Part 44

It is sufficient pride for Mawdood that he succeeded in striking at the Crusader presence in Galilee, which was an area that had not been reached by any Muslim initiatives for nearly two decades. Suffice it to say that he inflicted defeat on the founder of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. f) We may reach a specific conclusion from the fact that the leaders of the Islamic Jihad all complement one another and there is no conflict between them. What Mawdood did benefited the great leader Salah ad-Deen al-Ayubi later on. Hence it may be said: Today Sannabra, tomorrow Hattin. This is what was proven by the general history of that region in the sixth century AH (twelfth century CE).265 Whatever the case, when we compare the efforts of Mawdood with those who came before him, such as Kerbogha, Jekermish and Jawali Saqawah, it will become clear to us that their roles were gradual and complementary. All that Kerbogha did was send support to save Antioch. Jekermish added to that through his alliance with Suqman ibn Artuq in a way that led to victory in the battle of Harran in 498 AH/1104 CE. As for Mawdood, his role was more significant in that it led to the defeat of the Crusaders at Sannabra in 507 AH/1113 CE. This proves to us that in only nine years, two major defeats were inflicted on the Crusaders. But there remains the stubborn fact that the Muslims did not benefit from either victory by attacking the enemy's territory. Achieving swift victory made it hard for the Crusaders to compensate for their losses, but the remaining phenomenon of political division and grudges among the Muslim leadership formed an obstacle to achieving that goal.266 Najm ad-Deen Ilghazi, ruler of Mardin The Islamic Jihad movement against the Crusaders was strongly connected to the leaders of Mosul who were under Seljuk rule. The death of the sultan Muhammad ibn Malikshah in 512 AH/ 1117 CE led to the decline of the Seljuk position in Iraq. Sultan Mahmood ibn Muhammad ibn Malikshah tried to summon Ak Sunqur from Mosul in order to appoint him as governor of Shahankiyah in Baghdad,267 which led to Mosul temporarily losing its leading position in reviving the Islamic Jihad movement against the Crusaders. Leadership of the Jihad passed to Najm ad-Deen Ilghazi, the ruler of Mardin. Ilghazi started his Jihad efforts by capturing Aleppo in 511 AH/1117 CE, because of its importance to any military or political leader who wanted to confront the Crusaders, due to its vital strategic position in terms of human resources and military, political and economic aspects. Aleppo lay between two Crusader kingdoms, Edessa and Antioch. At the same time it was able to establish contact with the Turkmen Muslim forces who were spread throughout the Mesopotamian region. Hence capturing Aleppo opened the way to leading the Jihad movement, and that is indeed what happened in the case of Najm ad-Deen Ilghazi and his nephew, Balak ibn Bahram, and after them, Ak Sunqur al-Bursuqi and Imad ad-Deen Zangi, and Noor ad-Deen Mahmood later on.268 As for the details of Najm ad-Deen Ilghazi's capture of Aleppo in 511 AH/1117 CE, new developments took place which made the Crusaders hope to capture the city when it reached such a point of weakness and economic hardship that the people were unable even to feed their animals. However, its people's fear of falling into Crusader hands forced them to summon Najm ad-Deen Ilghazi and surrender Aleppo to him in that year. Ilghazi started his work in Aleppo by imposing his authority on some regions that belonged to it, such as Balis, and by detaining some of the men of Aleppo in order to get money to help him make a truce with the Crusaders. The people and soldiers of Aleppo disliked him, according to Ibn al-'Adeem, which forced him to leave the city and go to Mardin after leaving his son Hussam ad-Deen Timurtash in charge of Aleppo. The troops stationed in Balis took advantage of the high prices that they were faced with in the same year (511 AH/1117 CE) and sent word to the Crusaders that they would hand the city over to them, so Ilghazi was forced to return to Aleppo at the head of a Turkmen force. When the Crusaders realized the danger, they withdrew and Ilghazi recaptured it, and went back to Mardin after working out a truce with them according to which neither side would transgress against the possessions of the other.269 The Crusaders break the truce The Crusaders found their opportunity after Ilghazi left, however, and they raided 'Azaz and intensified their siege until the Muslims in the city were forced to surrender. The people of Aleppo were forced to make contact with the Crusaders to ask them to adhere to the truce that Ilghazi had made with them, to hand Tel Hiraq over to them, and to pay the agreed-upon amount for four months, which was a thousand dinars, and they would have the north and west of Aleppo.270 Najm ad-Deen Ilghazi grew angry when the news from Aleppo reached him, but he could not return and save it because he had too few troops. So he headed towards eastern Mesopotamia with the aim of gathering troops.