Part 30

The Franks agreed to that, but it appears that Ibn Sulayhah had set a trap for them.151 The Frankish warriors kept climbing up the rope, one by one, and every time one of them reached Ibn Sulayhah, who was on top of the wall, he killed him, until he had killed them all. The next morning, the Muslims threw the heads of the Franks down to the Crusaders below.152 The Crusaders were very upset about the trap that had been set for them by the qadi of Jablah, and the success that the qadi had achieved, so they decided to take the fortress by any means., They built a wooden tower and used it to destroy one of the towers of the fortress, but with his quick wits and cleverness the qadi could see that the danger was imminent so he did not slow down or surrender, but he hastened to put in motion yet another brilliant plan, similar to those that had already caused losses to the enemy more than once. He made holes in the walls of the city, and it seems that these holes were in the rear wall; this was so that the army would be able to exit through these holes.153 Al-Qadi Ibn Sulayhah and his army came out to fight the Franks and then pretended to flee from them, thus tricking the invaders. The Franks did not realize what was happening, so they hastened to pursue the Muslims as far as the gates of the city, at which point the Muslim army took the opportunity to come out through those holes and come at the Crusaders from the rear; they attacked the Franks from behind and defeated them.154 Al-Qadi Ibn Sulayhah must have had some knowledge of the arts of war and Islamic military methods. The art of psychological warfare was nothing new in the Islamic military heritage at the time of the Crusades, because such methods had been used by the (Messenger (SAAW) in the Battle of the Trench in 5 AH, when he dug the ditch and defeated the confederates, and in the Battle of Mu'tah in 8 AH, when the commander Khalid ibn al-Waleed ((RA)'') turned the battle around from defeat to victory against the Byzantines by using psychological warfare, stirring up the dust with the horses' feet to make the Byzantines think that reinforcements had come to the Muslims, so that they fled in defeat and the Muslim army was able to withdraw from the battlefield without incurring any other losses. Psychological warfare was also used in many other battles, including the Battle of Yarmook in 13 AH, when Khalid ibn al-Waleed divided his troops, putting the right flank on the left and the rearguard in the front, a military tactic which fazed the huge Byzantine army completely and led to their defeat.155 Scholars and judges urge fighting on the battlefield One of the most prominent of such figures was al-Qadi Abul-Fadl ibn al-Khashshab, the Qadi of Aleppo, whose exploits in this field were famous. When the Crusader siege of Aleppo intensified in 513 AH/1119 CE, al-Qadi ibn al-Khashshab came and urged the people to fight, riding on his mount with his spear in his hand, delivering an eloquent speech which motivated and stirred them. The people wept and felt great respect for him, and they sallied forth to fight the invaders.156 Although the people of Aleppo were able to save their city that year, the Crusaders did not hesitate to try again to take Aleppo, in 518 AH/1124 CE, when they destroyed all the villages around Aleppo so that they would not be able to offer any support to the city. The Franks camped in Harran and then marched towards Aleppo from the direction of Mashhad al-Jaff, from the north. Al-Qadi ibn alKhashshab played a role in encouraging the people to fight the invaders, and in encouraging Aq Sunqur al-Bursuqi, the ruler of Mosul, to join the fight, as will be discussed below, in sha' Allah, when discussing the role of the Seljuk rulers in Mosul, Damascus and elsewhere in warding off the attacks of the Crusaders. Poets and their role in the resistance movement Some poets played a major role in encouraging the Muslims and describing the situation of the Ummah and the nature of the Crusader invasion which had occupied their land and transgressed people's honour. One of the most famous of these poems was that of al-Qadi al-Harawi, which was also attributed to Abul-Muzaffar al-Abyurdi, which begins with the words: We mixed blood with our flowing tears and there was no room left to apportion blame. The worst weapon for a man is flowing tears, when the flames of war intensify by the sword. At the beginning of this ode, he clearly states that the people were weeping so intensely that blood flowed from their eyes, because their weeping was so intense and ongoing, and that they had wept until there was no energy left to blame anyone. But he soon realized that weeping, no matter how intense, not avail anything in battle, and nothing could intensify the fire of battle except the sword: O people of Islam, there lie ahead of you events which will bring low those who are high. Are you sleeping with a sense of security and joy, Living a life of softness and ease?