The Crusades from a Muslim Perspective: Honors Research by Cody Austin

8/17/2019 The Crusades from a Muslim Perspective: Honors Research by Cody Austin

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Cody Austin

World History Pre-1500

Honors Research Paper

Jonathan O’Brian

The Crusades: The Unjustifiable Vilification of Muslims

Holy wars have been known to wreak havoc throughout the past. It is even debatable as

to whether or not there are still holy wars being fought today and the not too distant past.

Terrorist groups continue to be religiously-motivated. However, The Crusades in this context

refers to the series of holy wars invoked by Pope Urban II in Jerusalem in 1095 A.D. These

crusades went on for almost 200 years, as many risked their lives fighting for what they

considered to be “Holy Land”.

Prior to the Crusades, the Muslims already had unfavorable views towards Christians.

Not as though they were hostile towards Christians, but rather they were condescending.

Muslims believed their religion was more complete than Christianity, with the prophet

Muhammad as the seal of the prophets. Overall the Muslims knew little and cared very little

about Europe. The Muslims had formed somewhat stereotypical opinions about the Franks based

on travel accounts, oral narratives from prisoners of war, merchants, stories, and so on. This is

common however for juxtaposing religious viewpoints to form negative views about one another

and is still very existent today.

Initially, the First Crusade began with the Byzantine Empire losing Christian control of

Constantinople to the Muslim Turks. The Byzantine Empire then requested assistance from Pope

Urban II who gladly complied in helping Byzantines. The first crusade included five armies of


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around 69,000 people including knights, infantrymen, and mostly peasants. However, most were

killed by the Turks in Asia Minor, but were soon followed by five more armies, this time

consisting of around 100,000 people. After taking Nicaea in 1097, and Antioch in 1098, the

crusaders led an attack on the Turkish state of Jerusalem on July 15th, 1099, and for three days

the crusaders proceeded to mercilessly kill off 30,000 of its inhabitants, including 10,000

Muslims. They also massacred the remaining Jewish and Christian populations, male and female.

(Pierson, 2009). Those who fought in the First Crusade were promised plenary indulgences by

the Pope. These were “full indulgences”, essentially securing a place in heaven after death, a

tremendous incentive at the time. “This day I say, will be famous in all future ages, for it turned

our labors and sorrows into joy and exultation; this day, I say, marks the justification of all

Christianity, the humiliation of paganism, the renewal of faith.”, remarks Raymond of Aguilers,

proud eye-witness of the First Crusade (Armstrong, 1997). As “successful” as this first crusade

was, as the name indicates, this war served as only the first of more gruesome holy wars to come.

The Muslims were now seen as a “vile and abominable race, only fit for extermination”, while

prior to the war Muslims were looked at with indifference (Robert the Monk quoted by Jonathan

Riley-Smith). Due to the initiation of this First Crusade, Muslims were now the target of

unwarranted belligerence, and this would haunt Muslims for ages to come.

The crusaders aimed to blot out the existence of Muslims through slaughter, and by

covering up any Qur'anic inscriptions at the formerly Muslim temple in the newly-conquered

Jerusalem, Dome of the Rock; they replaced these inscriptions with Latin texts. They started this

venture of conversion in 1115, however it would not be completely converted into the "Temple

of the Lord" until 1142. At first, Jerusalem strictly forbade communication and trade with

Muslims, but by the late 1100's under the rule of Baldwin II, Muslims were allowed restricted


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permission into Jerusalem. They could bring in food and merchandise, and even stay in town for

short periods of time. By now, the Franks had begun to forget about Europe and turned to native

ways because at this time the Islamic world had attained a higher standard of living than in

Europe. However, there still existed a massive schism in Jerusalem, between Western

Christianity and Islam, and the Frankish-dominant Jerusalem embodied this notion by erecting

massive stone wall barriers, and by remaining militarily alert.

After Baldwin II died, he was succeeded by his daughter Melisende and her husband

Fulk, count of Anjou, and what they inherited were growing tensions, as one of the first strong

Muslim leaders had started to rise in the Near East: Imad ad-Din Zangi. Zangi had been growing

his empire by absorbing lands like Syria and Iraq by bringing their chieftains to submission with

the help of Baghdad. Fulk fortified the borders of the city and established an alliance through a

treaty with Unur the prince of Demascus, who was also worried about Zangi overtaking his city.

Zangi however, had no interest in taking over Frankish land at this time.

