In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The Mawaddah Association presents:
"Events in Ramadan,"
by Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha.
The fall of al-Masjid al-Aqsa into Crusader hands,
in the year 492 AH.
The Islamic world was shaken from end to end
by the Crusaders' occupation of the First Qibla,
the Third of the Sacred Mosques,
and the destination of the Night Journey of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
It was a sorrowful day among the days of the Muslims,
whose bitterness the passage of time could not erase,
nor could great events wipe away its memory.
Have you seen a palace of towering structure,
with firm foundations,
impregnable, filled with warmth, and overflowing with life?
Then, the tides of fate turned against it,
and calamities befell it,
until it became desolate, stripped of its protectors,
becoming haunting after having been welcoming,
gloomy after having been radiant.
The wind howls in its corners,
owls nest in its balconies,
and snakes hiss in its halls and chambers.
Such was the state of the Islamic world
in the late fourth century AH.
The Caliph in Baghdad had locked his doors upon himself,
content with the fleeting worldly goods thrown to him by the usurpers.
The Caliph in Cairo was preoccupied with superstitions,
using them to secure his kingdom and protect his throne.
The Muslims were drowned in internal conflicts,
and because the people forgot Allah, He forgot them,
and abandoned them,
leaving them to His enemy and theirs.
This state of the Islamic world
was the greatest incitement for the Pope
and the Emperor of Constantinople to invade the lands of the Muslims
and ignite the Crusades,
which had not ceased for a single moment since Islam appeared on the face of the earth.
They were like fire smoldering in the ashes;
whenever a favorable wind blew upon them,
they flared up and ignited.
The Crusader hordes were driven toward the East,
with hatred boiling in their chests,
and their hearts fueled by malice.
They overran the fortified walls of Antioch,
then descended upon Ma'arrat al-Nu'man,
the town of Abu al-'Ala.
The brave inhabitants of Ma'arra resisted the Crusader hordes
with a resistance far greater than their own capacity,
but the invaders soon occupied the city at nightfall.
They silenced the voices of the muezzins from atop the minarets,
and put the people to the sword,
killing every man, woman, and child.
They began trampling with their boots upon the corpses of the slain,
after they had filled the paths and blocked the roads.
The Crusader army continued its march,
reaping cities and villages like a harvest.
Then, the Crusaders turned their faces toward Jerusalem,
which was then in the hands of the Fatimids.
Soon, the Islamic world was shaken from end to end
by the Crusaders' occupation of the First Qibla,
the Third of the Sacred Mosques,
and the destination of the Night Journey of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
without any notable resistance.
The Crusaders gave themselves free rein in the City of Peace for seven days,
each day of which was like a hundred years by our count.
They set their swords upon necks,
and made blood flow in the streets.
They piled up the corpses of the slain,
and from them, they built mounds.
They entered the homes,
taking those within as captives,
and occupied the palaces,
ripping open the bellies of the inhabitants in search of dinars hidden in their intestines.
Then, they raided al-Masjid al-Aqsa,
entering its secure courtyards,
where seventy thousand had sought refuge,
among them the scholar and the worshiper,
the pious and the ascetic,
the woman and the infant.
They entered the Holy Sanctuary with their horses,
whose hooves trampled upon the dismembered bodies,
and whose legs were stained with blood.
Then, they plundered the treasures within al-Aqsa,
and among what they looted
were the chandeliers made of pure silver and solid gold.
Then, they left a garrison in the sorrowful city,
and set out to conquer cities and demolish fortresses.
The Muslims in the East and the West turned
to the Fatimid Caliph of Egypt,
the master of Jerusalem,
hoping he would rescue it from the hands of its occupiers
and cleanse it from the filth of its usurpers.
But they found him subservient to his vizier,
and his vizier was a man of suspicion.
They sent a delegation, including Judge Abu Sa'id al-Harawi,
to the Caliph of Baghdad.
The delegation arrived at the Caliph's court,
and recounted news that made eyes weep,
eyelids sore, and hearts ache.
They stood in the mosque on Friday,
crying out for help, weeping, and making others weep,
and they told the people what had befallen the fasting Muslims in Ramadan,
of the killing of men, the enslavement of women, and the looting of wealth.
But the Caliph of Baghdad
was powerless, imprisoned within his own palace.
At that point,
the Muslims turned their eyes away from the two Caliphs,
who sat on silk cushions in Cairo and Baghdad,
and began casting their gazes toward the horizons of the Muslim lands,
hoping for a star to rise that would guide them through the darkness of their pitch-black night.
Thus, Allah brought forth for them Salah al-Din
Ibn Najm al-Din Ayyub.
Salah al-Din had
a biography as bright as the morning light,
as luminous as the full moon,
illuminating the path for those who wished to follow it.
