من هناك
11-14-2006, 05:14 PM
[align=center:40c60acac6][size=24:40c60acac6][color=blue:40c60acac6][font=Arial Black:40c60acac6]An enlightened moderate[/font:40c60acac6][/color:40c60acac6][/size:40c60acac6][/align:40c60acac6]
[align=left:40c60acac6]
By Humayun Akhtar
He is a not only a romantic historical figure but an acclaimed Muslim general. In fact, some of his most ardent admirers have been his Christian biographers and what attracted Europeans to him was his almost perfect sense of enlightened moderation and cultured chivalry. He was Salahuddin Ayyubi.
European historians admit that the crusader knights learned a great deal about chivalry from him. According to them, when the Crusaders took Jerusalem in 1099, they murdered virtually all its inhabitants, boasting that parts of the city were knee-high in blood. When he retook the city in 1187, he spared his victims, giving them time to leave and safe passage.
In fact, despite his fierce opposition to the Christian powers, he achieved a great reputation in Europe as a chivalrous knight, so much so that there existed by the 14th century an epic poem about his exploits, and Dante included him among the virtuous pagan souls in Limbo. His relationship with King Richard I of England, who managed to repel him in battle in 1191, was one of mutual respect as well as military rivalry. When Richard was wounded, he even offered the services of his personal physician.
But, according to Western historians, when the French General Henri Gouraud entered Damascus in July 1920, he went to the tomb of Salahuddin. After kicking Salahuddin’s tomb, Gouraud exclaimed, “Awake Salahuddin, we have returned. My presence here consecrates the victory of the Cross over the Crescent.”
Salah al din Yousuf Ibn Ayyub (meaning Righteousness of Faith, Joseph, Son of Job), better known in Western history as Salahuddin, which we will also use for the sake of brevity, was born in the year 1138, in Tikrit, in a prominent Kurdish family, and it is said that on the night of his birth, his father, Najm ad-Din Ayyub, gathered his family and moved to Aleppo. There, his father entered the service of Imad ad-Din Zangi ibn Aq Sonqur, the powerful Turkish governor in northern Syria.
Salahuddin’s formal career began at the age of 14, when he joined the staff of his uncle Asad ad-Din Shirkuh, an important military commander under Nur al-Din, the ruler of Damascus and Aleppo. In 1169, he rose to be second to the commander in chief of the Syrian army, his uncle Shirkuh.
During three military expeditions led by Shirkuh into Egypt to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Latin-Christian rulers of the states established by the First Crusade, a complex, three-way struggle developed between Amalric I, the Latin king of Jerusalem, Shawar, the powerful vizier of the Egyptian Fatimid caliph, and Shirkuh.
In the last of these military expeditions, together with his uncle, Salahuddin approached the walls of Cairo on January 2, 1169 at which point the Franks, who had the city of Cairo under siege, retreated. Six days later, after allowing the Franks to evacuate unopposed, his troops reached the walls.
When his uncle Shirkuh, governor of Egypt died, Salahuddin was appointed as the next governor. Salahuddin suppressed the Fatimid rulers and united Egypt with the Abbasid Caliphate. He was then in his early thirties. Unlike his successors, he did not seize the wealth of former rulers, nor did he occupy their palaces. Like a caring ruler, he opened the gates of Cairo and allowed Egyptian citizens to live within the city walls in areas which had been exclusively occupied by royalty.
Because of his sincerity and kindness, he became popular among the citizens — Muslims and Christians alike — and even had a Jewish personal doctor.
Salahuddin brought an entirely different concept of a city to Cairo. He wanted a unified, thriving, fortified place, protected by strong walls and impregnable defences, but functioning internally with a great deal of commercial and cultural freedom, and with no private or royal enclaves and no fabulous palaces.
Salahuddin had what would now be called a world view. He was, in fact, trying to defend a whole culture as well as its territory, an ideology as well as a religion. He looked on Egypt as a source of revenue for his wars against Christian and European encroachments, and against the dissident Muslim sects. Apparently, he wanted Cairo to be the organizing centre for an orthodox cultural and ideological revival.