Usamah ibn Mundiqh, who had settled the treaty between Fulk and Unur, was a Syrian

prince around this time period. In his memoirs, he provides his view of the Franks, and based on

his writings, his opinions of them are somewhat ambiguous. At times he refers to them as great

friends, while other times he curses them, “May Allah render them helpless!” “May Allah’s

curse be upon them!”, he would exclaim (Christie, 1996). Though he did look favorably upon

their physical courage, he was also greatly disgusted by their disrespectful treatment of women

and their religious intolerance. In one story, Usamah describes how he was in prayer while

facing Mecca, and a Frank ran over and picked him up, facing him East, yelling “That is the way

to pray!” Usamah had a noticeable juxtaposition in his opinions about the Europeans, but overall

he seemed irritated with them, as though they were an inconvenience to the world. These are


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relatively suppressed views for the time, but Usamah had worked closely with and become

friends with many Franks, most likely mitigating potentially hostile views towards Europeans.

The Frankish state of Jerusalem had begun to empathize with Muslims more, there were

also citizens who simply wanted a normal relationship with neighboring lands. This led to an

expanding internal conflict in the holy land, putting Jerusalem in a state of disarray. This

weakness allowed for Zangi to conquer the city of Edessa in 1144, shattering the Frankish state.

Two years later, Zangi died and was succeeded by his son Nur ad-Din. Nur ad-Din lived a

devout Sunni Muslim lifestyle, and though the Qu’ran is against war, it also tells that, “Those

who have been driven from their homes unjustly only because they said: Our Lord is Allah”,

precisely what had happened to the Muslims in Jerusalem, are justified in fighting a jihad, or a

Muslim holy war (Qu’ran 22:40). And so, Nur ad-Din restored Jerusalem by renovating

mosques, and eventually overran the Franks. Near-Eastern Muslims now had seen the Frankish

religious centers that replaced their mosques from before the First Crusade. Their anger was

most similar to if not greater than the furious reactions of Americans On September 21, 2011, ten

years after and two blocks away from the 9/11 attacks, where a Muslim center called Park51 or

"The Ground Zero Mosque", was proposed to be established.

Muslim military strategies during the crusades were a major contributor to their success

against the Frankish armies. Though it is frequently alleged that the Frankish soldiers were more

well-armed than the Muslims, it has been disproven. The Muslim armies wore armour in battle

ever since the end of the tenth century, putting them on a level playing field with their Frankish

counterparts. The Frankish infantry did have the advantage of strong powerful horses, whereas

the Muslims were more well-equipped with pikes, maces, javelins and crossbows. Each side had

its strong points leveling out to almost equally opposing forces. The key to the success of


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Muslim forces was that as opposed to the strength and force of the European horses, the Muslim

armies had better mobility with their horses. This provided a significant advantage for them. The

advantage of mobility allowed the Turks to maintain a safe distance from the intimidating

Frankish horses. This gave them the opportunity to choose the time at which they would strike

and confront the Franks. Other advantages included feigning retreats to tire out the enemy, the

ability to quickly attack the Franks at their weakest spot, and to force the Franks to fight on the

move. The Muslims did this by attacking the Franks by rapidly firing their arrows then moving

back to a safe spot. In many cases, the Frankish armies were very well-armored to the point that

the arrows of the Muslim horse archer hardly took out any enemies directly, but rather focused

on taking out their horses and the general cohesion of the European forces. As for the layout of

the Muslim forces, it was very well put together. The cavalry performed a multitude of different

tasks, such as assault, scouting, raiding, and pursuit just to name a few (Hillenbrand).

The second crusade initiated in 1148 is infamous in how much of a failure it was for the

Franks. The Frankish Europeans had recently lost Aleppo and Edessa to Nur ad-Din. The Franks

then, instead of going after Edessa, turned against Unur of Demascus, their only Muslim ally at

the time. In response, Unur turned to the aid of Nur ad-Din, whose armies would provide much

greater resistance to the large Frankish armies than if the Franks had attacked Nur ad-Din in the

Islamic state of Edessa, which initially triggered the second crusade. And despite the failure of

the second crusade for the Franks, it had still created a mood shift for the Muslims of Demascus

to unite in jihad against the Franks; this event had created an even greater divide between the

Franks and the Muslims. Despite the victory of the Islamic State of Demascus, the Muslims had

still not been expecting to be the target of an attack by the Franks of Europe (Hillenbrand, p.116-


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117). At this point, the Muslims wanted nothing to do with the potentially hostile Franks, as they

were clearly the victims of baseless vitriol.

Nur ad-Din went on to conquer Demascus in 1154, and then turned his attention to Egypt.

The Crusaders however also turned to Egypt, but they were stymied by a Muslim army sent by a

Kurdish soldier Shirkuh in 1168. Shirkuh’s nephew Saladin took over the leadership of the

Muslim army after the death of his uncle in 1169. Saladin now acting as the lieutenant of Nur ad-

Din, proceeded to take over and abolish the Fatimid caliphate in 1171, and in 1174 Nur ad-Din

died, allowing Saladin to take the reigns as the next and most well-known Muslim leader.

