WEBVTT

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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

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The Mawadda Association presents:

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An event that occurred in Ramadan, by the decree of the Most Merciful, through the compassion of the Sultan.

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The liberation of Antioch.

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In the month of Ramadan, in the year 666 AH.

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On the fourteenth day of that month,

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Islamic history witnessed one of its greatest days,

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And one of its most momentous conquests.

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Through it, Allah honored the Muslims after their humiliation,

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Raised high the banners of Islam,

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And hoisted the flags of the Qur'an.

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The hero of this great conquest

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Was one of the champions of the Muslims,

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And one of their illustrious and blessed commanders.

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A hero who, for seventeen years,

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Traversed the lands of the Muslims, east and west,

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Battling the pagan Tatars,

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And fighting the aggressive Crusaders.

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His sword was never blunted,

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His resolve never weakened,

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And he was never defeated in any engagement,

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Until Allah cast awe and terror

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Into the hearts of his enemies and the enemies of Allah.

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This hero is Sultan al-Zahir Baybars.

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As for the day of his that remains throughout the ages,

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It is the day of the conquest of Antioch,

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And its rescue from the hands of the Crusaders.

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Antioch and its momentous day

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Have a long story.

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This story begins

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In the late fourth century AH,

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When the balance of power

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Between Christian Europe

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and the Muslim East

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Began to tilt in Europe's favor.

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The Europeans did not let

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This golden opportunity slip by.

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The Norman knight,

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Greedy for spoils, arose;

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The Venetian merchant,

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Looking toward the treasures of the East, arose;

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The Florentine usurer,

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Driven by the pursuit of wealth, arose;

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The Frenchman, fleeing

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From famine and plague, arose;

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And the obsessive zealot,

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Longing for a sip of the Jordan’s water,

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Or a touch of the walls of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, arose.

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All of them rose up,

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Answering the call of Pope Urban II

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To obtain forgiveness

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If they liberated the grave of Christ

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From the hands of the Muslims.

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They headed toward the Islamic East,

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Having sewn the cross

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Upon their right shoulders.

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The Byzantines,

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The rulers of Constantinople,

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Opened the way for them,

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And they surged like a flood

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That nothing could stand against,

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And no power could divert from its goal.

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In the year 491

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AH,

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The Crusaders arrived

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At Antioch,

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One of the Muslim fortresses,

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And the greatest stronghold separating them

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From the Byzantines.

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Its governor rose to meet them

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With his army and fought them

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With all his might.

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But

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How could he be victorious,

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When his sword was still dripping

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With the blood of his own brothers and kin?

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The city fell

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Into the hands of the Crusaders,

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And from it,

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And its surroundings,

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A Crusader principality was formed

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In the lands of the Muslims.

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This principality was called

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The Principality of Edessa,

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Or the Principality of Antioch.

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The fall of that great city

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Struck the Muslims

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Like a thunderbolt.

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Islamic peoples everywhere

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Rose up,

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Urging their warring,

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Disputing rulers

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To send their armies

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To rescue Antioch.

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The rulers yielded to the will of the people

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And sent a portion of their armies

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To liberate the stricken city.

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The Islamic armies

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Besieged it

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Severely,

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Which caused the Crusaders to taste

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Every kind of torment,

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And to drink from the cups of misery,

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Until hunger ravaged them,

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So they ate the meat

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Of dead animals.

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One of the priests wished to bolster

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The resolve of the besieged Crusaders,

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So he told them that one of the

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Saints had informed him

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That the lance with which

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Jesus Christ was pierced was buried

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In a spot in Antioch,

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And that they must dig it up

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From the earth, and that

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The saints would fight alongside them.

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The Crusaders dug up

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The earth and brought out the

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Fake, planted lance,

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And they went mad with joy

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Because of it, and rushed

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To fight the Muslims, fighting

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Until they broke

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The siege upon themselves,

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And their foothold was established

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In the great city.