Salah al-Din realized
that goodness lay dormant in the Ummah of Muhammad, peace be upon him,
like life dormant in seeds,
awaiting pure water,
fertile soil, and bright light,
to awaken from its slumber
and fill the earth with growth and giving.
Salah al-Din knew the key to opening the hearts of his Ummah,
so he placed his hand upon it,
and turned it in their hearts with skill,
opening them and entering through their widest gates.
That key was none other than the key of the religion.
He believed in the principle of the leader as a role model,
so he magnified the law of Allah,
complied with His commands, and avoided His prohibitions.
He rarely missed a congregational prayer,
and he made up for any fast he missed.
As for zakat, the threshold for it never accumulated in his possession throughout his life.
Salah al-Din did not attach his heart to wealth or inheritance,
but rather tied it to struggle and jihad.
He spent a quarter of a century of his life
rarely having a roof over his head,
for his permanent dwelling was either the back of a horse,
or a tent pitched for him in the open.
He was able to influence his people in the greatest of ways,
for the jurists and scholars fought alongside him,
as did the writers, poets, and teachers,
and then the youth and the women.
Allah drove the people to Salah al-Din in groups, supporting him and sacrificing for him.
Whenever he called for jihad,
volunteers came to him of their own free will
and absolute liberty,
each carrying their own provisions.
Thus, the majority of his soldiers were volunteers
who came seeking the reward and martyrdom that is with Allah.
This was a major reason for his victories.
Salah al-Din realized the value of human resources in building kingdoms and winning battles,
so he searched in every land:
in Egypt,
in the Levant,
in the Hijaz,
in Yemen,
in Baghdad,
in every corner of the Muslim lands,
for those with competence in politics,
in the sciences,
in warfare,
in the arts,
and in literature.
He gathered them from every region,
so he had a helper from every land,
and a supporter and friend from every country.
That was one of the unique qualities of Salah al-Din.
Salah al-Din chose the most knowledgeable and truthful of scholars,
the most profound in religion among the callers,
the most skilled and energetic among the engineers,
and the most experienced and discreet among the envoys.
Furthermore, he adorned himself with the qualities of heroism,
which never left him in health or sickness,
in days of victory or defeat,
or in times of hardship or ease.
When the battle grew fierce,
the conflict intensified,
and death surrounded him from every side,
he would circle the ranks of his soldiers,
and extend his hand to shake hands with death,
so death would recoil from him.
With these qualities,
Salah al-Din led the armies of the Muslims from victory to victory to victory.
And with these traits,
he was able to erase the shame that had befallen the Muslims
since the Crusaders occupied Jerusalem.
In the middle of Rajab,
in the year 583 AH,
the Muslim armies led by Salah al-Din surrounded Jerusalem,
as a bracelet surrounds the wrist.
They set up their catapults around its walls on every side,
and drew the swords of Allah,
to be quenched by the blood of the enemies of Allah.
The Franks were terrified by the horror of what they saw,
Allah cast terror into their hearts.
It was but a single, sincere campaign,
until the arrogant leader emerged, seeking safety for himself and his people.
Salah al-Din granted his request.
The Franks committed themselves
to pay ten dinars for every man,
five for every woman,
and two dinars for every child.
This was for those who wished to ransom themselves.
Whoever could not afford the ransom fell into captivity.
On the morning of Friday,
the twenty-seventh of Rajab,
in the year 583 AH,
the Muslims entered Jerusalem, proclaiming the greatness and oneness of Allah.
Their tongues were filled with supplication,
and their voices rose to Allah in gratitude and praise.
The great cross was taken down,
which had been erected atop the Dome of the Rock.
The images that had been engraved on the walls of the mosque were erased,
and the bells were removed from its minarets.
The sounds of the adhan rang out from the minarets,
and the voices of the muezzins mingled with the recitation of the Qur'an.
The pulpit that had been crafted by King al-Adil Nur al-Din Zengi was brought from Aleppo,
for he had vowed it to Jerusalem upon its liberation.
The first Friday prayer was held in Jerusalem,
after Friday prayers had been suspended there for over ninety years.
The sermon was delivered by the judge Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-Zaki,
and his sermon became known as the Sermon of the Conquest.
In it, the eloquent orator gathered
all the praises of Allah found in the Qur'an.
When the prayer was concluded,
Salah al-Din sat to receive the congratulations of the Muslims on this manifest victory.
Congratulations to the Muslims for Salah al-Din,
and congratulations to Salah al-Din for this manifest victory.
We beseech Allah to honor the Muslims with another day like the day of the conquest,
in which they erase their shame and remove their disgrace,
reclaiming the stolen Jerusalem and rescuing the usurped sanctuary.
Thereby, the eyes of the first conqueror, Umar Ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, shall be gladdened,
and the soul of the second conqueror, Salah al-Din, shall be comforted.