Saladin worked effortlessly at uniting Egypt and Syria from 1174-1187, reconquering

Acre in the battle of Hattin on July 4 th, 1187, and eventually retaking Jerusalem on October 7th,

1187. Saladin is arguably a better ruler than his predecessor Nur ad-Din, as he had the advantage

of modelling himself after Nur ad-Din, and eventually surpassed him in his achievements. Abu

Shama who wrote about Nur ad-Din and Saladin in his book The Book of the Two Gardens

during the Ayyubid period (the Ayyubids were the dynasty of Saladin), pronounced Saladin as

the greater in the practice of Jihad (Abu Shama Kitab al-rawdatayn). Abu Shama mainly

contributes this to the fact that Saladin was the one who conquered more territories and the Holy

Land of Jerusalem. However, without the help of Nur ad-din, there would not have been such a

foundation for a jihad laid out for Saladin, certainly a contributor to Saladin's later success.

Though overshadowed by Saladin, there is no doubt that both leaders were revolutionary military

chiefs who propagated a consistent cohesive Muslim rule, giving them the upper hand to the less

organized Franks of the time.


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After the fall of Jerusalem, the ignition of the Third Crusade began with an attack on

Acre in 1191. The three most powerful monarchs of Western Europe, Frederick Barbarossa of

Rome, Philip of France, and Richard the Lionheart, embarked on the Third Crusade. During this

period, Richard the Lionheart and Saladin had negotiated for Jerusalem. Richard vowed to never

give up on the fight for Jerusalem, Saladin responded "Jerusalem is to us as it is to you. It is even

more important for us, since it is the site of our Prophet's nocturnal journey and the place where

the people will assemble on the Day of Judgement. Do not imagine therefore that we can waver

in this regard" (Elisseeff, BEO). Saladin even proved his devout commitment to the protection of

Jerusalem by assisting in the building of walls and trenches around the holy site, so that all

would follow his example in helping to defend Jerusalem. Despite the Third Crusade leading to

the capture of Acre and a few other territories, the Third Crusade ended in a truce in 1192,

agreeing that the Muslims would continue to hold on to Jerusalem while the Franks will own

some land on the coastal strip. However, after the death of Saladin in 1193, Franks would

attempt a Fourth Crusade.

In 1202, the Franks had it to believe that Egypt was the key to regaining the holy land of

Jerusalem, and so Boniface de Montferrat and Baldwin IX of Flanders went off on the Fourth

Crusade. However, instead of going after Egypt, this crusade ended with the taking of

Constantinople, establishing it as a Latin Empire in April 1204.

From 1193-1250, the Ayyubids, Saladin's family dynasty reigned, and refrained from ill-

considered jihad. They instead maintained realpolitik ideals of detente. This equilibrium was

accomplished for the economic advantages of keeping Frankish territories for reliable trade

routes. However, in later years the Ayyubid dynasty started to get attacked in Egypt by what

would go on to be the Fifth Crusade.


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Egypt was still seen as the key to regaining Jerusalem. Around 1218, crusaders set out for

their first target to seize which was Damietta. Damietta was a town on the Nile delta which

guarded the main route upriver to Cairo which was the main goal considering it was where

Egypt's sultan resided. Therefore, to capture his capital would mean the rest of Egypt would fall

into place (Knox, Boise State University). The crusaders first struggled with reinforcements, but

eventually succeeded in digging into Damietta, and eventually conquered it in 1219, only to be

re-conquered two years later by al-Kamil.

Meanwhile, the Mongols were an ever present threat to Muslims. Christian monarchs

sought out the Mongols as alliances to gang up on the Muslims. After learning about these

Frankish plans to gang up and take over Jerusalem, the Ayyubid sultan of the time al-Mu'azzam

felt obligated to begin dismantling Jerusalem's fortifications. “If the Franks were to take

Jerusalem, they would kill those in it and rule over Demascus and the countries of Islam.

Necessity demands its destruction”, al-Mu’azzam said in defense of his actions. This dismantling

however was a very unpopular idea, and it created a rift of distress in Jerusalem's Muslim

population. “They began on the walls on the first day of Muharram and there occurred an outcry.

Secluded women and girls, old men and women, and young men and boys went out to the Dome

of the Rock and the Aqsa and they cut their hair and ripped their clothing to such an extent that

the Rock and Aqsa mihrab were filled with hair” (Sibt, VIII/2, 601).

