Part of It happened in Ramadan (the series is completed)
· Lesson 10 of 10
Event in Ramadan | D. Abdul Rahman Raafat Al-Basha | H (10) | Liberation of Antioch
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Transcript
Machine translation — may contain errors
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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.