afdal und Jerusalem – was versprach sich Ägypten vom ersten Kreuzzug?’, Saeculum, 37 (1986), 228–39.
20. Al-‘Azimi, 371.
21. Ibn Zafir, 82.
22. EI2: Atsiz.
23. Ibn Muyassar, 39.
24. Ibn Muyassar, 39.
25. Ibn Muyassar, 39.
26. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 45.
27. Crusader sources point clearly to the Fatimids and the Franks being in contact at Antioch.
28. Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, X, 186.
29. Here, of course, recourse to Western Crusader sources is essential in establishing a balanced historical assessment of the truth. The aim here has been to highlight hints in the Islamic sources which have been rather neglected in modern scholarship. The Crusader sources clearly point to Fatimid/Crusader contacts and to collaboration between them. Cf. the discussion in Köhler, ‘Al-Afdal und Jerusalem’, 228–39.
30. E. Sivan, The beginnings of the Fada’il al-Quds literature’, Israel Oriental Studies, I (1971), 263–72.
31. Al-Maqrizi, Itti‘az, 81.
32. Nasir-i Khusraw, Schefer, 66.
33. Nasir-i Khusraw, Schefer, 66–7.
34. Nasir-i Khusraw, Schefer, 106–7.
35. Nasir-i Khusraw, Schefer, 108.
36. Nasir-i Khusraw, Schefer, 108.
37. I. ‘ Abbas, ‘Rihlat Ibn al-‘Arabi ila al-mashriq kama sawwaraha “Qanun al-ta‘wil”’, Al-Abhath, 21/1 (1968), 59–92, hereafter mentioned as Rihla; id., ‘Al-janib al-siyasi min rihlat Ibn al-‘Arabi ila al-mashriq’, Al-abhath, 12/2 (1963), 217–36.
38. Rihla, 73.
39. Rihla, 64.
40. Rihla, 64.
41. Rihla, 64–5.
42. Rihla, 82.
43. Rihla, 79.
44. Al-munqidh min al-dalal, trans. R. McCarthy as Freedom and fulfillment, Boston, 1980, 93.
45. Rihla, 65.
46. Rihla, 81; the text is a little ambiguous – yu’ammiruna kana’isah could mean ‘to build’, ‘rebuild’ or ‘keep in good repair’. The last possibility seems the most reasonable.
47. Rihla, 66 and 84.
48. A1-’Azimi, 369. The word ghaza means a military raid or expedition and often implies conquest.
> 49. In his commentary on his edition of al-‘Azimi, Cahen (430, n. 3) wonders whether this even relates to a real event or whether it is a reflection of later Crusader lore.
50. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 41–4.
51. Al-‘Azimi, 358.
52. Al-‘Azimi, 366.
53. Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, X, 185.
54. Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, X, 186.
55. Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, X, 186.
56. Al-Nuwayri, 248.
57. Al-Nuwayri, 248.
58. Al-Nuwayri, 248.
59. The reader is recommended to read the book by J. France on the First Crusade – Victory in the East, Cambridge, 1995.
60. Al-‘ Azimi, 372.
61. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 42.
62. Nicaea was reintegrated into the Byzantine empire in June 1097. Cf. R M. Holt, The Age of the Crusades, London, 1986, 21.
63. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 42.
64. Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, X, 187.
65. As, for example, Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 50.
66. Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, X, 222.
67. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 42.
68. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 43.
69. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 44.
70. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 45; there is a similar account in al-‘Azimi, 373.
71. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 44.
72. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 46.
73. Al-‘Azimi, 373.
74. F. Gabrieli, Arab Historians of the Crusades, London, 1969, 3.
75. Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, X, 187–90.
76. Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, X, 188.
77. Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, X, 188–9.
78. Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, X, 189–90.
79. Ibn Shaddad, Eddé, 248.
80. Ibn Taghribirdi, Nujum, V, 147.
81. Ibn Taghribirdi, Nujum, V, 148.
82. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 47.
83. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 47.
84. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 47.
85. Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, X, 190.
86. Ibn al-‘Adim, Zubda, I, 356.
87. Al-‘Azimi, 373.
88. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 48.