Inevitably the city became abandoned, and a decade later the Ayyubid sultan al-Kamil

relinquished the city of Jerusalem to Frankish emperor Frederick II in a 10-year treaty, this was

the Sixth Crusade, but involved less fighting and more diplomacy. This treaty, established in

1229, only gave Muslims access to the Muslim religious areas of Jerusalem, and in return the

Franks would not attack Egypt. The sultan al-Kamil justified this maneuver by claiming that with


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Jerusalem’s defenses down, it could be taken over for Islam fairly easily later on. In reality

however, al-Kamil did this to avoid a lashing back from his Syrian relatives and al-Muazzam, his

brother. Most importantly, he wanted the military support of Frederick II. This decision, made by

Saladin’s own descendant to give up Jerusalem, was met with great criticism from the Muslim

community. After the treaty expired 10 years later and right after al-Kamil’s death, Muslims

easily regained control of Jerusalem as expected. Though unexpectedly what would come to

follow was how shortly after in 1243, the Muslims gave back Jerusalem to the Franks in return

for assistance in breaking up Ayyubid rivalries. Soon Jerusalem would end up taking a major

blow, resulting in another Islamic takeover followed by the end of the few failed crusades.

In 1244, soldiers from Khwarazm conquered Jerusalem during its state of disarray.

Afterwards Jerusalem reverted back to Islamic rule. The seventh Crusade took place from 1248-

1254, when Louis the IV of France captured Damietta in 1249. However this attempt was futile

after Louis IV was cornered in al-Mansura and inevitably surrendered. The eighth Crusade was

an even greater failure on France’s part. Louis IX of France initiated the eighth Crusade in 1270,

but as Louis IX and his troops landed in North Africa, disease spread killing Louis IX and even

his son John Tristan. The remaining troops dispersed back to Europe shortly afterwards,

providing no assistance to the growth of the Europeans. Despite all of this recent failure facing

Europeans with Islamic expansion, Europeans still clung to the notion of crusades. However, this

notion would finally start to grow weaker by the ninth and final crusade.

The Mamluk sultan Baybars played a major role in removing the Franks through the

unification of Syria and Palestine. From 1265-71, he had conquered the previously Frankish-

controlled Antioch in 1268 and Krak des Chevaliers in 1271. Subsequent Mamluk sultans

continued this legacy on conquest and destruction of Crusader possessions, ending with the fall


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of Acre on May 18th, 1291. Initially Edward, Henry III of England’s son, had sailed to Acre for

the Ninth and final crusade. However morale was low and the crusading mentality had slowly

started to die off. Not to mention that crusading had become increasingly expensive; the days of

knights serving under a lord and paying their own way had long since passed. Knights and foot

soldiers served for pay now, and the rise of royal authority meant that crusades were no longer

put together by feudal lords, but rather led by kings who were more focused on events going on

at home (Baldwin). The fall of Acre signified the end of Frankish rule.

The Crusades were overall a very messy matter and a lot of confusion surrounds why

they were initiated to such an extent. In the end, it was a massive bloodshed based around very

little logical reasoning. Rather it was a senseless series of battles based around blind faith and ill-

planned assaults. Even though the first crusade was considered "successful", it only resulted in

the murdering of thousands of innocent men women and children. From a Muslim perspective it

is easy to sympathize with the cruelness that ensued after the rallying of "deus vult " by the

European Christians. All of this brings to light the danger that follows when wars and battles are

fought based on conflicting religious beliefs. The best that can be done at this point is to hope

that history does not repeat itself.


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Works Cited

•

Abu Shama, Kitab al-rawdatayn, partial trans. E. P. Goergens as Zur Geschichte

Salahadins, Berlin, 1879

• Armstrong, Karen. "Chapter 13: Crusade." Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths. New

York: Ballantine, 1997. N. pag. Print.

• Baldwin, Marshall W. "Crusades - The Fourth Crusade and the Latin Empire of

Constantinople." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, Web.

• Christie, Niall G.F., Ph.D. "De Re Militari." De Re Militari. N.p., Sept. 1996. Web.

• Elisseeff, N., 'Les Monuments de Nur al-Din' BEO, 12 (1945-51), 5-43


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• Hillenbrand, Carole. The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives. New York: Routledge, 2000.

Print.

• "Islamic Warfare." Islamic Warfare. University of Michigan, Web.

• K ̲ h ̲ n ̲ , Vaduddn, and Fardah K ̲ h ̲ nam. "Surah 22: The Pilgrimage, Verse 40." The

Quran. New Delhi: Goodword, 2009. N. pag. Print.

• Kitab al I’tibir, in Francesco Gabrieli, trans. And ed., Arab Historians of the Crusades,

trans. from the Italian by E.J. Costello (London, 1969), p.80.

•

Knox, Ellis L., Dr. "Classroom." Crusades. Boise State University, n.d. Web.

.

• Pierson, Paul Everett. "The Dynamics of Christian Mission." Google Books. N.p., 2009.

Web.

• Robert the Monk quoted in Jonathan Riley-Smith, The First Crusade and the Idea of

Crusading (London, 1987), p.143.

• Sibt b. al-Jawzi obituary, VIII/2, p.601.
http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/crusades/classroom.shtmlhttp://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/crusades/classroom.shtml

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