Part 49

The evidence for that is the fact that he prepared a military detachment in Safar 518 AH/1124 CE to fight the Crusaders in 'Azaz, but he did not go out with them lest some of the people of Aleppo who were opposed to him take that opportunity to free his 304 prisoners. Balak ibn Bahram is killed Balak ibn Bahram did not live long after that. Whilst he was besieging the Franks in the citadel of Manbij, he was killed by a stray arrow, and no one knew who had shot it. His troops fell into confusion and dispersed. With his death, the Muslims lost a great man whose deeds proved that he was a leader and commander who tried to unite the Muslims in Syria and Mesopotamia against the Crusaders. It may be said that with the killing of Balak ibn Bahram in 518 AH/1124 CE, the Artuqi stage of the Islamic Jihad against the Crusaders came to an end. Although Hussam ad-Deen Timurtash ibn Ilghazi managed to capture Aleppo immediately after the killing of Balak ibn Bahram, Aleppo did not enjoy any stability during his era. Instead, things got worse and the situation of the Muslims in the city grew weaker; due to his young age he was distracted by his love of play from rolling up his sleeves and paying serious attention to the issues of ruling. Hussam adDeen's laziness and negligence towards the Jihad against the Crusaders went even further; he accepted the mediation of Abul-'Asakir Sultan ibn Munqidh, the ruler of Shaizar, concerning the release of Baldwin King of Jerusalem who had been the prisoner of Balak ibn Bahram,305 an act which led to a surge of Crusader enthusiasm for attacking the Muslims. This naturally had a strong effect on the Crusaders' confronting the movement to revive the idea of Islamic Jihad in the following stage, which was led by Aq Sunqur alBursuqi, the ruler of Mosul, and Dhaheer ad-Deen the ruler of Damascus.306 Emir of Mosul, Aq Sunqur, wages Jihad to save Aleppo Aleppo confronts the Crusaders Aleppo was exposed to Crusader pressure and attacks many times, starting from the earliest days of the Crusader invasion of Mesopotamia and Syria. The most serious of these attacks was undoubtedly the siege of 518 AH. The invaders realized the city's vital strategic importance in human, military, political and economic terms, and in terms of transportation routes. It occupied a fortified position between two Crusader kingdoms: Edessa to the east in Mesopotamia and Antioch to the west on the Mediterranean. At the same time it had contact with the Turkmen Muslim forces that were widespread in Mesopotamia, Anatolia and northern Syria, which may be regarded as a vital foundation for the continuation of the Jihad movement and achievement of decisive aims against the Crusaders. Consequently, capturing Aleppo and adding it to Crusader territory would secure transportation routes between Edessa and Antioch, and hasten the establishment of political and military unity between them, which would undoubtedly play a major role in the interests of the invaders.307 The Aleppans realized that there was no benefit in their city remaining in this unstable situation, and that it was essential to hand it over to a strong ruler. So they sent word to Ilghazi al-Artuqi, ruler of Diyarbakir, asking him to come so that they could hand it over to him. Ilghazi came to Aleppo in 511 AH and took control of the city, also imposing his authority on areas belonging to it. However, the fact that he was preoccupied with affairs in his own realm of Diyarbakir meant that he often had to be absent from Aleppo and turn his back on its problems. The Crusaders used to take advantage of that and intensified their attacks on Aleppo and its surrounding areas. When Ilghazi died in Ramadan 516 AH, the Crusaders hastened to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the division of his emirate among his sons and the fact that Aleppo was isolated from the forces that were fighting in Diyarbakir to achieve some swift victories in northern Syria. The appearance of Ilghazi's nephew Balak ibn Bahram and his taking charge of the Jihad against the invaders interrupted the invaders' plan, however, and saved Aleppo from this imminent danger. Nonetheless, the death of Balak two years after he took power, and the transfer of power to his cousin Hussam adDeen Timurtash, who was characterized by weakness and defeatism, opened the way again for the Crusaders to intensify their assaults on Aleppo and achieve their dream of taking control of it. The historian Ibn al-'Adeem describes how conditions deteriorated in Aleppo immediately after Timurtash came to power. He says: As for Timurtash, when he took possession of Aleppo, he was distracted by his young age and love of play from rolling up his sleeves and being serious about paying attention to the issues of ruling, so things got worse and the Muslims became weaker as a result.308 Timurtash began his rule by releasing Baldwin II, who had been captured by Balak in one of his battles against the invaders, in return for a paltry sum of money.