Part 32

The Seljuk Turks in Mesopotamia supplied new blood and were very eager to engage in Jihad for the sake of Allah, unlike the other Muslim forces in the Muslim East whose religious enthusiasm had grown weak and whose fighting spirit had diminished.160 e) The Mesopotamian region was rich in resources because of its abundant supply of water and fertile land, including vast areas of arable land and grazing which was essential for horses and livestock. This made it possible to provide the mujahideen with a practically limitless supply of food and weapons. Another great advantage was the natural fortifications enjoyed by the major cities and citadels of Mesopotamia, such as Mosul, Amid, Mardin, Hasankeyf and so on, in which the Islamic Jihad movement against the Crusaders started. These cities, which were distinguished by their unique geographical fortifications, made invading the region by force a very difficult task; therefore it became safe from Crusader counterattack. It is not farfetched to suggest that the leaders of the Islamic Jihad movement must have fully understood what great danger the presence of the Crusader kingdom of Edessa in Mesopotamia represented to their positions, and that they had a well-founded fear of a possible Crusader advance to the south, which would be aimed at destroying the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad.161 Hence it comes as no surprise that the idea of Islamic Jihad first emerged in the region of Mesopotamia, with the aim of wresting Edessa from the hands of the Crusaders.162 Kerbogha, regent of Mosul, engages in Jihad The idea of an Islamic resistance began to take practical shape in 491 AH/1097 CE, when Qawwam ad-Dawlah ('Founder of the State') Kerbogha, the regent of Mosul, started to gather whatever troops he could with the aim of preventing Antioch from falling into Crusader hands. Kerbogha, however, soon stopped en route and besieged Edessa for three weeks, thus giving the Crusaders ample opportunity to do their utmost to capture Antioch, which they succeeded in doing. If Kerbogha had gone directly to Antioch, YaghiSayan (its ruler) would have handed the city over to him and the situation of the besieged would have been different,163 but Kerbogha lifted the siege of Edessa when he heard that Antioch had fallen into Crusader hands. He crossed the Euphrates into Syria and stopped in Marj Dabiq, where he met Daqqaq ibn Tutush, the ruler of Damascus, Dhaheer ad-Deen Tughtegin, the atabeg (regent) of Daqqaq, Janah ad-Dawlah Husayn, the ruler of Horns, Arslan Tashi the ruler of Sinjar, Suqman (in Turkish, Sokmen) ibn Artuq the ruler of Jerusalem, and other rulers who resembled them in exemplary character and ability, according to Ibn al-Atheer.164 These rulers joined together under the leadership of Kerbogha, who led them towards Antioch in 491 AH/1097 CE, where the citadel was still in Muslim hands. They drew close to the city and intensified the siege until the condition of the Crusaders changed and deteriorated, and they found themselves besieged from within and without. They faced severe hardship due to lack of food, which forced them to eat carrion and leaves.165 This motivated the Crusaders to send a delegation to Kerbogha, asking him for safe passage so that they could leave Antioch, but Kerbogha refused and said to them, "You will only leave by the sword." 166 This led one of the Christian clergy, whose name was Peter Bartholomew, to fabricate the story of the 'Holy Lance', which raised the Crusaders' morale and led them to rally around their leaders. Their resolve to march towards the Muslims and exit through the gate in scattered groups was strengthened until they had all come out, then they marched towards the Muslims, strong and in great numbers, and the Muslims broke ranks and scattered.167 Thus in 491 AH/1097 CE Kerbogha failed in leading the Muslim alliance through which he wanted to prevent Antioch from falling into Crusader hands. Historians have listed the reasons why Kerbogha failed to prevent Antioch from falling into the Crusaders' hands at the time when the Crusaders had reached a state of weakness and decline inside the city. Among the most important of these reasons are the following: a) What the Frankish historian mentioned about Kerbogha, ruler of Mosul, having wasted three weeks during the siege of Edessa, which enabled the Crusaders to take over Antioch and take precautions against a sudden attack, whether it was to come from the Muslims who were in the citadel of Antioch or from their brethren in Syria or elsewhere.168 b) Lack of harmony among the troops of Kerbogha, who were composed of Arabs, Turks and others, combined with what Daqqaq, ruler of Damascus, did to foment division between Arabs and Turks. c) Lack of a clear military plan on Kerbogha's part. Perhaps the clearest explanation of this is Kerbogha's lack of desire to allow his men to strike a decisive blow against the Crusaders when they were emerging in small groups from Antioch. That is because, as appears to be the case, Kerbogha was afraid that if he did that, he would only be destroying the vanguard of the Crusaders' army.169 Kerbogha's poor treatment of the other rulers who were with him was one of the reasons for his defeat.