89. Ibn al-Jawzi, IX, 108.
90. Ibn Muyassar, 39.
91. Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, X, 192.
92. Ibn Taghribirdi, Nujum, V, 149.
93. Cf. the discussion in B. Kedar, ‘The subjected Muslims of the Levant’, in Muslims under Latin Rule 1100–1300, ed. J. M. Powell, Princeton, 1990, 144.
94. Al-‘Azimi, 373.
95. Ibn Taghribirdi, Nujum, V, 150.
96. Cf. also Ibn Shaddad, Eddé, 34.
97. Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, X, 187.
98. Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, X, 187.
99. Al-‘Azimi, 373; Ibn al-‘Adim, Zubda; Ibn Shaddad, Eddé, 247.
100. For a recent analysis from the Byzantine side, cf. J. Shepard, ‘Crosspurposes: Alexius Comnenus and the First Crusade’, in The First Crusade: Origins and Impact, ed. J. Phillips, Manchester, 1997, 107–29.
101. Al-‘Azimi, 370–1.
102. Al-‘Azimi, 371–2.
103. Al-‘Azimi, 376.
104. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 112.
105. P. K. Hitti, History of Syria, London, 1951, 589.
106. Cf. El2: Al-Abiwardi.
107. This ode is quoted more fully by Ibn al-Jawzi, IX, 108, Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, X, 192–3 and Ibn Taghribirdi, Nujum, V, 151; it is partly translated by Gabrieli, 12.
108. Sivan, ?lslam, 32.
109. Ibn al-Khayyat, Diwan, ed. H. Mardam Bek, Damascus, 1958, 184–6; Sivan discusses the importance of this poetry, L’lslam, 18, 24, 32, 36.
110. H. Dajani-Shakeel, ‘Jihad in twelfth-century Arabic poetry’, Muslim World, 66 (1976), 96–113; C. Hillenbrand, ‘The First Crusade: the Muslim perspective’, in The First Crusade: Origins and Impact, ed. J. Phillips, Manchester, 1997, 137–8.
111. Ibn Taghribirdi, Nujum, V, 152.
112. E. Sivan, ‘Réfugiés syro-palestiniens au temps des Croisades’, REI, 35 (1965), 140; ‘Imad al-Din, Kharidat al-qasr, Damascus, 1959, vol. II, 57.
113. ‘Imad al-Din, Kharida, II, 101.
114. Cf. E. Sivan, ‘La genèse de la contre-Croisade: un traité damasquin du début du Xlle siècle’, JA 254 (1966), 197–224. This article contains an edition of selected passages of the surviving text, together with a translation of them. The references to al-Sulami which follow will be based on Sivan’s article. Cf. also al-Maqrizi, Muqaffa’, 154–5.
115. Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, X, 193.
116. Ibn Shaddad, Eddé, 270. In the Arabic popular epics the Franks often appear as staunch allies of the Byzantine emperor. Cf. P. Heath, The Thirsty Sword. Sirat Antar and the Arabic Popular Epic, Salt Lake City, 1996, 29.
117. Fol. 174a; French trans., 215.
118. Fol. 174a; French trans., 215.
119. Fol. 174a–b; French trans., 215.
120. Ibid.
121. Ibid.
122. Ibid., 216.
123. Fols 188b–189a; French trans., 220.
124. Fols 189b; French trans., 221.
125. Al-‘Azimi, 377.
126. Ibn Muyassar records famine for the years 490/1096–7 and 493/1099–1100; Ibn Muyassar, 37 and 39.
127. Ibn Muyassar, 39.
128. ‘Imad al-Din, Kharida, 1, 96.
129. Ibn al-Dawadari, 451; cf. also al-Harawi, Sourdel-Thomine, 15.
130. This has been analysed by Sivan. Cf. Sivan, ‘Réfugiés syro-pales-tiniens, 135–47.
131. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 51 (my italics).
132. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 51.
133. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 90.
134. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 47.
