Author: Obaidullah Nimruzi
The Biography of Sultan Salah ad-Din Ayyubi ‘may Allah have mercy on him’ (Part 7)
Love of Jihad
Jihad was the greatest worship for Sultan Salah ad-Din Ayyubi, providing the highest pleasure and nourishment for his soul. Qazi Ibn Shaddad wrote: “His love and interest in Jihad was spread in his veins and he did not forget about it for a moment. This was always the subject of his talk, and he was busy preparing its equipment and trying to find like-minded people. He paid more attention to those who were busy in mentioning and thinking about Jihad or in encouraging and persuading people to Jihad. Because of Jihad in the way of Allah, Salah ad-Din Ayyubi left his wife, children, family, homeland, place, housing, and everything, and he tolerated the separation of all with great pleasure. He was content to live in a tent that was always in danger of being destroyed by the winds. If someone wanted to be friends with him, he would encourage him to do Jihad and, in this way, he could gain popularity in his opinion. I can swear that after the beginning of the Jihad program, Ayubi did not spend a single dinar in addition to Jihad and helping the Mujahedeen.”
Ibn Shaddad described this romantic and compassionate quality of the Sultan: “The quality of the Sultan on the battlefield looked like a grieving mother mourning the separation of her only son. He galloped from one line to another with his horse and encouraged the soldiers to fight. In every corner of the army, according to the Arab custom during the time of provocation and help, he chanted the slogan ‘Ya Lal-Islam,’ and tears flowed from his eyes. He had not eaten a single bit of food all day, he only drank soda according to the doctor’s advice and his strong insistence. The royal physician told me: Once Ayyubi had only eaten a few bites of food from Friday until midnight; because his attention did not go to anything else except the war.”
The Decisive Battle of “Hattin”
Finally, after several war operations on several fronts, the decisive battle in the history of Islam took place—the battle that uprooted the Christians from Palestine and ended the victory of their rule. This war occurred on the “Hattin” front and was fought on Saturday, 24th of Rabi Al-Akhir, year 583 AH, corresponding to July 4, 1187, AD, and it was a clear victory for Muslims.
Lin Poole described the war as follows: “The selected and trained young men of the crusader army were captured, King Gai of Jerusalem and his brother Chani Lun, Kariji Nalditinen (Hanin), and Ka Humphrey, the great and respected nobles of the Christian classes Davieh and Sabitar were captured. Other brave warriors of Palestinian Christians were surrounded by Muslims. The horse and foot soldiers of the Christian army who survived were all captured by the Muslims, and each of the soldiers of the Islamic army had captured 30 Christians. From the broken crosses and the limbs of the dead, hills like mountains were created, and people’s heads were scattered like watermelons in the plains and deserts. For a long time after this war, it was famous as the battle where the greatest slaughter occurred, and it is said that almost 30,000 people were killed. After a year, mounds of white bones could be seen from a distance, and the corpses were still visible in the corners of the square due to animals eating them.”
Continues…
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