HISTORY TIMELINE
Salahudin AYYUBI , Pope Urban II and Richard the Lion Heart
◾The king of Egypt and Syria
Sultan Salahudin Ayubi , or simply Saladin as the west would call him ,was the king of Egypt and Syria.
He was one of the gentlest hearted
Muslim Leaders, Salahudin Ayyubi
became one of the world's greatest
wariors by defeating crusaders and
capturing the holy city of Jerusalem. He
is remembered by Muslims as well as
Non-Muslim as a kind hearted in-selfish
Warrior.
He was a religious person and followed the teaching of the Quran and Prophet
Muhammad's teaching regarding war . He treated all his prisoners with respect
and dignity ; no torture , mass killing , took place during his time . It is equally true that his generosity ,his piety won him no less popularity in Frankish Syria than in the lands of Islam.
And unlike all others Sultan's he did not build a single Palace or any building for
himself yet he constructed mosques,hospitals and universities for his Muslim brother in Cairo.
In 1188 ,Sultan Salahudin Ayubi, gathered a joint a army of the caliphate ,and besieged Jerusalem .It
was quite difficult to enter the city of
Jerusalem with its formidable thick walls,and sultan planed to somehow
get the crusaders out of the city, and on
to the open grounds. King Guy over estimated his power and the stamina
of his army to fight in the heat of Jerusalem, and declared that rather
than remains inside the city like cowards ,they would fight the Muslims or Saracen's as they were called ,outside on the open battlefield.
This is exactly what the sultan wanted .His men set fire to the grass around the crusaders army burning some of them and creating more heat in the summers of Jerusalem .The crusaders army was wiped out as the heat and thirst had taken their till on them and the adequate to take care of the tired and thirsty crusaders .
After the Muslim took Jerusalem,all resident's were given the option to either stay in Jerusalem in peace where they could be able to practice their religion,
or they could leave, again in peace,
wherever they wanted. This was again a spectacular view of the Muslim code of
conduct when they conquered any land.
All the resident must allowed to live in peace ,and this is exactly what happened in Jerusalem when the Sultan Salahudin Ayyubi conquered it, going down in western history king.
*Salahudin Ayubi and Richard the Lion Heart*
Richard I also known as the Lion Heart,joined the Crusade to conquer Jerusalem from Sultan Salahudin Ayubi.
As soon as he arrived close to Jerusalem, he sent Sultan Salahudin Ayubi a message to dine with him, which the Sultan refused on the ground that once two kings eat together, custom would demand that they do not fight with each other. Richard I then proposed that his sister and Sultan's son be married to form the royal couple of Jerusalem and this would create ever lasting bond of friendship and blood between the Christian Europe and the Muslims. Sultan did not agree to this either. Once he had exhausted these options , Richard I then started his campaign against the Muslims.
In his initial campaigns , he conquered the Island of Cyprus from the Byzantines in 1191, in response to his sister being taken prisoner by the Island's ruler. Richard then quarreled with King Philip II of France who returned to France, strangely leaving a major part of his army behind. Richard I then recaptured Acre but only after a long siege. Richard then sent south a long the Mediterranean coast, defeating the small Muslim army near Arsuf and recaptured the important port city of Jaffa.
In one of the battles with Sultan Salahudin Ayubi, Richard I of England fell off the horse as his horse got injured &
died .Sultan was watching him from distance ,upon his command post .
Salahudin immediately ordered his soldier to take a good to the king of
England .Such was the royal and generous behaviour of the Sultan and even western authors written
extensively on the great and charismatic chracter of Sultan Salahudin Ayubi.
With inadequate supplies ,fatigue and demoralized army without any major success , Richard called of the war and instead negotiated a treaty with the Sultan that allowed unarmed Catholics to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem and permitted merchants to trade.
map of the Ayyubid empire and the surrounding empires in 12 century
In the final analysis , the crusaders didn't have any significant impact on the Muslim world except for uniting it. They did play a substantial role in bringing the
Islamic civilization and its progress to the west .From knowledge and philosophy to things like soap and concept of hygiene were all part of the European imports from the Islamic world through the crusaders .This Islamic knowledge was to become the basis of the European medieval Renaissance was so frequently read about in European history.
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