In Cairo, Salahuddin not only built mosques and palaces (but he did not build a palace for himself), but also colleges, hospitals. And a fortress, the Citadel, which still remains one of Cairo’s landmarks to this day, is his most famous creation. Within the Citadel his greatest architectural contribution was probably the college-mosque where the interpretive ideology of the religion and Islamic law could be taught. However, they taught more than religion, with studies in administration, mathematics, geodesy, physics and medicine. He imported professors from the East to staff his new schools.
Within the Citadel, he also built a hospital that his secretary, Ibn Gubayr, described almost in terms of any good modern clinic today. Salahuddin staffed it with doctors and druggists, and it had special rooms, beds, bedclothes, servants to look after the sick, free food and medicine, and a special ward for sick women. Nearby, he also built a separate building with barred windows for the insane, who were treated humanely and looked after by experts who tried to find out what had happened to their minds.
However, all did not go well. Salahuddin replaced the elaborate bureaucracy with a feudal system that gave his military officers direct control over Egypt’s rich agricultural lands, an act that has been blamed for a very sever famine which occurred during his successor’s reign.
In 1175, the Syrian Assassin leader Rashideddin’s men made two attempts on the life of Salahuddin. The second time, the assassin came so close that wounds were inflicted upon Salahuddin. Next year Salahuddin besieged the fortress of Masyaf, the stronghold of Rashideddin. But, after some weeks, Salahuddin suddenly withdrew and left the Assassins in peace for the rest of his life.
In 1182, Salahuddin marched to Palestine and Syria and never returned to Cairo. For the next 10 years, he fought the Crusaders and managed to end their rule in the region. It was at the Battle of Hattin (where he captured Jerusalem) in 1187, he dealt the Crusader kingdoms a blow from which they never recovered.
By the time he died in Damascus in 1193, he had liberated almost all of Palestine from the armies of England, France, Burgundy, Flanders, Sicily, Austria and, in effect, from the power of the Pope. In his battles against these European crusaders, he often had the aid of eastern Christians, who were as much the victims of the western armies as anybody else in the eastern lands.
When he died, he had almost no personal possessions, but he had earned himself a remarkable place in history.
ABDUL WAHID OSMAN BELAL[/align:40c60acac6]
[align=left:40c60acac6]
By Humayun Akhtar
He is a not only a romantic historical figure but an acclaimed Muslim general. In fact, some of his most ardent admirers have been his Christian biographers and what attracted Europeans to him was his almost perfect sense of enlightened moderation and cultured chivalry. He was Salahuddin Ayyubi.
European historians admit that the crusader knights learned a great deal about chivalry from him. According to them, when the Crusaders took Jerusalem in 1099, they murdered virtually all its inhabitants, boasting that parts of the city were knee-high in blood. When he retook the city in 1187, he spared his victims, giving them time to leave and safe passage.
In fact, despite his fierce opposition to the Christian powers, he achieved a great reputation in Europe as a chivalrous knight, so much so that there existed by the 14th century an epic poem about his exploits, and Dante included him among the virtuous pagan souls in Limbo. His relationship with King Richard I of England, who managed to repel him in battle in 1191, was one of mutual respect as well as military rivalry. When Richard was wounded, he even offered the services of his personal physician.
But, according to Western historians, when the French General Henri Gouraud entered Damascus in July 1920, he went to the tomb of Salahuddin. After kicking Salahuddin’s tomb, Gouraud exclaimed, “Awake Salahuddin, we have returned. My presence here consecrates the victory of the Cross over the Crescent.”
Salah al din Yousuf Ibn Ayyub (meaning Righteousness of Faith, Joseph, Son of Job), better known in Western history as Salahuddin, which we will also use for the sake of brevity, was born in the year 1138, in Tikrit, in a prominent Kurdish family, and it is said that on the night of his birth, his father, Najm ad-Din Ayyub, gathered his family and moved to Aleppo. There, his father entered the service of Imad ad-Din Zangi ibn Aq Sonqur, the powerful Turkish governor in northern Syria.