135. According to Ibn al-Furat, Tarikh, Vienna ms. vol. i, fol. 39a; cited by Sivan, L’lslam, 137.
136. Al-Maqrizi, Itti’az, 283.
137. Ibn Zafir, 82.
138. Ibn Zafir, 102; cf. also al-Maqrizi, Itti’az, 284.
139. Ibn Muyassar, 41.
140. Brett, ‘Ramla’, 20.
141. Ibn al-Jawzi, IX, 105.
142. Ibn al-Jawzi, IX, 105.
143. Ibn al-Jawzi, IX, 108.
144. Bughya, 146.
145. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 111.
146. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 111-12.
147. Bughya, 147.
148. Bughya, Zakkar, VIII, 3664; Ibn al-‘Adim, Zubda, I, 369.
149. Bughya, Zakkar, VIII, 3661.
150. Al-‘Azimi, 383.
151. Ibn al-‘Adim, Zubda, Dahan, II, 187–90.
152. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 160–1.
153. These alliances are analysed in some detail by Köhler.
154. The evidence of Ibn al-Athir is quoted by Köhler, 83.
155. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 109–10; Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, X, 337–8.
156. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Gibb, 109.
157. Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, X, 328–9.
158. Zubda, Dahan, II, 173.
159. Ibn al-Qalanisi, Dhayl tarikh Dimishq, ed. H. F. Amedroz, Leiden, 1908, 216–17.
160. Abu Shama, I, 26.
161. Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, X, 192; cf. also al-Nuwayri, 258.
162. Abu Shama, I, 26.
CHAPTER THREE
Jihad in the Period 493–569/1100–1174
Among men there are those who battle, just as the Companions of the Prophet used to battle, for the hope of Paradise and not in order to satisfy a desire or win a reputation,1 (Usama)
Introduction: Aims and Structure of the Chapter
IN A RECENT BOOK devoted to the subject of war in the Middle East with contributions from a number of specialists, it is interesting to note that there was no chapter on the ideological aspects of warfare, namely jihad, Holy War in Islam.2 Moreover, one of the contributors, Rustow, repeats the view generally held in the West that ‘Islam is the most martial of the world’s great religions’.3
The Crusades seem to be the very epitome of the phrase ‘wars of religion’. The motives that propelled the Franks towards the Holy Land were of course mult
ifarious. But Western scholarship has shown that there is no doubt that religion played a large part in the whole enterprise. There is no doubt also that the tools of religious propaganda and the symbols evoked in speeches and tracts of the Franks were those of the Christian faith – above all, the Cross, Jerusalem and Holy War.
This chapter and the next examine from the Muslim side some of the religious aspects of the conflict between the Islamic world and Christian Europe. They will focus on the evolution of the Islamic concept of jihad (Holy War) during the Crusading period and will highlight the role which religious propaganda – including religious architecture (plates 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4, 5; cf. plates 3.6 and 3.7) – played in the conflict.
Figure 3.1 Mounted warrior, stone mould, eleventh–twelfth centuries, Iran
Definition of Jihad: Its Roots in the Qur’an and the Hadith
Religious war is a concept deeply embedded in Islamic belief. Indeed, jihad has often been called the sixth pillar (rukn) of Islam; it denotes struggle on the part of Muslims. The Revelation itself, the Qu’ran, contains plentiful imagery of struggle and fighting, and this has formed the foundation of the theory of jihad. Although a number of Qur’anic chapters (suras) mention the concept of struggle (the Arabic root j h d), the most important chapter in this context is chapter 9, the sura of repentance (al-Tawba). It is incidentally the only chapter of the Qur’an which omits the opening formula ‘In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate’, the formula stressing the Creator’s infinite and constant mercy to His creation. The omission of this formula is generally believed to have been caused by the presence within chapter 9 of fierce commandments about idolaters and the steps which should be taken against them. Verse 14, for example, enjoins the Muslims as follows: ‘Fight them! Allah will chastise them at your hands, and He will lay them low and give you victory over them/Verse 36 declares: ‘Fight the polytheists totally as they fight you totally.’ In verses 88–9 this chapter also promises Paradise for those that strive (j h d) in the path of God:
The Crusades- Islamic Perspectives Page 16