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From that ill-fated day,

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The Principality of Antioch became

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A launching point for the Crusaders,

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A path to Jerusalem,

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A thorn in the throats

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Of the Muslims, and a speck of dust

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In the eyes of the people of Aleppo

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And the surrounding Levant.

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The situation remained

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In this state for nearly [a century],

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During which appeared

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Two great leaders, among the greatest

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Commanders of the Muslims:

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The just, mujahid king,

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Nur al-Din Zengi,

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And the victorious, conquering hero,

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Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi.

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Yet neither of these two

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Great leaders was destined

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To conquer that great city.

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Antioch remained

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Awaiting the great day

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And the great conqueror,

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Until this day arrived:

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The fourteenth of Ramadan,

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In the year 666.

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[666 AH].

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And this conqueror

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Was al-Zahir Baybars.

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Sultan al-Zahir did not intend

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To conquer Antioch

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Until he had consolidated his kingdom,

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Strengthened his army,

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And conquered Caesarea,

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Safed, Tiberias,

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The Golan, Jaffa,

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Al-Qusayr, Akkar, Safita,

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And many others.

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He broke the power of the Tatars,

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Severed the limbs of the Crusaders,

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And the opportunity

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Became ripe before him.

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Baybars gathered a multitude

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Of his soldiers in the Levant;

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He brought them from Egypt,

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From Mosul,

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From the Hijaz, and from everywhere.

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He brought the siege engines

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From Damascus,

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And carried them on the backs of camels.

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When the camels could no longer bear them,

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The princes, soldiers,

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And commanders carried them on their own shoulders.

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The Sultan himself took to

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Dragging the timber

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Alongside the oxen,

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As the historians say.

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Yet, within this

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Massive army, there was not a single man

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Who knew where they were marching.

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Terror crept into the hearts

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Of the rulers of the Crusader principalities

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Remaining in the lands of the Muslims,

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For each of them

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Thought the blow was directed

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At him.

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Their delegations offered the Sultan

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Al-Zahir a truce

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And the payment of tribute,

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So he accepted the truce with most of them,

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But refused to make peace with some.

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The delegation of Antioch was

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among those who turned back

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on their heels, disappointed.

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Thus, the cunning warrior

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was able to isolate

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his prey,

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ensuring for himself and his army

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that he would face it alone, without any helper,

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isolated and without support.

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All of this preparation

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was not in vain,

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for Antioch was a city

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among the greatest cities in the world,

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fortified with a wall

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twelve miles long.

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Upon this wall

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were 360 towers,

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and in these

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towers were 20,000

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battlements, patrolled

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every day and night

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by 4,000 guards in rotation.

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The army reached

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the outskirts of the city

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on the first of Ramadan.

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The Muslim soldiers set out

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on that blessed morning

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to perform the duty of jihad

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to elevate the word of Allah,

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while observing the duty of fasting

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in obedience to Allah.

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The soldiers of Allah clashed with the soldiers

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of Satan in battles

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of intense ferocity

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that lasted for four consecutive days.

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And on the

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14th of Ramadan,

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the Muslim armies entered

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the fortified city,

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after it had been subjected to the Crusaders

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for nearly two centuries.

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The Muslims took down

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the banner of the cross from its towers,

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and raised in its place

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the banners of Islam.

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From its battlements were heard

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the voices of the muezzins,

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after it had previously echoed

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with the ringing of bells.

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The Muslims gained

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on the day of Antioch spoils,

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while the Crusaders suffered

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losses that could not be counted.

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Historians have mentioned

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that the number of the Crusaders

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killed and captured

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exceeded forty thousand.

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Tidings of the great victory

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were heralded to every

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land of the Muslims,

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and celebrations broke out

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everywhere.

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Decorations were set up in every city,

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and drums were beaten in

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every town.

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A cup for the fasting martyrs

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whose souls departed

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at the walls of Antioch

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with their hands gripped

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upon the hilts of their swords,

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and a drink from the water of Al-Kawthar

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for the thirsty ones who died

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with a burning thirst

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for water

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that was surpassed only by their thirst

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for martyrdom.