Salahuddin’s formal career began at the age of 14, when he joined the staff of his uncle Asad ad-Din Shirkuh, an important military commander under Nur al-Din, the ruler of Damascus and Aleppo. In 1169, he rose to be second to the commander in chief of the Syrian army, his uncle Shirkuh.
During three military expeditions led by Shirkuh into Egypt to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Latin-Christian rulers of the states established by the First Crusade, a complex, three-way struggle developed between Amalric I, the Latin king of Jerusalem, Shawar, the powerful vizier of the Egyptian Fatimid caliph, and Shirkuh.
In the last of these military expeditions, together with his uncle, Salahuddin approached the walls of Cairo on January 2, 1169 at which point the Franks, who had the city of Cairo under siege, retreated. Six days later, after allowing the Franks to evacuate unopposed, his troops reached the walls.
When his uncle Shirkuh, governor of Egypt died, Salahuddin was appointed as the next governor. Salahuddin suppressed the Fatimid rulers and united Egypt with the Abbasid Caliphate. He was then in his early thirties. Unlike his successors, he did not seize the wealth of former rulers, nor did he occupy their palaces. Like a caring ruler, he opened the gates of Cairo and allowed Egyptian citizens to live within the city walls in areas which had been exclusively occupied by royalty.
Because of his sincerity and kindness, he became popular among the citizens — Muslims and Christians alike — and even had a Jewish personal doctor.
Salahuddin brought an entirely different concept of a city to Cairo. He wanted a unified, thriving, fortified place, protected by strong walls and impregnable defences, but functioning internally with a great deal of commercial and cultural freedom, and with no private or royal enclaves and no fabulous palaces.
Salahuddin had what would now be called a world view. He was, in fact, trying to defend a whole culture as well as its territory, an ideology as well as a religion. He looked on Egypt as a source of revenue for his wars against Christian and European encroachments, and against the dissident Muslim sects. Apparently, he wanted Cairo to be the organizing centre for an orthodox cultural and ideological revival.
In Cairo, Salahuddin not only built mosques and palaces (but he did not build a palace for himself), but also colleges, hospitals. And a fortress, the Citadel, which still remains one of Cairo’s landmarks to this day, is his most famous creation. Within the Citadel his greatest architectural contribution was probably the college-mosque where the interpretive ideology of the religion and Islamic law could be taught. However, they taught more than religion, with studies in administration, mathematics, geodesy, physics and medicine. He imported professors from the East to staff his new schools.
Within the Citadel, he also built a hospital that his secretary, Ibn Gubayr, described almost in terms of any good modern clinic today. Salahuddin staffed it with doctors and druggists, and it had special rooms, beds, bedclothes, servants to look after the sick, free food and medicine, and a special ward for sick women. Nearby, he also built a separate building with barred windows for the insane, who were treated humanely and looked after by experts who tried to find out what had happened to their minds.
However, all did not go well. Salahuddin replaced the elaborate bureaucracy with a feudal system that gave his military officers direct control over Egypt’s rich agricultural lands, an act that has been blamed for a very sever famine which occurred during his successor’s reign.
In 1175, the Syrian Assassin leader Rashideddin’s men made two attempts on the life of Salahuddin. The second time, the assassin came so close that wounds were inflicted upon Salahuddin. Next year Salahuddin besieged the fortress of Masyaf, the stronghold of Rashideddin. But, after some weeks, Salahuddin suddenly withdrew and left the Assassins in peace for the rest of his life.
In 1182, Salahuddin marched to Palestine and Syria and never returned to Cairo. For the next 10 years, he fought the Crusaders and managed to end their rule in the region. It was at the Battle of Hattin (where he captured Jerusalem) in 1187, he dealt the Crusader kingdoms a blow from which they never recovered.
By the time he died in Damascus in 1193, he had liberated almost all of Palestine from the armies of England, France, Burgundy, Flanders, Sicily, Austria and, in effect, from the power of the Pope. In his battles against these European crusaders, he often had the aid of eastern Christians, who were as much the victims of the western armies as anybody else in the eastern lands.
When he died, he had almost no personal possessions, but he had earned himself a remarkable place in history.
ABDUL WAHID OSMAN BELAL[/align:40c60acac6]